Daily Archives: May 11, 2020

Life in Berlin as coronavirus lockdown is eased: ‘It feels like reawakening from hibernation’ – inews

Posted: May 11, 2020 at 11:53 am

OpinionCommentIts after the sun sets, however, that the city perhaps feels most strange

Monday, 11th May 2020, 10:17 am

Its a hot bank holiday weekend in Berlin and the streets of Neuklln are bustling with activity. Along the banks of the canal, Berliners sit in pairs or in small groups, drinking beers from a local Spti (convenience shop), soaking up the sunshine. The canal itself is full of life, as people float around in brightly coloured rubber dinghies, the sound of techno music coming from boomboxes. Long queues form outside the much-beloved ice cream parlours and cyclists casually weave around them. It feels as though the world is opening up again, a friend says.

Germany has begun to ease its partial lockdown, after Chancellor Angela Merkel said the first phase of the pandemic is behind us. Shops in the city have reopened, along with hairdressers, and members of two households can meet in public again. Soon, restaurants, cafes, open air swimming pools and beauty parlours will also be able to reopen.

i's opinion newsletter: talking points from today

i's opinion newsletter: talking points from today

Berlin, much loved for its rebellious energy, feels like its partially reawakening from hibernation. For a brief moment, sitting by the water, I almost forget we are living through a pandemic.

But such moments are fleeting as social distancing measures remain firmly in place. The contact ban means people must stay 1.5 metres apart and there is still unease over a possible second wave of coronavirus infections.

As I walk to the U-bahn along busy Kottbusser Damm, I pass long lines of people queuing outside supermarkets wearing face masks. Face coverings are mandatory in shops and on public transport, and have become a constant reminder of our new normal. Over the past few weeks Ive seen them everywhere, worn by riot police on 1 May, when protests typically take place in Kreuzberg, as well as by shop window mannequins.

Almost everyone on my train carriage home has covered their face; some have clinical white masks, others wear colourful patterned ones, or have pulled scarves up to their noses. A single bare-faced man looks out of place, alone in breaking the rules. Earlier this week, I forgot mine [its plain black in colour, in true Berlin style] when I walked to my local bakery and was barred from entering.

All is not quite what it seems outdoors, either. Up close, it's clear the reason queues for ice cream are long is because people are standing on floor markings to stay far apart.

Its after the sun sets, however, that the city perhaps feels most strange. Berlins infamous techno clubs like Berghain, Sisyphos and About Blank, normally open all-hours all-weekend, remain shuttered. Even when restaurants and cafes open again later this month, they must close by 10pm. Berlin, known for its hedonism, normally has a palpable sense of freedom in the air. But the typically 24-hour city now has a curfew of sorts. At sunset, the night would normally just be beginning, but with nowhere to go people presumably head home.

The next day, as temperatures reach 22 degrees, I cycle to Schlachtensee, a lake in the West of the city, grateful we can do typical Berlin activities like cycling and lake trips.

Berliners are creative people and will find different ways to live and connect with each other safely in the coming months.

Summer is just around the corner, but this year it will be different. Europes most hedonistic capital has a unique energy in the warmer months, full of tourists, techno-lovers, and those here just for summer. Most years, street festivals like Christopher Street Day (CSD), Berlins world-renowned pride celebration, bring hundreds of thousands of people together to sing, dance, kiss and celebrate our freedom to live as we choose in this open-minded city.

Such personal freedoms are not given away easily here. This is particularly apparent in the thorny subject of a possible coronavirus app, which could help track the virus using mobile phone data, but that has so far met resistance in a country with memories of spying during the Nazi era, as well as by the Stasi secret police in the former communist East.

Without it for now, we must adapt to this next phase of the pandemic. Berliners are creative people and will find different ways to live and connect with each other safely in the coming months.

I plan to try new activities this summer; Ive bought a second-hand bike and am learning to cycle here for the first time. Im also on a mission to be able to slackline, which means to walk across a slack rope between two trees. Perhaps, like so many others, Ill even get a rubber dinghy and a boombox so I can float down the canal in Neuklln, playing some techno as I go.

Abby Young-Powell is a journalist living in Berlin

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Life in Berlin as coronavirus lockdown is eased: 'It feels like reawakening from hibernation' - inews

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Nine Things You Should Have Realised By the End of Your Twenties – VICE UK

Posted: at 11:53 am

The paint-by-numbers approach to schooling doesn't work for everyone. While, in theory, it makes sense that all Year 7s should learn how volcanoes work, it also doesn't at all: forcing each and every child to follow the same syllabus leads to huge gaps in real-world learning. For instance: How to be a good listener, or why intersectionality matters, or how to be mindful and live in the moment.

