Unraveling the Mystery: Bitcoin's Meteoric Rise and the Cryptocurrency Problem

Read my new article on Substack on the complex landscape of bitcoin's surge and the unresolved mysteries of cryptocurrency - is it an asset, gambling or a scam?

Free access HERE

Crypto: The World’s Greatest Scam

Bitcoin to Blockchains, to NFTs, to Web 3.0... it's time to find out if it's really all the hype or just part of one of the greatest scams in human history.

What's the future of crypto?

The financial revolution once promised by cryptocurrencies has been knocked off course by regulators and allegations of fraud. So what does the future hold for crypto?

Could digital currencies put banks out of business?

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have been billed as a major disruptor to finance. But digital currencies issued by governments might be even more radical—they may even threaten the future of traditional banking.

Bitcoin mining: Watt is money?

Using exclusive data from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Rhizomatiks gives fresh insights into the impact of the vast energy used to mine cryptocurrency - a business that consumes the same electricity as a medium-sized country. This film, with original music, was made to be viewed as a live video installation and as an online film.

Is Bitcoin a failed experiment?

"Bitcoin has become that decentralized, digital currency that grew up and left the hood. It has become slow, clunky, and expensive to use. It is not useful as a store of value. It is not very useful for day-to-day transactions.

Bitcoin is, however, not a failed experiment. It has opened the way for other better cryptocurrencies with more utility and stability" So writes  Tomisin Olujinmi.

Read the full article HERE.

Bitcoin Explained

"We all have a crypto-friend who sounds like this guy. Gold back in 698BC was no different..."

Crypto's crash - why it matters

It has been a vicious year for financial markets, and more punishing still for crypto assets. The market capitalization of crypto has slumped to just $1.3trn, from nearly $3trn in November 2021. 

On May 18 bitcoin traded at around $29,000, a mere 40% of its all-time high in November; the price of ether, another cryptocurrency, has collapsed just as spectacularly. 

Six months ago Coinbase, an exchange and the leading crypto-industry stock, was worth $79bn. Now it is valued at just $14bn, and the firm is “reassessing its headcount needs”.

So, what the has gone wrong? Read the full story from The Economist HERE.

Crypto: a beginner’s guide

Cryptocurrencies, decentralised finance and blockchain technology—what do these terms really mean? The Economist’s finance correspondents guide us through the key concepts of crypto.

Biden’s executive order - Did it boost Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrency prices?

Did President Biden’s recent executive order regarding the responsible development of digital assets really boost the price of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies?

And do Americans really want cryptocurrency from their banks?

To find out the answer to these questions and more, 
read Ron Shevlin's article in Forbes HERE.

Is the cryptocurrency trading boom creating a new generation of addicts?

With endorsements from celebrities and ads on TikTok, cryptocurrency has gone mainstream. But not everyone gets rich. The Guardian's Rob Davies reports on how crypto apps encourage addictive, high-risk trading habits.

Read or listen to his article HERE.

Warren Buffett: Why You Should NEVER Invest In Bitcoin

Warren Buffett is the greatest investor of all time. In this video you will hear his opinion on Bitcoin, including the new 2021 comments! Very important to watch this regardless of your attitude to cryptocurrencies (and absolutely necessary if you own any of them!) As Charlie Munger says, “If you disagree with somebody, you want to be able to state their case better than they can.” And at that point you've earned the right to disagree with them. 

Warren E. Buffett is an American long-term investor, philanthropist, business tycoon, and the chairman & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth over 100 billion dollars. Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing in his youth and made truly incredible stock market returns over his career.

Battle of the blockchains

To believers, open, public blockchains provide a second chance at building a digital economy. The fact that the applications built on top of such blockchains all work with each other, and that the information they store is visible to all, harks back to the idealism of the internet’s early architects, before most users embraced the walled gardens offered by the tech giants. The idea that a new kind of “decentralised” digital economy might be possible has been bolstered over the past year as the numerous applications being built on top of various blockchains have boomed in size and functionality.

