Climate Lockdowns: New CO2 monitoring credit card enables tracking of ‘carbon footprint on every purchase’ – ‘Monitors & cuts off spending when we hit our carbon max’ – Mastercard & UN join forces. Get ready for a Chinese-style social credit system scoring when it comes to your personal spending habits and how they impact “climate change.” A new credit card called Doconomy, has launched that is “working in tight collaboration with Mastercard” and an alliance with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is now available so you can monitor your personal CO2 budget on every purchase you make. The new CO2 monitoring Mastercard called Doconomy debuted in order to enable “all users to track, measure and understand their impact by presenting their carbon footprint on every purchase.” The credit cards feature the slogan on them reading “DO. Everyday Climate Action” and have a personal pledge on the rear of the card boasting: “I am taking responsibility for every transaction I make to help protect the planet.” The Mastercards feature the UN “Global Climate Action” logo on them as well.
Mathias Wikström, the CEO of Doconomy, explained, “Reducing carbon emissions needs to be prioritized by all parties. At Doconomy we are proud to engage and educate around our lifestyle’s impact on the planet…The financial sector has developed a tremendous efficiency. Now that same force can address the planetary fragility.”
This new CO2 monitoring credit card follows on the heels of the new study in the Journal Nature in August 2021 calling for “personal carbon allowances” that would monitor individuals’ CO2 emissions through smart meters and tracking apps.
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China's central bank on Friday announced a ban on all cryptocurrency payments and services, escalating its ongoing clampdown on bitcoin and other digital coins as it moves to roll out its own virtual currency.
Chinese regulators' latest action "strictly prohibits" exchanging cryptocurrency for legal tender, providing information or pricing services, and trading in cryptocurrency derivatives. The measure also applies to overseas exchanges that provide services online within the country's borders. Violators will face criminal penalties. This marks Beijing's latest ratcheting up of restrictions on what it sees as a vehicle for capital flight and competition for its digital yuan, now set to roll out as early as 2022. The price of bitcoin, the world's leading virtual currency, fell by as much as 9% after the announcement to below $41,000 before paring its losses. The statement, signed by multiple authorities including the People's Bank of China, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Supreme People's Court said virtual currencies had "disrupted the economic and financial order" and bred money laundering, illegal fundraising and fraud. Virtual currencies do not have the same legal status as legal tender, and may not be circulated in markets as currency, the document stated, naming specific examples including bitcoin and Ethereum. Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute and a former Bank of Japan policy board member, called the latest move an "extension" of measures to "ban all virtual currencies except central bank digital currency." China in June ordered five state-run banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, as well as mobile payments giant Alipay, to cut off cryptocurrency transactions. It also imposed a broad ban on virtual-currency mining that month, driving many miners overseas and slashing the country's share of digital coin creation, once above 80%. Also on Friday, the authorities announced even tougher mining restrictions, barring new operations and accelerating exits from existing projects. Supplying electricity to miners is prohibited, and such projects cannot receive financial, fiscal or tax support. The PBOC plans an official launch of the digital yuan as soon as 2022, following testing at the Winter Olympics. China plans to revise its laws to add it as legal tender and ban private-sector issuance of digital currencies, whose proliferation poses an oversight challenge for regulators. Capital flight is another factor. Cryptocurrencies have been used to circumvent Beijing's capital controls since before the coronavirus pandemic, and regulators have sought to close this loophole. The direct impact of the ban will be limited, as China's influence on virtual currency markets has diminished. But as the U.S. hammers out new regulations and other countries work toward their own digital currencies, market watchers are keeping an eye out for similar moves elsewhere. China gave a hero’s welcome to Huawei Technologies Co.’s executive Meng Wanzhou as she touched down three years after her arrest in Canada, while two Canadians freed by Beijing returned to their homeland with less fanfare.