It's in our twenties once we've been released into the world that we really start to Learn Things. Out in the wild, we fill those educational gaps with lessons learned from hard, nasty reality. Since we released a new episode of the VENT Documentary series, "School's Out, What Now", this week, we asked VICE writers to detail some lessons they learned during their twenties that they could never have learned at school.

It's tempting to spend your school and university years saying yes to as many opportunities offered your way as is reasonably safe and possible. You will never have that much guilt-free leisure time again, so why not indulge in the widest range of fun? That's how I approached uni which meant I didn't spend much time distinguishing between the things I liked and the stuff that wasn't really me. But after I graduated, the fact I had less disposable time meant I could finally learn the joy of leaning into the people and things that I actually really like (mainly karaoke), and the even greater pleasure of saying no when the opportunity just isn't quite right. Dipo Faloyin

LISTEN: "School's Out, What Now" a podcast about UK education from the VENT Documentaries series, produced by VICE UK and the young people of Brent.

Your twenties can be a time of super hard work and massive hedonism, with very little in between. Everything's career driven, and then you get fucked up to decompress. While Im glad I spent some time partying, I wish I'd spent more time doing other cool things. When I was a teenager I played a lot of music, and thought I was going to be a rock star. Obviously that didnt happen, and so I slowly fell out of the habit because why bother if youre not going to end up with a brief stay in the Top 100 and a drug addiction?

"What's the point of playing music just for fun?" is a question that should answer itself, and yet it's one that is implicitly posed by absolutely everything about our mercenary culture. On the other hand, you're constantly bombarded with tiresome marketing about self-improvement, colonising your spare time with the need to consume ever more culture. What this can lead to is forgetting how to put any effort into doing things just for yourself, just for the sake of it. And I do mean effort, because while it's completely legit to spend ages on the Sims every so often, if you can manage it, its good to be a more active participant in your own leisure time. Simon Childs

Throughout my teens and early twenties, I reacted immediately and viscerally to any issue right in front of me. Had a bad day at work? I would walk out. Had a problem in my relationship? I would assume the worst. Had an argument with my family? I would say things I didn't mean in the heat of the moment.

As I've gotten older, it's not that I don't feel the same rage or stress or whatever, but I've learned that it really helps to pause for a moment (a few hours or, ideally, a day or two) before reacting to anything that pisses me off. Waiting to calm down enables you to see things a bit more clearly, and you're also able to communicate in a calmer way, which is more useful for everyone. I know this sounds really obvious, but it honestly took me until at least 25 to learn how and why I should pause instead of immediately freaking out. Daisy Jones

I spent most of my teenage years in tortured, secretive relationships that only left me feeling lonely and confused. It doesn't have to be that way! If being around somebody doesn't make you feel good, you don't have to put up with it. This applies to friendships and romantic relationships alike. If you leave an interaction with someone whether that's sexual, romantic or otherwise and they've somehow made you feel worse than you did before, that person is probably just not for you, and trying to convince yourself otherwise will just lead to pain further down the road.

In most cases, this is nobody's fault it's just a compatibility issue, and you will not become a Better Person by trying to change them or put up with it. There are obviously exceptions to this rule every relationship has its own peaks and troughs, and sometimes those you love can be fucking annoying but you deserve to be around people who don't make you want to stab your own eyes out. Zing Tsjeng

Just because something wasn't your thing at school or wasn't available at school, doesn't mean you will forever suck at it or it will come to define you. My school was terrible for sport it basically disappeared from the curriculum in sixth form. Anyway, in my early twenties I ended up playing football in an office I worked at just to get involved and socialise with some of the hot guys. I was obviously shit, but it was really fun, and when I moved to Peckham I managed to find a woman's team and keep it up. Ultimately, the School of Life taught me that picking up something later in life isn't a terrible idea. Ruby Lott-Lavigna

Like everyone in school with a passing interest in Green Day and two litre bottles of Strongbow, I fucking hated PE and PE fucking hated me back. As I grew up, I thought I was dreadful at all exercise, and then just never did any at all for years. For some reason that I cant remember now, in university I decided to give yoga a go, and realised that exercise alarmingly didnt actually have to make you feel bad. As Ive got older, Ive had the same realisations about exercise methods from spinning to (can't actually believe this one) running. This isnt to say that I am now one of those people who shags exercise, more just one of those people who now goes out running in the park if they have a shit day, and unfortunately tends to feel better for having done it. Lauren O'Neill

Lauren ONeill

In my twenties I learned that pubs were better than anywhere else. I loved them. The best thing about them was that there are loads of them. I spent most of my time in them, almost 24/7 it seemed. I was never at home. I played bass guitar in them and listened to live music in them, played pool and smoked weed outside them. I ate lunch and dinner in them. It's where I hung out with girlfriends, best mates and work colleagues. I kissed, slept and fought in them. I spent all my money in them and scrounged money and drinks in them. I got career breaks from being in them and my liver and brain a bit ruined by them. And I learned so well, I carried on doing it all into my thirties. Max Daly

