On the road to cutting costs and improving supply line efficiency, it looks like the retail giant Wal-Mart has accidentally stumbled on one of the biggest arguments currently ongoing in the crypto-space.
Bitcoin Maximalists believe that the only real use case for a blockchain is bitcoin. We can leave the intricacies of this debate for a later time, but it seems like the maximalists have just been joined by The New York Times.
This article, which begins by outlining Wal-Mart’s collaboration with IBM and the endeavor to track produce on a blockchain gradually turns into a collective argument on why this tech isn’t necessary and could have been done much easier with a centralized database.
Here’s an excerpt…
Traditional Markets
Along with the UN general assembly, the price of oil seemed to be laughing at Trump’s comments yesterday.
President Trump did his best to jawbone the price of oil in his hallmark speech but instead of going down as he intended, the price is holding near its highs as several analysts are starting to talk about $100 barrels for the first time in years.
One hour after Wall Street’s opening bell today, the EIA will release their weekly crude oil inventories. Analysts are forecasting that stockpiles in the United States (which is now the world’s largest oil producer) have fallen by 0.7 million barrels.
Depending on the final result of this announcement, we could see a quick reaction from the market. Less supply means more demand and if we pass that yellow line above (around $74.55 a barrel), it could significantly alter sentiment.
Rate Hike Today
As we’ve been discussing in these updates, rates are on the rise in the United States. This has been a main driver for the financial markets lately and has caused a nice run-up in the US Dollar over the last few months, which has, in turn, affected everything from currencies, commodities, to stocks, and even crypto.
