Member Info for fleccy

"as i said ... thats why BTC needs regulation which will come ... and it (certainly BTC , not so sure about the very many others) will exist alongside Ce-fi / Fiat too .... of that there is no doubt IMO ? The big players wouldnt invest the billions if it wasnt going to be there in 15 years ... just like its demise has been predicted for the last 15y"

It isn't just regulation, who would offer protection against losses should entities fail? Crypto by its very nature can never really have a lender of last resort. The reason FTX was looking to bail out various entities was to protect it's own position; The same is happening now with Binance with various entities, and Galaxy in ARB's case. The whole house of cards ecosystem is teetering, a slight breeze could blow the whole thing down.

"Trust me I far far more experience in this share than you ever will feccy why don't you go post you bashing comments on a board where you are actually invested!"

I have and do, I give my honest opinion and back it up with links. I never tell anyone to invest or divest in a stock, or make recommendations. If there was an Olympic event for ramping, I'm sure you'd get a Gold Medal Addison.
QBT may go up from here, I honestly don't know, and some shrewd investors may make a lot of money out of the stock, but that wouldn't change my view that Crypto Currencies are a waste of space.

"Blackrock wouldn’t touch bitcoin with a barge pole if they didn’t see any value in it, bitcoin is not going anywhere fleccy, it’s here to stay."

That was my point, they aren't investing directly in Bitcoin, the Fund would trade in cash-settled bitcoin futures, traded on commodity exchanges.

"In fairness Fleccy .... with regard to below ... so is Fiat "

But, as i pointed out in a previous thread, we had £200,000 in a Halifax 2 year fixed rate bond, going into the 2008 financial crises; The Halifax was a heartbeat away from going bust and we could have lost two thirds of our savings that were unprotected by the FSCS, as it was we not only recovered our savings but also received all the interest. In our case the Halifax was taken over by Lloyds, engineered by the Government, but even if that hadn't have been the case, our capital would have been safe since the Government guaranteed all savings, even the ones above the FSCS limit.
Crypto has no such protection and never will have, since it's touted as borderless currency outside of the control of Government; My interpretation of that, is Wild West frontier currency with no real rules or protections, basically it's at your own risk; Without any Central Banker, or anyone to enforce any rules, there can be no protection. As far as the FTX court case, the authorities will dish out punishment for wrongdoing, but for the people who've lost cash it's unlikely they'll ever see it again.
At least Fiat has something backing it, unlike Crypto where value is defined by hype.

My understanding is that the Blackrock Global Allocation Fund may invest in cash-settled bitcoin futures, traded on commodity exchanges registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and not directly into Bitcoin as the article implies; I'm not sure Blackrock would be allowed to invest pension cash directly into Bitcoin. I know Blackrock were a big investor in MicroStrategy, although I think they've now reduced their holding to around 6.19%, and since MicroStrategy stock price is closely tied to the value of Bitcoin, Blackrock have a vested interest in the value of Bitcoin climbing.

"so I expect first we will hear about the software upgrade patent then the ball can get rolling along with a revenue:) some big leaps are headed out way, next week I feel will be the start of this as we see new investors piling in"

I know I said I wouldn't post anything further about QBT, on here, but the desperate blatant ramping is too much to bear.

