USGS releases first study to assess global earthquake risk to mineral supplies
Earthquakes have the potential to substantially affect mining operations, leading to supply chain disruptions that adversely affect the global economy.
Bitcoin was trading at $867 on Japan’s Mt Gorex exchange on Sunday, quadrupling in value in just one month.
Last week a US Senate hearing displayed no hostility towards the virtual currency, creating a surge of investment that has pushed bitcoin towards the $1,000 mark.
Chinese buyers have driven the recent frenzy, and investors around the globe will keep an eye on Asian buying activity to better predict whether or not the upward price momentum will last.
Bitcoin has avoided a heavy regulatory hand in the United States, Germany and elsewhere, but if the currency can’t break its association with illicit activities, this current climate of tolerance could change.
In October, US authorities seized $3.6 million in bitcoin as part of a larger bust of ‘Silk Road’, an online black market for drugs, hitmen and hacker tools.
For now, bitcoin is riding high, increasingly used in daily transactions in pubs and shops around the world.
“As acceptance grows, that acceptance will help narrow in on what should be the proper valuation,” said Zennon Kapron, from a Shanghai advisory firm.
2 Comments
Matt
How is it valued at anything. It carries no value. If it gets 867.00 USD, that means someone is willing to pay that. Of course that someone is convinced that is will go to 1067.00 and so on, but explain the value. This happened in 1999 with the dotcom stocks and oh my…..the angst when people realized that illusions cannot keep doubling forever. And when they crash, you cannot give the things away.
Tim Harry
One problem with bitcoin is that while it has been built with upward finitude, its fractional power is actually unleashing the potential for the same printing press
characteristic of the fiat currencies. From thousands of units buying a
pizza, in time a 10 to the power of -20 fraction may be buying the pizza
place.
Bitcoin is carrying promised intrinsic value through anonymity. An interest for anonymous transaction can appear in buying weapons or drugs or organs of choice. An ethical person should consider that participation in the holding of bitcoin is fraught with the potential for crime, war, loss of basic human rights. Is this what we are betting on? I hope that human nature is not rooted only in greed and corruption.