Listen to the audio:
What Moved Global Markets
– What’s happening ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where policymakers and business leaders from around the world are due to arrive on Monday: Over half of the world’s GDP (gross domestic product) is exposed to risks from nature loss, according to a new report. It comes following a 12-month period which reportedly saw the hottest year on record for the world’s oceans, the second-hottest year for global average temperatures and wildfires from the U.S., to the Amazon, to Australia. The report, which was produced by WEF in collaboration with PwC U.K., found that $44 trillion of economic value generation — more than half of the world’s GDP — is “moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services and is therefore exposed to nature loss.”
– Reports from Netflix, Intel and Texas Instruments next week may hint at what is to come in the December quarterly earnings season, with some investors wary of possible danger signs that could knock Wall Street after its latest surge to record highs. The S&P 500 has gotten off to a strong start in January, up 3% so far this year, fueled by a truce in the U.S.-China trade war, low-interest rates and signs the economy remains healthy.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Down 4.99% to $8,680.98
Total trading volume (24h): $32.85+ billion USD
Ethereum: Down 6.02% to $165.56
Total trading volume (24h): $13.03+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: SIX (SIX) is up 124.51% to $0.015549
Biggest Mover 2: Uquid Coin (UQC) is up 70.69% to $0.215225
Biggest Loser: Marshal Lion Group Coin (MLGC) is down 65.71% to $0.287363
What moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
– The world’s bitcoin miners brought in an estimated $5 billion in revenue during 2019. Of that figure, $4.89 billion was in the form of block rewards – that is, the 12.5 BTC generated every time a new transaction block is created. The rest – some $146 million – was made via transaction fees. That reward number is set to change later this year during the so-called halvening.
– Binance has partnered with Yahoo! Japan subsidiary and local crypto exchange TaoTao. The trio will operate a licensed crypto exchange in the country. The news follows Binance’s move to gradually stop serving Japanese residents on its main platform.
– Another crypto firm had to move out of the EU in response to 5AMLD, this time non-custodial exchange KyberSwap. It is moving out of Malta to the British Virgin Islands. The exchange said 5AMLD regulations “would put too high a barrier for the majority of traders, both – regulatory and cost-wise”. Just last week, Deribit said it is leaving the Netherlands for Panama due to 5AMLD.
Other Specialties
Fintech: Check out the coolest op-ed by Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire for Coindesk, which he prepared ahead of Davos: ”The Prospect of Building a New International Monetary System Is Getting Real.”
Healthtech: Epic Systems, one of the largest electronic medical record companies in the U.S, is warning customers it will stop working with Google Cloud. Epic’s reps are telling customers the company would instead focus its energies on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. They said the company decided to halt development with Google Cloud because it wasn’t seeing sufficient interest among its health system customers to warrant the investment. The calls have come in the past few weeks, said three people with knowledge of the matter, and were directed to Epic’s hospital customers that use Google’s cloud-based technology either for medical research, data storage or for their basic IT operations, including file-sharing. These people declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak for their organizations on the matter.
Al: The European Commission is considering measures to impose a temporary ban on facial recognition technologies used by both public and private actors. If implemented, the plans could throw current AI projects off course in some EU countries, including Germany’s wish to roll out automatic facial recognition at 134 railway stations and 14 airports. France also has plans to establish a legal framework permitting video surveillance systems to be embedded with facial recognition technologies.
Smart cities: Microsoft will invest an additional $250 million to address the Seattle-area’s affordable housing crisis, on top of a $500 million commitment the company made last year. The new investment comes in the form of a no-cost line of credit to the Washington State Finance Commission and should help fund about 3,000 additional affordable housing units. With the latest injection, the tech giant has allocated $380 million of its total $750 million commitment to support the creation or preservation of more than 6,671 units, according to a release.
NexChangeNOW Pick of the Day
Digital Asset Manager Grayscale Posts Record-Breaking Year