Cryptocurrency was big in the news this week with Bitcoin and Australia’s decision to adopt a blockchain style system for trade settlements. 800 jobs at Toys ‘R’ Us are at risk with plans to shut 26 UK stores in the Spring and the Co-op is to be the first UK supermarket to sell food which is past its ‘best before’ date.
After making it over $11,000 last week, a surge in trading on Thursday morning sent Bitcoin over $15,000. This was despite continued warnings from analysts that the digital currency, which started the year below $1,000, suffers all the symptoms of a bubble market.
Australia is to move its stock exchange to a blockchain style system. It will be the first global market to adopt the technology behind Bitcoin in order to make transactions more secure, faster, and cheaper.
Find out more about blockchain and how it works with this video from the BBC.
Toys ‘R’ Us are too close around a third of its stores in the UK next Spring with further plans to reduce the size of some of the remaining shops. The struggling retailer said that its stores are “too big and expensive to run in the current retail environment”. This move puts around 800 jobs at risk.
Customers at 125 East of England Co-op stores will be able to buy food that is past its ‘best before’ date that is still edible. Such items will be on sale for just 10p and is part of an effort to reduce food waste.
Standard Chartered Bank’s chief executive, Bill Winters, has warned that the talent pool in London will suffer because of Brexit. He told reporters: “Some of the best talent that we can have in the UK marketplace is coming from students that have chosen to study here and then stayed for some extended period afterwards… We’ve noticed that’s been impacted already.”
