THE NEW YORK TIMES: MOSCOW — The ruble cratered, the stock market froze and the public rushed to withdraw cash on Monday as Western sanctions kicked in and Russia awoke to uncertainty and fear over the rapidly spreading repercussions of President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
As the day began, Russia’s currency lost as much as a quarter of its value within hours. Scrambling to stem the decline, the Russian Central Bank more than doubled its key interest rate, banned foreigners from selling Russian securities and ordered exporters to convert into rubles most of their foreign-currency revenues. It closed the Moscow stock exchange for the day because of the “developing situation.”
“The economic reality has, of course, changed,” the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters, announcing that Mr. Putin had called an emergency meeting with his top finance officials.
Even as Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for talks at the Belarus border, Moscow’s military offensive showed no sign of letting up, and the hectic moves offered the first signs that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West over the weekend were shaking the foundations of Russia’s economy. The decisions by the United States, Britain and the European Union restricting the Russian Central Bank’s access to much of its $643 billion in foreign currency reserves have undone much of the Kremlin’s careful efforts to soften the impact of potential sanctions. » | Anton Troianovski | Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting. | Monday, February 28, 2022
Monday, 28 February 2022
Friday, 18 February 2022
Times Have Never Been Better for Billionaires.
Thursday, 17 February 2022
L’essor mondial des cryptomonnaies inquiète les pays du G20
LE FIGARO : La valorisation de ces nouveaux actifs volatils est telle qu’ils peuvent fragiliser le système financier traditionnel
Les cryptomonnaies se sont invitées à la table du G20. Les ministres des Finances et les banquiers centraux de ces 20 pays qui pèsent 80 % du PIB mondial sont réunis jusqu’à ce vendredi, les uns en visioconférence, les autres à Djakarta, sous présidence indonésienne. Outre les préoccupations sur la croissance, menacée par les tensions russo-ukrainiennes, la distribution des vaccins anti-Covid dans le monde et le financement des pays en développement, les risques liés aux cryptoactifs figurent à l’ordre du jour.
L’inquiétude «porte aujourd’hui sur la hausse très rapide et importante du marché des cryptomonnaies», résume-t-on à Bercy. La valorisation des milliers de différents cryptoactifs en circulation dans le monde a plus que triplé pendant l’année 2021. Elle a atteint 2600 milliards de dollars, dont 1200 milliards pour le seul bitcoin, le plus connu et le plus puissant des «cryptos». La volatilité de ces actifs virtuels utilisant la technologie des registres décentralisés de la blockchain est telle qu’après le pic de l’automne, ils ne pèsent «plus que» 1500 milliards de dollars environ. » | Par Fabrice Nodé-Langlois | jeudi 17 février 2022
Réservé aux abonnés
À LIRE AUSSI :
Qui sont les détenteurs de cryptoactifs en France? : ANALYSE - Une étude passe au crible ces investisseurs particuliers et fait l’état des lieux de l’industrie. »
2021, l’année où les cryptomonnaies ont séduit le grand public : DÉCRYPTAGE - Les cryptos ont changé de dimension en 2021. Adoubée par les grands acteurs du paiement traditionnels, leur utilisation connaît une forte croissance. »
Tuesday, 15 February 2022
Bitcoin – Eine neue Weltordnung? | Sternstunde Philosophie | SRF Kultur
Feb 14, 2022 • Geld regiert die Welt. Doch was, wenn das Wesen des Geldes sich fundamental verändert? Wie revolutionär sind Kryptowährungen wie Bitcoin wirklich? Ein Gespräch mit dem ETH-Informatiker Roger Wattenhofer und dem Philosophen Ijoma Mangold über die Utopien und Gefahren des digitalen Goldes
Eine Welt ohne nationale Währungen, ohne Zentralbanken, ohne Wechselkurse, ohne Inflation – ja ohne Geldinstitute im bekannten Sinne? Glaubt man den immer zahlreicheren Anhängerinnen von Kryptowährungen wie Bitcoin, ist solch eine Welt nicht nur theoretisch möglich, sondern konkret im Entstehen. Ihre Anhänger verbinden mit dieser neuen, auf der sogenannten Blockchain-Technologie basierenden Währung nicht weniger als eine Revolution der politischen und ökonomischen Verhältnisse auf diesem Planeten. Kritikerinnen hingegen sehen in Bitcoin ein anti-staatliches, zu Illegalität neigendes und ökologisch verheerendes Spekulationsobjekt digitaler Eliten. Wolfram Eilenberger spricht über das «digitale Gold» mit dem Informatiker und ETH-Professor Roger Wattenhofer sowie dem Kultur-Philosophen Ijoma Mangold («Die Zeit»)
Sternstunde Philosophie vom 13.02.2022
