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Bitcoin: Understated benefits and overstated risks

"Built within the Bitcoin protocol are capabilities to develop other financial innovations, like notary services, encrypted communications, and 'smart' collateral contracts. Developers and businesspeople are still learning the myriad applications for this innovative technology. Just as the public debate understates some of the benefits of Bitcoin, it also overstates some of the concerns. The hypothetical crimes that Bitcoin may enable are traditionally committed with cash, but policymakers would never dream of criminalizing cash. Instead, they regulate the use of cash. Regulations targeting Bitcoin could adopt this time-tested approach." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin is a Startup

"Bitcoin is far too difficult to safely buy, sell, spend, and store. We need to build easy to use, robust infrastructure before Bitcoin can be widely adopted. The best venture capitalists and angel investors leverage their experience and network to help their portfolio companies succeed. If you’re an accredited investor looking to invest in Bitcoin companies or an entrepreneur looking to start a Bitcoin company, AngelList and BitAngels are two ways to get connected to the right people. Numerous angels, VCs, and accelerator programs have also expressed interest in funding Bitcoin companies. Now go forth and build." Continue reading →

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Nepal’s tourism bureau promises to keep ‘tighter control’ of Mount Everest climbs

"Nepal’s tourism ministry said Friday it plans to exercise tighter control of climbers scaling Mount Everest to make sure they keep the world’s highest peak clean and to prevent rows. The ministry will set up a 10-member team made up of government officials, veteran Nepalese climbers and security officers that will start work when the next climbing season opens in the spring. The team will ensure that climbers do not leave trash on the mountain, Purna Chandra Bhattarai, of the tourism ministry told AFP. Nepal has already made it mandatory for each expedition team to hire liaison officers from the ministry to ensure better relations with locals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNepal’s tourism bureau promises to keep ‘tighter control’ of Mount Everest climbs

8 Chinese police officers fired for skinny dipping at tourist destination

"Eight Chinese policemen were sacked Monday after their naked swim at a tourist venue made waves online, state media said. The auxiliary police officers were dismissed for 'causing a negative impact on the image of the police', Xinhua news agency quoted the public security bureau of Lushan county in the central province of Henan as saying. It said the dismissals came after photos circulated online showing the eight skinny-dipping or standing on the shore, with their uniforms on the bank. Two police vehicles were parked nearby." Continue reading →

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Credit crisis begins to cripple Chinese cities

"Worried lenders in the informal sector raised interest rates for small and medium-size businesses, setting off a much broader wave of defaults in recent weeks, as owners found themselves unable to repay billions of dollars in bad debts, many of them handwritten and hard to enforce in court. State-owned banks have long been allowed to lend only at low, regulated rates barely above the inflation rate, with the total value of loans controlled by quarterly quotas. These loans go overwhelmingly to large state-owned businesses, government officials and politically connected individuals, who then relend the money at much higher interest rates." Continue reading →

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The Beginnings of a Chinese Banking Crisis?

"The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) displaced Bank of America to become the world's biggest bank in 2012, marking the first time in history a Chinese bank has reached this pedestal. China now has four of the world's ten biggest banks. Together, these Chinese banks have a combined market capitalization of close to $1 trillion Canadian dollars, or three times the market cap of the Canadian banking sector. ICBC alone has 393 million individual customers, which according to the Telegraph is the equivalent of a single bank managing the bank accounts of every man, woman, and child in Western Europe." Continue reading →

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Pops In China’s Construction Bubble (But It’s Not Going To End)

"'Government and banking industry sources familiar with the situation' who 'declined to be named due to the highly sensitive nature of the matter,' have been spilling the beans to the South China Morning Post. The central government, they said, is considering an 'unofficial economic stimulus' to prop up key economies like Shanghai. On the quiet! For that purpose, Agricultural Bank of China, one of the state-owned megabanks, inked a deal to lend the city of Shanghai 250 billion yuan (about $41 billion) for a number of big construction projects, the sources said. The loan would amount to 12.5% of Shanghai’s 2012 GDP." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPops In China’s Construction Bubble (But It’s Not Going To End)

Top Chinese official warn of ‘empty cities’ emerging in China

"In a grim warning against rapid urbanisation in China, a top development official has said that reckless expansion of cities has turned many of them into ghost towns with no occupants in sight. Qiao Runling, deputy director of the China Centre for Urban Development, said local governments had relied on quick urbanisation to stimulate economic growth and generate fiscal revenue. State-run broad cater CCTV recently carried a report showing two such 'ghost cities' with massive apartment and commercial complexes with no occupants, leaving local governments in deep debts." Continue reading →

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A Second Shot at History’s Greatest Investment Trend

"China is on the verge of rolling back its infamous one-child policy. When it does – likely later this year or early next year – a modern baby boom will erupt. The Chinese birth rate will ratchet higher as Chinese families are finally free to have a second child, and a spending wave will wash across the Middle Kingdom that will spawn potentially massive profits for those who invest in this demographic wave. Thus it is that China’s future is your chance to go back in time and own the kinds of stocks – McDonald’s, J.C. Penney, Coca-Cola and others – that generated fortunes for investors as they moved into their explosive growth phase because of the boomers." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Spawns China Virtual IPOs as U.S. Scrutiny Grows

"The Bitcoin craze is catching on in China. A small but growing group of investors in China have put the country into contention with the U.S. as the biggest downloader of the virtual money that’s being used to buy a growing range of goods and services online. While intensified scrutiny by U.S. regulators casts doubt on the currency’s future there, China’s Bitcoin industry is expanding. The China Securities Regulatory Commission didn’t respond to a faxed query on whether it’s looking at new rules regarding Bitcoin. So long as it remains small, the industry may continue to fly below the radar screen." Continue reading →

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