Breaking down the recent news:
They've hired Dr Lov Kumar Grover on a three month contract "to advise on its proprietary quantum version of the SHA-256 bitcoin mining algorithm."
How much time will Dr Grover spend advising on the algorithm and where's the payback? As far as I can tell, viable Quantum Computing is still years away and Quantum computing is as much of a threat to blockchain as it may be a benefit.
As far as other news, clearly QBT's future is based entirely on the success of Bitcoin mining operations and any future revenue/take-up of their 30% mining efficiency algorithm. Bitcoin may continue to defy gravity, and big players may decide to inflate its value artificially, but in my humble opinion Crypto Currencies are a waste of time and resource; The industry is plagued by dodgy dealings and fraud, and cards are falling on a regular basis. The Vested interest Bitcoin press hype Crypto Mining recovery as much as the rampers on here talk up QBT, but the industry depends on maintaining the illusion of Bitcoin as a store of value, which it clearly isn't. The miners are only viable if Bitcoin trades at a value higher than the cost of mining, a 30% efficiency saving may help but it's unlikely it will if the Bitcoin value continues declining.
No doubt I'll get blasted for expressing an opinion, raising doubts in the future of Crypto, as I'm a sceptic and the rampers throw insults to shut down any off script negative Crypto views, but many Crypto related businesses are struggling with the Crypto price drops straining their business models.
For those that think I have some sort of vested interest to talk down QBT, or Crypto in general, I don't. If I'm biased, it's only because I think Crypto investors are throwing money at something inflated by fantasy hype and many will be left holding relatively worthless assets.
Don't get me wrong, if Bitcoin dropped to $1 dollar a coin I'd buy 100 Bitcoin for any historic value, unlike Warren Buffett who said he wouldn't buy all the bitcoin in the World for $25; Therefore there's always someone who'll pay something for Bitcoin and it'll probably eventually find some collector value, but it's anyone's guess how low that is. All the talk about halving, etc, is part of the hype to suck people in, but the past 18 month Bitcoin price drop of around 74%, has likely destroyed the illusion of Crypto in the eyes of many future potential investors.
Personally, I invest where I see value and wouldn't think twice about piling into a stock that's declined 74%, if I saw value in the assets and earnings of the company, but where's the value in Crypto?

"UK must be carrying $5 or $6Bn loans and the market saturated hence the merger with VOD UK."

I've got a substantial amount of savings invested in Vodafone shares, but I honestly couldn't see OFCOM, or the CMA, allowing a merger between Three and Vodafone UK; Such a merger couldn't be compared to BT taking over EE, or the VM O2 merger, since both those cases were fixed line merging with mobile, whereas a Vodafone/Three merger would combine the third and fourth largest UK mobile providers. If the merger is waved through, it'll have to be justified on a business viability basis, in the absence of any other options.

Forgot to add, the searches were limited to the last 24 hours.

Just did separate Google News searches on "Openreach" and "BT share price" and they came up with a total of 7 stories. Usually I get quite a few stories back when I search on "BT share price", many unrelated to BT, but it appears we're in the midst of a BT news blackout lol.

My guess is that Vodafone have completely lost faith in India. The Indian Government have a track history of changing tax laws retrospectively and hammering companies for back taxes that weren't applicable at the time of the transaction.

"In a recent, still unpublished award, India lost an arbitration dispute initiated by Vodafone because India had imposed a hefty tax bill of several billion dollars retroactively."

http://arbitrationblog.practicallaw.com/vodafone-v-india-award-risky-business-of-retroactive-taxation/

I suspect Vodafone have completely lost trust in the Indian Government and aren't willing to throw further large amounts of cash at India, without quid-pro-que; How can you trust someone who changes the rules of a game, mid game, to suit themselves?

Then there's this:

"The Indian Supreme Court last month ruled that telecoms operators in the country must pay back roughly $14bn ($10.9bn) in taxes and penalties following a change in the way spectrum charges were calculated.
Vodafone said its own liabilities were at least $4bn, but could be “substantially higher”.
The firm has pumped $20bn into India and is the country’s largest foreign direct investor. However, Read said the company has written off this amount, adding that there was now “zero value” for its share price in the country."

https://www.cityam.com/vodafone-threatens-to-withdraw-from-india-amid-dispute-over-taxes/

"The Indian government has issued an angry rebuke to Vodafone’s chief executive over his perceived threats to pull out of the country over a shock $4 billion (£3.1 billion) tax demand."

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/india-lashes-out-at-vodafone-chief-over-threats-to-quit-the-country-a4287151.html

Vodafone goes into India and invests around $20 Billion, follows the rules and then the Government/Regulators all but wipe out any profit from ongoing operations, through fee's and taxes. It appears the only way VI can survive is through constant external capital infusion, based on what I've read,
When Jio was starting up, the regulators were all over the existing providers while making life easier for Jio, but it appears they've gone too far, irreparably damaging much of the fledgling industry.
It isn't just that though, VI seems to fall foul of India's Trai over any moves to turn a profit, or gain any advantage over competitors.

"Vodafone Idea moves Telecom Dispute Tribunal against TRAI order to block premium plans"

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/vodafone-idea-moves-telecom-dispute-tribunal-against-trai-order-to-block-premium-plans-1700106-2020-07-13

That's just a few examples on why Vodafone has given up on India as a reliable place to do business, and it might give some foresight into the type of country will become once they grow to superpower status.

