If you're looking for a poker game with a little more excitement than just the normal games you might find in your local pub or casino, then look no further than poker online in Indonesia. There are several poker websites that allow you to play poker online in Indonesia with real people from all over the world. This makes it a fun way to experience what poker is like without having to risk your own money. One of the best things about playing poker online in Indonesia is that you have access to players from different parts of the world and poker players from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore can play with each other on their tables.
If you want to play poker online in Indonesia, there are a few things you will need before you can even get started. Typically, you will need access to a computer with internet access and some form of credit card or payment processing service to make sure your money is safe when you play poker online. Some poker websites in Indonesia don't require sign up bonus money, but most do. Most poker websites in Indonesia also have a sign-up bonus that will give you a percentage of the poker pot after you sign up with them so be sure to read the fine print when signing up for a poker website so you know what the minimum deposit to start can be and so you can get started playing right away.
Indonesia is made up of many islands and like most countries has its own version of poker known as "ayan". "ayan" means "no fear", so this is one of the safest types of poker you can play, especially if you aren't too experienced. "ayan" is one of the best online poker sites in Indonesia because the games are short and to the point. They are designed to keep the action moving at a fast pace so you don't get bored and also so you don't get killed by time. "ayan" is played in Java and not in Java Ondola.
When you go to sign up with "ayan" you will need to create an account first. Once you have created your account you will need to choose the deposit methods you prefer. There are four types of deposit methods: credit cards, bank transfers, PayPal and checks. Credit cards and bank transfers are the preferred bank transfer options in Indonesia and the most common reasons people choose these methods to fund their poker deposit options. With a bank transfer you can usually get the guaranteed funds transfer into your bank account within a couple of days depending on which bank you use. PayPal is another option for payment but many players in Indonesia prefer to use credit cards or transfers.
A lot of the poker websites in Indonesia offer different types of poker deposit options, but none offer the kind of selection that "aina" offers. "aina" is the largest in terms of traffic and boasts of a reliable and trustworthy player base. The "aina" website offers four types of deposit bonuses: premium bankroll, monthly bonus, free tournament entries, and the grandmaster's bonus. Each of these bonuses are worth a minimum deposit amount which converts to poker chips when they are deposited.
It is very easy to follow the steps on "aina" site as it walks you through the whole process step by step. Once you have made your deposit, it is important that you read the Terms of Service (TOS) thoroughly so you know exactly what you are getting into before you start playing. The TOS will inform you of what you can and cannot do in regards to your account. Payment options are also very clear: you can either use PayPal or Credit card payments. To make sure you are getting the most out of playing on "aina" you should try to maximize your bankroll. Once you have maxed out your bankroll it will be much easier to play poker online for real cash or prizes.

Online Casino Betting And Mobile Betting App In Singapore

Online casino betting is very popular these days, meaning that players have a lot of options when it comes to betting. Players only need to sit at home, search the surrounding area to find that there are hundreds of thousands of online casinos calling them.
However players should remember that not all online casinos are great. And not every betting newbie can distinguish between good and bad online casinos. So the question arises to be sure how to be sure of good online casino betting itself. Readers please follow this article to understand more about casinos as well as online casino betting.

Plenty of Betting Games Available At Online Casinos

In Singapore there are many good online casinos waiting for players to attend. The good online casinos offer players the bonus of their first bet. Also the games here are real money betting, some new variations of Blackjack, Baccarat or Sicbo. According to betting experts, a good online casino is one with a solid amount of Slots games and a wide variety of video Poker options.
The beauty of online casinos is that the players feel like they are betting on traditional casinos. Online casinos allow players to interact with each other and can chat with the dealer. Thus betting at home, both having private space and not being dull.
In Singapore online casinos offer players a free betting experience. Huge prizes like Online Slots or Jackpot are extremely attractive. This is the most popular betting option when registering online betting.
Online casinos need to pay attention to gambling games, which needs to be varied whether players only need to play one or two betting games. So when a player wants to change his betting decision, he or she can find another game that is equally interesting and interesting. New players should need a casino with a variety of games. Because they do not know which game they are suitable for, they will experience many different betting games until they find the right game.

Mobile Casino Betting

When you have a mobile device that can take anywhere, you will be connected to wifi again. So why not play betting at online casinos but have to go to land casino. One point to note not all online casinos offer mobile games. Which casino has to offer that is what sets it apart from the other.
The two main mobile operating systems or devices available for betting are Android and IOS. Online casinos that offer games for both ensure players are free to bet. The provision of such mobile betting is truly essential and convenient. Players can access the game anytime, anywhere and let them know where they are when betting. Mobile games are optimized, small in size but still ensure sharp graphics. Small details such as sound, images are refined and thoroughly upgraded before reaching the hands of players. Mobile betting can be done by app or in browser on device. Players can still get bonuses when winning bets, quick deposit and withdrawal operations, without spending much time or cumbersome procedures. Every problem is supported by a customer care staff.
Betting online casino applications, players are still equipped with the same security features as at the website version. Problems with the disclosure of infected personal information or mobile phones need not be concerned, as advanced systems are in place.

High Security

What a good online casino has in common is its security. Since online casino bets are real money, appropriate security measures must be in place to prevent undue incurring. When working online casinos must be careful about the player's bank account. Also pay attention to regular debit and credit cards, including player trading activity and account information.
Online casinos that want customers to be completely safe and trusting need to protect the operating information of their website. Several high-tech measures can be used. Also remember that the casino needs to be licensed and follow the betting rules of the law. Player bets must be fully transparent.

Bonuses And Promotions

It is an undeniable fact that the bonus is the strongest attraction for the betting player. It is not uncommon to see online casinos offering a variety of promotions. Promotions are changed from time to time, and customer needs are weak.
The rewards players receive do not stop after registering for betting. Along with the betting process, players also receive a lot of rewards. Online casinos often offer different bonuses. It can be a recurring bonus, free spins or a bonus for loyal customers.

Conclusion:

Convenience, the importance of online player betting is certainly undeniable. The first is also the most important thing is to find the right online casino Singapore. In Singapore there is no shortage of good online casinos, players should try out casinos. The casinos allow players to bet for the most authentic experience. Quickly participate in betting to receive prizes and have a great entertainment space.

918Kiss is a renowned online spot for the gambling lovers of Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. The casino enthusiasts are attracted to its user-friendly design and looks, as well as a large selection of gambling games.
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I am putting together my investment portfolio for 2018 and made a complete summary of the current Top 100. Interestingly, I noticed that all coins can be categorized into 12 markets. Which markets do you think will play the biggest role in the coming year?
Here is a complete overview of all coins in an excel sheet including name, a full description, market, TPS, risk profile, time since launch (negative numbers mean that they are launching that many months in the future) and market cap. You can also sort by all of these fields of course. Coins written in bold are the strongest contenders within their market either due to having the best technology or having a small market cap and still excellent technology and potential. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s8PHcNvvjuy848q18py_CGcu8elRGQAUIf86EYh4QZo/edit#gid=0
The 12 markets are

1. Currency 13 coins
2. Platform 25 coins
3. Ecosystem 9 coins
4. Privacy 9 coins
5. Currency Exchange Tool 8 coins
6. Gaming & Gambling 4 coins
7. Misc 15 coins
8. Social Network 4 coins
9. Fee Token 3 coins
10. Decentralized Data Storage 4 coins
11. Cloud Computing 2 coins
12. Stable Coin 3 coins

Before we look at the individual markets, we need to take a look of the overall market and its biggest issue, scalability, first:
Cryptocurrencies aim to be a decentralized currency that can be used worldwide. Their goal is to replace dollar, Euro, Yen, all FIAT currencies globally. The coin that will achieve that will be worth several trillion dollars.
Bitcoin can only process 7 transactions per second (TPS) currently. In order to replace all FIAT, it would need to perform at least at VISA levels, which usually processes around 3,000 TPS, up to 25,000 TPS during peak times and a maximum of 64,000 TPS. That means that this cryptocurrency would need to be able to perform at least several thousand TPS. However, a ground breaking technology should not look at current technology to set a goal for its use, i.e. estimating the number of emails sent in 1990 based on the number of faxes sent wasn’t a good estimate.
For that reason, 10,000 TPS is the absolute baseline for a cryptocurrency that wants to replace FIAT. This brings me to IOTA, which wants to connect all 80 billion IoT devices that are expected to exist by 2025, which constantly communicate with each other, possibly creating 80 billion or more transactions per second. This is the benchmark that cryptocurrencies should be aiming for. Currently, 8 billion devices are connected to the Internet.
With its Lightning network recently launched, Bitcoin is realistically looking at 50,000 possible TPS soon. Other notable cryptocurrencies besides IOTA and Bitcoin are Nano with 7,000 TPS already tested, Dash with several billion TPS possible with Masternodes, Neo, LISK and RHOC with 100,000 TPS by 2020, Ripple with 50,000 TPS, Ethereum with 10,000 TPS with Sharding.
However, it needs to be said that scalability usually goes at the cost of decentralization and security. So, it needs to be seen, which of these technologies can prove themselves decentralized while maintaining high TPS.
Without further ado, here are the coins of the first market. Each market is sorted by market cap.

