Last week Reddit users, including plenty in Aotearoa, took on Wall Street hedge funds. Here’s how they’re feeling now. Aucklander Zoe* is 24, a student, and she refuses to sell her GameStop shares. Her hands are so strong from holding them that, in Reddit lingo, they are made of diamonds. But she’s not holding them … Read more
Recapping the highs and lows of 12 turbulent months. It’s officially the last week of the year and yet March 2020 feels just like yesterday. So much of our lives have been affected in strange and unexpected ways since the global pandemic was declared and our markets and economies have been no exception. So what … Read more
It’s been touted as the best performing asset of 2020, so what’s been driving Bitcoin’s recent success amid a global pandemic? Janine Grainger from Easy Crypto has a few ideas. The fact that Bitcoin has survived the stress-test of Covid-19 has been indisputable. Not only did it recover much quicker when compared to the other … Read more
Social media remains fertile ground for con artists as promoted tweets rip off the broadcaster’s image in a bitcoin swindle. It’s not unusual for New Zealand Twitter users to encounter the face of Mike Hosking as they scroll through their streams, but this morning, it hasn’t just been the usual of links to op-eds, uproar … Read more
Not calling it ‘Facebucks’ might be a lost opportunity but the giant social media platform’s new form of money could offer benefits to New Zealanders, writes Aaron McDonald. Facebook’s foray into cryptocurrency has a lot of people shaking their heads in unequal parts of confusion, disbelief and misunderstanding. Blockchain is an emerging technology, one that … Read more
It’s natural to assume that the IT revolution will continue forward at a cracking pace, but what if there are limits on how much energy humanity can actually put towards it? That’s the focus of Professor Michael Fuhrer’s research, who is speaking at the Materialise conference this week in Wellington. The theory is called Moore’s … Read more
If your eyes glaze over at the very mention of the word, purple-haired ‘community strategist’ Savannah Peterson is here to change your mind about blockchain, writes Maria Slade. If Savannah Peterson were Mark Zuckerberg, she’d be transforming Facebook into a social network based on blockchain as we speak. Peterson is no ‘crypto-naut’. With her purple … Read more
Whether you’re mining bitcoin or Googling yourself, you’re creating a lot of heat somewhere. A group of New Zealand scientists have found a way to take the heat off data centres. Each time you Google something, a data centre responds. This data centre – a repository for masses of information – is one of many … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Craig MacGregor, one of the founding developers of NavCoin, an alternative cryptocurrency that’s gaining steam around the world. ONE: How did NavCoin start and what was the inspiration behind it? NavCoin first … Read more
Wherever there’s money to be made, the scammers and Ponzi schemes are never far behind. Mark Hattersley gives his three tips on staying vigilant while investing in cryptocurrency. Useless Ethereum Token (UET) launched in mid-2017 with the description “the world’s first 100% honest Ethereum ICO. No value, no security and no product. Just me spending your money … Read more
The hype around bitcoin as an investment is hard to miss. But could new infrastructure being built off the back of the digital currency allow us to have an internet where we keep our privacy? Technology blogger Richard MacManus says blockchain is a new and significant platform. Right now we’re experiencing a bubble in cryptocurrencies, … Read more
A key characteristic of so-called ‘exponential technologies’ is that they change what is possible extremely quickly – and it can be fascinating to observe how fast or slowly governments react. Lawyer Steven Moe looks at the developing world of space law, and questions whether similar moves are needed for other exponential technologies on our immediate … Read more
To buy or not to buy isn’t really the question. The real question is, is bitcoin for us? Mark Hattersley argues that seeing bitcoin as an investment is ultimately short-sighted when it’s a potentially life-changing invention for some. At the time of writing this, one bitcoin is worth more than $24,500, having recovered from a weekend … Read more
Bitcoin has experienced an unprecedented explosion in value over the past eight years. Here Richard Meadows outlines just what it is, and why the good times won’t last. In the winter of 1928, Joe Kennedy stopped to get his wingtips buffed on his way to the office. After the shoeshine boy finished, he offered the … Read more
An excerpt from the latest London Review of Books. Spinoff Review of Books literary editor Steve Braunias writes: Andrew O’Hagan! Novelist, essayist, very smart person who wears a suit and tie even when he’s writing at home – every inch an aesthete, all that, but he’s also an awesome reporter and his latest get in the … Read more