This is just the beginning of the crypto revolution February 9, 2021 Cryptocurrency has been in the news on an almost daily basis over the last few weeks – bitcoin’s volatility throughout January has been well-documented, most recently the notable surge in value that followed Elon Musk changing his Twitter bio to read #bitcoin. Elsewhere, Ray Dalio, founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates’ referred to [...]
Blockchain will bring trust back into capital markets February 5, 2021 If recent events have revealed anything, it’s that trust in the traditional financial infrastructure powering our global capital markets has been eroding – especially among retail investors. The GameStop (GME) short-squeeze¹, driven by individuals who came together online, is a testament to what can happen when power is pushed to the edges. Huge volumes, unexpected [...]
A new era dawns with latest crypto boom February 1, 2021 Here we go again. Crypto is on the move once more, with its architect-in-chief, Bitcoin, reaching all-time highs of $40K in the past few weeks and the entire crypto market capitalisation breaching $1 trillion. Cue the eye rolls, and familiar mantras trotted out by the uninformed: “it’s not a real asset; it’ll all come crashing [...]
The Rise of Ethereum: Could it Rival Bitcoin’s Success? January 22, 2021 The growth of Bitcoin in recent months has been noted across mainstream media, ushering in a host of investors from all backgrounds. However, it’s not just Bitcoin that’s caught everyone’s attention, as Ethereum makes it move as the next big cryptocurrency. The Ether price (ETH/USD) is currently at $1,274, recording a 73% Year-To-Date (YTD) performance. [...]
Why knowledge sharing is key to DeFi’s long-term security December 21, 2020 Interoperability and collaboration are key issues in order for blockchain technology to be adopted as a trusted global platform in supporting peer to peer immutable business transactions and exchange of value. However, the recent surge in proposed and actual uses of the technology to enable decentralised finance, or ‘De-Fi’, has revealed vulnerabilities in some blockchain [...]
Lockdown books December 21, 2020 The aftermath of the global financial crash of 2008 uncovered some unpalatable facts. First, it showed how national governments were hellbent on bailing out the private banks with public money. At the same time the little man was totally ignored and left to his own devices; to sink or swim with the former being the [...]
COVID and remote-work – is decentralisation the future? December 17, 2020 Vaccines for COVID-19 are here, but for many, remote working may be here to stay. The global pandemic has had an enormous impact on how most businesses operate. Organizations have shifted from office-based work and centralised operations to a remote and more agile way of working. One oft-quoted figure I saw early in the pandemic [...]
Beyond digital gold: unlocking the true value of bitcoin December 11, 2020 Digital gold has gone mainstream. JP Morgan, BlackRock and the biggest names in global finance are now echoing the cypherpunks and suggesting that Bitcoin could replace the yellow metal as a safe haven in investment portfolios. But while Bitcoin does share characteristics with gold, a big reason why the digital gold narrative has found so [...]
From Crypto to Tokens. The Great Migration December 1, 2020 My journey to crypto was not direct. I’d spent 20 years working for traditional banking houses, trading foreign exchange for Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and others. The high points in my career came during the most chaotic times, managing trading books through devaluations in Asia, Latin America and Iceland. I spent my first career studying [...]
Solving the crypto-fiat conundrum: how banks can offer a premium and trusted crypto-fiat service November 30, 2020 PayPal recently announced that it will enable US users to buy and sell crypto currencies in early 2021. This has immediately fueled the interest of traditional banks in the cryptocurrency market, convincing many that it is simply impossible to ignore the record-high investor interest in digital assets. Financial institutions see the hunger for legal crypto [...]