Market 1 - Currency:

1. Bitcoin: 1st generation blockchain with currently bad scalability, though the implementation of the Lightning Network looks promising and could alleviate most scalability and high energy use concerns.
2. Ripple: Centralized currency that might become very successful due to tight involvement with banks and cross-border payments for financial institutions; banks and companies like Western Union and Moneygram (who they are currently working with) as customers customers. However, it seems they are aiming for more decentralization now.https://ripple.com/dev-blog/decentralization-strategy-update/. Has high TPS due to Proof of Correctness algorithm.
3. Bitcoin Cash: Bitcoin fork with the difference of having an 8 times bigger block size, making it 8 times more scalable than Bitcoin currently. Further block size increases are planned. Only significant difference is bigger block size while big blocks lead to further problems that don't seem to do well beyond a few thousand TPS. Opponents to a block size argue that increasing the block size limit is unimaginative, offers only temporary relief, and damages decentralization by increasing costs of participation. In order to preserve decentralization, system requirements to participate should be kept low. To understand this, consider an extreme example: very big blocks (1GB+) would require data center level resources to validate the blockchain. This would preclude all but the wealthiest individuals from participating.Community seems more open than Bitcoin's though.
4. Litecoin : Little brother of Bitcoin. Bitcoin fork with different mining algorithm but not much else.Copies everything that Bitcoin does pretty much. Lack of real innovation.
5. Dash: Dash (Digital Cash) is a fork of Bitcoin and focuses on user ease. It has very fast transactions within seconds, low fees and uses Proof of Service from Masternodes for consensus. They are currently building a system called Evolution which will allow users to send money using usernames and merchants will find it easy to integrate Dash using the API. You could say Dash is trying to be a PayPal of cryptocurrencies. Currently, cryptocurrencies must choose between decentralization, speed, scalability and can pick only 2. With Masternodes, Dash picked speed and scalability at some cost of decentralization, since with Masternodes the voting power is shifted towards Masternodes, which are run by Dash users who own the most Dash.
6. IOTA: 3rd generation blockchain called Tangle, which has a high scalability, no fees and instant transactions. IOTA aims to be the connective layer between all 80 billion IOT devices that are expected to be connected to the Internet in 2025, possibly creating 80 billion transactions per second or 800 billion TPS, who knows. However, it needs to be seen if the Tangle can keep up with this scalability and iron out its security issues that have not yet been completely resolved.
7. Nano: 3rd generation blockchain called Block Lattice with high scalability, no fees and instant transactions. Unlike IOTA, Nano only wants to be a payment processor and nothing else, for now at least. With Nano, every user has their own blockchain and has to perform a small amount of computing for each transaction, which makes Nano perform at 300 TPS with no problems and 7,000 TPS have also been tested successfully. Very promising 3rd gen technology and strong focus on only being the fastest currency without trying to be everything.
8. Decred: As mining operations have grown, Bitcoin’s decision-making process has become more centralized, with the largest mining companies holding large amounts of power over the Bitcoin improvement process. Decred focuses heavily on decentralization with their PoW Pos hybrid governance system to become what Bitcoin was set out to be. They will soon implement the Lightning Network to scale up. While there do not seem to be more differences to Bitcoin besides the novel hybrid consensus algorithm, which Ethereum, Aeternity and Bitcoin Atom are also implementing, the welcoming and positive Decred community and professoinal team add another level of potential to the coin.
9. Bitcoin Atom: Atomic Swaps and hybrid consenus. This looks like the only Bitcoin clone that actually is looking to innovate next to Bitcoin Cash.
10. Dogecoin: Litecoin fork, fantastic community, though lagging behind a bit in technology.
11. Bitcoin Gold: A bit better security than bitcoin through ASIC resistant algorithm, but that's it. Not that interesting.
12. Digibyte: Digibyte's PoS blockchain is spread over a 100,000+ servers, phones, computers, and nodes across the globe, aiming for the ultimate level of decentralization. DigiByte’s adoption over the past four years has been slow. The DigiByte website offers a lot of great marketing copy and buzzwords. However, there’s not much technical information about what they have planned for the future. You could say Digibyte is like Bitcoin, but with shorter blocktimes and a multi-algorithm. However, that's not really a difference big enough to truly set themselves apart from Bitcoin, since these technologies could be implemented by any blockchain without much difficulty. Their decentralization is probably their strongest asset, however, this also change quickly if the currency takes off and big miners decide to go into Digibyte.
13. Bitcoin Diamond Asic resistant Bitcoin and Copycat

Market 2 - Platform

Most of the cryptos here have smart contracts and allow dapps (Decentralized apps) to be build on their platform and to use their token as an exchange of value between dapp services.

1. Ethereum: 2nd generation blockchain that allows the use of smart contracts. Bad scalability currently, though this concern could be alleviated by the soon to be implemented Lightning Network aka the Raiden Network, Plasma and its Sharding concept.
2. EOS: Promising technology that wants to be able do everything, from smart contracts like Ethereum, scalability similar to Nano with 1000 tx/second + near instant transactions and zero fees, to also wanting to be a platform for dapps. However, EOS doesn't have a product yet and everything is just promises still. There are lots of red flags, e.g. having dumped $500 million Ether over the last 2 months and possibly bought back EOS to increase the size of their ICO, which has been going on for over a year and has raised several billion dollars. All in all, their market cap is way too high for that and not even having a product. However, Mainnet release is in 1 month, which could change everything.
3. Cardano: Similar to Ethereum/EOS, however, only promises made with no delivery yet, highly overrated right now. Interesting concept though. Market cap way too high for not even having a product. Somewhat promising technology.
4. VeChain: Singapore-based project that’s building a business enterprise platform and inventory tracking system. Examples are verifying genuine luxury goods and food supply chains. Has one of the strongest communities in the crypto world. Most hyped token of all, with merit though.
5. Neo: Neo is a platform, similar to Eth, but more extensive, allowing dapps and smart contracts, but with a different smart contract gas system, consensus mechanism (PoS vs. dBfT), governance model, fixed vs unfixed supply, expensive contracts vs nearly free contracts, different ideologies for real world adoption. There are currently only 9 nodes, each of which are being run by a company/entity hand selected by the NEO council (most of which are located in china) and are under contract. This means that although the locations of the nodes may differ, ultimately the neo council can bring them down due to their legal contracts. In fact this has been done in the past when the neo council was moving 50 million neo that had been locked up. Also dbft (or neo's implmentation of it) has failed underload causing network outages during major icos. The first step in decentralization is that the NEO Counsel will select trusted nodes (Universities, business partners, etc.) and slowly become less centralized that way. The final step in decentralization will be allowing NEO holders to vote for new nodes, similar to a DPoS system (ARK/EOS/LISK). NEO has a regulation/government friendly ideology. Finally they are trying to work undewith the Chinese government in regards to regulations. If for some reason they wanted it shut down, they could just shut it down.
6. Stellar:PoS system, similar goals as Ripple, but more of a platform than only a currency. 80% of Stellar are owned by Stellar.org still, making the currency centralized.
7. Ethereum classic: Original Ethereum that decided not to fork after a hack. The Ethereum that we know is its fork. Uninteresing, because it has a lot of less resources than Ethereum now and a lot less community support.
8. Ziliqa: Zilliqa is building a new way of sharding. 2400 tpx already tested, 10,000 tps soon possible by being linearly scalable with the number of nodes. That means, the more nodes, the faster the network gets. They are looking at implementing privacy as well.
9. QTUM: Enables Smart contracts on the Bitcoin blockchain. Useful.
10. Icon: Korean ethereum. Decentralized application platform that's building communities in partnership with banks, insurance providers, hospitals, and universities. Focused on ID verification and payments.
11. LISK: Lisk's difference to other BaaS is that side chains are independent to the main chain and have to have their own nodes. Similar to neo whole allows dapps to deploy their blockchain to. Like most cryptocurrencies, Lisk is currently somewhat centralized with a small group of members owning more than 50% of the delegated positions. Lisk plans to change the consensus algorithm for that reason in the near future.
12. Rchain: Similar to Ethereum with smart contract, though much more scalable at an expected 40,000 TPS and possible 100,000 TPS. Not launched yet. No product launched yet, though promising technology. Not overvalued, probably at the right price right now.
13. ARDR: Similar to Lisk. Ardor is a public blockchain platform that will allow people to utilize the blockchain technology of Nxt through the use of child chains. A child chain, which is a ‘light’ blockchain that can be customized to a certain extent, is designed to allow easy self-deploy for your own blockchain. Nxt claims that users will "not need to worry" about security, as that part is now handled by the main chain (Ardor). This is the chief innovation of Ardor. Ardor was evolved from NXT by the same company. NEM started as a NXT clone.
14. Ontology: Similar to Neo. Interesting coin
15. Bytom: Bytom is an interactive protocol of multiple byte assets. Heterogeneous byte-assets (indigenous digital currency, digital assets) that operate in different forms on the Bytom Blockchain and atomic assets (warrants, securities, dividends, bonds, intelligence information, forecasting information and other information that exist in the physical world) can be registered, exchanged, gambled and engaged in other more complicated and contract-based interoperations via Bytom.
16. Nxt: Similar to Lisk
17. Aeternity: We’ve seen recently, that it’s difficult to scale the execution of smart contracts on the blockchain. Crypto Kitties is a great example. Something as simple as creating and trading unique assets on Ethereum bogged the network down when transaction volume soared. Ethereum and Zilliqa address this problem with Sharding. Aeternity focuses on increasing the scalability of smart contracts and dapps by moving smart contracts off-chain. Instead of running on the blockchain, smart contracts on Aeternity run in private state channels between the parties involved in the contracts. State channels are lines of communication between parties in a smart contract. They don’t touch the blockchain unless they need to for adjudication or transfer of value. Because they’re off-chain, state channel contracts can operate much more efficiently. An important aspect of smart contract and dapp development is access to outside data sources. This could mean checking the weather in London, score of a football game, or price of gold. Oracles provide access to data hosted outside the blockchain. In many blockchain projects, oracles represent a security risk and potential point of failure, since they tend to be singular, centralized data streams. Aeternity proposes decentralizing oracles with their oracle machine. Doing so would make outside data immutable and unchangeable once it reaches Aeternity’s blockchain. Aeternity’s network runs on on a hybrid of proof of work and proof of stake. Founded by a long-time crypto-enthusiast and early colleague of Vitalik Buterin, Yanislav Malahov. Promising concept though not product yet
18. Stratis: Different to LISK, Stratis will allow businesses and organizations to create their own blockchain according to their own needs, but secured on the parent Stratis chain. Stratis’s simple interface will allow organizations to quickly and easily deploy and/or test blockchain functionality of the Ethereum, BitShares, BitCoin, Lisk and Stratis environements.
19. Status: Status provides access to all of Ethereum’s decentralized applications (dapps) through an app on your smartphone. It opens the door to mass adoption of Ethereum dapps by targeting the fastest growing computer segment in the world – smartphone users.
20. Ark: Fork of Lisk that focuses on a smaller feature set. Ark wallets can only vote for one delegate at a time which forces delegates to compete against each other and makes cartel formations incredibly hard, if not impossible.
21. Neblio: Similar to Neo, but at a 30x smaller market cap.
22. NEM: Is similar to Neo. However, it has no marketing team, very high market cap for little clarilty what they do.
23. Bancor: Bancor is a Decentralized Liquidity Network that allows you to hold any Ethereum token and convert it to any other token in the network, with no counter party, at an automatically calculated price, using a simple web wallet.
24. Dragonchain: The Purpose of DragonChain is to help companies quickly and easily incorporate blockchain into their business applications. Many companies might be interested in making this transition because of the benefits associated with serving clients over a blockchain – increased efficiency and security for transactions, a reduction of costs from eliminating potential fraud and scams, etc.
25. Skycoin: Transactions with zero fees that take apparently two seconds, unlimited transaction rate, no need for miners and block rewards, low power usage, all of the usual cryptocurrency technical vulnerabilities fixed, a consensus mechanism superior to anything that exists, resistant to all conceivable threats (government censorship, community infighting, cybenucleaconventional warfare, etc). Skycoin has their own consensus algorithm known as Obelisk written and published academically by an early developer of Ethereum. Obelisk is a non-energy intensive consensus algorithm based on a concept called ‘web of trust dynamics’ which is completely different to PoW, PoS, and their derivatives. Skywire, the flagship application of Skycoin, has the ambitious goal of decentralizing the internet at the hardware level and is about to begin the testnet in April. However, this is just one of the many facets of the Skycoin ecosystem. Skywire will not only provide decentralized bandwidth but also storage and computation, completing the holy trinity of commodities essential for the new internet. Skycion a smear campaign launched against it, though they seem legit and reliable. Thus, they are probably undervalued.

