Christmas has come early for the bank’s shareholders with the decision to slightly increase the 2024 dividend – despite a single-digit decline in the net profit and cash earnings.
Beating the market benchmark is never easy, with 72 per cent of Australian actively managed global equity general funds trailing the S&P World Index in the six months to June 30, 2024. Domestic equity funds performed slightly better, albeit against a significantly lower bar set by the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
Bitcoin price tumbles on legislative hit
Crypto can’t seem to catch a break, with prices plummeting yet again, as central banks including the RBA, continue hiking rates even higher. Crypto enthusiasts that were confident they had seen the worst, are preparing for more pain as Bitcoin tumbled as much as 7.1 percent today, dipping back below US$30k, a level not seen since May 30. Other currencies also fell, with Ether falling up to 7.3% to $1,725 and Avalanche falling as much as 9.3%.
According to Arab News, “New York legislators have passed legislation that prohibits fossil-fuel power plants from producing electricity for Bitcoin miners, but Governor Kathy Hochul has not yet decided whether to sign it.”
Cryptocurrency mining consumes massive amounts of electrical energy because of the powerful computer systems required to process mathematical algorithms in order to validate blockchain transactions. Miners that are successfully able to add a block to the blockchain, receive 6.25 bitcoins as a reward. The reward amount is cut in half roughly every four years. The Bitcoin price is currently trading at US$29,626.70, making the reward worth $185,166 every time.
So how much energy does Bitcoin actually consume? Bitcoin currently consumes an estimated 150 terawatt-hours of electricity annually – more than the entire country of Argentina, a population 45 million. In other words, a lot of energy is produced using fossil fuels.
In an effort to reduce emissions by 85 percent by 2050, the bill is part of the state’s greenhouse gas reduction plan. It looks to ban certain bitcoin mining operations that run on carbon-based power sources. According to CNBC, “If it passes, it would make New York the first state in the country to ban blockchain technology infrastructure and it could have a domino effect across the U.S., which is currently at the forefront of the global bitcoin mining industry, accounting for 38% of the world’s miners.”
On a positive note, Ethereum is switching to a less energy-intensive process, but will still use this method for at least another few months.