“I am finally home after over 1,000 days of suffering,” Meng, wearing a red dress, said tearfully to the cheering crowd after landing at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport around 10 p.m. local time on Saturday. The event, broadcast live by state media, dominated nine out of the top 10 trending hashtags on the Chinese social media site Weibo. The tallest building in the city lit up with scrolling slogan “Welcome Home, Meng Wanzhou” across its facade. In contrast, Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig arrived to a more low-key reception. The pair landed in Calgary before sunrise on Saturday, accompanied by Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to China. Dressed in blazers and face masks, they were met by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who hugged the pair on the tarmac. Government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and the nation’s spy agency, tweeted welcome messages to the pair, who were expected to reunite with the families in private. One of the most potentially far-reaching trends in the financial landscape right now is the imminent roll-out of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and the parallel attacks which central bankers are waging on private digital currencies and tokens as they tee up the launch of their CBDCs. First some clarifications. While the majority of central bank issued currencies (fiat currencies) in existence around the world are already in digital form, a fiat currency held in digital form is not the same as a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). What is a CBDC? A CBDC generally refers to electronic or virtual central bank (fiat) money that is created in the form of digital tokens or account balances which are digital claims on the central bank. CBDCs will be issued by central banks and will be legal tender. Many CBDCs that are being researched and developed employ Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), with the recording of transactions on a blockchain. However unlike private cryptocurrencies which use a permissionless and open design, CBDCs that use DLT will use permissioned variants (deciding who has access to the network and who can view and update records in the ledger). Critically, as the name suggests, CBDCs will be centralized and governed by the issuing authority (i.e. a central bank). So, in their design and structure, CBDCs can be viewed as the very antithesis to decentralized private cryptocurrencies and tokens. Central banks have already working on two types of CBDCs, ‘wholesale’ digital tokens that would have access restricted to banks and financial entities to be used for activities like interbank payments and wholesale market transactions, and ‘general purpose’ (retail) CBDC for the general public to be used in retail transactions. It is this ‘general purpose’ CBDC which most people are referring to when they discuss central bank digital currencies, and it is these ‘general purpose’ CBDCs that will be most important to watch when central banks and governments begin to attempt their roll-outs to distribute CBDCs to billions of people across the world either through account-based CBDCs or ‘digital cash’ tokens. As you can guess, account-based CBDCs will be tied to user identities and Digital IDs, and straight off the bat they allow for total surveillance by the State and torpedo any chance of anonymity. For this reason, they are already a favourite among central banks. Given that CBDCs will be centralized ledgers and can be programmable, the ‘digital cash’ token option is not much better in terms of privacy and freedom. Many central banks will probably opt for a hybrid model of both account-based and token based digital cash. As an example, Canada, the one time liberal democracy, perhaps illustrates the account-based vs token based choices best, where Canada’s central bank, the Bank of Canada, in it’s design documentation for CBDCs shows that at the end of the day, it’s about surveillance and control, saying that : “anonymous token-based options would be allowable for smaller payments, while account-based access would be required for larger purchases.” Accelerating rollout
CBDCs are not just a buzzword or a hazy innovation that may appear sometime in the distant future. They are actively being developed now, and in widespread fashion. In January 2020, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued the result of a survey on CBDC's that it had conducted in the second half of 2019, and to which 66 central banks had responded. Strikingly, 10% of central bank respondents (which represented a fifth of the world’s population) said that they were likely to issue a ‘general purpose’ CBDC (for the general public) in the near future (within the next 3 years). Another 20% of central bank respondents said they would likely issue a ‘general purpose’ CBDC in the medium term (within 6 years). In August 2020, the BIS published a comprehensive working paper on CBDCs titled “Rise the central bank digital currencies drivers, approaches and technologies" one part of which analysed the BIS database of central banker speeches and found that between December 2013 and May 2020, there had been 138 central banker speeches mentioning CBDCs, with a dramatic increase in CBDC related speeches since 2016, a timeframe which coincided with central banks launching research projects on CBDCs. The same BIS report also highlighted that, (totally coincidentally) the Covid-19 ‘pandemic’ “accelerated work on CBDCs in some jurisdictions." The Thai Customs Department is preparing to reduce import duty on alcoholic beverages and cigars by 50 percent for five years in line with the government's economic stimulus and investment promotion package. The Thai Customs Department is preparing to reduce import duty on alcoholic beverages and cigars by 50 percent for five years in line with the government's economic stimulus and investment promotion package.
