Lending against Crypto? – A $10bn loan market emerges as 2020 comes to a close December 15, 2020 At the time of writing, the global market capitalisation of crypto assets (bitcoin, Ethereum and the like) is in excess of US$400bn. While still much smaller than other more traditional asset classes, this is considerable growth in market cap from a year ago, and yet – considering the perception of inherent volatility in crypto as [...]
NFTs: A hot trend for hackers December 15, 2020 2020 has been another milestone year for new, emerging crypto trends. From the research conducted by our Hacken team, we found that Decentralized Finance (DeFi) undeniably saw the most explosive growth with the total value locked in protocols up 2,000% since January 1, from US$690m to US$14.5bn. However, the Non-Fungible Token (NFTs) space has also [...]
Amazon-owned Zoox reveals first autonomous ‘robotaxi’ December 15, 2020 Zoox inc., a self-driving car company, revealed the first fully functional, electric robotaxi yesterday.
The Year in Review – The 2020 Crypto OTC Market December 15, 2020 Covid is on the blockchain. No it’s not. That was a crypto and Covid joke in one! A trader I spoke to today said that 2020 has been a great year for our personal accounts and awful for just about everything else. Covid has defined 2020 for so much of the world and in my [...]
PM to visit India in January in bid to bolster economic ties December 15, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson will fly to India in January 2021 in an effort to strengthen economic and political relations between the two countries. It will be Johnson’s first major bilateral visit since becoming PM, and will come soon after the UK leaves the EU single market at the end of the post-Brexit transition period [...]
Brokers, intermediaries and blockchain December 15, 2020 As a follow-on from my article on the top 7 things that people want to know about blockchain, I came up with another question: Does blockchain create value? Or to put it another way, “How does blockchain create value?” The short answer is: It doesn’t – in and of itself. Blockchain is infrastructure. Blockchain is [...]
Chemring boss: Pandemic has highlighted ‘risk’ of biological security threats December 15, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has educated the world about the potential threat that biological warfare could pose in the future, Chemring’s chief executive said this morning. Speaking to City A.M., Michael Ord said that biological security was set to become far more important as a result of this year’s unparalleled upheavals. “The whole area of biosecurity [...]
Artificial intelligence: people – not robots – are in the driving seat December 15, 2020 Like it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) is already part of our daily lives. From smartphones to Alexa virtual assistants, AI and its applications are accepted norms today.While we appreciate that AI can automate repetitive workplace tasks or even drive a car, its implications are much further reaching. Luminaries including Elon Musk and Bill Gates [...]
UK companies record highest impairment charges since 2012 December 15, 2020 UK companies have recorded the highest goodwill impairments since 2012, new figures show, as Brexit uncertainty continues to have an effect on performance. In 2019 FTSE 100 companies recorded an aggregate impairment of 16bn, a 248 per cent increase from the previous year, according to research by Duff & Phelps. While UK companies within the [...]
The challenge of growing an SME abroad December 15, 2020 Entrepreneurship is central to the economic growth of most free market economies. Many global brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Mattel and Facebook began life as SME’s. Key to growing an SME business either within the sector or so it can become an enterprise business, is the ability to expand into new markets. While your own [...]
