"Those who neglect to educate themselves on #Bitcoin may find themselves working for those who did."
Educate me Pas, tell me what Bitcoin is useful for that can't be done better using traditional finance? There's only one useful purpose I can think of for Bitcoin, international currency transfers, but you still need the Fiat to Bitcoin and vice versa conversion at either end of the transfer, so does carry extra cost on top of the actual transfer; Any company involved in facilitating such transfers, with automatic conversion at either end of the transfer, don't need to use BTC to facilitate the transfer.
The only case I can see for investing in Bitcoin is to ride the FOMO wave and try and time your exit. Bitcoin can't be used at the majority of retail outlets, with the ones allowing transactions using a third party conversion company to convert to Fiat at the point of trade, with fees.
The Bitcoin herd might be likened to migrating Lemmings following each ever closer to a cliff face, with the survivors being the ones sensible enough to separate from the herd before the oncoming disaster. In my opinion, for Bitcoin to survive long term the powers that be would have to use a massive hammer to knock a square peg into a round hole, since it serves no useful purpose.
So educate me Pas, what is this unfolding intelligent phenomena?
"We’ve Got Your Back’ marks the first brand campaign from BT since the launch of EE as BT Group’s primary consumer brand. It boldly states BT’s expertise, knowledge and value in the world of business, as a trusted partner underpinning the digital economy. BT is now BT Group’s flagship B2B brand."
https://www.lbbonline.com/news/bt-enters-a-new-era-to-support-every-type-of-business/
BT delisted its ADR's from the NYSE a few years back:
https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-announces-intention-to-delist-from-new-york-stock-exchange-and-terminate-adr-programme-and-to-deregister-and-terminate-reporting-obligations-with-the-sec/
BTGOF isn't traded on the NASDAQ it's the BT ticker on the US OTC market, which shouldn't be price affecting since it's Off-Book (Off Exchange); So BT isn't traded on US Exchanges.
Stitching the fabric
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNmdutQ3-4k
I would say the chance of the Conservatives being in power this time next year is probably less than 10%. It would take a major political meltdown across all the other parties for me to change that view. I'm not going off the poll's, I'm just going off conversations I've had while out and about; Over the last couple of months I've not spoken to anyone who's said they're voting Conservative and someone I know who was a Conservative party member, previously volunteering to do leaflet drops, say they aren't voting Conservative this time around either.
"ORCA Computing, in collaboration with BT Group, hosted a demonstration day at BT Group’s R&D centre – Adastral Park in Ipswich for businesses, universities, data centre providers and users. Unveiling the vision of the ‘Quantum Data Centre of the Future’ (QDCF) project, the day showcased technology innovations to demonstrate how quantum communication and computing systems can integrate with classical data centres."
https://www.telecomtv.com/content/bt/orca-computing-and-bt-group-showcase-technologies-to-enable-quantum-datacentres-of-the-future-49842/
This British ISA is nothing more than a marketing tool for the Government, and possibly fund managers once/if it's approved. The Conservatives wont be in power next year, hence the unnecessary consultation period meaning they don't care about it and it wont be them implementing it.
"If there is a serious bid for Vodafone I'd expect at least £1. I know others say this is too low but you have to be realistic"
I'd suggest that a £1 bid would be unrealistic, since there's no way in the World the BOD would accept such a low bid. If Vodafone was a distressed company it'd be a different matter, but Vodafone isn't a distressed company so any realistic bid would have to be much higher than £1.
Anyone who has views on this can email the Treasury to tell them:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/uk-isa-consultation
The Guardian says it's a gimmick and explains why.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2024/mar/06/british-isas-are-a-gimmick-that-wont-move-the-dial
LTI I'm not going to discuss this with you any further, I'll end this Monty Python like conversation now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5gbtaEQ
I'd already decided that I'm voting Reform at the next general election Gate13Boy.
LTI I don't know why you've decided to argue in favour of tax breaks for investors in international stocks, don't you care about this country? Every retail £1 invested in US stocks is £1 that could have been invested into Lloyds, or other UK stocks, so I'd suggest that allowing tax breaks for investing outside this country disadvantages UK stocks. YouTube is full of video's encouraging investment outside of the UK, chipping away at the UK investment case. I'd suggest that disallowing international investments in the ISA wrapper would encourage more investment into UK stocks, due to the superior tax advantages it would give UK investments. The way things stand it's actually cheaper to invest small amounts in US stocks, than it is to invest in UK stocks, with commission free trading in International stocks and small FX fees why should they also get a tax benefit on top?
Hunt needed to do something radical in this budget, to encourage more retail investment into UK stocks, this extra £5000 allowance wont make any difference whatsoever; If he'd made ISA's UK stock specific, then that would have potentially pulled in up to £20,000 per annum into UK investments per ISA, and might have encouraged prospective US stock fans to invest in the UK instead.
With the narrative telegraphed in Video's like the one linked to below, UK stocks need as much help as they can get, Hunt did nothing today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgzjQojzgFo&lc=UgzNiMJQ95xJWGb--x14AaABAg
"Flec
''The British ISA is a waste of effort''"
LTI did you purposely cut short what I said? The full sentence was "The British ISA is a waste of effort if it's aimed at raising UK stock valuations."
"What you mean is that because you do not invest outside the UK, you do not want others to be able to within an ISA."
That's correct, I don't understand why UK investors get tax breaks for pumping up US and other international stocks. I've got nothing against people being allowed to invest in international stocks, I just think it should be outside of an ISA tax free wrapper. If the Government forced people to invest internationally outside of ISA's, they'd potentially pull in capital gains tax currently denied them. This country's stock market is royally f*c£ed if everyone decides to invest in US stocks, in preference to UK stocks, so why the Government encourage tax free investment outside of their home country is beyond me.
The British ISA is a waste of effort if it's aimed at raising UK stock valuations. We only invest in UK stocks, so me and my wife will be utilising the full £50,000 allowance across our ISA's, but there aren't many people who are in a position to do that. Personally I don't know the justification for giving tax breaks for investing outside of the UK, it makes little sense.
The British ISA is a waste of time if people are still allowed to invest in foreign (US) stocks within standard ISA's, I'd suggest the extra £5000 wont make any difference to diverting more retail investment into UK stocks.