The cuts are in accordance with the September 14 cabinet resolution involving plans to revive the post-COVID-19 economy by encouraging wealthy foreigners and highly skilled professionals to stay and work in the country, the Bangkok Post quoted Patchara Anuntasilpa, director-general of the department, as saying. The programme is hoped to attract more than 1 million qualified people to Thailand over the next five years and generated around 1 trillion baht (30 billion USD) during the period. Cuts in import duties will be part of the mix. Thailand estimates that the group is expected to spend on average 1 million baht (nearly 30,000 USD) per person per year while living and working in the country. Benefits in the package also include a 10-year Thai visa for approved special visitors along with their spouses and children, the same rates of income tax as Thai citizens, a tax exemption for income earned abroad, and the right to ownership of property and land. Patchara said that about 30 percent of products are likely to be covered by the planned cuts and ministerial regulations will be announced after the changes are made. The Customs Department is also preparing to amend customs procedures for personal items for arriving and departing passengers, he added. Earlier, Government Spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana on September 14 said that the Cabinet had approved in principle measures to attract high potential foreigners to stay in Thailand long term. The plan aimed to draw four groups – wealthy global citizens, pensioners from overseas, those wanting to work in Thailand and highly skilled professionals. Long-term visas would be issued for high-potential foreigners, who would be granted exemption and benefits during their stay, such as not having to do 90-day reporting. The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) expected that measures implemented over five fiscal years (2022 to 2026) would draw one million foreigners with spending of around one trillion baht. Investment would be increased by 800 billion baht plus 270 billion baht in additional tax revenue, according to Thanakorn. For any future US national China strategy to be effective, it must above all be operationalized rather than merely declared. As stated repeatedly throughout this paper, it is less important what the
United States says than what it does. The United States must, as a first step, establish the machinery of state to develop, agree on, and implement such a strategy across all US agencies with the full support of senior congressional leadership. That strategy must be authoritative, taking the form of a presidential directive. It must be long term, implemented over the next thirty years. It must therefore also be bipartisan, capable of surviving multiple elections and administrations. The United States also must work with the G7, NATO, and Asian treaty partners on this common China strategy with regular, built-in review mechanisms to measure success in achieving the strategy’s overall objectives. Some question the United States’ ability to effectively mobilize the nation to meet the China challenge as Kennan and the Truman administration did with the Soviet challenge two generations ago. Some also question whether there is still sufficient national wisdom to devise the type of detailed operational strategy that could succeed: finding the necessary balance between circumscribing Chinese behaviours where necessary, cooperating with China where appropriate, and always deterring China from contemplating any form of military action or political aggression. Still others doubt there is sufficient national unity and resolve to cross the lines of partisan division as needed not only to preserve the very idea of the republic, but also to remain a beacon of light to the world. The purpose of this paper is to argue not only that it is possible, but that it is necessary. Otherwise, current generations would prove to be unworthy successors of the greatest generation of Americans, who defeated tyranny to preserve not just the nation, but the world. How should the success of this new US China strategy be measured? That, by mid-century, the United States and its major allies continue to dominate the regional and global balance of power across all the major indices of power; that China has been deterred from taking Taiwan militarily, and from initiating any other form of military action to achieve its regional objectives; that the rules-based liberal international order has been consolidated, strengthened, and expanded, rolling back against the growing illiberalism of the present time; that Xi has been replaced by a more moderate party leadership; and that the Chinese people themselves have come to question and challenge the Communist Party’s century-long proposition that China’s ancient civilization is forever destined to an authoritarian future. China Evergrande, once the country's second-largest real estate developer, is drowning in debt. Some 1.5 million people have put deposits on new homes that have yet to be built. A collapse could be catastrophic. Property giant China Evergrande Group admitted Tuesday it is under "tremendous pressure" and may not be able to meet its crippling debt obligations. Over the past two days, angry protesters have gathered outside the real estate firm's headquarters, demanding to know about its future. Investors are growing increasingly nervous that if Evergrande were to collapse, this could could spread to other property developers and create systemic risks for the banking system of the world's second-largest economy. What is China Evergrande? Previously known as Hengda, China Evergrande was until