Market 3 - Ecosystem

The 3rd market with 11 coins is comprised of ecosystem coins, which aim to strengthen the ease of use within the crypto space through decentralized exchanges, open standards for apps and more

1. Nebulas: Similar to how Google indexes webpages Nebulas will index blockchain projects, smart contracts & data using the Nebulas rank algorithm that sifts & sorts the data. Developers rewarded NAS to develop & deploy on NAS chain. Nebulas calls this developer incentive protocol – basically rewards are issued based on how often dapp/contract etc. is used, the more the better the rewards and Proof of devotion. Works like DPoS except the best, most economically incentivised developers (Bookkeeppers) get the forging spots. Ensuring brains stay with the project (Cross between PoI & PoS). 2,400 TPS+, DAG used to solve the inter-transaction dependencies in the PEE (Parallel Execution Environment) feature, first crypto Wallet that supports the Lightening Network.
2. Waves: Decentralized exchange and crowdfunding platform. Let’s companies and projects to issue and manage their own digital coin tokens to raise money.
3. Salt: Leveraging blockchain assets to secure cash loands. Plans to offer cash loans in traditional currencies, backed by your cryptocurrency assets. Allows lenders worldwide to skip credit checks for easier access to affordable loans.
4. CHAINLINK: ChainLink is a decentralized oracle service, the first of its kind. Oracles are defined as an ‘agent’ that finds and verifies real-world occurrences and submits this information to a blockchain to be used in smart contracts.With ChainLink, smart contract users can use the network’s oracles to retrieve data from off-chain application program interfaces (APIs), data pools, and other resources and integrate them into the blockchain and smart contracts. Basically, ChainLink takes information that is external to blockchain applications and puts it on-chain. The difference to Aeternity is that Chainlink deploys the smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain while Aeternity has its own chain.
5. WTC: Combines blockchain with IoT to create a management system for supply chains Interesting
6. Ethos unifyies all cryptos. Ethos is building a multi-cryptocurrency phone wallet. The team is also building an investment diversification tool and a social network
7. Komodo: The Komodo blockchain platform uses Komodo’s open-source cryptocurrency for doing transparent, anonymous, private, and fungible transactions. They are then made ultra-secure using Bitcoin’s blockchain via a Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) protocol and decentralized crowdfunding (ICO) platform to remove middlemen from project funding. Offers services for startups to create and manage their own Blockchains.
8. Aion: Today, there are hundreds of blockchains. In the coming years, with widespread adoption by mainstream business and government, these will be thousands or millions. Blockchains don’t talk to each other at all right now, they are like the PCs of the 1980s. The Aion network is able to support custom blockchain architectures while still allowing for cross-chain interoperability by enabling users to exchange data between any Aion-compliant blockchains by making use of an interchain framework that allows for messages to be relayed between blockchains in a completely trust-free manner.
9. Tenx: Raised 80 million, offers cryptocurrency-linked credit cards that let you spend virtual money in real life. Developing a series of payment platforms to make spending cryptocurrency easier.

Market 4 - Privacy

The 4th market are privacy coins. As you might know, Bitcoin is not anonymous. If the IRS or any other party asks an exchange who is the identity behind a specific Bitcoin address, they know who you are and can track back almost all of the Bitcoin transactions you have ever made and all your account balances. Privacy coins aim to prevent exactly that through address fungability, which changes addresses constantly, IP obfuscation and more. There are 2 types of privacy coins, one with completely privacy and one with optional privacy. Optional Privacy coins like Dash and Nav have the advantage of more user friendliness over completely privacy coins such as Monero and Enigma.

1. Monero: Currently most popular privacy coin, though with a very high market cap. Since their privacy is all on chain, all prior transactions would be deanonymized if their protocol is ever cracked. This requires a quantum computing attack though. PIVX is better in that regard.
2. Zcash: A decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency that hide the sender, recipient, and value of transactions. Offers users the option to make transactions public later for auditing. Decent privacy coin, though no default privacy
3. Verge: Calls itself privacy coin without providing private transactions, multiple problems over the last weeks has a toxic community, and way too much hype for what they have.
4. Bytecoin: First privacy-focused cryptocurrency with anonymous transactions. Bytecoin’s code was later adapted to create Monero, the more well-known anonymous cryptocurrency. Has several scam accusations, 80% pre-mine, bad devs, bad tech
5. Bitcoin Private: A merge fork of Bitcoin and Zclassic with Zclassic being a fork of Zcash with the difference of a lack of a founders fee required to mine a valid block. This promotes a fair distribution, preventing centralized coin ownership and control. Bitcoin private offers the optional ability to keep the sender, receiver, and amount private in a given transaction. However, this is already offered by several good privacy coins (Monero, PIVX) and Bitcoin private doesn't offer much more beyond this.
6. PIVX: As a fork of Dash, PIVX uses an advanced implementation of the Zerocoin protocol to provide it’s privacy. This is a form of zeroknowledge proofs, which allow users to spend ‘Zerocoins’ that have no link back to them. Unlike Zcash u have denominations in PIVX, so they can’t track users by their payment amount being equal to the amount of ‘minted’ coins, because everyone uses the same denominations. PIVX is also implementing Bulletproofs, just like Monero, and this will take care of arguably the biggest weakness of zeroknowledge protocols: the trusted setup.
7. Zcoin: PoW cryptocurrency. Private financial transactions, enabled by the Zerocoin Protocol. Zcoin is the first full implementation of the Zerocoin Protocol, which allows users to have complete privacy via Zero-Knowledge cryptographic proofs.
8. Enigma: Monero is to Bitcoin what enigma is to Ethereum. Enigma is for making the data used in smart contracts private. More of a platform for dapps than a currency like Monero. Very promising.
9. Navcoin: Like bitcoin but with added privacy and pos and 1,170 tps, but only because of very short 30 second block times. Though, privacy is optional, but aims to be more user friendly than Monero. However, doesn't really decide if it wants to be a privacy coin or not. Same as Zcash.Strong technology, non-shady team.

Market 5 - Currency Exchange Tool

Due to the sheer number of different cryptocurrencies, exchanging one currency for the other it still cumbersome. Further, merchants don’t want to deal with overcluttered options of accepting cryptocurrencies. This is where exchange tool like Req come in, which allow easy and simple exchange of currencies.

1. Cryptonex: Fiat and currency exchange between various blockchain services, similar to REQ.
2. QASH: Qash is used to fuel its liquid platform which will be an exchange that will distribute their liquidity pool. Its product, the Worldbook is a multi-exchange order book that matches crypto to crypto, and crypto to fiat and the reverse across all currencies. E.g., someone is selling Bitcoin is USD on exchange1 not owned by Quoine and someone is buying Bitcoin in EURO on exchange 2 not owned by Quoine. They turned it on to test it a few months ago for an hour or so and their exchange was the top exchange in the world by 4x volume for the day because all Worldbook trades ran through it. Binance wants BNB to be used on their one exchange. Qash wants their QASH token embedded in all of their partners.
3. Kyber: network Exchange between cryptocurrencies, similar to REQ. Features automatic coin conversions for payments. Also offers payment tools for developers and a cryptocurrency wallet.
4. Achain: Building a boundless blockchain world like Req .
5. Centrality: Centrality is a decentralized market place for dapps that are all connected together on a blockchain-powered system. Centrality aims to allow businesses to work together using blockchain technology. With Centrality, startups can collaborate through shared acquisition of customers, data, merchants, and content. That shared acquisition occurs across the Centrality blockchain, which hosts a number of decentralized apps called Scenes. Companies can use CENTRA tokens to purchase Scenes for their app, then leverage the power of the Centrality ecosystem to quickly scale. Some of Centrality's top dapps are, Skoot, a travel experience marketplace that consists of a virtual companion designed for free independent travelers and inbound visitors, Belong, a marketplace and an employee engagement platform that seems at helping business provide rewards for employees, Merge, a smart travel app that acts as a time management system, Ushare, a transports application that works across rental cars, public transport, taxi services, electric bikes and more. All of these dapps are able to communicate with each other and exchange data through Centrality.
6. Bitshares: Exchange between cryptocurrencies. Noteworthy are the 1.5 second average block times and throughput potential of 100,000 transactions per second with currently 2,400 TPS having been proven. However, Bitshares had several Scam accusations in the past.
7. Loopring: A protocol that will enable higher liquidity between exchanges and personal wallets by pooling all orders sent to its network and fill these orders through the order books of multiple exchanges. When using Loopring, traders never have to deposit funds into an exchange to begin trading. Even with decentralized exchanges like Ether Delta, IDex, or Bitshares, you’d have to deposit your funds onto the platform, usually via an Ethereum smart contract. But with Loopring, funds always remain in user wallets and are never locked by orders. This gives you complete autonomy over your funds while trading, allowing you to cancel, trim, or increase an order before it is executed.
8. ZRX: Open standard for dapps. Open, permissionless protocol allowing for ERC20 tokens to be traded on the Ethereum blockchain. In 0x protocol, orders are transported off-chain, massively reducing gas costs and eliminating blockchain bloat. Relayers help broadcast orders and collect a fee each time they facilitate a trade. Anyone can build a relayer.

