Author Archives: Schmitt Trading Ltd

Shutterstock Efpraxia D. Zamani, De Montfort University When the bitcoin was first introduced eight years ago, it promised to change payments. People would be able to transact directly with each other, without needing to place their trust in banks – but that promise still hasn’t materialised and adoption of bitcoins is low. We were firstContinue reading “How are bitcoin, cryptowallets and blockchain related? Some jargon busted”

Standard / by FIRECracker / October 4, 2021 / 21 Comments Follow meFIRECracker FIRECracker is a world-travelling early retiree. She used to live in one of the most expensive cities in Canada, but instead of drowning in debt, she rejected home ownership. What resulted was a 7-figure portfolio, which has allowed her and her husbandContinue reading “The Tang Ping Movement: Asia’s First Steps Towards Financial Independence”

Arina P Habich / shutterstock Mike Hazas, Lancaster University; Bingsheng Zhang, Lancaster University, and Joseph Lindley, Lancaster University The soaring value of bitcoin is encouraging more and more companies and individuals to engage in “mining”. Mining is actually a process which secures the distributed bitcoin network, and processes all of its transactions. Historically anyone couldContinue reading “Bitcoin’s energy use is out of control … but maybe that’s the point?”

Posted October 5, 2021 by Nick Maggiulli Corey Hoffstein recently brought the following chart to my attention which shows the required allocation to earn a 7.5% expected return in 1995, 2005, and 2015: As you can see, the days of decent returns for low risk are far behind us. Investors can no longer rely solelyContinue reading “Are We Craving Risk or Losing Reward?”

What’s going on in your computer? Shutterstock Bill Buchanan, Edinburgh Napier University Nothing comes for free, especially online. Websites and apps that don’t charge you for their services are often collecting your data or bombarding you with advertising. Now some sites have found a new way to make money from you: using your computer toContinue reading “Is your computer secretly mining bitcoin alternatives? A guide to ‘cryptojacking’”

Shutterstock Larisa Yarovaya, Anglia Ruskin University and Brian Lucey, Trinity College Dublin Cryptocurrency entrepreneurs have moved to Puerto Rico to build a crypto utopia – initially dubbed Puertopia but now named Sol – where they plan to pay little in taxes. The crypto expats also hope to demonstrate how the city of the future willContinue reading “Bitcoin rich kids in Puerto Rico: crypto utopia or crypto-colonialism?”

shutterstock.com Nafis Alam, University of Reading A new wave was added to the never-ending Bitcoin mania when the Chicago Board of Exchange (CBOE) became the first major derivative exchange to launch Bitcoin futures on December 10. Such was the euphoria among early investors that trading was halted twice due to CBOE speed breakers, which slowContinue reading “How Bitcoin futures trading could burst the cryptocurrency’s bubble”

Ioannis Glinavos, University of Westminster Everyone is going crazy about bitcoin, yet very few people understand what it is, how it relates to blockchain and whether this is a legitimate investment tool or a massive scam. The extradition case of Alexander Vinnik – the alleged Russian mastermind of a US$4 billion digital money laundering schemeContinue reading “Why bitcoin fraud suspect Alexander Vinnik looks set to be extradited to the US”

Reuters John Quiggin, The University of Queensland The recent upsurge in the price of Bitcoin seems to have finally awakened the world to the massively destructive environmental consequences of this bubble. These consequences were pointed out as long ago as 2013 by Australian sustainability analyst and entrepreneur Guy Lane, executive director of the Long FutureContinue reading “The ‘utopian’ currency Bitcoin is a potentially catastrophic energy guzzler”

Climate change means more schools will need to install or upgrade cooling systems. Bill Uhrich/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images Paul Chinowsky, University of Colorado Boulder Rising temperatures due to climate change are causing more than just uncomfortably hot days across the United States. These high temperatures are placing serious stress on critical infrastructure suchContinue reading “As heat waves intensify, tens of thousands of US classrooms will be too hot for students to learn in”