Today we attempt to address an argument that has resurfaced this week. That is the argument that bitcoin is somehow, for environmental reasons, unethical or immoral, because it uses a lot of electricity.
This is one of those arguments that never goes away – and I’m afraid it will never go away. Like Scottish independence or Brexit. “Bitcoin’s a bubble” is another one.
There are those who get bitcoin, see its potential and invest. There are those, such as Nobel-prize winning economists and Financial Times journalists, who are determined not to, and have been talking it down ever since it was a dollar ten years ago.
Before we get started this morning, I wanted to let you know about an upcoming online interview that I think you’ll almost certainly not want to miss. Our own Merryn Somerset Webb will be talking to Baillie Gifford’s Charles Plowden next Thursday (28 January).
Baillie Gifford, as I suspect most of you know, has been among the most successful investment managers of this particular era, helped by canny investments in the superstar companies of the past decade such as Tesla, Softbank and the FANGs.
What’s their secret? Can it continue? And what does the post-pandemic era hold for investors? Don’t miss it. Register here to view it live – it’s free.