An unknown cryptocurrency trader turned US$55 million of paper wealth into $283 million in just over a month.
The only clue about this person or persons, beyond a virtual wallet with the identification code 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184, surfaced on a June 11 Instagram posting, in Bahasa, in which he or she (or they or somebody posing as them) boasted about the 413 per cent profit accumulated earlier this year from ether, the digital money of the Ethereum blockchain.
“I get many private messages asking how much ether I have,” the post read, alongside photos that purported to be the hardware powering a mining operation but looked to be lifted from another website. “One of the cool things about Ethereum is that all wallets around the world are transparent and open for everyone to see. And this is my wallet’s savings.”
Hidden identities are a popular feature of the twilight world of virtual money. Now that the total value of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin and ether, soared June 6 to more than $100 billion, approaching the market value of McDonald’s, concerned regulators say it might be time to link wallet IDs with actual humans.
Secrecy persists from the days, earlier this decade, when Ross Ulbricht, going by the nom de guerre Dread Pirate Roberts, used bitcoin to launder money and traffic in narcotics, activities for which he started serving a life term at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.
That is not to say that 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184 or any other entities are doing anything illegal. But opacity may be worsening jagged price movements. The value of ether, for example, rose from about $8 a unit at the start of the year to crest at $400 in June before settling around $250 today. A lack of transparency could also be stifling the mainstreaming of online money, according to draft legislation issued by the European Parliament in March.
“The credibility of virtual currencies will not rise if they are used for criminal purposes,” the draft said. “In this context, anonymity will become more a hindrance than an asset for virtual currencies” and their potential future popularity.
Pseudonymity has always been a big part of the market’s allure. Upending traditional ways of doing business was the lodestar for Ethereum’s inventor, 23-year-old Vitalik Buterin. He released his software in 2015, not long after dropping out of Canada’s University of Waterloo.
“One of its more important features is that you don’t have identities tied to this,” said Spencer Bogart, the head of research at the venture firm Blockchain Capital. “This financial privacy is an important characteristic.”
Ether, the second-most-popular cryptocurrency after bitcoin, is used to pay for applications or programmes that run on the Ethereum blockchain, a secured list of transactions that can be shared. That allows for the use of “smart contracts”, or pieces of computer code that make the terms of such agreements operate automatically. The blockchain has the potential to reshape business and finance by enabling immediate settlements of activities such as bank transfers and securities trades.
JP Morgan, BP, Microsoft and ING Groep are among those experimenting with it.
The current value of all the ether held, $23bn, means dozens of electronic wallets have accrued nine-figure positions. Many of them could be held by individuals, according to a Bloomberg analysis. Individuals can hold multiple wallets.
Likely candidates to be crypto-billionaires include the hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz, Joseph Lubin, the founder of ConsenSys, a blockchain production studio that works on Ethereum, and Ethereum creator Buterin.
Mr Novogratz, a former executive at Fortress Investment Group and Goldman Sachs, has a long way to go, but he is been a consistent booster. He said last month that he has 10 per cent of his net worth invested in virtual money. That is a stake worth at least $90m, given a net worth calculated at $925m, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Mrt Novogratz declined to comment.
Cryptocurrencies could become a $5 trillion industry, but they need to develop sound business principles to satisfy regulators and lend legitimacy, Mr Novogratz said June 27 at a fintech conference in New York.
Mr Lubin, the former chief operating officer for Ethereum Switzerland, which developed the software, could hold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ether, several investors said. The Canadian entrepreneur did not respond to requests for comment on his holdings.
“The long-range vision is moving the fundamental transactional elements of our society from analogue, friction-filled systems to natively digital frictionless systems,” Mr Lubin said lats month.
Mr Buterin said in a Reddit post last month his ether holdings equal what would amount to about $117m today, according to calculations by Bloomberg.
Like bitcoin, ether is struggling to overcome a reputation sullied by cyberattacks and technology bottlenecks. A flash crash last month saw the price of the cryptocurrency tumble to just 10 cents before rebounding to about $300.
“A lot of lessons will be learned,” said Peter Denious, the head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management in Connecticut. “A lot of money will be lost before a lot of money can be made.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20profile
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Scorebox
Sharjah Wanderers 20-25 Dubai Tigers (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries Gormley, Penalty
Cons Flaherty
Pens Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons Caldwell 2
Pens Caldwell, Cross
HER%20FIRST%20PALESTINIAN
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