Market 6 - Gaming

With an industry size of $108B worldwide, Gaming is one of the largest markets in the world. For sure, cryptocurrencies will want to have a share of that pie.

1. Storm: Mobile game currency on a platform with 9 million players.
2. Fun: A platform for casino operators to host trustless, provably-fair gambling through the use of smart contracts, as well as creating their own implementation of state channels for scalability.
3. Electroneum: Mobile game currency They have lots of technical problems, such as several 51% attacks
4. Wax: Marketplace to trade in-game items

Market 7 - Misc

There are various markets being tapped right now. They are all summed up under misc.

1. OMG: Omise is designed to enable financial services for people without bank accounts. It works worldwide and with both traditional money and cryptocurrencies.
2. Power ledger: Australian blockchain-based cryptocurrency and energy trading platform that allows for decentralized selling and buying of renewable energy. Unique market and rather untapped market in the crypto space.
3. Populous: Populous is a platform that connects business owners and invoice buyers without middlemen. Furthermore, it is a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform that uses blockchain to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a more efficient way to participate in invoice financing. Businesses can sell their outstanding invoices at a discount to quickly free up some cash. Invoice sellers get cash flow to fund their business and invoice buyers earn interest.
4. Monacoin: The first Japanese cryptocurrency. Focused on micro-transactions and based on a popular internet meme of a type-written cat. This makes it similar to Dogecoin. Very niche, tiny market.
5. Revain: Legitimizing reviews via the blockchain. Interesting concept, though market not as big.
6. Augur: Platform to forecast and make wagers on the outcome of real-world events (AKA decentralized predictions). Uses predictions for a “wisdom of the crowd” search engine. Not launched yet.
7. Substratum: Revolutionzing hosting industry via per request billing as a decentralized internet hosting system. Uses a global network of private computers to create the free and open internet of the future. Participants earn cryptocurrency. Interesting concept.
8. Veritaseum: Is supposed to be a peer to peer gateway, though it looks like very much like a scam.
9. TRON: Tronix is looking to capitalize on ownership of internet data to content creators. However, they plagiarized their white paper, which is a no go. They apologized, so it needs to be seen how they will conduct themselves in the future. Extremely high market cap for not having a product, nor proof of concept.
10. Syscoin: A cryptocurrency with a decentralized marketplace that lets people buy and sell products directly without third parties. Trying to remove middlemen like eBay and Amazon.
11. Hshare: Most likely scam because of no code changes, most likely pump and dump scheme, dead community.
12. BAT: An Ethereum-based token that can be exchanged between content creators, users, and advertisers. Decentralized ad-network that pays based on engagement and attention.
13. Dent: Decentralizeed exchange of mobile data, enabling mobile data to be marketed, purchased or distributed, so that users can quickly buy or sell data from any user to another one.
14. Ncash: End to end encrypted Identification system for retailers to better serve their customers .
15. Factom Secure record-keeping system that allows companies to store their data directly on the Blockchain. The goal is to make records more transparent and trustworthy .

Market 8 - Social network

Web 2.0 is still going strong and Web 3.0 is not going to ignore it. There are several gaming tokens already out there and a few with decent traction already, such as Steem, which is Reddit with voting through money is a very interesting one.

1. Mithril: As users create content via social media, they will be rewarded for their contribution, the better the contribution, the more they will earn
2. Steem: Like Reddit, but voting with money. Already launched product and Alexa rank 1,000 Thumbs up.
3. Rdd: Reddcoin makes the process of sending and receiving money fun and rewarding for everyone. Reddcoin is dedicated to one thing – tipping on social networks as a way to bring cryptocurrency awareness and experience to the general public.
4. Kin: Token for the platform Kik. Kik has a massive user base of 400 million people. Replacing paying with FIAT with paying with KIN might get this token to mass adoption very quickly.

Market 9 - Fee token

Popular exchanges realized that they can make a few billion dollars more by launching their own token. Owning these tokens gives you a reduction of trading fees. Very handy and BNB (Binance Coin) has been one of the most resilient tokens, which have withstood most market drops over the last weeks and was among the very few coins that could show growth.

1. BNB: Fee token for Binance
2. Gas: Not a Fee token for an exchange, but it is a dividend paid out on Neo and a currency that can be used to purchase services for dapps.
3. Kucoin: Fee token for Kucoin

Market 10 - Decentralized Data Storage

Currently, data storage happens with large companies or data centers that are prone to failure or losing data. Decentralized data storage makes loss of data almost impossible by distributing your files to numerous clients that hold tiny pieces of your data. Remember Torrents? Torrents use a peer-to-peer network. It is similar to that. Many users maintain copies of the same file, when someone wants a copy of that file, they send a request to the peer-to-peer network., users who have the file, known as seeds, send fragments of the file to the requester. The requester receives many fragments from many different seeds, and the torrent software recompiles these fragments to form the original file.

1. Gbyte: Byteball data is stored and ordered using directed acyclic graph (DAG) rather than blockchain. This allows all users to secure each other's data by referencing earlier data units created by other users, and also removes scalability limits common for blockchains, such as blocksize issue.
2. Siacoin: Siacoin is decentralized storage platform. Distributes encrypted files to thousands of private users who get paid for renting out their disk space. Anybody with siacoins can rent storage from hosts on Sia. This is accomplish via "smart" storage contracts stored on the Sia blockchain. The smart contract provides a payment to the host only after the host has kept the file for a given amount of time. If the host loses the file, the host does not get paid.
3. Maidsafecoin: MaidSafe stands for Massive Array of Internet Disks, Secure Access for Everyone.Instead of working with data centers and servers that are common today and are vulnerable to data theft and monitoring, You can think of SAFE as a crowd-sourced internet. It’s an autonomous network that automatically sets prices and distributes data and rents out hard drive disk space with a Blockchain-based storage solutions.When you upload a file to the network, such as a photo, it will be broken into pieces, hashed, and encrypted. Then, redundant copies of the data are created as well so that if someone storing your file turns off their computer, you will still have access to your data. And don’t worry, even with pieces of your data on other people’s computers, they won’t be able to read them. You can earn MadeSafeCoins by participating in storing data pieces from the network on your computer and thus earning a Proof of Resource.
4. Storj: Storj aims to become a cloud storage platform that can’t be censored or monitored, or have downtime. Your files are encrypted, shredded into little pieces called 'shards', and stored in a decentralized network of computers around the globe. No one but you has a complete copy of your file, not even in an encrypted form.

Market 11 - Cloud computing

Obviously, renting computing power, one of the biggest emerging markets as of recent years, e.g. AWS and Digital Ocean, is also a service, which can be bought and managed via the blockchain.

1. Golem: Allows easy use of Supercomputer in exchange for tokens. People worldwide can rent out their computers to the network and get paid for that service with Golem tokens.
2. Elf: Allows easy use of Cloud computing in exchange for tokens.

Market 12 - Stablecoin

Last but not least, there are 2 stablecoins that have established themselves within the market. A stable coin is a coin that wants to be independent of the volatility of the crypto markets. This has worked out pretty well for Maker and DGD, accomplished through a carefully diversified currency fund and backing each token by 1g or real gold respectively. DO NOT CONFUSE DGD AND MAKER with their STABLE COINS DGX and DAI. DGD and MAKER are volatile, because they are the companies of DGX and DAI. DGX and DAI are the stable coins.

1. DGD: Platform of the Stablecoin DGX. Every DGX coin is backed by 1g of gold and make use proof of asset consensus.
2. Maker: Platform of the Stablecoin DAI that doesn't vary much in price through widespread and smart diversification of assets.
3. USDT: is no cryptocurrency really, but a replacement for dollar for trading After months of asking for proof of dollar backing, still no response from Tether.

EDIT: Added a risk factor from 0 to 10. Significant scandals, mishaps, shady practices, questionable technology, increase the risk factor. Not having a product yet automatically means a risk factor of 6. Strong adoption and thus strong scrutiny or positive community lower the risk factor.
EDIT2: Added a subjective potential factor from 0 to 10, where its overall potential and a small or big market cap is factored in. Bitcoin with lots of potential only gets a 9, because of its massive market cap, because if Bitcoin goes 10x, smaller coins go 100x.

Morgan Stanley president Kelleher says China 'is just fine'
China is "just fine" and the recent worries about its economy was just an excuse to sell the market off after a good run, Morgan Stanley (MS.N) President Colm Kelleher said on Wednesday. "I think there's no new news here, emerging markets will not grow, we know that. Developed markets are carrying the growth, particularly in the U.S. and we are of the view that China is just fine, 6.9 percent growth is okay and we believe those numbers broadly," Kelleher told a conference in Dublin.

Source

Whatever does cause the next global recession, it likely won’t be China.
That’s according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who gathered its top experts on the nation to mull the "34 questions about China that you were afraid to ask." They concluded the world’s second-largest economy will steer clear of a hard landing and the government will contain the risks arising from its financial market turbulence. While its slowdown will weigh investor confidence, it won’t cause major negative spillovers to the global economy based on an analysis of trade, portfolio and commodity channels.