You should buy some nice bed sheets. I know that sounds like an extravagant indulgence when you still live like a student and cannot imagine the day when you have your own place in which to put nice things; no longer beholden to a faceless landlord who thinks that a surprise 200 rent increase is "fair, given the current market conditions" But I really feel like my life improved slightly when I spent more than I should have on a high thread-count sheet and duvet set in "Blushed Dusk Grey". It didnt help redress the injustices that have fucked the London property market and made renting a box-room in Norwood akin to selling a kidney each month it was just some pillow cases. But it felt good, like something a real adult would do. Phoebe Hurst

Unfortunately, living is a practice. It requires bravery and hard work and the discipline to listen to yourself as you grow. You can read every list you want on how to be a person in the world and still know nothing about how to live. Without making mistakes and learning to suffer and survive, youll be a shell of an individual. Its only when we learn from our own lives that a "lesson" gets into our brains and bodies properly. I dont know why this is the case. It seems unfair that we cant just see our friends ruin their lives and take notes on what to avoid. Still, this is the truth. So strap in, and get ready to fuck up well. Hannah Ewens

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From Dushyant to Om Prakash Valmiki, Poetry Depicts the Never-ending Struggle of ‘Invisible’ Poor – News18

Posted: at 11:53 am

"Is sheher mein wo koi baraat ho ya vardaat, ab kisi bhi baat par khulti nahi hain khidkiyaan" (Be it a marriage procession or a tragic incident, windows in this city do not open for anything) - Dushyant Kumar.

Life, rather death, came a wretched, full circle for 15 migrant workers in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday. A special train carried their remains back home. Unavailability of this very train had forced them to sleep on railway tracks where they were mowed down by a freight carrier. But India has long moved on.

A day after the accident, the country's top Twitter trend said #MeTooMigrant. What started as a way of standing together with workers in the Covid-19 lockdown, was soon hijacked by the privileged. Most used the hashtag to narrate how they had to leave their home towns for high paying jobs and education in colleges where migrants are given the task of sweeping floors and cleaning toilets.

Poet-lyricist Abdul Hayee, popularly known by his pen name Sahir Ludhianvi talked about this stark difference in India's class system in 1964 when he wrote:

"Ye duniya do rangi hai,

Ek taraf se resham odhe, ek taraf se nangi hai,

Ek taraf andhi daulat ki paagal aish parasti,

Ek taraf jismo ki qeemat roti se bhi sasti,

Ek taraf hai Sonaagaachi, ek taraf Chaurangi hai,

Ye duniya do rangi hai"

(This world is double-faced,

One side covered with silk, the other naked,

On the one hand, the hedonism of blind wealth,

On the other, bodies sold cheaper than bread,

On the one hand lies Sonagachi, on the other Chowringee15,

This world is double-faced.)

One wouldn't be surprised if not even one labourer used the trend to voice his or her concerns. How would they? A section of them are busy returning home after a 40-day-battle with hunger, joblessness, deplorable living conditions and a forced separation from family. The rest are still cooped up inside hostile camps all in the midst of a global pandemic after the Centre imposed a sudden lockdown, leaving millions stranded.

Parallel to this, there is another India. One that comprises of the same lot that had joined the bandwagon last day to recount their 'sorrowful' tales of migration. City-dwellers conveniently forgot the very people who build their homes, lay their roads and clean their sewage. A legitimate excuse, they were toiling hard in romanticising the quarantine. Newly prepared dishes, buzz cuts, dance routines and everyday-changing social media trends have kept them rather occupied. The reporter writing this story also belongs to the group who enjoy abundance.

Revolutionary poet Athar Husain Rizvi better known as Kaifi Azmi, Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi's father, captured the sentiment of how workers are left to rot in the dirt after their job is done in his poem Makan. He wrote about builders of a palace having to sleep in the dust, guarded out of their own creation.

"Ban gaya qasr to pahre pe koi baith gaya, so rahe haak pe ham shorish-e-tamir liye"

(After the palace was built, someone was appointed to guard it while we slept in the dust amid the bustle of construction)

Urdu writer Haidar Ali Jafri from Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur also has a perfect reminder for India's upper class in the form of his couplet.

"Khoon mazdoor ka milta jo na ta-ameeron mein, na haveli na mehel na koi ghar hota"

(If a labourer's blood was not mixed with the rich, there would have been no mansions, palaces and homes)

However, it was again Sahir in 1964 who called out the rich for their innate tendencies to use and throw. Taj Mahal might be synonymous with love, but for him, it mirrored exploitation.