Eine Welt ohne nationale Währungen, ohne Zentralbanken, ohne Wechselkurse, ohne Inflation – ja ohne Geldinstitute im bekannten Sinne? Glaubt man den immer zahlreicheren Anhängerinnen von Kryptowährungen wie Bitcoin, ist solch eine Welt nicht nur theoretisch möglich, sondern konkret im Entstehen. Ihre Anhänger verbinden mit dieser neuen, auf der sogenannten Blockchain-Technologie basierenden Währung nicht weniger als eine Revolution der politischen und ökonomischen Verhältnisse auf diesem Planeten. Kritikerinnen hingegen sehen in Bitcoin ein anti-staatliches, zu Illegalität neigendes und ökologisch verheerendes Spekulationsobjekt digitaler Eliten. Wolfram Eilenberger spricht über das «digitale Gold» mit dem Informatiker und ETH-Professor Roger Wattenhofer sowie dem Kultur-Philosophen Ijoma Mangold («Die Zeit»)
Sternstunde Philosophie vom 13.02.2022
Saturday, 12 February 2022
Bitcoin Paradise? Briton Creates ‘Crypto Utopia’ in South Pacific
THE GUARDIAN: Anthony Welch and partner try to woo cryptocurrency investors to regulation-free island on Vanuatu archipelago
Vanuatu is a South Pacific Ocean nation made up of approximately 80 islands. Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images
For the past 12 years Anthony Welch and his partner Theresa have been living a Robinson Crusoe life alone on a South Pacific island mostly untouched by humanity.
Welch, a retired British property investor, hopes the tranquility will soon be shattered by 21,000 cryptocurrency investors he is trying to convince to move to his island and form a regulation-free “crypto utopia”.
Under Welch’s plan, the 3,000m sq metre (32,000m sq ft) island, which is part of the Vanuatu archipelago between Australia and Fiji, would be transformed from 90% undisturbed rainforest into a “sustainable smart city”, filled with multistorey apartment blocks and offices for cryptocurrency investors from around the world.
Welch, who has renamed the island from its native name Lataro to Satoshi (in a nod to Satoshi Nakamoto the pseudonym of the person who invented bitcoin), has joined forces with cryptocurrency evangelists to create a “blockchain-based democracy” and “the crypto capital of the world”.
However, Welch will first have to unwind his previous marketing of the island as a “wildlife nature reserve” home to rare giant crabs. » | Rupert Neate, Wealth correspondent | Saturday, February 12, 2022
For the past 12 years Anthony Welch and his partner Theresa have been living a Robinson Crusoe life alone on a South Pacific island mostly untouched by humanity.
Welch, a retired British property investor, hopes the tranquility will soon be shattered by 21,000 cryptocurrency investors he is trying to convince to move to his island and form a regulation-free “crypto utopia”.
Under Welch’s plan, the 3,000m sq metre (32,000m sq ft) island, which is part of the Vanuatu archipelago between Australia and Fiji, would be transformed from 90% undisturbed rainforest into a “sustainable smart city”, filled with multistorey apartment blocks and offices for cryptocurrency investors from around the world.
Welch, who has renamed the island from its native name Lataro to Satoshi (in a nod to Satoshi Nakamoto the pseudonym of the person who invented bitcoin), has joined forces with cryptocurrency evangelists to create a “blockchain-based democracy” and “the crypto capital of the world”.
However, Welch will first have to unwind his previous marketing of the island as a “wildlife nature reserve” home to rare giant crabs. » | Rupert Neate, Wealth correspondent | Saturday, February 12, 2022
Friday, 11 February 2022
UK Exports to EU Fell by £20bn Last Year, New ONS Data Shows
THE GUARDIAN: Figures show Brexit compounding Covid disruption, with clothing exports plunging 60%, vegetables down 40% and cars 25%
Shipping containers stacked high at the port of Felixstowe. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
UK exports of goods to the EU have fallen by £20bn compared with the last period of stable trade with Europe, according to official figures marking the first full year since Brexit.
Numbers released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the combined impact of the pandemic and Britain’s exit from the single market caused a 12% fall in exports between January and December last year compared with 2018.
Highlighting the disproportionate impact of leaving the EU, exports to the rest of the world excluding the 27-nation bloc dropped by a much smaller £10bn, or about 6% compared with 2018 levels.
Despite the disruption, the EU remains the UK’s largest trading partner. However, for the first time since comparable records began in 1997, the UK now spends more importing goods from the rest of the world than it does from the EU. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Friday, February 11, 2022
Brexit was a dumb idea from the very start. Nobody who understood even economics 101 would have voted in favour of Brexit! Nobody in his right mind would vote in favour of walking away from the largest market in the world: the European Single Market.