recently the country's second-largest property group by sales. Headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen close to Hong Kong, Evergrande sells apartments to upper- and middle-income property buyers. It has a presence in more than 280 cities. The firm was started in 1997 by Hui Ka Yan (Xu Jiayin in Mandarin), who has since become a billionaire through the opening up of China's economy. In March last year, Forbes listed Hui as the third-richest billionaire in China — but in December, he had fallen to No.10. Evergrande has vastly grown due to a spectacular real estate boom caused by China's unprecedented growth. The firm has completed nearly 1,300 commercial, residential, and infrastructure projects, and says it employs 200,000 people. Evergrande has expanded into other areas of the economy, including food, life insurance, tv/film and leisure. It also operates the Guangzhou FC football club, formerly Guangzhou Evergrande. However, its electric car unit, founded in 2019, is not currently marketing any vehicles. Why is Evergrande in trouble? The Hong Kong-based developer is sinking under a mountain of liabilities totaling more than $300 billion (€254 billion) after years of borrowing to fund rapid growth. Evergrande has stepped up acquisitions in recent years, taking advantage of a real estate frenzy.But the property giant began to falter after Beijing introduced new measures in August 2020 to closely monitor and control the total debt level of major property developers. Evergrande relied on presales to finance itself and keep its activities afloat, and the crackdown forced the group to offload properties at increasingly steep discounts. Investors have made down p ayments on around 1.5 million properties, Bloomberg reported, citing data from December. Many buyers have expressed concern on social media about whether they will get their money back after housing projects were suspended. Evergrande was downgraded by two credit rating agencies last week and its Hong Kong-listed shares have collapsed by more than 80% this year. On Monday, the Shanghai Stock Exchange paused trading in Evergrande's May 2023 bond after it fell more than 30%. What is the company doing to save itself? Last Tuesday, Evergrande issued another statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, saying it had hired financial advisers to explore "all feasible solutions" to ease its cash crunch. The statement warned that there was no guarantee the property firm would meet its financial obligations. The firm blamed "ongoing negative media reports" for damaging sales in the pivotal September period, "resulting in the continuous deterioration of cash collection by the group which would in turn place tremendous pressure on [...] cashflow and liquidity." Even property discounts of up to a quarter off and selling stakes in some of its wide-ranging assets hasn't stopped a 29% slide in profit for the first half of the year.
Some analysts believe there is a slim chance Beijing would allow such a behemoth to go under. Beijing "will not let Evergrande go bankrupt" as it would undermine the regime's stability, analysts at US-based SinoInsider said. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that China's Guandong province had hired a team of accountants and legal experts to advise it on Evergrande's restructuring needs, although the regional government had turned down a request for a bailout.
The central banks of Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa have announced a joint initiative to trial international settlements using central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The initiative, dubbed Project Dunbar, will prototype shared platforms enabling direct transfers between institutions using digital currencies issued by multiple central banks. The pilot’s findings will be used to inform the “development of global and regional platforms” in addition to supporting the G20’s roadmap for improving cross-border payments. Project Dunbar will be carried out in partnership with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub from its Singapore Center. The project will engage multiple partners to develop different distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms and explore different designs that would enable central banks to share CBDC infrastructure. A joint announcement emphasizes the efficiency savings associated with DLT-based payments, stating: “These multi-CBDC platforms will allow financial institutions to transact directly with each other in the digital currencies issued by participating central banks, eliminating the need for intermediaries and cutting the time and cost of transactions.” Michele Bullock, assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), highlighted that “enhancing cross-border payments has become a priority for the international regulatory community,” adding that the RBA is “very focused” on the matter in its domestic policy work. “Project Dunbar brings together central banks with years of experience and unique perspectives in CBDC projects and ecosystem partners at advanced stages of technical development on digital currencies,” said Andre McCormack, head of the BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre. He added: “With this group of capable and passionate partners, we are confident that our work on multi-CBDCs for international settlements will break new ground in this next stage of CBDC experimentation and lay the foundation for global payments connectivity.” The RBA has consistently downplayed the need for a domestic CBDC, however, citing the success of the New Payments Platform, which allows instant digital transfers 24-hours a day.