I haven't paid much attention to Vodafone Idea in several months, but the recent threads have piqued my interest. This article, linked below, hints at some of the pressure being placed on the Indian Government on this, I suspect India will face a great deal of reputational fallout if VI fails.

"It further warned that if the issue wasn’t resolved soon as per the Cabinet decision, it would have more “negative implications” for the company and for the investment climate in India."

https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/uk-india-trade-body-dials-indian-envoy-on-vodafone-idea-equity-conversion/96750776

To put that valuation into perspective BT's market cap is around $15.22 Billion. It'll be interesting to see if that valuation is realised, time will tell. I have no idea if Facebook/Meta ever recovered their purchase costs for WhatsApp through advertising, I very much doubt it.

Up for sale, speculated to be valued at $29 Billion. Facebook bought WhatsApp for around $21 Billion. The madness continues, maybe.

"It's better to let it go bankrupt and India banks will have huge losses. Which are government owned."

It's unlikely the business will stop operating, the bondholders will be reluctant to completely write off the loans. My guess is the bondholders, in partnership with the Indian Government, will take over the assets and run it as a going concern, along the same lines as Chapter 11 in the US; I suspect the reason this hasn't happened, yet, is lots of behind the scenes negotiating to save the Indian Government from the associated reputational damage. There can be no doubt it was Government and Regulators who caused this, by milking the Telco's while helping out Jio in all manner of ways. It reflects badly on India as a place to do business, since Vodafone and Idea were among the early mobile providers and who would have seen them going bust? Mobile businesses should be cast iron solid business and it isn't as though Vodafone doesn't have experience in developing markets.
If VI does suffer the India version of chapter 11, no doubt the whole history of the failure will be played out in the press, with Vodafone probably giving their side of the story, they'd have nothing to lose once they're out and it's unlikely Vodafone will put the blame on themselves. Since Vodafone have already written off their India business, I imagine there wouldn't be much stopping them from walking

"we don't just want something that's going to work for a few months we want a continuous stream of improvement followed by preparation for when the industry is ready to start using quantum mining!"

https://www.verdict.co.uk/quantum-computing-breaking-security-encryption/#:~:text=The%20cryptographic%20protocol%20used%20for,to%20break%20existing%20encryption%20protocols.

"for now if bt has not put trackers in their vehicle bt may want to do so, that will allow better insight to what is happening in their business. like is there hot spot that the vehicles always congregate."

I suspect they track the Engineers through their workforce management app, so they probably don't need to track the vehicles directly. Add to that, they know where the assigned jobs are so again they'll know the general geography the vehicles are operating in. Electric vehicles aren't currently good as a long range option, so they'll probably be closely monitoring the charging performance and range between charges closely, evolving an operating model over time as a result of the monitoring.

"Anyone any ideas what the upshot of Vodafones stake in Vodafone idea will end up looking like?"

Indian Government tax and regulatory policies have destroyed the business case for the foreign investment in Indian Telco's. From what I read previously, Jio was given a leg up in every way possible, while the pre Jio telco's were hammered financially. Vodafone wrote down their Indian investment to zero and appear reluctant to throw further significant investment at Vodafone Idea.
The Indian Government possibly thought Vodafone would keep throwing money at VI, which could be mopped up in further fee's and taxes, but instead Vodafone have more or less washed their hands of their Indian investments. I think the Indian Government miscalculated what Vodafone would do. The rise of Jio, with Indian Government help, has badly damaged competition in India. I suspect Vodafone are hanging in there in the hope they may get something back at some point. Maybe the Indian Government have learnt a lesson, but maybe not, they'll only get away with so much before foreign investment shuns them. Vodafone should probably sell their stake in VI and have done with it, the business appears to be in terminal decline anyway.

https://argoblockchain.com/news-room/2022-december-helios-sale-to-galaxy

"But using Mina also enables Openreach to look at driving habits and the operational efficiency of its electric vans.

“Because we can see every charge through the online Mina Fleet Portal, and the speed, efficiency and cost of it, what we’re able to do is encourage our engineers to use the public network less and cheaper home charging more,” said Kirkby."

https://fleetworld.co.uk/mina-helps-openreach-transform-30000-vehicle-fleet-to-electric/

https://www.inmarsat.com/en/solutions-services/aviation/solutions/uavs/altitude-angel.html