Bitcoin is trading near the psychologically important mark of $20,000 on Monday after the fall of the cryptocurrency rate on Saturday to the lowest level in 18 months.
According to CoinDesk, the price of bitcoin at 11:35 Moscow time is $20444. On Saturday, it fell to $17,630, but on Sunday it bounced back above $20,000.
Last week, during which the Federal Reserve System (Fed) raised the base rate by 75 basis points (bp) at once, turned out to be quite volatile for the cryptocurrency market, and experts believe that the current week will also be difficult, writes Market Watch.
“We may be out of the bottom of the market if bitcoin can quickly rise above $20,000 and hold there on Tuesday-Wednesday,” said Winnie Langham, chief executive officer of streaming platform Waitroom. become a tough resistance level.”
Bitcoin has fallen 57% since the beginning of the year, and its fall from the November peak of $69,000 is about 70%.
While some analysts see the beginning of a new “crypto winter” that will eventually end, others believe that the current downturn in the cryptocurrency market could mean the end of the industry as a whole.
The ethereum exchange rate, which also fell sharply on Saturday, rose in price by 15% over the past 24 hours, to $1113.28.
Two days earlier, market expert Igor Stakovichenko, responding to a request from Open4Business, said that in the current situation, the fall of the bitcoin market below 22,000 launched a new, even deeper “bearish phase” of the cycle, as it greatly shook the position of long-term holders of the asset. The long-term holders, who had held their positions during the last drops, could not stand it and started dumping the cue ball at the lowest prices.
“This shook the entire structure, and both technical and macroeconomic indicators today indicate a possible fall in the main cryptocurrency to 16,000 or even lower,” the expert said.
However, according to Stakovichenko, it is too early to bury bitcoin, as “whales” (investors owning more than 10,000 BTC) continue to accumulate this digital currency, which may indicate the possibility of growth in the medium and long term. In addition, the expert predicted possible stabilization and even some growth of the world’s main cryptocurrency.
The Ifop Public Opinion Institute predicts that the presidential coalition “Together!” comes out in the second round of parliamentary elections with a result of 210-250 mandates, which means first place and the loss of an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
The presidential team’s main competitor, the left-wing New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, comes in second with 150-180 seats in the lower house of parliament, as expected.
The media called the expected result of Marine Le Pen’s “National Rally” a big breakthrough. The French nationalists will have 80 to 100 seats, which will allow them to form their own political faction in the National Assembly.
The centre-right “Republicans” are predicted to receive 60 to 70 seats.
The French elected 577 deputies. For an absolute majority, it was necessary to win 289 seats in the National Assembly.
In the first round a week ago, Macron’s “Together” coalition finished almost on a par with the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), led by leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The authorized representative of the Servant of the People faction, Lyubov Shpak, addressed President Volodymyr Zelensky and the government from the rostrum of the parliament with a proposal to immediately hold talks with international partners on writing off Ukraine’s public debt.
“The economic losses of our country daily amount to $1 billion a day… Therefore, we appeal to the President and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with a position to urgently transfer negotiations with all foreign partners on loan obligations to review and write off our debts,” she said during sittings of Parliament on Sunday, presenting the position of the faction.
Shpak in her speech stressed that the current situation is a typical force majeure for our country.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Finance, Sergei Marchenko, repeatedly called the issues of restructuring and writing off debts inappropriate. According to him, Ukraine plans to continue servicing its debt obligations, and from time to time sounding proposals for restructuring the state debt may harm plans. The Minister of Finance stressed that this issue is quite sensitive: “You can take advantage of the moment, but in the future it will hurt us a lot.
New risks arise as the world community faces well-known challenges such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, economic instability and a drop in trust in established social institutions, according to the Swiss Re SONAR report on the company’s 10th anniversary.
“We live in a world where billionaires can make day trips into the stratosphere, cryptoassets defy established financial norms, and climate change is changing the very nature of our physical environment,” emphasizes a press release published on the website of the international reinsurer.
