3 charts for you today:
So far Bitcoin is having a decent 2021. The cryptocurrency hit a record high of more than $41,500 last week, continuing the upward trajectory it has been on since April of last year, when a single Bitcoin cost less than $5,000. That rise now means that the sum of all Bitcoin in existence is theoretically worth more than $600bn — although that number is usually up or down a few billion depending on when you refresh the web page.
Because Bitcoin dominates much of the media attention, it can be easy to forget just how many other cryptocurrencies there are. A quick look through the full list from coinmarketcap reveals no fewer than 120 cryptocurrencies with a "market cap" of more than $100m - each hoping that their unique take on the core blockchain technology will be enough to propel them out of obscurity.
In some cases you can't help but think someone is having a joke, or even peddling something a little more nefarious. Going further down the list there is a "dogecoin" a "YEP COIN" and even one called "PancakeSwap" (???).
This time it's... different?
Are some of the most dangerous words for any investor to believe wholeheartedly. Whether this latest Bitcoin rally proves more resilient than the previous highs is yet to be seen. Even in the last few days Bitcoin has shed ~15% of its value, reminding people that it is certainly not (yet) a reliable store of value.
The long-term upside case for Bitcoin also remains, at the very least, somewhat anarchic. If the end goal is to become the currency of use for the entire planet then something probably has to go disastrously wrong with the institutions behind our current system — government backed fiat currency. That's a bold bet to make.
As well as creating entire industries almost overnight, the impact of the pandemic was arguably more of an accelerant than anything else. For the media industry that meant a really tough year for traditional TV, newspapers, magazines and radio. According to data from the WARC, ad spending on TV was down 16% last year, radio was down 18%, and magazines and newspapers lost more than a quarter of their market.
The L-shaped recovery
The really bad news for those markets is that they aren't expected to bounce back this year. Forecasts for 2021 from the WARC predict that 3 of those formats — TV, magazines & newspapers — will be basically flat this year.
The flip side of the equation is online ad spend. Even in a pandemic year, where budgets are tight and advertising is an easy cost to rein in, spending on digital advertising was up. Ad spend on social media jumped more than 9% and search gained 8%. The advertising boycott of Facebook feels like a very long time ago, as the big tech advertising machine rolls on.
US greenhouse gas emissions fell more than 10% in 2020, according to estimates from Rhodium Group — putting US emissions at their lowest point for 30 years.
The big win for the environment was on transportation — which accounts for a little over 30% of US total emissions. With fewer travellers the demand for jet fuel, petrol and diesel were all down significantly on 2019. That alone meant 273 fewer million metric tonnes of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere in 2020 compared to 2019.
As Rhodium Group points out these historic falls mean that US emissions last year were more than 21% below those of 2005. That means the US is technically on track to meet its Paris Agreement goals of 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. Of course, that's only true if emissions don't immediately jump back up this year as economic activity returns. For the sake of the environment, hopefully some of those trips never come back.
1) Speaking of Bitcoin... spare a thought for Stefan Thomas who has lost the password to $200m+ worth of Bitcoin and has used up 8 out of his 10 password attempts before they are lost forever.
2) The biggest mafia trial in decades has just started in Italy, with 355 suspected mobsters of the infamous 'Ndrangheta group going on trial.
3) Zoom is planning on cashing in on its high share price, announcing plans to raise $1.5bn in a secondary offering.
4) Since 2012, the number of available data science jobs has increased by 650%. The Master of Science in Decision Analysis from Minerva can help you land one of those jobs.**
5) Netflix has announced its full slate of movie releases for the year. In total the streaming giant is planning to release 71 movies in 2021, with a significant number of Netflix originals.
**This is a sponsored snack.
