Cryptocurrency recovery stalls as miners eye exits
‘SPECULATIVE MANIA’: China vowed to crack down on the country’s cryptominers, triggering a sell-off, which led to a broader decline as investors cut their holdings
Reuters, SINGAPORE
Cryptocurrencies yesterday fought to find a footing after even weekend cheerleading from Tesla Inc chief executive Elon Musk seemed unable to offset selling pressure from spooked investors or nerves stemming from a gathering crackdown on the asset class in China.
Musk had lent a bid on Saturday by tweeting support for crypto in “the true battle” with fiat currencies.
However, on Sunday prices slumped as “miners,” who mint crypto by verifying transactions, halted Chinese operations in the face of increasing scrutiny from authorities.
NFTs may be the future of art but are they threatening the future of the planet? By Sophie Lewis Crypto enthusiasts burn and digitize Banksy artwork
A digital artist known as Beeple sold a piece of entirely digital art through Christie s for over $69 million in March, flipping the art world upside down. But the digital registry where that piece of art, called an NFT, is stored is responsible for the annual emission of more carbon into the atmosphere than most small countries.
So why is everyone so eager to jump on the NFT bandwagon?
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are original, unique digital collectibles and they have taken over the art world in the past few months. They hold a unique string of code, stored on a digital ledger known as a blockchain, and their value fluctuates depending on demand.
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Industrial fans operate to cool mining rigs at the CryptoUniverse cryptocurrency mining farm in Nadvoitsy, Russia. Some people see mining virtual currencies as just another way to increase passive income but they may end up investing too much, including in mining equipment. Photo: Bloomberg
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Bitcoin won’t eclipse central banks
By Huw van Steenis / Bloomberg Opinion
Innovation in central banking often starts in small markets. New Zealand was the first country to formally adopt inflation targeting as we now know it in 1990. Today, the Bahamas and Cambodia lead China in piloting central bank money in electronic form.
However, few realize it was Finland that pioneered the world’s first central bank digital currency (CBDC). The experiment has some important lessons for those feverishly trying to figure out how revolutionary CBDCs will be, including the UK, which joined the club just last month with a new task force.