A global pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, rising inflation and an ongoing climate crisis are just a few of the many risks that SONAR has explored over the past decade and that eventually materialized, according to Swiss Re Risk Group Director Patrick Raaflaub. However, the study of new risks is not forecasting. This is about raising awareness of the risks that may affect society, and about the appropriate preparation, the report says.
At the same time, it is noted that crypto assets and quantum computing create new risks in the global financial system.
In the current financial system, heavily dependent on technology, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether have established themselves as potential competitors to traditional currencies. Along with these new forms of currency, other crypto assets have emerged. Tokens, for example, allow people to buy digital images of real assets, such as art or real estate. They can be sold and give their owner access to assets, products or services. Changing ownership, taxation, regulatory issues and other risks associated with new asset classes pose new questions for insurers. For example, are certain crypto assets subject to existing ownership or cyber security policies?
The security of the new digital financial economy also faces new risks. In particular, thanks to quantum computing, a new generation of computers is on the verge of performing tasks that are inaccessible to modern machines. These ultra-intelligent technologies offer significant benefits: sophisticated weather modeling, advanced medical research and financial analysis. As they mature, they can also become a threat to existing IT security protocols, potentially breaking standard encryption keys used in online communications and data transmission, the report notes.
In addition, a new generation of emerging risks is linked to climate change, the company points out.
“Swiss Re identified the threat of climate change back in 1979. More than 40 years later, the effects of climate risks are being felt very strongly in our daily lives. Beyond what we already see, climate change is creating a new generation of emerging risks,” the paper emphasizes.
This year’s SONAR report explores how melting permafrost that covers a quarter of the northern hemisphere could not only damage infrastructure and accelerate climate change, but also release disease-causing pathogens that have been frozen for decades.
In addition, agriculture is particularly sensitive to climate change and is struggling to reduce its contribution to global warming. Emissions from global food production account for about 31% of total anthropogenic carbon emissions. The challenge for agriculture is to increase productivity and feed more people while reducing emissions. Insurers can play a vital role in the faster adoption and scaling up of sustainable farming practices by offering suitable risk coverage solutions and promoting climate-smart and regenerative agriculture, says Swiss Re.
“There was a time when today’s big issues such as climate change, the pandemic, geopolitical conflict and inflation were new risks in their own right. The 10th anniversary edition of SONAR is a poignant reminder of the long-term potential of emerging risks and how insurance the industry helps to increase the resilience of society,” the report says.
Swiss Re Group is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer.
Agro-industrial group Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, refused to pay dividends for 2021 and will direct EUR94.1 million to the retained earnings reserve.
As stated in the message of the company on Friday night, such a decision was made by its shareholders meeting on Thursday.
Shareholders also approved Astarta’s continuation of the buyback program for up to 12.5 million shares (50% of those outstanding) at a maximum price of PLN125 per share.
In addition, the meeting delegated to the board of directors the right to issue shares and grant options in the amount of not more than 10% of Astarta’s authorized capital for one year.
The shareholders also instructed the board of directors to select an auditor company to audit the company’s financial statements for 2022. Candidates for the review include international drug companies Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton, BDO and Baker Tilly.
The meeting reportedly approved the replacement of Marc M.L.J. van Campen as a member of the company’s board of directors with Savvas Perikleous.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
Ukraine will be able to resume peace talks with Russia on a strengthened position at the end of August, said head of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks with Russia, leader of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada David Arakhamia.
“We don’t want to share our plans with the Russians, because they can see it in open sources. But I think we will conduct counteroffensive operations in some places,” he said in a comment to the Voice of America, answering the question of what will happen at the end of August.
To date, the Ukrainian side does not consider the possibility of resuming negotiations. At least, by the time Ukraine does not strengthen its forces, and Russian troops do not return to the positions they were in before February 24, Arakhamia noted.
“The minimum acceptable agreement would be if we kicked them out or they voluntarily retreated to the positions where they were before February 24,” the politician said.
After that, as explained in the negotiating group, it will be possible to talk about the return of all sovereign territories, including Crimea and the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“We could consider some kind of political agreement, like the one we proposed in Istanbul. For example, we have not touched on the Crimean issue for several years. We are not doing this militarily, but we are doing it in a diplomatic and political way,” Arakhamia said.