"Taj tere liye ek mazhar-e ulfat hi sahi,

Tujh ko is vaadi-e rangee se aqeedat hi sahi,

Meri mahboob, kahi aur mila kar mujh se..."

(For you, the Taj may be the expression of love,

And you might be enamoured by its beautiful setting,

But my love, meet me elsewhere ...)

"Meri mahboob, unhe bhi to mohabbat hogi ,

Jin ki sannaai ne bakhshi hai ise shakl-e jameel,

Un ke pyaaro ke maqaabir rahe be naam-o numood,

Aaj tak un pe jalaayi na kisi ne qandeel"

(My beloved, they too must have loved passionately,

They, whose craft has gifted this monument its beautiful visage,

Their loved ones lie in unmarked graves,

Dark, forgotten, unvisited.)

On the other hand, it will be wrong to assume that India's haves do not care at all. They do as much as their token empathy allows them. On March 22, a large proportion of the population came out for clapping and thaali-banging, supposedly in solidarity with doctors and health workers. Later, the same professionals were ostracised, attacked and thrown out of rented apartments by the very soldiers of unity.

Two weeks later, all lights inside houses were switched off at 9pm for 9 minutes. Millions stood at their balconies with diyas, candles and flash lights to express the same peppercorn sentiment.

However, workers and labourers were still missing from the narrative.

"Hone do charaghan mehlon mein, kya hum ko agar diwali hai,

Mazdoor hain hum, mazdoor hain hum, mazdoor ki duniya kaali hai

(Let there be light in palaces, what have we got to do even if there's Diwali,

We are labourers, we are labourers, our worlds are always dark)

Daulat ki seva karte hain thukrae hue ham daulat ke,

Mazdur hain hum, mazdoor hain hum sautele bete qismat ke"

(We work for the rich and are kept away from money,

We are labourers, we are labourers, we are abandoned step-sons of good fortune)

Urdu writer, Meer Kazim Ali famous as Jameel Mazhari born in Bihar's Motihari portrayed how whatever happens in these abundant households, the life of a labourer will always be grim, in his poem Mazdoor ki bansuri (A labourer's flute).

The formal sector constitutes of merely 8 per cent of the entire work force. The remaining 92 per cent is the informal sector where many toil in the twilight zone for a pittance. It is surprising that the dependent Indian middle class still does not give due importance to its workers given the lockdown removed all forms of help it receives from them. Probably the security of having domestic helps, milkmen, drivers, washer men and others back became apathy's crutch.

"Gareebi bohot zaruri hai,

Taaki ghar humare saaf rahein,farsh humare chamchamate,

Gareebi bohot zaruri hai,

Taaki bartan humare dhule chamakte rahein aur kapde safed,

Gareebi bohot zaruri hai,

Ki sandaas se humaare na aaye bas, aur kitchen se uthti rahein khushbuyein aur swaas,

Gareebi bohot zaruri hai,

Taaki bacche humaare nehlaaye, dhulaaye aur damakte rahein aur muh humaare jooton mein dikhte rahein,

Gareebi bohot zaruri hai"

(Poverty is very important,

So that our houses are clean and floors shining,

Poverty is very important,

So that our utensils are shiny clean and our clothes white,

Poverty is very important,

So that our toilets don't stink and our kitchens smell of perfume,

Poverty is very important

So that our children are bathed and clean and our shoes are polished to reflect our faces,

Poverty is very important)

Actor, screen-writer Atul Tiwari wrote this after 500 slums were demolished in an anti-encroachment drive conducted by the Indian Railways in Delhi's Shakur Basti on November 12, 2017. In the process, a six-month-old girl had died due to shock and injuries on chest and head due to impact of blunt force.

Meanwhile, it will be naive to assume that poverty arising out of migration has nothing to do with caste. According to the 64th round of the National Sample Survey, 22 per cent of the migrants are from OBC households and 19.3 per cent belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. This includes the skilled workforce. Experts believe that almost all unskilled and semi-skilled migrants belong to backward castes.

"Chulha mitti ka,

Mitti Talaab ki,

Talaab Thakur ka"

(The stove is made out of mud,

The mud is sourced from the lake,

The lake belongs to the upper-caste landlord)

"Bhukh roti ki,

Roti bajre ki,

Bajra khet ka,

Khet thakur ka"

((We have) a hunger for bread,

Bread made of pearl millet,

Pearl millet grown in the fields,

The field belongs to the upper-caste landlord)

"Bail Thakur ka,

Hal Thakur ka,

Hal ki mooth par hatheli apni,

Fasal thakur ka"

(The bull belongs to the upper-caste landlord,

The plough belongs to the upper-caste landlord,

The hands on the shaft of the plough are ours,

The harvest belongs to the upper-caste landlord)

"Kuan Thakur ka,

Pani Thakur ka,

Khet-khalihan Thakur ke,

Galli-muhalle Thakur ke,

Phir apna kya?

