Cryptocurrency market is now worth $2tn
2021 has been revised up by 200,000 bpd from the previous month to stand at 27.4mn bpd, which is 4.9mn bpd higher than in 2020.
Global oil production in March increased by 1.22mn bpd compared to the previous month to average 93.23mn bpd, while reflecting a year-on-year fall of 7.22mn bpd. The report shows that OPEC crude oil production increased by 200,000 bpd month-over-month to an average of 25.04mn bpd, while the share of OPEC crude out of total global production fell to 26.9 per cent in February, marking a 0.1 per cent decrease compared with the previous month.
Crude oil output increased mainly in Iran, Angola, Libya and Iraq, while production decreased primarily in Saudi Arabia.
Exempted from OPEC’s production cuts, Iran was the country among OPEC members that raised its monthly crude oil production the most in March with an increase of 137,000 bpd to reach 2.3mn bpd.
The production of the de facto leader of the OPEC group, Saudi Arabia, fell by 33,000 bpd to 8.09mn bpd, mainly due to the country’s additional OPEC+ production cuts which will phase out gradually until July.
Non-OPEC liquids production in March increased by 1.02mn bpd compared with the previous month to an average of 68.19mn bpd.
London, UK – The cryptocurrency market has grown exponentially in 2021 and is now worth a staggering US$2tn as it increasingly attracts interest from big names on Wall Street.
Bitcoin, the world’s most popular crptocurrency, hit a record high above US$62,000 on Tuesday as the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase prepares to launch shares on Wall Street. Bitcoin reached US$62,377, a huge gain of 114 per cent since the start of the year.
After crashing in 2018, the value of bitcoin rebounded and it has set records since late last year - rocketing from around US$12,000 in October to more than US$60,000 a month ago.
The arrival on Wednesday of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on the Nasdaq is one of Wall Street’s most anticipated events of the year even though some question whether the cryptocurrency market is sustainable.
Estimates of Coinbase’s value vary depending on how it is calculated, but its capitalisation is expected to range from US$70bn to US$100bn.
That would make it the largest initial public offer (IPO) for a US company since Facebook in 2012. Founded in 2012, the platform allows users to buy and sell about 50 cryptocurrencies.
As Coinbase prepares to list today in New York, let’s takes a look at a sector built from scratch just 12 years ago.
Bitcoin
On October 31, 2008, in the wake of the financial crisis, one or more anonymous people, hidden behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, published the founding white paper of bitcoin.
The goal was to create a means of payment, the security of which would not be overseen by a central bank or financial organisations, but instead regulated by software with rules almost impossible to alter.
While anybody can ‘mine’ for new bitcoins, to do so requires giant data centres - leading to platforms such as Coinbase providing a way of trading in cryptocurrencies.
Banks and payment services such as Paypal allow transactions in certain digital currencies.
Almost 18.7mn bitcoins have been created since the first block of 50 in early 2009. A limit of 21mn bitcoins has been set by Nakamoto.
An investment
Despite bitcoin’s volatility and limitations as a means of payment, it is being seen as a store of value to rival and even one day potentially surpass gold as a haven investment in the face of high inflation for example.
In Nigeria, where the naira currency has shed 50 per cent of its value against the dollar in recent years, it is claimed that a third of inhabitants have used cryptocurrencies.
After bitcoin’s value crashed in 2018 it rebounded, and has smashed records since late last year - rocketing from around US$12,000 in October to more than US$62,000 on Tuesday.
Against this backdrop, central banks and market regulators warn about the volatility’s impact - especially on small investors who risk suffering big losses.
But it is clear that some individuals and companies have made huge gains from bitcoin, while major central banks are working on their own potential digital-currency projects.
Electric car giant Tesla has invested US$1.5bn in bitcoin and in March began accepting the currency as payment.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has used social media to espouse the merits of cryptocurrencies, helping to lift interest and prices.
Other cryptocurrencies
Numerous cryptocurrencies seek to compete with, or complement, bitcoin.
Number two in the market is ethereum, which this week hit an all-time high above US$2,000.
The cryptocurrency market as a whole is worth more than US$2tn, according to specialist site Coinmarketcap, which lists more than 9,000 different cryptocurrencies.
Some are known as ‘stablecoins’ as their value is tied to a traditional asset such as the dollar, helping to avoid the volatility shown by bitcoin.
Meanwhile with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies minted by solving puzzles using powerful computers that consume enormous amounts of electricity, environmental concerns cast a further shadow.