The month of April and its many events. One of the most intense elections finished with Emmanuel Macron as the first round winner boosting global stock markets. Electric cars are now worth more than ever with Tesla's market capitalization higher than that of its bigger competitor Ford - almost a David versus Goliath scenario with David again coming out on top; at least from an investor's viewpoint. Oh yes, and if you fancy Cherry Coke, Chinese consumers of the fizzy drink can now drink out of cans embellished by Warren Buffett's profile. And what would a month be without some news on cryptocurrencies and millennials. Bitcoins are now entering a new period with SegWit allowing faster transactions. While bitcoin's future on SegWit is still not entirely determined, Litecoin's transactions are already enhanced by SegWit.
Millennials are spending almost $ 1,000 on the runup and attendance of friends' weddings, while struggling to buy their first property. But if they chose to do so in Japan, they could now use bitcoins as legal tender as of the beginning of April 2017. Finally, if you are thinking about starting a new tech firm, London is, according to Transferwise's co-founder, no longer a great place to be. Opt for Amsterdam or Berlin instead.
So here we go, some of the most interesting stories of April 2017:
1. There is no denying, their cars are awesome. Elon Musk's Tesla has not only created the only real sports car running on electricity, but also a beautiful gadget. The value of his products is now reflected in Tesla's market cap now pricing them above Ford's. For the first time, Tesla market value is higher than that of Ford despite the company Tesla being only a fraction of Ford and their sales figures 76,000 for 2016 versus 6.7 million over at Ford.
2. This is why buying shares can lead to international stardom. Warren Buffett, one of the major investors in Coca Cola, is now the new face of Cherry Coke cans in China.
3. As one of the most tense election in Europe have moved into their second phase, stock markets climbed to new highs following Macron's win in the first round of the 2017 French election. The CAC 40 climbed an impressive 3.60% following Macron's win.
4. I am far from being an expert on the intricacies of the technical aspects of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, but this is an interesting technical insight I am happy to learn: it is possible to speed up bitcoin transactions through SegWit. Apparently SegWit does two things: it speeds up the transaction time, as it increases the block size from 1 to 4 megabytes. While bitcoins are not yet profiting from the technical innovation, litecoins are.The decisive factor for why litecoins are enjoying the apparent benefits SegWit while bitoins are not is the support from the respective community. If you want to follow the progress, here are the links: bitcoins/SegWit support - litecoins/SegWit support
5. While many millennials, particularly across North America and Europe, find it difficult to buy their first property, Chinese millenials are amongst those who own the most property. 70% of Chinese millenials own their own property - that's an impressive figure.
6. This one left me a bit flabberghasted at first, yet once I thought about how much we have spent to go to weddings, it does indeed up up - though $ 1,000 does seem excessive. Millennials apparently spent on average somewhere between $ 800 and 1,000 on weddings. Not their own, but on other's weddings.
7. An interesting article about a few bitcoin traders in China: some making hundreds of thousands every month, others are more skeptical. One of the bitcoins traders has lost, like many others, faith in the system, whilst others simply see it as a quick way to cash in but exchange their bitcoins back into real currency.
8. In case you have missed it, bitcoins are now legal tender in Japan since the beginning of April. No need to exchange money on your next trip to Japan, just bring your electronic wallet, bitcoins have got you sorted.
9. Some really good tips for entrepreneurs. Quite amazing to see all the skills scientific researchers use in their daily lives are just as important to budding entrepreneurs.
10. Edinburgh is one of the hottest places to start a company. It's southern cousin London, however, is losing its appeal. Transferwise's co-founder said that he wouldn't start another business in London due to all the uncertainty. He prefers Amsterdam or Berlin.