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From Dushyant to Om Prakash Valmiki, Poetry Depicts the Never-ending Struggle of 'Invisible' Poor - News18

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The Worst Economic Crash in 300 Years? But why? – Talk Finance

Posted: at 11:53 am

The Bank of England has predicted that the current economic crisis will be the cruellest in the last three hundred years. That says more about us, as a current set of generations, than any other sociological research.

Lets take a look at three major events in the last century.

Word Wars took the life of the young men, as did the Flu of 1918 mostly. COVID-19, as for now, preys for sick and old people. As cruel as it sounds, it does not put the pressure on society to such extent as wars and H1N1 of 1918. So why the crisis of 2020 should be cruellest in 300 years?

Maybe the answer is in the economic itself, drowned in services, startups and other counter-intuitive yet important branches? Maybe tourism and hospitality are not the safe grounds for healthy economy? Or outbound travel is not as important as we suppose? I dont know, but I know for sure: the worst crash in 300 years will be caused by our own hedonism and weakness, not by the COVID-19.

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Bitcoin investors are bracing for a key technical event here’s what you need to know – CNBC

Posted: at 11:51 am

A visual representation of the digital cryptocurrency bitcoin.

Yu Chun Christopher Wong| S3studio | Getty Images

Bitcoin faces a key technical event Monday known as the "halving." Due to take place later in the day, industry insiders are debating what effect it might have on the cryptocurrency market.

So what is the halving? You can think of it as an update to the underlying network that logs all bitcoin transactions. There are so-called "miners" on this network with specialized computing rigs competing to solve complex math problems to validate bitcoin transactions. Whoever wins that race gets rewarded in bitcoin.

On Monday, the amount of bitcoins rewarded to those miners is set to get cut in half. This is something that takes place roughly every four years to keep a lid on inflation. The current reward stands at 12.5 bitcoins, or BTC, so that will now be reduced to 6.25 BTC.

Unlike fiat currencies like the dollar, there is no central bank that manages the supply of bitcoin or its inflation rate. Instead, this is maintained thanks to a rule written into bitcoin's code by pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.

The total number of bitcoins that will ever be mined is capped at 21 million. Rewards to bitcoin miners keep halving until they reach zero. Bitcoin bulls say that this scarcity is part of what underpins the cryptocurrency's value and make it a potential "hedge" against currencies that are vulnerable to devaluation in times of economic crisis.

"With its finite and scheduled supply and decentralized architecture, BTC, in particular, offers the certainty needed in times like these, and will likely become a new safe-haven asset class," cryptocurrency lending start-up Nexo wrote in a note last week.

Investors are likely to closely watch the reaction of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices to the halving event later in the day. Some believe the event has been mostly priced into markets already, but there are others who think it could boost prices.

The past two halvings led to opposite short-term price movements, according to British bitcoin exchange CoinCorner. Bitcoin climbed 7% one month on from the first halving event in 2012, but slipped 10% a month after the second one in 2016. However, the price rose 944% six months on from the 2012 halving and 38% in the same period in 2016.

"While many anticipate bullish movements post-halving, we believe the supply shock that comes immediately after the halving event should have limited impact on price in the short term," Lennard Neo, head of research at Singapore-based bitcoin index fund provider Stack, said in a note Thursday. "As the block reward for miners decreases, there will be a time lag as miners (supply side) reposition towards market equilibrium."

"We anticipate that it could take 6-9 months before this equilibrium is found and Bitcoin realises halving-induced price appreciation. That said, further turmoil in the broader economies could accelerate its upward trajectory."

But there are also fears that the 2020 halving will also have an impact on miners' earnings, as they'll need more competitive mining gear to win bitcoin rewards.

"Miners currently need to produce more work to get the same reward," said Ed Hindi, CIO at Cayman Islands-based cryptocurrency hedge fund Tyr Capital. "Post halving their expected returns will be cut in half."

Bitcoin has risen more than 20% since the start of the year. The virtual currency, known for its volatility, suffered at sharp drop over the weekend. It briefly touched $10,000 on Friday but has since declined to around $8,800 as of Monday morning.

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Teen Hackers Accused of Cryptocurrency Theft, Sued For $71 Mn – CISO MAG

Posted: at 11:51 am

A cryptocurrency investor accused a teen hacker and his crew of juvenile hackers for stealing $24 million in cryptocurrency via a SIM swap attack. According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York, Michael Terpin, the founder and CEO of blockchain advisory firm Transform Group, claimed that a teenage hacker Ellis Pinksy (aged 15), along with his group of teen hackers, compromised his phone and stolen his cryptocurrency in 2018. Terpin is suing Pinsky (now aged 18) for $71 million under a federal racketeering law that allows for triple damages, Bloomberg reported.

