Chancellor: A 300-year bubble worth remembering 12 Dec 2019 Next year marks the tricentennial of England’s most notorious speculative mania. Even the great mathematician Sir Isaac Newton couldn’t resist The South Sea Company’s charms. Unicorn and cryptocurrency crazes suggest financial practices haven’t improved much over the centuries.
Chess “hybrid IPO” is less absurd than it sounds 22 Nov 2019 Ilya Merenzon, CEO of one of the game’s big broadcasters, may sell digital tokens that eventually convert to listed shares. Investors would get a discount but be stuck with a worthless asset if the planned IPO flops. Either way, World Chess’s profile gets a much-needed boost.
Bitcoin mining IPO mirrors currency volatility 12 Nov 2019 China’s Canaan aims to raise $400 mln in New York, after aborting previous efforts to list in Hong Kong and on the mainland, but its financials are as unstable as the cryptocurrency. Beijing’s uncertain position on this niche activity will weigh on any prospect of striking rich.
Silicon Valley is trapped in political purgatory 15 Jul 2019 Facebook can shrug off a $5 bln fine over privacy but the U.S. Treasury is questioning its crypto-coin plan. It also faces, with others, an antitrust grilling in Congress. Big tech doesn’t want a Wall St-like straitjacket, but growth will suffer without clear rules of the road.
Crypto blank-check deal has at least one virtue 10 Jul 2019 The idea of a blockchain company backing into a listed special-purpose buyout vehicle sounds like risk on steroids. Hong Kong-based Diginex has big ambitions but a skimpy track record. Yet the transparency of a Nasdaq listing can help sort cryptocurrency reality from hype.
Facebook discovers money is tougher than data 26 Jun 2019 Fed Chair Jerome Powell joined foreign watchdogs in vowing tough scrutiny of the $539 billion company’s planned crypto coin. Some of its own partners may have doubts about the project, too. The tactics Facebook used to pioneer social networking don’t transfer easily to finance.
Tech’s finance push is disrupting regulators too 25 Jun 2019 Innovations like Facebook’s proposed digital currency challenge established banking rules. New arrivals are hard to pin down, weaken existing players, and invert the risks and rewards of competition. A joined-up global response is necessary - but will be hard to agree.
Big Tech warrants Bank of England’s open eyes 21 Jun 2019 The central bank may let technology firms deposit funds alongside regular lenders as Governor Mark Carney seeks to keep up with rapid shifts in finance. Lower costs and more competition are broadly positive. Large groups like Facebook, however, deserve a more cautious embrace.
Viewsroom: UBS gets lost in translation 20 Jun 2019 A star economist at the Swiss bank sparked outrage on Chinese social media after his remarks about the country’s pigs were misconstrued. UBS’s decision to put him on leave seems overdone. And: Those weighing the benefit of a Facebook cryptocurrency must ask if “In Zuck we trust.”
Facebook throws down crypto-gauntlet to critics 18 Jun 2019 The social network’s poor track record on privacy makes it an unlikely creator of digital money. Yet it boasts 2.4 bln users and has enlisted some of the biggest names in tech and finance as partners. The new currency, Libra, is a bet that Facebook’s trust problems are overblown.
Facebook coin may aid crypto-rivals more than self 6 Jun 2019 Mark Zuckerberg’s social network could launch its own digital currency as a way into global payments, but it faces daunting trust and regulatory issues. Still, if some of its 2.4 bln users get hooked, that would boost the likes of bitcoin as well as blockchain technology overall.
Buffett may find value in crypto lunch ‘n’ learn 3 Jun 2019 Blockchain developer Justin Sun can afford the $4.6 mln he has bid for lunch with the Berkshire Hathaway boss. Any shift by Buffett, who has labeled bitcoin a fraud, could ignite digital assets. The sage of Omaha will get a check for his charity and a much-needed tech tutorial.
Bitcoin’s latest surge lacks ground support 16 May 2019 Markets are again eyeing the digital currency after it doubled in six weeks. Yet adoption of its blockchain technology remains sluggish and applications developed by Amazon, Microsoft and others don’t need the crypto-asset. That virtually assures more bitcoin volatility.
Zimbabwe offers a way to test blockchain’s worth 5 Mar 2019 Even after a 60 pct devaluation, Harare’s monetary credibility is irreparably broken. That should make it an ideal test case for distributed ledgers replacing ropey central banks. Yet citizens’ justifiable distrust of the state doesn’t mean ceding monetary control is an easy fix.
JPMorgan blockchain idea is far from a killer app 14 Feb 2019 The U.S. bank is introducing a cryptocurrency to help clients transfer money to each other instantaneously. Boss Jamie Dimon once called bitcoin a fraud, so even a baby step into the related technology is notable. But so far it looks like an overwrought fix for a simple problem.
Blockchain will finally make itself useful 31 Dec 2018 The distributed-ledger technology associated with bitcoin is due a breakthrough in 2019. Banks and companies are gradually applying versions of it to tasks like settlement. Demonstrating blockchain’s utility, though, will say little about the value of cryptocurrencies themselves.
Crypto could bring Facebook some stability 21 Dec 2018 The social network may issue a dollar-pegged digital currency to let its 1.5 bln WhatsApp users transfer money. So-called stablecoins embody much of bitcoin’s original promise and have grown popular as other crypto assets tanked. Beleaguered Facebook would welcome a similar effect.
Crypto disruptors want a hug from Wall St 27 Nov 2018 Enthusiasts snapped up bitcoin and its digital imitators believing they would replace financial intermediaries. But an 80 pct price collapse has dampened the revolutionary fervor. Now the likes of NYSE and Fidelity can’t come soon enough with futures, ETFs and custody services.
Bitcoin’s slide blows digital stardust to winds 20 Nov 2018 Fans dreamed the cryptocurrency would consign conventional finance to the dustbin. But it’s more vulnerable than stocks and bonds to investor funk, plummeting a third in a month and 75 pct from its peak to below $5,000. Bitcoin’s flaw remains its lack of fundamental value.
Chip industry’s new paradigm looks like old one 16 Nov 2018 As cutting-edge semiconductors got harder to make and demand boomed from new fields like bitcoin mining, top manufacturers seemed invulnerable. Shrinking sales forecasts from Nvidia and Applied Materials show companies are as prone as ever to economic cycles and excess inventory.