Loving the Tuscany lightning summit https://www.youtube.com/live/l9lHICvDFOA?si=xCWCsM-Y2IVTV1Fw

FT bearish as usual “Bitcoin price are at fresh record highs in many currencies. In dollars the cryptocurrency is up more than 40 per cent over the past month. The $69,000 intra day high set in 2021 is within reach. Excitement is being fuelled by the approval of spot exchange traded funds in the US. Expected changes to the way bitcoins are created or “mined” due at the end of April are adding to the frenzy. The “halving” event which happens about every four years was written into bitcoin code by its creator as a means to enhance scarcity. It means that the number of coins a miner gets as a reward for completing each calculation will fall from 6.25 to 3.125. This mechanically raises the production cost and reduces supply at the same time. Regardless of whether you believe bitcoin has any real value, prices remain tied to these underlying fundamentals. Opinions on the former are shifting as mainstream adoption grows; some $70bn has flowed into spot bitcoin exchange traded funds since they first went live in January, according to data from The Block. Rising demand from buyers anticipating the next halving explains why crypto bulls now gleefully predict bitcoin prices will soon exceed $100,000. Look closer and this bullish target seems suspect. The current cost of production — largely the electricity required by computers making the calculations for mining — is currently about $27,000, thinks JPMorgan. This offers a sense of the price floor for bitcoin. Immediately after the halving this will jump short term to around $50,000. Costs are also a function of the hashrate. This reflects the amount of processing power devoted to mining coins. The higher the hashrate — currently at a record high — the longer it takes to mine each coin. That in turn means higher costs for all involved, offering some comfort to buyers. Yet, the recent surge has taken bitcoin prices far above the cost of production. For bitcoin in the past that has not been sustainable. Moreover, these costs should start falling shortly after the halving as less efficient miners drop out, unable to keep up. As older machines are retired, the hashrate should fall and with it production costs. At some point the price rally will lose steam. Assume mining processing power falls by one-fifth then the cost of production will fall correspondingly to around $43,000. That offers a useful guide to where prices might find a floor once the current bout of mania subsides.”

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happy New Year

Retail is back. 50% increase in volumes to exchanges and doubling of values in last couple of months

Mainstream media has fun

What happened when I tried to spend only bitcoin for a whole day

Lily Russell-Jones tried coffee shops and bars before finally finding a bowling alley that could take her crypto — if she could get a ‘lightnin...

The FT hates Bitcoin. Especially when it goes up in fiat terms!!

Money history in UK Throughout human history, the way that we pay for goods and services has been becoming progressively less tangible and more remote. Early human history was a barter economy. Then coins started appearing in the world around 600 BC, and the Romans brought them to Britain around the first century AD. The Royal Mint was founded in 886 and is the 10th oldest company on the planet. Cheques appeared around 1660 - issued by Goldsmith bankers for making loans. Banknotes - exchangeable for the equivalent value in gold - were produced in the UK from the mid-18th century. Wire transfers became possible around 1871. Around 1960, wages started to be paid direct into bank accounts, and the first ATM was introduced in 1967. The rate of change has accelerated rapidly over recent decades, with credit cards, debit cards, contactless, online banking, mobile banking and digital wallets. With each wave of innovation, money is less physical. and increasinglv has simply become a digitised number. As our relationship with money changes, the way that we authorise, understand and control our payments have changed at incredible pace over recent years. In 2022, 86% of payment transactions in the UK were digital, compared to 44% in 2012