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These are the countries where cryptocurrency use is most common
February 18, 2021--Cryptocurrency use is on the rise, with 33% of Nigerians either using or owning cryptocurrency, according to a recent survey.
Cryptocurrency has become popular as a cheaper solution to sending money across borders.
According to bitcoin.com, the Philippines' Central Bank has approved several crypto exchanges to operate as "remittance and transfer companies" in the country.
Reliance on remittances and the prevalence of peer-to-peer phone payments have led to a steep rise of cryptocurrency use in Africa's largest economy. Out of 74 countries in the Statista Global Consumer Survey, Nigerians were the most likely to say they used or owned cryptocurrency.
Public and Private Money Can Coexist in the Digital Age
February 18, 2021-We value innovation and diversity-including in money. In the same day, we might pay by swiping a card, waving a phone, or clicking a mouse. Or we might hand over notes and coins, though in many countries increasingly less often.
Today's world is characterized by a dual monetary system, involving privately-issued money-by banks of all types, telecom companies, or specialized payment providers-built upon a foundation of publicly-issued money-by central banks. While not perfect, this system offers significant advantages, including: innovation and product diversity, mostly provided by the private sector, and stability and efficiency, ensured by the public sector.
BetaShares-Inflation Watch
February 15, 2021--Global markets
Global equities continued to grind higher last week in the absence of bad news. Biden's massive U.S. fiscal stimulus package remains the 'gift that keeps on giving' as it slowly winds it way through Congress and gives equity bulls something positive to talk about on quiet days. The U.S. Q4 earnings season is also winding down, with results again pleasantly surprising to the upside.
Contrary to some fears, the January U.S. CPI inflation report also remained fairly benign.
Indeed, probably the main market concern these days, apart from any COVID relapse, is that the synchronised global demand rebound seemingly underway – coupled with lingering supply bottlenecks – could lead to an upsurge in consumer price inflation over at least the short-term. Pricing pressure is certainly evident in many commodity markets, with oil prices pushing higher-and the recent move higher in bond yields is also worth watching.
ESG scores: an outdated concept
February 15, 2021--It's time the investment industry changed its attitude towards ESG scores, argues Dr Tom Steffen
The concept of ESG scores- aggregating hundreds of indicators from diverse and complex topics- is outdated, particularly when repackaged by the investment management industry as an investment signal. The time for change has come.
ESG scores limit true price discovery
Financial markets play a crucial role in price discovery. The trading activity of investors determines the true value of an asset, reflecting all publicly-available information. Such information includes anything that is material to the value of the company including its environmental, social, and governance practices.
The wide-ranging reliance of the investment management industry on aggregate ESG scores by third-party rating agencies limits this true price discovery. Uncovering as of yet unrevealed information on the risks and opportunities presented by firms' sustainable and responsible behaviours and tying them back to corporate valuation requires detailed data and profound research; yet most investors rely solely on the high-level information captured in ESG scores.
Analysis: Cancel your weekends! Bitcoin doesn't rest, and neither can you
January 11, 2021--Bitcoin doesn't sleep.
On the first sluggish Saturday of 2021, Jan. 2, many people were still nursing New Year hangovers. But there was no breather for bitcoin, which powered past $30,000 for the first time.
Its 10% single-day jump was one of several weekend and public holiday price surges that helped the cryptocurrency soar by two-thirds from the start of December to early January.
Trading volumes across six major cryptocurrency exchanges have been 10% higher at weekends than weekdays in that period, data from researcher CryptoCompare shows. That represents a major shift from the previous 11 months, when weekend volumes were 13% lower than traditional trading hours.
The Environmental Threat You've Never Heard Of
February 10, 2021--It's called coastal darkening, and scientists are just beginning to explore it.
Coastal waters around the world are steadily growing darker. This darkening-a change in the color and clarity of the water-has the potential to cause huge problems for the ocean and its inhabitants.
"It’s affecting the quality of the sea we know,"says Oliver Zielinski, who runs the Coastal Ocean Darkening project at the University of Oldenburg in Germany. These "changes in the physics will lead to biological changes," he adds.
Some of the causes behind ocean darkening are well understood: fertilizer enters the water and causes an algal bloom, or boats stir up light-blocking silt as they move. But other causes are murkier. During heavy rains, for instance, organic matter-primarily from decaying plants and loose soil-can enter the ocean as a brown, light-blocking slurry. This process is well documented in rivers and lakes, but has largely been overlooked in coastal areas.
Bitcoin consumes 'more electricity than Argentina'
February 10, 2021--Bitcoin uses more electricity annually than the whole of Argentina, analysis by Cambridge University suggests.
"Mining" for the cryptocurrency is power-hungry, involving heavy computer calculations to verify transactions.
Cambridge researchers say it consumes around 121.36 terawatt-hours (TWh) a year-and is unlikely to fall unless the value of the currency slumps.
Critics say electric-car firm Tesla's decision to invest heavily in Bitcoin undermines its environmental image.
Composite Leading Indicators (CLI), OECD, February 2021
February 9, 2021--CLIs point to stable growth in most large OECD economies
The OECD Composite leading indicators (CLIs), designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, point to stable growth in most large OECD economies.
The CLIs continue to signal stable growth in the United States, Japan and the euro area as a whole, including Germany, France and Italy. In Canada, the CLI now points to stabilising growth. The CLI for the United Kingdom still signals a slowdown.
Among major emerging economies, the CLIs for the manufacturing sector of China and for India and Brazil all point to a steady increase in growth.In Russia, the CLI continues to signal stable growth.
The CLIs should continue to be interpreted with care as fluctuations in the underlying components are likely influenced by the changing measures to contain Covid-19 and the progress of vaccination campaigns.
New Report: Transnational Repression Is a Growing Threat to Global Democracy
February 4, 2021--Dozens of governments around the world systemically employ violence against exiles and diasporas, reaching beyond national borders to silence dissent.
Human rights activists, dissidents, and their families face a worldwide pattern of violence and intimidation perpetrated by the authoritarian regimes they hoped to avoid by fleeing abroad, according to a new Freedom House report that details the immense scope of such "transnational repression."
The Saudi authorities' 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey is perhaps the most infamous recent case of transnational repression, but many other incidents have been reported, and still more have largely escaped media attention.
The key findings of the report, Out of Sight, Not Out of Reachinclude the following:
