Author Archives: Schmitt Trading Ltd

Broken Bitcoin. Unknown David Glance, The University of Western Australia Bitcoin relies on the participation of people and organisations to act as the “bankers” of the system. Called Bitcoin miners, they effectively record each transaction on a ledger called the Blockchain and in return, they are awarded with bitcoins. The process of mining is toContinue reading “The “halving” sounds like a horror story and may well turn out to be one for Bitcoin”

guitar case. Marcus O’Dair, Middlesex University In the decade and a half since Napster, it’s got harder for musicians to make a living, at least from recorded music. Falling CD sales, illegal downloads, the low payments from legal music streaming platforms, and a shift towards buying single tracks rather than whole albums all play theirContinue reading “How blockchain could help musicians make a living from music”

Solar panels on the roof of the Casa Dominguez low-income housing development in East Rancho Dominguez, Calif. Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Joshua D. Rhodes, University of Texas at Austin President Joe Biden has called for major clean energy investments as a way to curb climate change and generate jobs. On Sept.Continue reading “Biden’s proposed tenfold increase in solar power would remake the US electricity system”

William Potter/Shutterstock Nafis Alam, University of Reading The future of money looks very different in the world of cryptocurrencies. There is a growing consensus among businesses, investors and countries (Venezuela in particular) that these alternative forms of online money are going to dominate payments in the next decade. There may be agreement on the potential,Continue reading “Can cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin survive scrutiny from central banks?”

An illustration photo of Bitcoin (virtual currency) coins Reuters Andrew Godwin, The University of Melbourne The Chinese government’s decision to order several Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies exchanges to close shows how much of a threat they are perceived to be to financial stability and social order in China. The decision to also ban initial coinContinue reading “China’s crackdown on cryptocurrency trading – a sign of things to come”

Jason Potts, RMIT University; Chris Berg, RMIT University, and Sinclair Davidson, RMIT University Despite its name, cryptocurrency isn’t just money. It could also be debt or equity and so it should be regulated and taxed in the same way as other finance. The tokens investors get when they buy a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, can beContinue reading “Bitcoin investors should be taxed like any other investor”

Initial coin offerings have taken off this year. Shutterstock Philippa Ryan, University of Technology Sydney The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has finally issued guidance to explain how “initial coin offerings” (ICOs) will be regulated. ICOs are a form of crowdfunding, with companies raising funds by selling tokens or cryptocurrencies to investors with promisesContinue reading “Australian regulators have finally made a move on initial coin offerings”

shutterstock.com Paul Dylan-Ennis, University College Dublin and Donncha Kavanagh, University College Dublin Initial coin offerings – or ICOs – have become enormously popular with investors. They have raised more than US$1.8 billion so far in 2017 and one recent ICO raised US$35m in under 30 seconds. But they are proving unpopular with governments around theContinue reading “Explainer: what are initial coin offerings (ICOs) and why are investors flocking to them?”

Shutterstock Iwa Salami, University of East London The news that bitcoin had broken the $10,000 barrier reflects the way that mainstream investors have been flocking to cryptocurrencies over the past year. But amid the excitement, regulators are fretting about criminals who are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to escape detection from law enforcement. Why is digital currencyContinue reading “Bitcoin’s surge intensifies need for global regulation of cryptocurrencies”

Ready to pop? Adam Dachis/flickr, CC BY Larisa Yarovaya, Anglia Ruskin University and Brian Lucey, Trinity College Dublin In the last year, the price of Bitcoin has increased from less than US$800 to more than US$12,000. This huge spike in value has many asking if it is a bubble or if the high price todayContinue reading “The Bitcoin bubble – how we know it will burst”