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Lagarde: We have faith in China, despite volatility
The head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday that she's not concerned about volatility in China's markets, which have suffered wild swings in recent weeks. Lagarde remains confident that Chinese authorities will be able to guide the country during its transformation from an economy based on investment and exports, to one driven by consumption.

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Why China doesn’t mind being left out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Beijing already has free trade agreements with more than half of the TPP countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam, and it can exploit those arrangements to minimize or avoid import duties that would normally apply to made-in-China products. Felipe Caro and Christopher Tang of UCLA's Anderson School of Management explained in Fortune magazine this week how that could work. “To satisfy certain country­-of-­origin conditions stipulated in TPP, China can manage the supply chain operations of cotton shirts by importing cotton from Pakistan (via its existing free trade agreement with China) and conduct 'upstream' operations, such as fabric design, knitting and dyeing at home. "Then China can ship the fabric to Vietnam (via an existing free trade agreement with China). At the same time, Japan can ship the buttons to Vietnam (via the TPP). Vietnam can perform 'downstream' operations (sewing) and then ship the finished shirts via TPP agreement to Australia, Japan and the United States, cutting off the 5%, 10.9% and 16.5% import duties that would have applied if China had dealt directly with these countries.” And China clearly doesn’t require the TPP to enhance its already sizeable influence in the world.

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Credit Suisse CEO Says He Remains Positive on China, Echoing UBS
Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam said he remains positive on China, echoing comments by his counterpart at UBS Group AG, following an equity selloff and a deepening economic slowdown.

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ADB head optimistic China's economy to grow 6.7 percent
MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank president is optimistic China's economy will post a healthy 6.7 percent growth this year despite jitters over the yuan's depreciation and a plunge in Chinese stocks. Nakao says he does not see a serious adjustment in the Chinese economy because there is much room to expand services and fiscal reforms are being undertaken.

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China on right economic path: World Bank economist
China is following the right path and is making progress in its bid to rebalance the nation's economy, according to a World Bank economist. Franziska Ohnsorge, a lead economist at the World Bank, said Chinese officials had outlined an economic plan at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee in 2013 and were implementing the reforms to enact that plan. "They are steadily implementing these reforms and these are exactly the reforms that China needs, but they will yield benefits over the long term," she said.

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The `Hard-Landing School' Has It Wrong on China, Says Roach
The Yale University senior fellow said the economy is in a transition and employment data showing strong urban job growth paint a more positive picture. “You can’t look at top-line GDP and conclude about whether China is going hard or soft,” Roach told Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television. “You have to look at the pieces, the mix, and the mix is far more constructive than the China bears would lead you to believe.”

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German, French central bankers warn of overreaction to China
Speaking at a meeting of French and German central bank governors and finance ministers in Paris, Bundesbank Governor Jens Weidmann warned against painting everything black and said he did not expect a sharp deterioration in the Chinese economy. “I agree with Jens Weidmann that financial volatility is somewhat excessive. I think we need to look through the short-term (market) swings,” Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau told reporters.

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Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said here Tuesday that IMF "does not believe that the world's second largest economy will face a hard landing" and that China's decision to transform "from quantity to quality" is the right way.

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China hard landing unlikely but debt levels a concern: Fitch
"China's financial system is dominated by banks and funded overwhelmingly by retail deposits. Both the banks and borrowers are either state-owned or heavily state-influenced. These factors combine to suggest that the kind of collapse of confidence among creditors that might precipitate a financial crisis is unlikely in China," Fitch said.

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Why China's Housing Market Refuses To Crash: Control of interest rates, financing, who can be a buyer, how many houses someone can buy, where people invest their money, the urban markets home buyers are pushed into
One of the ways that China’s government influences the direction of the housing market is with interest rates. When they want to cool things down a little, the government charges higher interest rates on loans to developers and home buyers, when they want to heat the market up give more favorable rates.
One of the saving graces of China’s housing market, no matter how heated it has appeared, was that home buyers have always been extremely under-leveraged. At 90%, China has one of the world’s highest home ownership rates, but only 18% of the country’s households have mortgages.
In large part, this lack of leverage is due to the fact that lending for home purchases are tightly controlled by China’s central and municipal level governments. Who qualifies for mortgages and how much financing they can receive is based on formal calculations which vary from city to city and are continuously adapted to suit current economic conditions.
In China’s cities, among other classifications, people are divided up between potential home buyers and what’s known as non-buyers. There are set rules which outline how a non-buyer can become a buyer, which generally consists of living in the city and paying income tax there for a specified number of years.
Another way that China’s government quells speculation in the housing market is by simply restricting the quantity of houses that people can buy. For an extended period of time, big cities like Shanghai have had home purchasing restrictions (HPRs) which have limited its residents to only being able to buy one additional house.
As I’ve covered earlier, viable investment options for people in China are extremely limited. Interest on bank deposits are less than inflation, the stock market is about as secure as a casino, WMPs have had their attractiveness regulated out of them, and channels to invest overseas are being plugged up. This leaves housing. Basically, Chinese investors are funneled into the housing market, and, in a country with one of the highest savings rates on the planet, this means a huge amount of ready-to-invest capital continuously pouring in.
Growing very distinct in 2015 and lasting into this year is a sheer disparity in China’s housing market between big and vibrant tier-one and some tier-two cities — where everybody wants to live — and the rest of the country. While China’s real estate market has usually vacillated in almost uniform waves across the country, we’re now seeing a situation where prices in some cities are exploding while others are posting all time lows. To help rectify this situation, China’s government seems to be engineering a climate in the big, booming cities that’s intended to push buyers into other nearby markets.
When looking at China’s housing market one key point to remember is that this isn’t really a free market and can’t be expected to behave like one. Behind the scenes are governmental ventriloquists pulling at proverbial strings, controlling supply and engineering just the right amount of demand.

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Bank of Canada still bullish on China despite economic slowdown
The Chinese economy has the potential to grow at 6 per cent a year for another 15 years, more than doubling its economy and sustaining its appetite for Canadian goods, senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins said Tuesday. “China’s demand for commodities should remain high and grow from a higher base, even if the country’s economic growth is slower and less reliant on natural resources,” Ms. Wilkins said in remarks prepared for a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade. She argued that China’s slowdown to a more sustainable pace is “not only inevitable, it’s desirable.”

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HSBC’s Gulliver upbeat on China economy, reforms
Gulliver said China’s growth target of 6.5 to 7 percent is still robust, while the central bank has room for further cuts in interest rates and lenders’ reserve requirement ratio, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported. The country’s ability to pursue reforms has been underestimated while its currency valuation moves should be seen as progress rather than regression, he said. He said China is capable of boosting domestic consumption to offset any gap in growth targets given its enormous fiscal reserves.

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China debt a risk but authorities are handling it: Moody's
"Not only do the authorities know what the situation is, but they have the tools and the intention , the willingness to address the issue (of) high leverages," Moody's managing director Atsi Sheth told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "China's growth and its growth outlook is still quite robust. This is a low-income economy playing the catch-up model….A lot of China's debt is still domestically generated; there are domestic savings that led to this debt creation as opposed to foreign borrowing …. That gives it some stability and support," added Sheth

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China debt fears cloud the real picture, says AXA
Fear about the build-up of debt in China ignores the fact that most of it is internal and much of it will be converted into long-term financial assets, says a senior manager at one of Europe's biggest funds group. The main distinction with other developing economies, he says, is that most of the debt load is domestic, meaning little foreign currency exposure. The other is that an important chunk of it comprises short-term bank loans to special-purpose vehicles set up to fund local government infrastructure. These will ultimately be repackaged as long-term bonds and sold, via banks, to institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies, including outside China, says Tinker.
Oxford Economics is less alarmist, agreeing with Tinker that much of the debt has been sunk into capital stock that will pay for itself. The problem, it says, are in sectors such as heavy industry and manufacturing where returns on investment have been declining.

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China's economic reforms have received a vote of confidence from heads of key international economic organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank
In a joint statement with China, they said fundamentals of the Chinese economy remain positive in the long term, thanks to its efforts in developing new growth drivers. The statement noted that China's economic structure has "improved" and that consumption and the services sector have become the major driving forces of the economy.

Source
above cites

• Morgan Stanley president Kelleher
  
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  
• head of the International Monetary Fund Lagarde
  
• Felipe Caro and Christopher Tang of UCLA's Anderson School of Management
  
• Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam
  
• Asian Development Bank president Nakao
  
• Franziska Ohnsorge, a lead economist at the World Bank
  
• Yale University senior fellow Roach
  
• German, French central bankers Bundesbank Governor Jens Weidmann and Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau
  
• Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund
  
• Fitch Ratings
  
• Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins
  
• HSBC’s chief executive Stuart Gulliver
  
• Moodys
  
• one of Europe's biggest funds group AXA, Oxford Economics
  
• World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank
  

reddit copy/paste http://pastebin.com/dqPE05N4

(My apologies for taking so long on this chapter. Work got busy, and I had so many little ideas I wanted to incorporate that I had to take my time working them in with being too confusing. Anyway, enjoy Part 2 of my SMERSH trilogy, one more to go!)
The streets of Hong Kong. Countless people fill the sidewalks, moving along. A man darts out of the crowd and down a quiet alley. A Chinese woman eyes the alley and speaks into her bracelet. The man loses himself in another crowd. He touches his ear as he says (in a British accent): “Repeat. This is brass farthing looking to deposit in the bank. Is the vault open?” The British man looks around desperately, then runs along, only to reveal a Chinese man immediately behind him watching the British man run. The British man arrives at a quiet apartment building and rings one of the bells, running inside when the buzzer sounds. The man walks to a particular door and knocks. Another Chinese man opens the door cautiously: “We thought you’d been compromised. Get in, hurry.” The British man walks past the reception desk into an office. But as he passes, we see a pair of feet sticking out from behind the desk. As the British man walks into another office, the door seals behind him and gas pours in through the vents. We see the other man standing outside the door as we hear the thud of the British man passing out: “Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west.”
Darkness. A big, rusty, metal door creaks open and three men enter the light; one in a lab coat, two in military uniforms. The man with the lab coat points off to the side, “Him.” The other two men open a cell door and drag out a tattered man. It is the British man from Hong Kong. The soldiers follow the lead man down a hallway, around several turns of some dank, nameless place. The man in the lab coat stops and opens a door, which leads into a medical examination room. In the center of the room is an examination table, and standing over the table is Klebb. “Hello 00. You know who I am, so you should have some idea what’s in store.”
The scene cuts to Bond in the shower at home in the midst of his usual routine: there is a lot of steam pouring over the room, but Bond then twists the knob and the water becomes ice cold. Bond steps out, dries off, and does some basic exercises on the floor of his room as May, his housekeeper yells that his breakfast is ready.
Back in the dingy room, the man responds: “I won’t answer any of your questions, so stop wasting your time and mine!”
“Ah, brave and to the point. Don’t I at least get name, rank, and serial number anymore? I miss the protocols of the old days.”
“My name is Lt. Cmmr. David Eden, number-”
“Double oh five.” The man is stunned. “Thank you for confirming, David. I don’t trust intelligence reports, they don’t satisfy me so much as what I can get face-to-face. This is so much more personal, tangible,…visceral.”
The scene revisits Bond, driving on his way to the office. He looks bored, groaning to himself, complaining that there is probably still a week’s worth of paperwork in his inbox. How he wishes something would happen soon.
The other men begin strapping 005 to the table while Klebb pulls down a large round lamp that hangs above it. Attached all along the perimeter of the lamp are several tools, some with bizarrely curved blades, some with electrical cables coming out the end, others are tubes of various colored chemicals. Klebb stands over the trembling 005: “Let me know if it becomes too much, my dear. Unfortunately, I don’t have any questions for you at the moment.”
“But then, why are you doing this?!?”
“Please David, I should have mentioned that I don’t like to be interrupted while I’m working. Now, Nikolai. Number 47.” One of the men pulls an electrical devices and a colored syringe from the side of the lamp.
Bond shuffles through the forms on his desk, clearly looking to procrastinate. He looks up and catches the eye of a colleague opposite him: “3! Where’s 5? Any news on his latest assignment to Singapore?” 003 shrugs his shoulders: “He hasn’t checked in for several days. M will probably get the itch for one of us to follow up sooner or later.”
Back in the dingy room. “One of your colleagues recently dispatched a few of our operatives in the Caribbean and the United States. The problem is, his file is never kept in the usual place like where yours is. He must be on active duty eternally. Our Chief Executioner got a good look at him, but we need a name to go with the face.”
Klebb gently caresses 005′s hair. 005 drained of all will, looks pleadingly to Klebb, who asks: “I want a name.”
The cuts back to Bond at his desk while we hear 005′s response: “Bond, James Bond.”
Cue a sexy title sequence.
G sits at the head of a table, surrounded with men and women; some in military uniform, others in suits. G has called a meeting of all departments of SMERSH. G begins by mentioning SMERSH has successfully reasserted its presence in the world, and despite a few setbacks, has accomplished its initial goals. “That said, although President Velichin engineered this organization’s resurrection, the political importance of deniability has severed any and all oversight beyond anyone in this room. It is crucial that from this point on, that we resist any outside influence. We are now more than an agency within an agency; we are a shadow nation within a nation, and this is our opportunity to be a power unto ourselves.”
One man at the table jumps to his feet: “General, how can we possibly do this? We are still accountable to our country even if we are unsupervised!” G responds that if SMERSH is to have the greatest possible impact, it must embrace its independence. Undeterred, the man worries that SMERSH risks turning itself into a state-sponsored version of SPECTRE and would invite brutal suppression from the leadership. Everyone at the table mumbles concern. G holds up his hands and tries to reassure them that he is no Blofeld. G reminds everyone that SPECTRE’s numerous cyberattacks on Russia’s most prominent businessmen, and attempted assassinations of the president’s closest advisors necessitated SMERSH’s return to defend Russia. But, G warns, most of the original agents of SMERSH were killed on the whims of Stalin and Khrushchev. SMERSH must internalize a lesson of the Cold War that its predecessor failed to appreciate: in espionage, the war is fought in countless small engagements, and losses must be, to some extent, tolerated. A minor setback one day may well lay the groundwork for a larger victory the next. Therefore, a degree of independence is crucial to protect themselves from a fickle political class. “Between the sword that hangs above our heads and the phantoms which threaten to strike from the shadows, we must be like a great fire that dispels the shadows and burns anyone who would touch us carelessly.”
G asks for each department’s representatives to report on past and current operations. Department III (Administration & Finance): Zolata Goldfinger stands and delivers a report on SMERSH’s accounts. She confirms that SMERSH is now financially independent based on the success of operations around the globe. Goldfinger recites a list of how much profit various enterprises netted in different countries throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. Goldfinger mentions a new opportunity to undermine Britain has come to her attention. She requests permission to asses the sleeper’s idea and provide support if it sounds viable. G grants the request, contingent on Kronsteen’s review. Department IV (Investigations): a uniformed officer stands and reports on the failure of the Thunderstorm Initiative’s operation in the Americas. After investigating the matter, the officer concluded that the agent on detail from Fan Jian Ji, Dr. No, failed to secure classified documents and then fled to the United States, blowing the cover of our sleeper agent, Mr. Big. Although Mr. Big expected the British agent, Dr. No’s failures and the agent’s own cunning disrupted Big’s plans and undermined the operation. G notes that he will voice his displeasure to their Chinese partners personally. Department I (Counterintelligence): Rosa Klebb stands and reports on the information she has obtained from the captured British agent. According to 005, the British agent who killed Mr. Big was James Bond, 007. 007 should not be taken lightly, though he does possess certain weaknesses in his addiction to alcohol and women, and a rejection of authority, likely grounded in a cynicism and exhuastion from his long history in the field. Department II (Operations & Executions): Vladek Kronsteen stands and reports that Grant’s previous observation of Bond make him well-suited to continue following him through whatever his next mission may be. G tells Kronsteen that without knowing Bond’s next mission, especially since the loss of their mole in their Jamaican station, it will be difficult to send Grant after him. Instead, Grant will be kept on stand-by until Bond is sighted. G stops himself, “Better yet, put Grant on intelligence duties. This business of cleaning out jails every full moon is attracting unwanted attention. Have Grant assist Major Goldfinger until told otherwise.” Department V (Judgment): a man stands and reports that all judgments have been executed, except for the matter of the British spy in custody. G replies nonchalantly: “Our name sums up the sentence adequately…death to spies.”
Back at MI6, Bond receives a call from Moneypenny to come up to M’s office. Bond practically leaps from behind his desk, eager for the possibility of action after weeks of paperwork. Bond greets Moneypenny and Tanner, but moves to Moneypenny’s desk. He pulls out a single gardenia from his jacket and offers it to Moneypenny, noting that the flower means good luck and the hope that her call will bring him a little more fun. Tanner yanks the flower out of Bond’s hand, telling him that he has more to do with deciding Bond’s next mission than Moneypenny, and on that note, he would prefer if Bond brought him carnations instead. Moneypenny jokes to Tanner that he will be waiting a long time before he gets anything from James, she can attest to that.
Tanner leads Bond into M’s office. M tells Bond that SMERSH persists in various counterintelligence operations around the world, but nothing on a particularly large scale since he defeated Mr. Big. Tanner adds that unfortunately there isn’t much MI6 can do because SMERSH has popped up in countries hostile to British assistance. Much of the world has become less collaborative, especially since the fallout over Nine Eyes, and Britain’s general geopolitical disengagement over the last few years has made our job that much more difficult. M groans that Special Branch has had to close several stations, including Station G (Greece), Station M (Morocco), and Station I (India). Therefore unless SMERSH decides to be courteous and operate in a country that isn’t trying to handle its intelligence work alone, we may not be able to respond.
Bond asks if there is any update on 005′s work in Singapore. M looks down at his desk. Tanner informs Bond there are not many leads. The last report from 005 was a message to the local station chief in Hong Kong several weeks ago: “Fan Jian Ji”. Bond says that phrase sounds familiar. M says that it is one the Thirty-Six Strategems, specifically “Let the enemy’s own spy sow discord in the enemy camp.” “SMERSH?”, Bond asks. Tanner responds that it is unlikely: “Russia would not operate so deep in China’s sphere. 005 was looking into recent acts of sabotage and the disappearance of high-profile figures in Taiwan and Hong Kong. We think the Chinese have set up their own incarnation of SMERSH operating throughout southeast Asia, only we know nothing about it.”
Bond leans forward: “Sir, I volunteer to look into this. 005 was a good friend.”
M interjects: “Absolutely not, 007. After that business across the pond, and God knows what happened to 005, you are in heightened danger. I am reassigning you until we can be sure SMERSH is not targeting you specifically. Until then, your very presence puts anything near you in jeopardy.” Bond edges his chair back, as though doing so would keep M from catching Bond’s germs. M harrumphs: “Tanner, give him the details of Operation Sherwood.”