Pinsky and his other cohorts are in fact evil computer geniuses with sociopathic traits who heartlessly ruin their innocent victims lives and gleefully boast of their multi-million-dollar heists, Terpin said in his complaint.

Terpin stated that Pinskys group identified people with cryptocurrency holdings and illicitly took control of their phones by launching SIM swapping attack to divert authentication messages, gain information, and breach victims cryptocurrency accounts.

What Is a SIM Swapping Attack?

A SIM swapping attack is one of the simplest ways for cybercriminals to bypass users 2FA protection. In a SIM swap attack, the attacker calls service providers and tricks them into changing a victims phone number to an attacker-controlled SIM card. This allows the attacker to reset passwords and gain access to victims sensitive data.

In a similar cyber heist, Jack Monroe, a popular food blogger and activist, revealed that she lost about 5,000 (around US$ 6,395) from her bank account after being hit by a SIM-Swapping attack. The British-based writer stated that her phone number was seized and re-activated on another SIM card, despite using two-factor authentication (2FA). Monroe stated the attackers were able to receive her 2FA messages and accessed her bank and payment accounts.

It seems my card details and PayPal info were lifted from an online transaction. The phone number was ported to a new SIM, meaning criminals access/bypass authentication and authorize payments. Im an autistic, methodical, ruthless investigator, and I have a LOT of info to go on, Jack Monroe said.

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Coinbase CEO Says New Cryptocurrency Bill Would Have Major Impact on Future of Finance – The Daily Hodl

Posted: at 11:51 am

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says a new bill being considered by lawmakers in California would have a major impact on digital assets and the future of finance.

The legislation seeks to change the meaning of securities under state law to exempt certain cryptocurrencies. Lawmakers and regulators in the US have struggled to clarify which digital currencies are securities within the context of the Howey Test, a federal metric used to determine if a particular asset qualifies as an investment contract.

According to the proposal, assets whose profits do not fully depend on the management efforts of third parties will not be considered as securities.

This bill would create an exception from the above definition by providing that a digital asset meeting specified criteria is presumptively not an investment contract within the meaning of a security. The bill would allow that presumption to be rebutted upon good cause shown by clear and convincing evidence by the Commissioner of Business Oversight, as specified.

If approved, California would be one of the first states in the nation to set a clear definition of digital assets, and Armstrong believes it would position the West Coast as the main hub for a new financial ecosystem.

This would be huge for California if it happens ensuring the future of finance is built on the west coast.

So many startups are struggling with this right now the current securities laws are well intentioned, but stifling a lot of innovation right now.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/oneinchpunch

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Paul Tudor Jones calls bitcoin a ‘great speculation,’ says he has almost 2% of his assets in it – CNBC

Posted: at 11:51 am

Longtime hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jonestold CNBC on Monday that Wall Street could be witnessing the historic "birthing of a store of value" through popular cryptocurrency bitcoin.

"It's a great speculation," Jones said on "Squawk Box."

He said he has "just over 1% of my assets in bitcoin. Maybe it's almost 2. That seems like the right number right now."

"Every day that goes by that bitcoin survives, the trust in it will go up," he added.

Jones, founder and chief executive at Tudor Investment and largely considered one of the best macroeconomic traders ever, told investors in a recent letter that he's betting on bitcoin as part of a far-larger strategy of maximizing profits.

For investors who have followed Jones' success in predicting the path of economic events, including his prescient bets against the U.S. stock market in 1987, his foray into cryptocurrency may seem unusual. But Jones defended his new investment, especially versus other stores of value like U.S. dollars.

Modern government-backed currencies, he argued, will almost always diminish in value over time. Many investors shy away from cash over the long term as legislatures continue to spend more than they generate in revenues and lean on central banks to pump cash into the economy, decreasing the purchasing power of each individual dollar.

"If you take cash, on the other hand, and you think about it from a purchasing power standpoint, if you own cash in the world today, you know your central bank has an avowed goal of depreciating its value 2% per year," Jones said. "So you have, in essence, a wasting asset in your hands."

Bitcoin, on the other hand, isn't subject to the whims of government spending, but is itself risky because it's only 11 years old, Jones said.He also confirmed that he has a portion of his portfolio invested in gold, a popular inflation hedge, and said he thought the metal could go "substantially higher" if inflation spikes.

"When I think of bitcoin, look at it as one tiny part of a portfolio. It may end up being the best performer of all of them, I kind of think it might be," he said. "But I'm very conservative. I'm going to keep a tiny percent of my assets in it and that's it. It has not stood the test of time, for instance, the way gold has."