The European Commission is considering a new registry to register all citizens' possessions. This should not only include properties in the form of real estate, land and shares, but also assets such as precious metals, cryptocurrencies, jewelry, works of art, cars and boats. This is evident from a new document entitled 'Feasibility Study for a European asset registry'. According to the European Commission, such a register is necessary to prevent tax evasion and money laundering. It provides the authorities with more information to map out money flows. From the text of the proposal: "Data collection and interconnection of registers is an important tool under EU law to speed up competent authorities' access to financial information and facilitate cross-border cooperation. Several possibilities researched to collect information with a view to establishing an asset register that can then be used for a future policy initiative. It will examine how to analyze information from different sources on asset ownership (e.g. land registers, company registers, trust and foundation registers, central securities depositories, etc.) and how the design, scope and challenges of such an asset register of the Union can look like. It will also be examined whether data on the ownership of other assets, such as cryptocurrencies, works of art, real estate and gold, can be included in the register." Financial repression Although this is only a proposal, this is a very worrying development. It gives governments even more insight into the wealth of citizens, on top of the information they already collect. It is striking that the proposal only focuses on the interests of governments, supervisors, banks and NGOs and does not take into account the interests of European citizens. The proposal also does not clarify why a more detailed registration of assets is necessary. Under the guise of money laundering and terrorism, such a register further affects the freedom and privacy of citizens. Governments use it as an excuse to exercise more control over their own population. The proposal is therefore strongly criticized from various quarters. According to the German politician Markus Ferber, the European Commission is passing its book. "These plans are completely disproportionate. The relationship between the citizen and the state reminds me of China, not EU member states, when these kinds of plans are made." Control State The German newspaper Die Welt concludes that with this register all assets of gold and bitcoins become traceable, while the Austrian newspaper Die Presse reminds of a chapter from Orwell 1984. According to the Austrian Kroner Zeitung, such a registration of assets is impracticable in practice. and also very expensive. According to the German magazine Focus, the EU wants to map the wealth of all people down to the last cent: "If this register were established, the consequences are obvious. For example, for politically unwelcome citizens - and not only criminals - it will be much more difficult in the future to continue their activities. investigative journalists or whistleblowers, who are threatened with more targeted reprisals. Controlling money flows, investments and assets is contrary to human dignity. Under the guise of preventing money laundering, we are all being vetted. Now is the time for civil disobedience. People have to take to the streets, like the yellow vests in France." Capability mapping is the next step in tightening control over citizens. Earlier, the European Commission advocated stricter supervision of cryptocurrencies. She wants to register all crypto addresses, so that anonymous transactions come to an end. The European Commission also issued a directive this summer to ban transactions over €10,000 in cash across the European Union. A worrying development, even for savers who have nothing to hide.
Bitcoin and Ethereum accumulation continues in the spot market as the focus now shifts towards the derivatives market. Here, some interesting observations can be made, each of which shows us how Futures and Options have been affecting the spot market. And vice-versa. Those looking for profits in Bitcoin and Ethereum might find the derivatives market as an alluring opportunity. How does the market look? At the moment, the market is at its best in a long time. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum investors are in a solid spot as the Open Interest [OI] hit new highs today. Futures OI for BTC seemed to be at a 4-month high of $17 billion. The same was the case for ETH, with the OI standing at $14 billion. That being said, it’s worth noting that the ETH market is in a much different position than the BTC market, varying in many ways. ETH market has been hyper bullish Volumes on 31 August and 1 September were almost close to Bitcoin’s levels of $41 billion. These volumes aren’t usual for ETH as the same mostly remain within the range of $30 billion. Plus, over the same time frame, when ETH volumes were close to BTC’s, daily liquidations touched a 3-month high of $194 million. However, if you take a closer look, you’ll observe that most of these liquidations came from short contracts. Short liquidations for Ethereum rose to a monthly high of $130 million. This transpired primarily because of ETH’s rally over the last 2 days, a period during which ETH went up by 18.81%. Right now, people are demanding stability from Ethereum’s market. BTC market has been steadily bullish At the time of this report, daily volumes were still within the normal range of $100 million. Bitcoin OI in Perpetual Futures contracts also hit an 18-month high of $14.157 billion. These are good figures for a market that has been bullish for over a month now. Even the Implied Volatility to Realized Volatility spread seemed to be at its highest level of 0.9%, a level last seen on 30 May. A huge reason behind this is because the BTC spot market has been rising gradually, with a hike of “just” 4.83% in the last 4 days. Plus, with Bitcoin crossing $50k again, the OI by Strike’s 12k Call contracts for $50k seems to be turning profitable as the 24 September expiry inches closer. All in all, the derivatives market is in a really profitable state right now.
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