Cryptocurrency

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.

Bitcoin remains a triumph of hope over experience

31 Oct 2018

The digital money is marking its first decade with a punishing slump. Fraud and regulatory zeal have dried up issuance of rival cryptocurrencies. The underlying blockchain technology has yet to produce its first killer app. It’s a long way from Satoshi’s revolution.

Cannabis is like bitcoin, only with revenue

15 Oct 2018

Stocks of producers like Tilray and Canopy have risen faster than the digital currency did, fueled by Canada’s imminent legalization. Today’s valuations make no sense and accounting is patchy. Unlike bitcoin, these pot companies have real sales – but that only fuels the frenzy.

Bitmain mines for a more precious currency

3 Oct 2018

The world's top crypto equipment maker collected a third of its $2.5 bln in sales last year in bitcoin and its ilk. Converting some of it into cash has helped fund the profitable business. As prices of virtual money fall, though, raising $3 bln in an IPO would be a sweet trade.

Chancellor: The mother of all speculative bubbles

11 Sep 2018

Since the interest rate discounts future cash flows, the central banks’ policy of ultralow rates has had an outsized impact on investments whose income lies far out in the future, whether through tech firms or 100-year bonds, and on assets providing no income. Danger awaits.