Business News by AskTraders

If you are an investor in the crypto space or just interested in keeping tabs on how this industry is evolving, one major interest would be how blockchain technology is being adopted across all industry segments across the globe. Billions of dollars are being invested annually in what skeptics have called “nothing more than a glorified spreadsheet”, but the level of interest far surpasses this uninformed critique. And what is more, every acknowledgement of blockchain is just a bit more awareness for Bitcoin and its altcoin brethren, and with awareness, more appreciation of their value, as well.

Forbes recently put together their Top Ten predictions for blockchain developments over the coming year, which follows a year of demonstrable success. Governments are now looking favorably on having domestic digital currencies. China is far along in this process, but their leader, President Xi, recently sang the praises of blockchian technology for all his countrymen to hear. Report after report have also detailed progress on several fronts by major industry leaders to incorporate blockchain platforms to enhance existing operating systems in nearly every sector of commerce.

In 2020, according to analysts at Forbes, these could be the headline stories about blockchain technology that suggest companies worthy of a nod for future investment:

Read the Full Article

The fact that US trade representative Robert Lighthizer has over the weekend been insisting that the phase one US-China trade deal is “totally done” raises the question, why was he being asked that question in the first place? (source: CNBC)

The detail of the agreement announced on Friday contains some very loose terms — a first glance leaves room for analysts to think it is half-baked. A more granular analysis shows that terms and conditions are indeed in place but often set as variable rather than fixed. After the days and weeks of horse-trading, it is the US concessions that are detailed in black and white, whereas Chinese concession are ‘in principle’ and ‘to be confirmed’.

The agreement’s first intervention was that the US held off raising tariffs on Chinese goods on Sunday 15th, and Beijing did not implement the retaliatory tariffs it had lined up. This shows a willingness of both sides to demonstrate the progress being made and trust established because the agreement is not yet officially signed off. That part of the process is pencilled in for the first half of January.

Read the Full Article

With most of the votes counted, the Conservative party look set to secure 364 parliamentary seats. A majority of 78 in the House of Commons means that prime minister Johnson is now able to press forward with his Brexit withdrawal agreement. Or as he has put it during his campaign: “We will get Brexit done on time by the 31st of January, no ifs, no buts, no maybes” (source: Reuters).

The popular support for Johnson and his manifesto is demonstrated by the fact that he won a higher vote share than Tony Blair did during his own ‘new paradigm’ style victory 1997. By 8:30am Friday morning, Johnson had won 44% of the vote compared to 32% for Labour. The last time a UK election was so one-sided was 1987.

The arithmetic at Westminster means that he can manage the splinter groups within his own group with a stick as well as carrot. There is no need for him to horse-trade support with other parties such as the Democratic Unionist Party. He can also look to benefit from the support of the new intake of Tory MPs, in the same way that the intake of first-time female MPs was dubbed ‘Blair’s Babes’ in 1997.

Read the Full Article