Read the full article from The Economist HERE.

On the Brink of Disaster or Start of a Golden Age?

From Bitcoin to DeFi (in 12 Short Years)...

Even if you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably familiar with Bitcoin. Now, just as crypto disrupted the concept of value, decentralized finance is poised to disrupt finance itself. The populist movement promises huge returns for daring investors. But with DeFi’s promise of inclusion comes risk and uncertainty.

Is there something in this or are people that gullible or just plain stupid?

So the question is - is this the start of a new Golden Age or are we on the edge of Disaster? You be the judge.

Building better blockchains is surprisingly hard

According to its fans, crypto is the key to paradise, particularly the financial kind. Greedy intermediaries, such as banks, will be replaced by smart contracts (self-executing rules) that run on blockchains (distributed databases). This will give rise to efficient and innovative financial services, collectively called “decentralized finance” (DeFi).

The foundations of this structure are shaky, however. Today’s blockchains may be masterworks of coding, but they are also fiendishly complex, energy-hungry and, perhaps counterintuitively, centralized. Despite years of work, crypto developers are still trying to fully overcome the trade-offs inherent in the technology. 

Read the the full article in The Economist HERE.

Bitcoin is setting the world on fire

Bitcoin was really hot in 2021, but not the way you might think. 

I'm talking about the massive energy and carbon footprint that has bloomed up as the Bitcoin network continues to grow. We've finally started to pay attention to it in 2021, with Elon Musk calling its energy consumption "insane," and calling into question its usefulness (and interestingly neither Tesla nor Musk have divested themselves of Bitcoin holdings).

It's true that Bitcoin uses an absurd amount of energy, and 2021 was the year that it truly skyrocketed, rising from somewhere around a 77 TWh/year forecast in the beginning of the year to more than 200 TWh/year by December 25. At this point, the Bitcoin network is burning through the same amount of power and fuel as some medium-sized countries, and an individual transaction eats up more power than an average U.S. household uses in 70 days!

Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, need something big, like a transition to proof-of-stake, if they're going to survive a larger global transition to greener energy.

What Does a 'Layer 2 Blockchain' Mean?

Since Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, blockchains have continued to gain popularity.

People have applied blockchain technology to other areas, besides payments, thanks to its decentralised and secure nature.

Scalability is what Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, calls a component of the "blockchain trilemma."

Buterin's thesis explains that no blockchain network can equally provide decentralisation, security, and scalability. They must sacrifice certain elements to achieve near-optimal functionality.

Bitcoin and Ethereum trade off scalability for security and decentralisation for scalability. That explains why a major blockchain network like Bitcoin can process around 7 transactions per second. For context, Visa's payments system can process up to 24,000 transactions per second.

If blockchain technology must attract more users, it must solve the scalability problem. Several solutions have appeared in recent years, including the now-popular “layer 2” protocols.

Click HERE to find out what layer 2 blockchain means, how it works, and why it’s important for blockchain adoption.

Where crypto 'anarchy' will end - Lex Megatrends

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have gained traction in finance worldwide thanks to dissent, greed, idealism and fear of missing out. But, in the absence of centralised authority, where will it all end? Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

 

IMF warns El Salvador against using Bitcoin

The IMF is once again pushing back against El Salvador's decision to use Bitcoin as Legal Tender, warning that because of the volatility of the cryptocurrency the risks are too high. We break down what this means. And the United States continues to grapple with the dueling crises of inflation and supply chain shortages, because of this President Biden has reiterated the need for the autonomy of the Federal Reserve. We'll discuss the details. Plus, it's a new era for Germany as the nation is set to inaugurate a new chancellor for the first time is nearly two decades. We bring you the latest from on the ground in Berlin. 

 

Bitcoin Miners Tap Hydropower as Environmental Criticism Grows - WSJ

A bitcoin mining facility in upstate New York is using electricity from a local hydroelectric plant powered by the Niagara River. The company is part of a group of miners attempting to make the industry more sustainable, both environmentally and financially.