Bitcoin

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He told Institutional Investor that by the fall of 2021 bitcoin could be fairly valued at $100,000 per unit based on fundamental factors such as usage and the number of wallets in “the most powerful computing network the world has ever seen.”

Mark Yusko of Morgan Creek Capital Management, aka the man who has set up an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) to ride the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) trend/craze, believes that Bitcoin will be $100,000 by the fall of 2021. Not everyone is a believer, of course.

Read article on Institutional Investor

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The erstwhile bad boy of money has now become the establishment. Bitcoin is no longer a cryptocurrency but instead has become a speculative asset. Many now believe that, like gold, it too is a hedge against the shenanigans of weak-willed political fiscal lords. And that is not cool, says former New Yorker writer James Surowiecki, who noted in a recent essay: “Bitcoin was, after all, not designed to be a speculative asset. It was designed to be a currency, a new medium of exchange that people could, and would, use to transact daily business with each other.” Bitcoin has never lived up to that original dream of being a currency, and there are multiple reasons why — the biggest being the speculative fervor around it. Surowiecki is one of my favorite finance writers, and he doesn’t disappoint with this piece. It is worth a read. 

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Bitcoin is a real energy hog

Researchers from the Technical University of Munich and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took a look at how much energy was consumed by computers used to generate bitcoins and process transactions. Their conclusion:

in late 2018, the entire bitcoin network was responsible for 22-22.9 million tons of CO2 per year — similar to a large Western city or an entire developing country like Sri Lanka. Total global emissions of the greenhouse gas from the burning of fossil fuels were about 37 billion tons last year.  The researchers said about 68% of the computing power used to generate, or mine, bitcoins is in Asia, 17% is in Europe and 15% is in North America. [Fortune/AP]

The whole study is worth reading. (link)

Read article on Technical University of Munich

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BitCoin & Energy Usage

…the current global power consumption for the servers that run bitcoin’s software is a minimum of 2.55 gigawatts (GW), which amounts to energy consumption of 22 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year—almost the same as Ireland. Google, by comparison, used 5.7 TWh worldwide in 2015.

If the cryptocurrency were to stay at its recent price of $8,000, power usage of the bitcoin network would peak at 7.67 gigawatts (67 terrawatt hours of energy on an annual basis, or one-fifth of Britain’s energy use).

Read article on The Economist

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What I am reading today

How the Ukraine crisis ends. [Henry Kissinger] Through the watching glass. [Susie Cagle] Where Apple design is headed in 2014. [Macworld] Biggest gene sequence project launched. [UT San Diego] Bitcoin’s uncomfortable similarity to some shady episodes in financial history. [Casey Research] Chinese bond default rattles markets. Why? [Yves Smith] Spotify and Beats Music acquisitions illustrate … Continue reading What I am reading today