S&P Dow Jones Indices, a division of financial data provider S&P Global Inc, said on Thursday that it will launch cryptocurrency indices in 2021, making it the latest major finance company to enter the nascent asset class. Reuters reports: The S&P DJI-branded products will use data from New York-based virtual currency company Lukka on more than 550 of the top traded…
Tag: investors
Bitcoin Hits New Record, This Time With Less Talk of a Bubble
Bitcoin is back. Again. From a report: Nearly three years after it went on a hair-bending rise and hit a peak of $19,783, the price of a single Bitcoin rose above that for the first time on Monday, according to the data and news provider CoinDesk. The cryptocurrency has soared since March, after sinking below $4,000 at the outset of the…
Bitcoin at $100,000 in 2021? Outrageous To Some, a No-Brainer for Backers
Bitcoin investors, which include top hedge funds and money managers, are betting the virtual currency could more than quintuple to as high as $100,000 in a year. From a report: It’s a wager that has drawn eye-rolls from skeptics who believe the volatile cryptocurrency is a speculative asset rather than a store of value like gold. Since January, bitcoin has gained…
Struggling Electric Jet Startup Zunum Sues Boeing For Fraud and Misuse of Trade Secrets
Kirkland, Washington-based aviation startup Zunum Aero filed a lawsuit this week accusing Boeing of fraud, technology theft, breach of contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets. The company, which had received millions of dollars from the venture arms of Boeing and JetBlue, said it would be ready to fly its 12-seat hybrid electric jets by 2022. Instead, it ran out of cash…
Is Bitcoin’s Growth Driven By Speculative Investors?
“Bitcoin is now trading near $18,000, up almost 100% in six months,” notes Bloomberg columnist Lionel Laurent, “and it’s flirting with an all-time high reached in 2017 (which, given it was followed by an ugly crash, faithful Bitcoiners would rather forget)…” . But what exacty does that mean? He challenges the notion that Bitcoin is the new wealth-protecting investment like gold,…
Uber and Lyft Will Push For More Laws Classifying Drivers as Independent Contractors
“Uber helped wage a $200 million war in California to keep drivers as contractors,” notes the Washington Post — successfully funding a ballot proposition that overrides a high-stakes 2019 law which insisted drivers be considered employees. “But now that the ballot measure has passed, the company says its work isn’t done…” The ride-hailing giant’s CEO said Thursday that Uber is looking…
China Halts Ant Group’s Blockbuster IPO
In a late-evening announcement that stunned China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange slammed the brakes on Ant’s initial public offering, which was set to be the biggest stock debut in history with investors on multiple continents and at least $34 billion in proceeds. The New York Times reports: The stock exchange’s notice to Ant said that the company’s proposed offering might no…
Intel Contemplates Outsourcing Advanced Production, Upending Oregon’s Central Role
According to The Oregonian, Intel is “openly flirting with the notion of moving leading-edge production from Oregon to Asia and hiring one of its top rivals to make Intel’s most advanced chips.” The decision is likely in January. From the report: It’s a momentous choice that follows a string of manufacturing setbacks at the Ronler Acres campus near Hillsboro Stadium, failures…
Tech Startups Say New Pay Rules for H-1B Visas Are Unaffordable
New rules from the Trump administration restricting skilled foreign workers are unnerving U.S. startup hubs, as founders and investors say the limitations will hamstring their ability to recruit top-tier talent to grow their businesses [Editor’s note: the link may be paywalled; free syndicated source]. From a report: The changes to the H-1B visa program announced in October will make qualifying for…
World’s First Ocean Hybrid Platform Converts Tidal Waves Into Energy
Qusi Alqarqaz writes via IEEE Spectrum: In August I spoke with Philipp Sinn, founder of Sinn Power, a German green-energy startup founded in 2014. This year he and his colleagues began building and testing the world’s first ocean hybrid platform. The floating platform uses a combination of wave, wind, and solar energy to harness renewable energy on the open seas, Sinn…