The likes of Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg will profit from it, no doubt. But the rest of us will pay only a very high price. The electorate has been led down the garden path, the path that leads to no good place, the path that will eventually lead to the impoverishment of our nation. But hey, people like Farage and Rees-Mogg will be sitting pretty. So the people, das Volk can go to bed at night in the comforting knowledge that we now have our blue passports back and crowns on our pint glasses of beer in pubs! Whoopee! They may go to bed hungry, but what a bonus already! And, furthermore, BoJo got the keys to Number 10. Alas, he hasn’t yet been unable to figure out how to do the job that the privilege of living in Number 10 brings with it.
If the people in charge had any smarts, they’d figure out a way of reversing this stupid decision. Pronto! But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. The people at the very top will be too proud to admit the error of their ways. – © Mark
UK exports of goods to the EU have fallen by £20bn compared with the last period of stable trade with Europe, according to official figures marking the first full year since Brexit.
Numbers released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the combined impact of the pandemic and Britain’s exit from the single market caused a 12% fall in exports between January and December last year compared with 2018.
Highlighting the disproportionate impact of leaving the EU, exports to the rest of the world excluding the 27-nation bloc dropped by a much smaller £10bn, or about 6% compared with 2018 levels.
Despite the disruption, the EU remains the UK’s largest trading partner. However, for the first time since comparable records began in 1997, the UK now spends more importing goods from the rest of the world than it does from the EU. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Friday, February 11, 2022
Brexit was a dumb idea from the very start. Nobody who understood even economics 101 would have voted in favour of Brexit! Nobody in his right mind would vote in favour of walking away from the largest market in the world: the European Single Market.
The likes of Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg will profit from it, no doubt. But the rest of us will pay only a very high price. The electorate has been led down the garden path, the path that leads to no good place, the path that will eventually lead to the impoverishment of our nation. But hey, people like Farage and Rees-Mogg will be sitting pretty. So the people, das Volk can go to bed at night in the comforting knowledge that we now have our blue passports back and crowns on our pint glasses of beer in pubs! Whoopee! They may go to bed hungry, but what a bonus already! And, furthermore, BoJo got the keys to Number 10. Alas, he hasn’t yet been unable to figure out how to do the job that the privilege of living in Number 10 brings with it.
If the people in charge had any smarts, they’d figure out a way of reversing this stupid decision. Pronto! But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. The people at the very top will be too proud to admit the error of their ways. – © Mark
Wednesday, 9 February 2022
US Seizes $3.6 Billion in Cryptocurrency Linked to Bitfinex Currency Exchange Hack | DW News
Feb 9, 2022 • The United States Justice Department said on Tuesday that authorities seized more than $3.6 billion (€3.2 billion) and arrested a New York couple accused of conspiring to launder billions in cryptocurrency.
Federal law enforcement officials said the recovered sum was linked to the hack of the Bitfinex virtual currency exchange in 2016. This was the department's largest seizure to date. The two suspects were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday morning. They are accused of using sophisticated techniques to launder the stolen money and conceal the transactions. The couple is scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court later on Tuesday. They face federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In the 2016 hack, about $71 million in stolen bitcoin was transferred to an outside digital wallet, officials said. The stolen bitcoin is valued today at more than $4.5 billion (€3.9 billion). Investigators located a wallet containing more than 2,000 bitcoin accounts and followed the trail to accounts at a dark web marketplace called AlphaBay. The marketplace was dismantled by the Justice Department in 2017. Authorities said they obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein, which contained the private keys to the wallet that was used to receive and store bitcoin stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack. The keys allowed agents to lawfully seize and recover more than 94,00 bitcoin, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Authorities say they tracked the stolen funds to more than a dozen accounts controlled by Lichtenstein, Morgan and their businesses. Millions of dollars were cashed out through bitcoin ATMs and used to purchase gold, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Walmart gift cards, prosecutors said.
Federal law enforcement officials said the recovered sum was linked to the hack of the Bitfinex virtual currency exchange in 2016. This was the department's largest seizure to date. The two suspects were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday morning. They are accused of using sophisticated techniques to launder the stolen money and conceal the transactions. The couple is scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court later on Tuesday. They face federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In the 2016 hack, about $71 million in stolen bitcoin was transferred to an outside digital wallet, officials said. The stolen bitcoin is valued today at more than $4.5 billion (€3.9 billion). Investigators located a wallet containing more than 2,000 bitcoin accounts and followed the trail to accounts at a dark web marketplace called AlphaBay. The marketplace was dismantled by the Justice Department in 2017. Authorities said they obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein, which contained the private keys to the wallet that was used to receive and store bitcoin stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack. The keys allowed agents to lawfully seize and recover more than 94,00 bitcoin, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Authorities say they tracked the stolen funds to more than a dozen accounts controlled by Lichtenstein, Morgan and their businesses. Millions of dollars were cashed out through bitcoin ATMs and used to purchase gold, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Walmart gift cards, prosecutors said.
