What a beautiful month May has been. I spent a wonderful holiday with friends in Greece, enjoyed the great Greek hospitality, visited the Acropolis, ate some of the best food and drank some real gems of Meditarrean brewing and distilling. All in all an unforgettable holiday with wonderful friends. This is also the reason why May's Summary is a bit delayed.
So what happened in May 2017? Let's start with the traction gaining cryptocurrencies. Bitcoins have hit new record highs and were worth more than gold. Bitcoins has turned the early miners and investors into millionaires and possibly billionaires. There's likely to be a lot of millionaires out there that have stayed under the radar – as long as you didn't spend all your bitcoins on a pizza. With bitcoins having gone through the roof, alternatives may be needed. But even alternatives such as Litecoin have seen a massive uptick and are becoming valuable cryptocurrencies in their own right.
For all the globetrotting entrepreneurs out there, Transferwise has created an account that can be used with a large number of different currencies – all in one account. On that note, the younger children learn about banking and finance, the better equipped they will be later on in life. The UK has just introduced a financial education scheme for the youngest of our society. Maybe that will
turn them into successful entrepreneurs and create companies such as Birchbox. Their CEO claims that motherhood made her a better leader – somehow the circle of children, education, and success seems to close here. The importance of relationships isn't just important for entrepreneurs and executives, experiences and relationships are the most important source of happiness – and that, despite their apparent differences, millennials and other generations have in common.
Enjoy the selection of May 2017's ten events:
1. The value of a bitcoin has multiplied by 879, 999 times or in other words five dollars invested in bitcoins in 2010 would now be worth $ 4.4 million. Bitcoin certainly qualifies as the superhero of investments. Back in 2010 480,000 bitcoins would have only cost $ 1,200, today you'd be able to call yourself a billionaire with a worth of $ 1.1 billion.
2. How about a pizza for $ 20 million? In the early days of bitcoins this is how much Laszlo Hanyecz offered for a pizza in 2010. In fact when the story was first reported by the mass media in 2014, 10,000 bitcoins were worth $ 5 million, 3 years later the value quadrupled. As of time of writing one bitcoin is worth $ 2,905.99.
3. One is only a few years old, the other has been around for centuries, is used in jewelery, cellphones, used in medical procedures, and has acted as the reserve currency for countries around the globe. But the youngster is worth twice as much as the golden oldie. 2017 has seen the value of one bitcoin far overtake the value of one ounce of gold with May marking new highs and once bitcoin worth worth $ 2,600 versus $ 1,267 for an ounce of gold. The trend has continued over the last few weeks with the price of a bitcoin extending its advance (see 2. above).
4. Staying with cryptocurrencies. With bitcoin's value climbing from one high to another, what about alternatives? Litecoin's value doubled in the space of 24 hours on May 9th climbing from $ 22 to $ 38 as Segwit got activated. Since then the litecoin price has fallen again, but who knows where the journey will take this bitcoin alternative.
5. Is this the perfect account for globetrotting freelancers and business owners? Transferwise now offers the ability to keep all your currencies in one bank account making it apparently much easier to move money between different currencies and no longer being bound to the old-fashioned, one country, one bank, one currency.
6. This is wonderful news: financial education in UK schools for children as young as 7. Let's hope that we'll see similar efforts in the rest of the world.
7. Some news from the world of entrepreneurs: Becoming a mother could help your leadership skills; at least that's what the female CEO of Birchbox has told Forbes.
8. I knew of Erasmus for students and researchers, but this is very interesting. Erasmus for entrepreneurs. The Young Entrepreneurs Programme enables entrepreneurs to live in a different country and experience a world away from their business. What a great way to expand your horizon.
9. Fancy setting up a start up in the USA. These are the best places for start ups according to a new report; Silicon Valley isn't on the list.
10. Millennials and other generations aren't that different really: Most of us prefer to spend money on experiences that we can take with us for the rest of our lives than an expensive gadget that does so little to our level of happiness. Before buying something expensive to keep up with the Joneses, maybe just opt for a great experience instead.