Jones also said Monday that the economy would be in a "Second Depression" if the coronavirus pandemic doesn't get contained in a year.

The investor told CNBC in late March that the stock market could shoot higher by June if Covid-19 cases began to peak. The S&P 500 is up more than 15% since those comments on March 26 and the Nasdaq Composite has since turned positive for 2020.

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Paul Tudor Jones calls bitcoin a 'great speculation,' says he has almost 2% of his assets in it - CNBC

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No way around it: the irreparable damage cryptocurrency does to the environment – Green Prophet

Posted: at 11:51 am

It hasnt been long since bitcoin broke the ground in 2009, turning the monetary landscape upside down. With its decentralized nature and exceptional privacy, cryptocurrency quickly became popular among young people trying to make quick money.

As interesting as it is for tech and financial experts alike, theres no way around the harsh truth thats often swiped under the rug while discussing crypto: it damages the environment and the communities where its mined.

There has been extensive research done on the disruptive effects of cryptocurrency on the financial market, however, fewer people have highlighted the environmental damage that it causes along the way.

What is crypto mining?

In order to maximize their profits, crypto miners always try to seek out places with low-cost electricity and weak environmental policies, ultimately creating hazards for the environments and impact local populations without benefitting the communities.

The way the crypto miners produce currency is through an energy-intensive process requiring vast computing resources. According to recent estimates, over the course of a year, cryptocurrency consumes around 64 TWh (terawatt hours) of energy. Ranking it on top of the country of Switzerland by energy consumption, which 58 TWh per year.

As financial technologies become more and more accessible, ultimately making our lives much easier, there are certain aspects of fintech that create lasting damage to human health and the environment around us. Some activities that were once only a prerogative of the privileged few, like foreign exchange trading, are now accessible for everyone with a smartphone. This mobile trading FX brokers list shows just how much more accessible it is for virtually anyone to get involved in the foreign exchange market. With the increased accessibility to both FX, crypto, and other interesting new financial technologies, there should also be an increased awareness of the potential damaging side-effects that they might entail.

Due to its decentralized control, most cryptocurrencies have emerged from the grassroots communities, rather being corporate or government managed. To put it simplistically, cryptocurrencies are generated by using computers to solve puzzles that are stored in a blockchain, which are accessible on a decentralized database.

The difficulty of the puzzles increases proportionally to the number of miners competing to unlock bitcoins. In order to continuously solve the algorithms, mining servers require a tremendous source of energy. Ultimately, if the energy expense of mining exceeds the income from the currency produced, there is no more motivation to continue mining, which also significantly undermines the infrastructure that validates its monetary value.

In practice, this means that the possibility of profiting from mining cryptocurrency rises with the more powerful computer, faster internet connection, and the cheaper infrastructural services, such as electricity.

The damaging environmental impact of crypto mining

Despite its digital nature, the impact that cryptocurrency has on the physical environment and the welfare of communities where its mined cant be ignored.

With each cryptocurrency, the rising electricity requirements to produce a single coin can lead to an almost inevitable cliff of negative net social benefit, states a recent study about the monetary price of health and air quality impacts of cryptocurrencies.

Researchers claim that although mining activities produce financial value, electricity use creates crypto damage a term coined to illustrate the effects of digital exchange on human health and the environment.

There are ongoing debates on the exact extent of the impact that mining has on the environment. Even though it is agreed upon that crypto mining damages the environment, the impacts are markedly higher in places where the mining is dependent on dirty energy sources, such as the coal-fueled crypto mines in Mongolia. Coal energy sources offer prices that are 30% cheaper than the average energy consumption rates for industrial firms. With that being said, any cryptocurrency mined in China will produce four times as much CO2 pollution as the volume produced by renewable energy sources in Canada.

Sustainable way forward

With the growing popularity of cryptocurrency, as demonstrated by it entering more mainstream markets and being embraced by traditional financial institutions, we can surely foresee that crypto isnt going to go anywhere anytime soon. With the damage that it currently does to the environment, its also evident that its not sustainable, for now.

There are several promising figures that show a sustainable way of going forward with the crypto mining industry.

Recent figures show that crypto-mining facilities are looking into subsidizing the development of renewable energy resources in order to seek the cheapest resource to optimize the consumption value. The relationship between renewable energy and crypto-mining is well demonstrated in the bitcoin mining operations in China. The provinces hosting the most crypto-mining facilities correlate with the ones producing energy with renewable resources.

80% of Chinas bitcoin mining operations were based in Sichuan in 2017 a province that generated approximately 90% of its energy production from renewable resources, thereby accounting for 43% of global Bitcoin mining operations at the time.