Tanner knocks Bond upside the head with the file. “Right. James, we’re sending you to Belfast. It’s no secret that some of the countries within the U.K. have been more vocal lately about strengthening their ties to the Continent, while the rest of Britain takes a step back. Not really our business, except whenever these grumblings get in the news, there is increased chatter picked up out of Russia. More concerning still, when Northern Ireland discussed reunification, there was a massive spike.”
M picks up the briefing: “If Northern Ireland leaves, Ireland would have to completely rebuild their intelligence infrastructure to include the new territory, and we would have to completely reset how we operate there.”
Bond realizes the threat: “And time devoted to reorganizing is the sort of distraction that allows moles to infiltrate a reunified Ireland, or at least harass us from much, much closer.”
M nods and hands Bond a folder: “Precisely. You’re booked on the next plane out. Your contact served as a loyalist during the Troubles in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. A dangerous police force to serve in. Badly injured in a bombing, lost his memory for a time, given less active duties in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. But he’s climbed the ladder quite a bit since then.”
Bond reads the name on the file: “Hugo Drax. Seems agreeable. What are we looking to obtain from him?”
“This won’t be as hopeless a mission as your interview with Tanaka in Japan. But it isn’t far off either. Though we need to prepare for the loss of Northern Ireland, we really have no sense of how much they want to stay friendly. Your job is to lay the groundwork for future intelligence cooperation in the event of reunification, and assess whether the opposition is trying to get its foot in the door. If that is the case…”
“It will be slammed firmly shut.”
Bond flies into Belfast, taking in the scenary as he drives to his hotel. Bond checks in and unpacks his luggage, while also checking the room for bugs. Bond heads back to the lobby, and asks a concierge how to get to a particular pub. While the concierge gives directions, Grants enters the lobby and walks past. In a strange incident of fate, neither man notices the other.
Bond makes his way to the selected pub, grumbling to himself how he’s supposed to make contact and it’s not supposed to draw attention to himself. Bond walks in the door and sits at the bar, under the watchful gaze of many locals at the surrounding tables. The bartender asks Bond what he can get for him. Bond sighs, and orders a shot of Jameson and Bailey’s and a pint of Guinness. The bartender glowers at Bond, muttering: “feckin’ englishmen.” A hard tap on the shoulder tells Bond someone else overheard the drink order. Bond turns around to see himself face to chest with a large man. “Fancy yerself a comedian, eh?” Another in the crowd shouts: “Probably another ambassador of goodwill!” The first man picks Bond off the ground by his shirt, “That’s too bad, because you’ll get none here.” The man pulls one arm back, drammatically preparing to deliver a hard punch. Bond quickly slashes at the inner elbow of the man’s other arms and breaks free. Bond then grabs the man’s arm and twists it around him, dislocating the man’s shoulder. As the man howls in pain, others slowly stand, ready for a brawl.
“That’s enough boys, it’s alright he’s with me.” The crowd stands back apprehensively and Drax steps forward. Drax looks at the man on the floor, who is rubbing his shoulder: “You’re alright Connor, aren’t ya?” Connor gruffly mumbles affirmation and walks back to his table, where there is another man eyeing Bond suspiciously. Drax holds out his hand to Bond, “Nice to meet you, Bond. I was hoping you’d stick to the contact code.”
“Yes, I spent the walk over trying to figure out if there was anything more offensive you could have had me say. How did either of our services agree to that?”
“Oh now, just having a bit of craic. I think your people assumed we were trying to see just how far we could push you, and my people wanted to find out if you’d really do it.” Drax takes Bond’s drinks, dropping the shot glass into the beer, and guzzles it. Bond notices a tattoo on Drax’s forearm. While Bond orders a new drink, Drax mentions it’s from a street gang he belonged to as a boy, and how that was the only way to keep safe growing up in a rough neighborhood. Gesturing to an out of the way table, Bond and Drax sit down. Bond notices the man across from Connor still staring at him, seemingly sizing Bond up. Drax talks about the current state of intelligence coordination and the problem that a reunited Ireland may be less cooperative with England as it reassesses its trust in other “companies”. Drax says they would have to rebuild the entire operation from scratch since Ireland would be incorporating Northern Ireland, yet they would be suspicious of intelligence officers who worked for Britain. All the more reason for Britain to get itself a better reputation amonf the locals. Bond nods, “Sometimes it’s because someone is our friend that we mistrust them more than an enemy.”
Bond notices the man still watching them. Drax looks over and says the man is Risico Ó Gallchobhair, “Former soldier for the Irish National Liberation Army and if you’re to believe what’s written on paper: an officer in An Garda Síochána.”
“Risico? That’s not an Irish name I recognize.”
“He’s only half Irish, the rest is Dutch. His name is supposedly Dutch for ‘a reckless venture’. Perhaps his mother knew all too well what life had in store for him.”
“What sort of life?”
Drax tells Risico’s story. Risico grew up in the same neighborhood as Drax, but they only knew each other through other acquaintances. But he was a bad seed. Risico was feared by everyone, he could wither the boldest man with a stare. Pets often went missing on his block. One night he got into an argument with a local cop at the store. The owner deescalated the situation and made Risico leave, but the next morning, some boys found the cop in the street in front of the police station with his throat cut. Soon after, Risico vanished. No one knew what happened, but no one worried he was gone. Missing, but not missed. A few years later we saw his picture in the paper after a bombing, he had joined the Irish National Liberation Army. A professional killer. After the peace, he joined An Garda Síochána, ascending the ranks as some kind of great investigator. I don’t know what he does, but he reeks. Whenever I see him, I keep a close eye on him. He seems to treat me the same. A silent, uneasy understanding.
Drax tells Bond Risico is bad, and that Risico has been in Belfast more frequently in the past few months. Bond suggests there is some kind of operation in the works. Drax agrees, but asks what the Irish Republic would do. Bond says it may not be Ireland, Risico may have a new employer from “overseas”. Drax looks very serious: “What? I just meant I think he’s still a political assassin. You know, ‘you can take the solider out of the war, but you can’t take the war out of the soldier.’”
Bond looks over at Risico across the bar, then turns back to Drax, but not before taking in a beautiful woman who just sat down at the bar, Goldinger. Bond’s gaze stops on her for a moment before finally facing Drax again: “I think he’s found a new war. Where does he stay when he’s here in Belfast?” Drax tells Bond that he’s had some of his men follow Risico. He recommends Bond stop by his office in a little while and they can go over the report. Glancing back toward Goldfinger, Bond says he’ll find some way to pass the time. Drax says he needs to get back to the office to dig up the report, and Bond should meet him there in an hour.
As Drax leaves, Bond sees Goldfinger at the bar. He walks over and flirts with her, while Risico looks on. Goldfinger introduces herself as “Lyuba”. After a few minutes of flirty banter, Goldfinger steps away to the bathroom. Bond peeks into her bag, looking at her ID, which reads “Lyuba Srebro”.
Risico, suddenly behind Bond as he rifles through Goldfinger’s bag, startles Bond: “I don’t blame you, if someone like her returned my advances, I’d want to make sure I’m not supposed to buy her some minerals instead of a martini. Then again at our age, we should be grateful they look at us at all. Eh, mister…?”
“Bond. James Bond.” Bond looks at Risico dryly, they banter for awhile in a way that is tense, yet playful.
Bond notices Goldfinger coming back from the bathroom: “Now if you’ll excuse me…”
“Fair enough, Mr. Bond. Just be careful, girls like that are death to men like us.” Risico turns and leaves. Goldfinger returns and they continue talking. Bond realizes he must leave, but they plan a date for later that evening.
Bond checks his phone and decides Drax’s station is close enough to walk, and that his hotel isn’t far away either. Bond walks to the station and meets Drax in his office. They read through the report from Risico’s tail. Of all Risico’s destinations, a few stick out as odd and away from his main neighborhoods. Drax pulls up the addresses on his computer: a tailor, an antiques store, a public park, a cafe. Bond thinks. The park might be a place to make drops. “What about the antiques store?” The store is an antiques dealer that opens by appointment only, with a few apartments located above the storefront. Bond notes that it sounds like a safe house, and he’ll check it out later tomorrow evening.
Drax asks: “Why not take a look tonight?”
Smiling, Bond replies: “I’m afraid I’ve already made an appointment elsewhere.”
On the walk back to the hotel, Bond feels a pang of uneasiness. The hair on the back of his neck stands up, his sixth sense tingles. Someone is following him. Bond veers off his planned path, checking a map in his phone for a larger place that might have a crowd. He sees a plaza and memorial, perfect. He changes course, noticing two men behind him now, but as he turns his head forward again, he sees another man a block to his left keeping pace. Bond’s pace quickens.
When Bond arrives at the plaza, he curses to himself when he sees it is under construction; there is no crowd he can lose himself. At that moment, Bond sees he is surrounded by five men, including Risico. “Mr. Bond. I think we should have a talk.”
“It looks like you’re busy entertaining these other lads. Maybe I should come back another time.” Bond backs away into one of the men. He swivels around and punches him. The other men then rush Bond. Bond puts up a good fight, but Risico and his men get the upper hand. Before they can subdue Bond however, a hand with a pipe drops down on one of the men. As he falls, our view pans up to reveal Grant joining the fight. Bond looks at Grant, seeming to recognize him, but unable to place him. The fight continues with Bond and Grant. While Bond knocks out another man, Grant breaks Risico’s arm. Arg! You bastard, may a cat eat you and the devil eat the cat!”. While Grant engages another of the men, Risico runs away. When Bond and Grant are the last men standing, Bond raises his hand to thank Grant for his help. However Grant pulls a large knife from his boot and rushes Bond. Bond does his best to resist, but he is unable to overpower Grant. Bond reaches for a loose brick from the construction pile and smashes into Grant’s head. Grant falls backward, stunned but conscious. At the sound of sirens in the distance, Bond runs until he reaches his hotel.
Bond shakes off the attack, changes his clothes, and meets Goldfinger for dinner. When Goldfinger asks Bond what brings him to Ireland, he responds that he is visiting a cousin, and trying to resecure some old family investments after a split in the family. Goldfinger says she understands, she came to Ireland to find new opportunities for her company. After dinner, Bond takes her back to his hotel. During the night, Goldfinger gets up and opens Bond’s computer, downloading his encrypted files before leaving. Bond gets up and turns off the computer’s decoy hard drive, looks through recent keystrokes and sees that Goldfinger tried to copy then delete his files on Drax and SMERSH. Bond calls Tanner and tells him about the earlier brawl and the attempted data theft. He also asks for information on “Lyuba” and sends photos he secretly took at the bar. Tanner responds that he’ll run the photos through their database, but for more information on Drax, Bond should consult the Americans as most of their intel came from the CIA. As far as Risico, everything they have on him is on the up-and-up except for Drax’s reports.
