As the Bitcoin (BTC) network hashrate continues recovering amid global miners accumulating more capacity, the cryptocurrency is getting increasingly difficult to mine. On Sept. 21, the Bitcoin network posted another mining difficulty adjustment, rising 3.2% to hit a difficulty rate of nearly 19 trillion, according to data from blockchain explorer BTC.com. The latest adjustment makes
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S&P Global Ratings has singled out states’ underfunding of retiree medical benefits as a key credit risk for states. States continued to sharply underfund their OPEB plans and unfunded liabilities ticked upward in fiscal 2020, S&P analysts reported in their annual survey published Monday. During the economic expansion preceding the pandemic, few states pursued and
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Charlie Javice, Founder/CEO of Frank, which is a college financial aid start-up. Source: JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase has acquired college planning platform Frank to deepen relationships with students and their parents, CNBC has learned exclusively. Frank is an online portal with tools that help students apply for and negotiate financial aid, enroll in online courses
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The International Energy Agency has called on Russia to send more gas to Europe to help alleviate the energy crisis, becoming the first major international body to address claims by traders and foreign officials that Moscow has restricted supplies. The Paris-based body said that while Russia was fulfilling its long-term contracts to European customers it
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A National Association of State Treasurers Public Finance Workforce Study released Sept. 21, finds that the public finance sector is diverse and its needs are growing, though it faces a serious challenge attracting talented professionals. “As this sector faces increasing retirements and competition from private sector counterparts, there has never been a better time to
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The Zimbabwean currency’s collapse in 2008 and record hyperinflation are widely seen as textbook examples of what can go wrong with a centralized currency. For instance, some cryptocurrency enthusiasts — as well as opponents of the fiat currency system in general — have routinely pointed to the Zimdollar’s collapse when arguing for an alternative monetary
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Municipals largely ignored the rally in U.S. Treasuries and a massive selloff in equities as participants await another large new-issue week. Without the primary in play and a mostly muted secondary, triple-A benchmark yield curves were little changed, coming nowhere near the moves in Treasuries as the 10- and 30-year UST fell five and six
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An artist’s illustration of the Axiom modules attached to the International Space Station. Axiom Space The National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to retire the International Space Station by the end of this decade, so the U.S. space agency is turning to private companies to build new space stations in orbit – and expects to
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In the increasingly competitive landscape of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, protocol innovation and the ability to solve the biggest problems facing the crypto community are necessary for any project that looks to have long-term success in the ecosystem.  Recently, the emergence of layer-2 technology like Arbitrum, Optimism and a bridge to the Avalanche ecosystem is revolutionizing
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Kirkland, Washington, the Seattle suburb that had one of the nation’s first clusters of Covid-19 cases at its Life Care Center nursing home early last year, led the U.S. for home-flipping profits during 2021’s second quarter, according to an AATOM report ranking the nation’s zip codes. A typical home flip in the 98033 zip code,
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Climate catastrophes are poised to destroy American homes, and banks are starting to calculate their risks. Jesse Kennan, Associate Professor of Real Estate at Tulane University, refers to this process as “underwaterwriting” or “blue-lining,” depending on whether you’re looking at it from the point of view of the bank or consumer respectively. Underwaterwriting is a
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Shares in Chinese and Hong Kong property groups fell to their lowest levels in half a decade as an escalating liquidity crisis at developer Evergrande showed signs of spreading beyond the sector. Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, faces obligations of more than $300bn to creditors and other businesses and a crucial interest payment
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