The profitability of cryptocurrency mining is heavily dependent on its market value coupled with the price of electricity. If the value of a cryptocurrency decreases and goes below its cost of production, mining becomes unprofitable due to the large costs of the energy it needs. The most well-off crypto-miners work at the lowest cost by accessing the cheapest electricity capable of achieving intense use. As a result, miners are finding inexpensive energy markets while taking advantage of policy conditions that do not control how energy can be consumed.

Going forward, the crypto industry can become more sustainable if it commits to using renewable, clean energy in order to sustain itself. As the statistics show, in the long run, renewable energy is the future of electricity consumption. Utilizing the low-cost nature, crypto miners have an incentive to continue mining while minimizing their damage to the environment. However due to the decentralized nature of crypto that makes it so attractive to many will come as a detriment to the initiative, as at the end of the day theres no one to make the decision to go green but the individual miners.

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No way around it: the irreparable damage cryptocurrency does to the environment - Green Prophet

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Bitcoin halving explained: What is cryptocurrency event and will it boost price? – The Independent

Posted: at 11:51 am

For the first time in nearly four years, and for only the third time in its 11-year history, bitcoin is about to undergo a seismic shift to its technologicalfoundations. The halving event will not only affect how bitcoin is created, it will likely also have a significant impact on the entire cryptocurrency market.

Scheduled to take place next month, the event all stems from bitcoin's unique digital design. Unlike traditional currencies, the number of bitcoins that will ever exist is fixed. The mathematical code underpinning the cryptocurrency means that only 21 million bitcoins can ever be produced and no amount of quantitative easing can artificially inflate this.

More than 18 million bitcoins have already been produced through a process called mining, whereby new units of the cryptocurrency are generated by networks of computers programmed to solve complex mathematical puzzles.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

The imminent halving of bitcoin, however, is about to make this processconsiderably more difficult.

The halving event, sometimes referred to as thehalvening, is essentially the opposite of quantitative easing so much so that some crypto enthusiasts refer to it as quantitative hardening.

As the name indicates, the halving cuts the production of bitcoin in half in such a way that mining the cryptocurrency only generates 50 per cent of the yield it used to.

It takes place roughly once every four years whenever 210,000 blocks have been mined, and is predicted to take place on 12 May. This halving will see mining rewards fall from 12.5 bitcoins per block, to 6.25 bitcoins.

On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System'

Reuters

On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices

Lazlo Hanyecz

Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin

On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash

REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed

Getty Images

In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim

Getty Images

On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash

REUTERS

Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year

Reuters

On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System'

Reuters

On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices

Lazlo Hanyecz

Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin

On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash

REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed

Getty Images

In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim

Getty Images

On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash

REUTERS

Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year

Reuters

The event is not determined or governed by a centralised body.Instead,it is hard-coded into bitcoins underlying blockchain that was created in 2008 by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bitcoin was developed as an antidote to the perceived flaws in the established financial system, which had contributed to the global crisis of 2007-2008. By cutting the supply, the halving event is designed to ensure the scarcity of bitcoin while preventing extreme price inflation.

Previous halvings have resulted in sharp price increases and severe market volatility for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as traders and miners adjust to the new production limitationsof the worlds most valuable virtual currency.

The halving in 2012 saw bitcoins value shoot up by 80 times, while the 2016 halving preceded a 300 per cent rise in bitcoins value. The simplest explanation for these price increases is the basic economic principle ofsupply and demand: if the supply suddenly drops but demand stays the same, the price will inevitably rise. But the decentralised and semi-anonymous nature of bitcoin means it is difficult to attribute specific gains or losses to a specific event.

Mays bitcoin halving comes in the middle of a global economic meltdown, though it is not yet clear whether collapsing markets is driving money away from traditional assets into cryptocurrency. Some analysts claim that bitcoin is becoming a safe-haven asset similar to gold, and early evidence suggests that investors may already belooking towards it as an alternative store-of-value.

The CEO of one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchanges recently revealed data showing a spike in deposits of $1,200 the exact same size as the US governments stimulus cheque.

Bitcoin is yet to be tested by global economic disruption on this scale, and it may well go the same way as stocks or other assets as investors rush to liquidate holdings into cash. Some analysts are hopeful, however, that the halving event combined with traditional market chaos could see the cryptocurrency reach above the record highs of $20,000 that it saw in 2017.

"Many eyes have been on bitcoin since the bull run of 2017, with people eagerly awaiting its next big moment. We believe that moment is coming and we can expect to see an explosive year for bitcoin," Danny Scott, CEO of British-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinCorner, toldThe Independent.

"With both the current unexpected global crisis and the halving event, we can only expect the price of bitcoin to continue in the direction that everything is currently pointing: towards that $20,000 figure and beyond."

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Bitcoin halving explained: What is cryptocurrency event and will it boost price? - The Independent

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