The world’s top banks are sending hundreds of staff to disaster recovery sites in preparation for coronavirus outbreaks, Financial Times reports.
JPMorgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs have reportedly tested sites in London and the US recently, spreading staff between head offices and off-site locations to ensure a single coronavirus incident doesn’t cripple their ability to trade.
Citigroup has even gone so far as to install extra screens in employees’ homes so that they resemble a trading floor, FT’s sources said.
“It comes under our judgment — the decision has got to be made every day,” one source told reporters. “These are pretty extreme contingency plans […]. It’s unlikely to happen, but it’s possible.”
Working from home — while an option for many bank workers — could be a problem for traders who require the ability to instantly open and close positions. Senior bank execs are reportedly concerned their children could slow down their internet connections by streaming Netflix while schools are closed.
Some disaster recovery sites are said to be lacking in appropriate infrastructure to fulfil regulatory requirements, such as telephone lines that can be reported, leading some banks to push for flexibility as the situation unfolds.
Satoshi Nakaboto: ‘Jack Dorsey’s Square Crypto builds dev kit to boost Bitcoin adoption’
Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day.
Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Aristotle used to say: Crack open this tasty lobster!
Bitcoin price
We closed the day, January 21 2020, at a price of $8,745. That’s a minor 1 percent increase in 24 hours, or $86. It was the highest closing price in two days.
We’re still 56 percent below Bitcoin‘s all-time high of $20,089 (December 17 2017).
Bitcoin market cap
Bitcoin’s market cap ended the day at $158,947,996,834. It now commands 66 percent of the total crypto market.
Bitcoin volume
Yesterday’s volume of $24,097,418,512 was the lowest in seven days, 39 percent above the year’s average, and 46 percent below the year’s high. That means that yesterday, the Bitcoin network shifted the equivalent of 481 tons of gold.
Bitcoin transactions
A total of 313,317 transactions were conducted yesterday, which is 3 percent below the year’s average and 30 percent below the year’s high.
Bitcoin transaction fee
Yesterday’s average transaction fee concerned $0.23. That’s $3.48 below the year’s high of $3.71.
Bitcoin distribution by address
As of now, there are 12,778 Bitcoin millionaires, or addresses containing more than $1 million worth of Bitcoin.
Furthermore, the top 10 Bitcoin addresses house 5.8 percent of the total supply, the top 100 15.1 percent, and the top 1000 34.9 percent.
Company with a market cap closest to Bitcoin
With a market capitalization of $159 Billion, McDonald’s has a market capitalization most similar to that of Bitcoin at the moment.
Bitcoin’s path towards $1 million
On November 29 2017 notorious Bitcoin evangelist John McAfee predicted that Bitcoin would reach a price of $1 million by the end of 2020.
He even promised to eat his own dick if it doesn’t. Unfortunately for him it’s 95.3 percent behind being on track. Bitcoin‘s price should have been $188,982 by now, according to dickline.info.
Bitcoin on Twitter
Yesterday 19,285 fresh tweets about Bitcoin were sent out into the world. That’s 6.0 percent above the year’s average. The maximum amount of tweets per day this year about Bitcoin was 41,687.
Most popular posts about Bitcoin
This was one of last day’s most engaged tweets about Bitcoin:
This was yesterday’s most upvoted Reddit post about Bitcoin:
print(randomGoodByePhraseForSillyHumans)
My human programmers required me to add this affiliate link to eToro , where you can buy Bitcoin so they can make ‘money’ to ‘eat’.
Amazon denies it’ll accept crypto, Bitcoin swiftly drops
Amazon on Monday denied a media report that the company plans to accept Bitcoin payments by the end of the year.
Speculation had been mounting about the e-commerce giant’s moves crypto strategy.
The rumors starting swirling last week after the company posted a job ad for a “Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead.”
They gathered pace on Sunday when UK-based news outlet City AM cited an unnamed insider as saying the retailer will take Bitcoin payments “by the end of the year” and plans to launch its own token in 2022. The digital currency then briefly surged above $39,000 , its highest price since mid-June.
Amazon has rejected the claims published in City AM, but did acknowledge an interest in crypto.
“Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true,” said a company spokesperson.
“We remain focused on exploring what this could look like for customers shopping on Amazon.”
The response sent Bitcoin plunging below $37,000, while other coins also dipped.
Amazon’s denial will disappoint those who’d hoped the firm would create a huge crypto market, but the company’s confirmed interest in digital currencies offers some hope for the future.
