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On April 11th, a Bank of America research report pointed out that a 10% oil price shock in the 1970s would have had a 90 basis point inflationary impact on the United States, while today that impact is approximately 25 basis points. Furthermore, the report noted that the drag on US growth from oil price shocks has also decreased from over 70 basis points in the past to about 5 basis points today. This may be attributed to the reduced US dependence on oil and the shale oil boom since the 2010s, which has made the US a net energy exporter.On April 11th, at the High-Level Forum on the Development of Intelligent Electric Vehicles (2026), NIO Chairman Li Bin stated that batteries and chips currently account for over 50% of the cost of intelligent electric vehicles, with very high costs associated with production capacity, verification, and production organization. This situation is due to two main reasons: First, the lack of standardized battery cell specifications restricts cost, efficiency, and market responsiveness. He suggested promoting battery cell standardization. Second, there are too many types of chips. Chips should be standardized, and relevant departments should organize automakers to unify chip types as soon as possible, developing interchangeable standards for each type. This would not only benefit the adoption of domestically produced chips in vehicles but also help reduce costs across the industry.April 11th - A Bank of America research report released on April 10th points out that since the 1970s, the global economys dependence on oil has gradually decreased: today, the amount of oil needed to produce the same level of GDP is only one-third of what it was in the 1970s. The OPEC crisis and the subsequent oil shock were once considered a severe stagflation shock. But today, economies are much more resilient to energy shocks of similar magnitude.On April 11, news circulated that JD.com was testing a new project called "Open Start" in collaboration with DeepBlue Auto, which was suspected to be related to launching a ride-hailing service. In response, JD Auto stated that it is not involved in a ride-hailing business and that "the new project will launch on April 13."On April 11, at the 2026 Intelligent Electric Vehicle Development High-Level Forum, Li Qiang, Vice President of the Public Cloud Business Unit and General Manager of AI Automotive Industry at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, revealed that more than 30 automakers and intelligent driving solution providers are currently conducting intelligent driving research and development on Alibaba Cloud. The actual use of Pingtouges self-developed "Zhenwu" PPU has exceeded 100,000 calories, setting a record for the largest scale of self-developed AI chips used on a public cloud platform in the automotive industry.

Introduction to Cryptocurrency

Eden

Oct 25, 2021 13:27

What is virtual currency?


Virtual currency, also known as Cryptocurrency, is an electronic currency used cryptography and distributed ledger technology to create. It is safe, anonymous, and can track its own performance.  The names we often hear like Bitcoin, Ethereum, OKCoin, etc. are all virtual currencies.


Origin


Cryptography is a doctrine about information encryption, and is usually applied at confidential transmission of information and verification function. Since 1988, people have been trying to develop decentralized electronic currency by adapting encryption protocols and distributed networks. It was not until the emergence of Bitcoin in 2008 that the dream of virtual currency was truly realized.


Bitcoin


On November 1, 2008, an individual or team calling themselves "Satoshi Nakamoto" published a paper called "Bitcoin: Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" in a cryptographic review group. The paper has introduced its latest idea of electronic money, that is, how to use a peer-to-peer network to create an electronic transaction system that doesn’t rely on trust. That is, Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin.


How does Bitcoin work? 


Bitcoin uses P2P  (peer to peer) technology, which also means "point to point ", "peer-to-peer connection", "peer-to-peer network", etc. It is a non-centralized server. Each user has the same ability and technology to exchange information with each other. Each client of the peer-to-peer network is not only a node, but also functions as a server. The generation and consumption of every bitcoin will be checked through the P2P decentralized network to avoid counterfeiting.


The new Bitcoin is produced by a P2P client computer through a mathematical operation. Complicated equations connect all the users, who also called "miners." Miners use their computer resources to solve the equations and get a small amount of Bitcoin as a reward.


Decentralization is the biggest feature of Bitcoin. Traditional currencies are issued and managed by the central banks, while Bitcoin can avoid inflation and deflation caused by the policies of central bank and human interference. It can also reduce transaction costs and is anonymous.


Application of Bitcoin


Payment: At present, the number of merchants that support Bitcoin payment is increased rapidly, such as Amazon, Steam games, Japanese Big Camera, etc. 


Investment: The total number of bitcoins is fixed at about 21 million, with a scarcity similar to gold. Many people has already invest in bitcoins for a long time. Investment is also currently the major user demand of Bitcoin.


World currency: Every country has its own legal currency, but there is no proper world currency among countries. Bitcoin can operate as long as it has a network. It is a currency that can be used by everyone in the world. It is objectively neutral and not controlled by any countries. It is expected to become a proper world currency.


Limitation and its future


Though virtual currency is close to the transaction currency used in our daily lives, its issuing agency is not monetary authority. It does not have the same legal status as legal currency and can not widely circulate in the market. Citizens investing and trading virtual currency are not protected by law. 


As such , Libra, an Cryptocurrency developed by Facebook, wants to break through this obstacle. It’s purpose is to establish a private payment system that can cover the world. In this system, Libra serves as a medium of exchange, anchoring a country's legal currency, and can be exchanged for other countries' legal currency at any time.


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