Bond calls Felix, asking about the CIA’s files on Drax and why SMERSH would want his file. Felix says it could mean Drax is a mole or is being targeted for assassination. Felix adds that from what the U.S. has gathered, Drax seems clean but underwent a serious personality change after the bombing that also gave him slight amnesia. Bond asks if that is unusual. Felix says that based on the extent of the brain damage Drax sustained, it wasn’t unheard of for a victim to experience a personality change. Like the story of Phineas Gage. Bond asks for the location of Drax’s relatives. Felix replies that all known relatives and associates died within a year of the accident. Bond asks for information on the relatives, including any pictures of Drax before the bombing. Felix says there isn’t much. Every known connection to Drax is dead under seemingly normal circumstances, and all possessions were either destroyed or kept in storage by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Bond wonders if maybe that was par for the course given how Drax grew up in a gang. Felix asks what gang. Bond tells Felix the same story Drax told him, and describes the tattoo. After a pause, Felix tells Bond that the gang that uses that symbol didn’t exist in that part of Northern Ireland until 10 years ago.
The next night, Bond looks into Drax’s tip, finding an abandoned safe house in the old antique shop. It is an old, derelict building, but shows some signs of recent use. Bond breaks in and searches the building. There are a number of desks, but judging from the dust voids, the computers were removed recently. There are a few filing cabinets, but when Bond breaks them open, he finds police files of decades-old cases. There is a creak in a distant floorboard. Bond’s head snaps in the direction he thinks the sound originated. Quietly, Bond moves in the direction of the sound, opening doors cautiously. Bond enters an office where a number of drawers are still locked. He lets go of the handle and looks at the ceiling in thought just as a cable is flung over his head and pulls back violently. Bond struggles but can’t see his attacker in the darkness. Bond’s arms flail for a light switch, which he finally finds. He flips the switch and finds Grant behind him. Bond rasply screams “WHO ARE YOU?!?” as he passes out.
Bond stirs, very groggy. As he clears the cobwebs from his head, Bond hears voices outside, and sees police assembling en masse. The police storm the building and try to shoot Bond. Bond scrambles to escape, using non-lethal force against any officer he encounters. Bond injures one officer and asks why they’re here. Risico stands over both and says they received a tip that a spy was building bombs here. Risico introduces himself as head of a joint Ireland-Northern Ireland task force dedicated to uproot terrorists and spies. Risico says that when he met Bond in the bar for the first time he thought Bond was the opposition; one mole cultivating another. But changed his mind when he saw that Bond didn’t kill any of us men back at the construction site in order to escape. Bond asks about Drax. Risico tells Bond they have a lot to talk about.
In the car ride to the station, Risico says that their intelligence indicated a major espionage figure was coming to Belfast to meet a contact. Bond utters: “Lyuba”.
Risico nods: “There has been a lot of chatter between Britain, Ireland, and America. Apparently, you said something to the Americans that made them doubt everything they knew about Drax.”
“He had a tattoo from his days in a street gang that didn’t exist while he was there.”
“Ugh, Hugo hated tattoos. He would tell me what his mother would say if he got one, defacing his body and such. Anyway, the CIA called your man, M, to say they thought you might be in trouble, talking to the wrong person. By then, your colleague Tanner was already briefing M about your photos.”
“It’s the most basic counterintelligence. You never think you’re going to fall for a honeytrap, but-”
“James, Lyuba wasn’t just some honeytrap, she was the honey-jackpot.” Risico hands Bond a file. “Meet Zolata Golfinger, SMERSH’s treasurer.” Bond’s eyes go wide. Risico appreciates Bond’s reaction: “My thoughts exactly. If she’s here, SMERSH has something big planned to put a wedge between our countries; probably hoping we’ll be more sympathetic to them. Not bloody likely. It’s ironic, they hoped to undermine Irish-British intelligence-sharing, and yet they’ve only managed to strengthen our bond. We’re going to root out the whole lot: Goldfinger, that behemoth she brought with her, and Drax’s imposter.”
Bond notices Risico said those last words with added bitterness. “Who is Drax really then?”
Risico catches himself. “We’re almost at HQ. I’ll explain there.”
The rest of the ride is silent. Once in Risico’s office, Risico says he doesn’t know who “Drax” is. He reveals that he knew Drax over the course of years of coordinated police work. After his accident, Drax didn’t fully recognize him, even after his amnesia passed. He remembered their general working relationship but that was it. Skeptical, Bond points out that it’s common for amnesiacs to lose some small memories even when they recover from a traumatic brain injury. A flash of anger passes across Risico’s face: “I am not a small memory.” Bond, confused and uncertain of his offense, says he doesn’t understand. Risico explains that he and the real Drax were secretly lovers. They hid it from their families who were devoutly religious, but eventually told them not long before the accident, only to find how supportive their families were. When the bombing happened, Drax’s mother came back from the hospital and told Risico that the man in the bed was not her son. She tried to look past his amnesia and scars, but insisted there was a completely different man there. Before Risico could see for himself, Drax’s other family and friends suddenly died. Risico didn’t know what was happening, he did his best to investigate each death, but Drax’s bureau called him off. In the meantime, Risico decided to keep his relationship a secret from anyone else until he knew more, especially since knowing Drax seemed to carry a death warrant.
“What do you think happened to the real Drax?”, Bond asks.
Risico’s eyes water slightly at the thought. “I think he died in the bombing. I think these people targeted him and switched his dead body with this other man. This double. I read the report of every dead body found since it happened, hoping I could at least know where he went, and have that closure. I never found him.”
“It’s time we find some answers. We must have enough now that we can search his office.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
At Drax’s station, a swarm of police surge into the building and immediately begin to pour through files and check computers, forcing back any attempts to resist them. Bond and Risico then search Drax’s office where he finds an encrypted file that intrigues him. He can’t break it until Risico remarks on the pictures of Drax in the office, all of which prominently display the tattoo that outed him. Bond asks what the name of the gang was. Risico answers they were called the “Whyos”, a callback to an old American street gang from the 19th century. Bond tries “whyos” as a password. Success! Inside they find files for a series of bombings all over Ireland that will be connected to England’s Special Branch. Risico suggests they split up and search those sites right away. He gives Bond his card with his number and tells him to start with that storefront they found him in.
Bond arrives at the antique store and resumes the search Grant interrupted earlier. However whatever was in the locked drawers before is gone. Drax and some henchmen enter and subdue Bond. Bond wakes up in a new building, tied to a chair. Drax taunts Bond’s accidental successes, telling Bond that he seems to get ahead more on luck than actual skill. Either way, Bond’s luck has finally run out. Grant enters the room. “Ah, and I believe you’ve met Mr. Grant. He’s told me a lot about you. It seems you owe him your life after he saved it in the Caribbean not too long ago.” Drax explains how the bombings are planned and tortures Bond for whatever information he has about the operation.
Grant grabs Drax’s shoulder, forcefully spinning him around: “Master Kronsteen would not appreciate you revealing the plans he so carefully prepared.”
“If he cares so much, he can come over here and put his arse on the line. Feckin’ armchair operatives. Who underwent the plastic surgery? Who studied Drax’s voice and mannerisms? Two years of my life studying to sleepwalk through another man’s life waiting for HIS call!!! I knew one day you would need me. Did I blackmail you for more money? No! All I asked for was the chance to move up when this was all over. That and some damned respect! This is MY operation. You and Kronsteen and Goldfinger, are just here to watch. If you don’t like it, then make yourself useful and take him to site 4: the church next to the station.”
Grant walks behind Bond and chops him in the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.
Bond comes to, tied up in one of the buildings Drax plans to bomb. Grant stands over him. “Unfortunately Mr. O-O-7, we cannot fight one on one. After watching you defeat No and Big, I had hoped to put you down myself, like the man who shoots his neighbor’s dog when he goes onto his property.”
“Yes, it’s a shame.”
Before he leaves, Grant explains when Bond can expect the blast: 19:16, as an homage to the Easter Rising and a symbol of new Troubles to come.
The minutes tick by until Bond hears Risico and calls to him. Risico unties Bond. Bond shouts they need to evacuate several buildings, but Risico tells Bond that in the night, MI6 and the Irish Directorate of Military Intelligence located and disarmed the bombs, replanting a few at the antique shop, well away from anywhere civilians might be harmed. Risico remarks Bond actually has a good view of the building through the window. Bond opens the window and peers out, where he sees Drax stand on the upper balcony of one of the apartments, waiting to survey the skyline and its imminent destruction. With seconds to go before the blast, Drax turns in Bond’s direction and smiles evilly. Bond gestures for Risico, who steps into Drax’s view. Drax is very confused until he starts to hear the beeping of the bomb that’s right under his feet. He looks back at Bond in panic and rage, while Bond looks back with the same cruel smirk from the moment in Casino Royale when the airplane bomber blew himself up.
Bond (well-dressed) walks up to a hotel door and knocks. Goldfinger answers the door. A quick second of shock registers on her face, but it dissipates as she grabs a bag and leaves with Bond for another dinner date. On the walk down to the hotel lobby, they are surrounded by Risico and a SWAT team. Bond confronts Goldfinger and takes her bag, finding several thumb drives and assorted surveillance gear. Risico steps up to Goldfinger with a set of handcuffs: “Miss Goldfinger, I’m afraid we’re closing your account here in Ireland. It’s no longer a bear market.”
G sits at his desk when he hears a commotion outside his office. The door swings open and several uniformed men walk in. Outraged, G asks what is happening. Suddenly, the uniformed men part and President Velichin walks in. “President Velichin! I…” Velichin cuts him off: “You saw SMERSH as a nation unto itself. Consider this a coup.”
G protests indignantly: “You can’t remove me, I built SMERSH from the ashes; it would crumble without me!”
An unseen voice calmly responds: “The true test of a great leader is that the organization should be able to function flawlessly in his absence. Mine is carrying out 36 counterintelligence operations while I stand here. 35 have a high probability for success. But you shouldn’t worry, I’m not replacing you, merely…supervising you.”
Nervous, G asks: “Who is that?”
Velichin answers: “Someone who will put your house in order. (a man (Donnie Yen) enters) Xiao Lam, Secretary-Director of Fan Jian Ji.”
Lam stares coldly into G’s eyes. “We should begin as soon as possible, general. Give me the file on James Bond.”
Mid-credits scene: Risico visits Bond in the hospital, offers information as thanks for his help: “Tell me James, are you familiar with a man named Kronsteen?” Bond smiles. Fade to black.