Tuesday, 8 February 2022
Chris Hedges – On Contact: The Gig Economy
Feb 5, 2022 • On the show Chris Hedges discusses the gig economy to Louis Hyman, Professor of Economic History at Cornell University.
After the end of World War II two generations of workers in the United States were blessed with a period of unprecedented prosperity. Wages for the working class were high. Jobs were stable and came with benefits and health insurance. Unions protected workers from abuse by the business elites. Taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations was as high as 91 percent. The public school system provided a quality education to the poor and the rich. The nation’s infrastructure and technology were cutting edge and unrivaled. But by the 1970s it all began to go south. Wages stagnated. Income inequality grew, until by 2008 the top wealthiest 10 percent of Americans received 87 percent of the economic growth, compared with 29 percent from 1933 to 1973. The good industrial jobs vanished. In their place rose the temp or gig economy, one where wages were low, the jobs were not secure and did not provide benefits, unions were emasculated and the nation’s great democratic institutions, along with its infrastructure, crumbled into decay. What went wrong? How did it happen? And what does it mean for our future?
Louis Hyman is Professor of Economic History at Cornell University, and author of Temp: The Real Story of What Happened to Your Salary, Benefits and Job Security.
After the end of World War II two generations of workers in the United States were blessed with a period of unprecedented prosperity. Wages for the working class were high. Jobs were stable and came with benefits and health insurance. Unions protected workers from abuse by the business elites. Taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations was as high as 91 percent. The public school system provided a quality education to the poor and the rich. The nation’s infrastructure and technology were cutting edge and unrivaled. But by the 1970s it all began to go south. Wages stagnated. Income inequality grew, until by 2008 the top wealthiest 10 percent of Americans received 87 percent of the economic growth, compared with 29 percent from 1933 to 1973. The good industrial jobs vanished. In their place rose the temp or gig economy, one where wages were low, the jobs were not secure and did not provide benefits, unions were emasculated and the nation’s great democratic institutions, along with its infrastructure, crumbled into decay. What went wrong? How did it happen? And what does it mean for our future?
Louis Hyman is Professor of Economic History at Cornell University, and author of Temp: The Real Story of What Happened to Your Salary, Benefits and Job Security.
Thursday, 3 February 2022
Energy Bills: Rishi Sunak Gives One-off £200 Discount to Households
THE GUARDIAN: Most consumers to get additional support from £150 rebate on their council tax amid cost of living crisis
A one-off £200 discount and a rebate on council tax bills have been announced by Rishi Sunak in a £9bn package designed to “take the sting” out of a £700-a-year rise in the average household’s energy bills in April.
The chancellor said 80% of households would receive £350 in support this year in response to the decision by the energy regulator Ofgem to raise its price cap to just under £2,000.
In an attempt to mitigate Britain’s cost of living crisis, Sunak said all households would receive £200 off their energy bills in October – but then pay the discount back by £40 a year for the subsequent five years.
The chancellor said council taxpayers in England in bands A to D would receive a rebate of £150 from their bills in April, which will not have to be paid back. » | Larry Elliott | Thursday, February 3, 2022
British households face record 54% energy bill rise as price cap is raised: Move by Ofgem means millions likely to be driven into fuel poverty unless government acts to ease cost of living crisis »
A one-off £200 discount and a rebate on council tax bills have been announced by Rishi Sunak in a £9bn package designed to “take the sting” out of a £700-a-year rise in the average household’s energy bills in April.
The chancellor said 80% of households would receive £350 in support this year in response to the decision by the energy regulator Ofgem to raise its price cap to just under £2,000.
In an attempt to mitigate Britain’s cost of living crisis, Sunak said all households would receive £200 off their energy bills in October – but then pay the discount back by £40 a year for the subsequent five years.
The chancellor said council taxpayers in England in bands A to D would receive a rebate of £150 from their bills in April, which will not have to be paid back. » | Larry Elliott | Thursday, February 3, 2022
British households face record 54% energy bill rise as price cap is raised: Move by Ofgem means millions likely to be driven into fuel poverty unless government acts to ease cost of living crisis »
Bank of England Raises Interest Rates to 0.5%
THE GUARDIAN: Rise aims to combat soaring inflation despite faltering economic recovery from pandemic and deepening cost of living crisis
The Bank of England has raised interest rates to 0.5% to tackle soaring inflation amid intense pressure on households in Britain’s cost of living crisis. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Thursday, February 3, 2022
The Bank of England has raised interest rates to 0.5% to tackle soaring inflation amid intense pressure on households in Britain’s cost of living crisis. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Thursday, February 3, 2022
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