Record high: time to buy bitcoins?
The price of the leading cryptocurrency bitcoin rose to a record high of 40,000 dollars last week. According to experts, the surge has been driven by more and more companies and hedge funds investing in the currency. The central banks' zero interest rate policy and expensive coronavirus aid programmes have also fueled fears of inflation, and cryptocurrencies are often viewed as a safe investment. But commentators explain that they also have clear disadvantages.
The new gold
The financial world needs to rethink its strategy now, says Club Z:
“It looks like the early bitcoin proponents who predicted for years that bitcoin would become a safe haven for the financial world's ship in distress may have been right. The problems bitcoin had three or seven years ago are still there, but the situation today is so fundamentally different that we can no longer continue to ignore the new reality. A reality in which gold's 3,000-year history as a bulwark against inflation and the economically questionable measures of governments is at least being questioned. Security has a new name.”
Top dog among dirty currencies
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung draws attention to the ecological costs of the bitcoin hype:
“Its production and use consumes an almost unimaginable amount of energy and makes bitcoin the number one dirty currency. Contemplating a single bitcoin transaction must strike fear into the hearts not only of climate activists: the electricity consumption is as high as for an average American household over 23 days. It leaves a CO2 footprint as huge as when you watch 54,000 hours of videos online. And the resulting electronic waste is the size of two golf balls. That's all just for a single transaction, mind you. ... Perhaps asset managers who pretend to be oh so sustainable but still buy bitcoin should reflect on this.”