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Money Matters: Assessing the Crypto Crash
victoriaadvocate46d ago

Money Matters: Assessing the Crypto Crash

Dave Sather is a Certified Financial Planner and the CEO of the Sather Financial Group, a fee-only investment management and strategic planning firm.

#ECONOMY
Business Pessimism About Future of Bulgarian Economy Deepening, Study Shows
bta_bg46d ago

Business Pessimism About Future of Bulgarian Economy Deepening, Study Shows

Some 66% of participants in the annual survey of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) expect an economic decline in 2026, while another 13% do not expect any change, according to the survey's results, published Monday under the title "2025 through the eyes of business".The online survey was conducted between November 7 and December 7, 2025, among 847 micro, small, medium and large enterprises from all sectors of the economy and from across the country. For comparison, in the survey "2024 through the eyes of business" 41% of respondents expected an economic decline in 2025, and 21% - maintaining the current level. The survey is being conducted for the 21st consecutive year and aims to assess the state of business in a changing macroeconomic environment.According to BCCI data, traditionally between 30% and 40% of participants in the annual surveys are optimistic about the development of the economy. The lowest share of optimists was recorded in 2011 (13%) and in 2020 (11%), when pessimistic attitudes reached 71% and 70%, respectively.After the COVID-19 crisis subsided in 2021, traditional optimism briefly returned, but it was quickly tempered by reality, the chamber reports. This year's survey again shows a predominance of pessimists (66%).Pessimism among Bulgarian businesses in 2025 is caused by a combination of external shocks (the international geopolitical situation, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the energy crisis), their after-effects, high inflation and production costs, slowing demand, prolonged political instability and other internal problems such as staff shortages and heavy administration. These factors act simultaneously and intensify the feeling of uncertainty, which causes businesses to limit their expectations and focus on survival instead of growth, in the midst of the process of switching to a new currency from January 1, 2026, the BCCI notes. BCCI reports that the survey was conducted during the period of discussion of the State Budget Bill for 2026, for which the Chamber also warned that it includes measures that could create new inflationary pressure and risks to financial stability.The obstacles The biggest obstacles to business are the lack of labour, bureaucracy, regulatory burden, frequently changing regulations, and corruption. The ineffective judicial system is also a serious problem.For the majority of respondents, the high prices of raw materials, materials and energy resources, as well as the uncontrollable and unjustified growth of incomes, create serious problems, forcing them to increase the final prices of their production and cut costs (mainly investments).The plans Expectations of rising prices and, more specifically, the cost of labour, are causing most employers to include wage increases in their plans for 2025. Plans to increase the minimum wage have the greatest impact on inflationary processes - most employers intend to calculate this additional cost into the prices of goods and services.In response to the economic crisis, about 40-43% of respondents plan to increase their production volume, as well as the range of products/services offered, and every third will seek new markets.Among the business priorities for 2026 are investments in staff development/training, as well as investments in energy-saving technologies and digitalization of production.Estimates for 2025 Participants in the BCCI survey give a predominantly negative assessment of both the state of the business climate and the state of their own companies.A slowdown in global economic growth is already being observed, with a large portion of Bulgarian enterprises expecting their own results to deteriorate due to the weakening of the global economy. The lack of sustainable governance and reforms increases uncertainty and makes long-term planning difficult. Business representatives also note a deficit in partnership between business and state institutions, with little trust in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

#ECONOMY
Bitcoin Should Be Flying—Instead, Quantum Risk Keeps It Grounded: Analyst
newsbtc46d ago

Bitcoin Should Be Flying—Instead, Quantum Risk Keeps It Grounded: Analyst

According to on-chain analyst Willy Woo, a long-running rise in Bitcoin’s value versus gold has stalled. He points to a break in a trend that ran for more than a decade. Related Reading: Bitcoin At $8,000? Michael Saylor Says Strategy Still Won’t Break The timing, he argues, lines up with when quantum computing showed up on the radar of Bitcoin developers and when the Quantum Bitcoin Summit took place. That change, he says, has altered how the market thinks about Bitcoin’s future. Quantum Fear And Lost Coins Reports have disclosed that roughly 4 million BTC are effectively out of circulation because their keys are lost. That number matters. Since 2020, corporate buyers and spot ETFs have taken close to 3 million BTC off the market. If some of those lost coins were eventually recovered using powerful quantum machines, supply would expand in a way that markets could not ignore. Woo gives the chance of a network hard fork that freezes any recovered coins at 25%. 12 YR TREND BROKEN. BTC should be a valued a LOT HIGHER relative to gold. Should be. IT’S NOT. The valuation trend broke down once QUANTUM came into awareness. Don’t read this post if you want to stay high on hopium instead of seeing things as they are. pic.twitter.com/Qa2YKDlRMp — Willy Woo (@willywoo) February 16, 2026 He also estimates a socalled Q-Day — the point where quantum machines can threaten today’s cryptography — to be about five to 15 years away. Markets, however, do not always wait for an event to actually happen before they price it in. Macro Money Favors Gold Right Now Reports note that broader financial cycles are pushing big pools of capital toward traditional hard assets. Long-term debt cycles are often followed by moves into things seen as safe havens. Sovereign funds and large investors have been piling into gold while Bitcoin stalls. The result: gold rallies while Bitcoin lags, and that gap is what analysts like Woo are trying to explain. Who Says It’s Not Quantum Panic Quantum fears around Bitcoin are not universally accepted. Blockstream CEO Adam Back has said the threat is distant and often overstated, arguing that if quantum computing advances far enough to challenge current encryption, Bitcoin can upgrade its cryptography through network consensus. In his view, the system has time to adjust before any real damage occurs. Prominent Bitcoin educator and author Andreas Antonopoulos has also pushed back, noting that quantum computers would affect banks, governments, and the entire internet—not just Bitcoin. He argues that global security standards would be strengthened long before Bitcoin faced a unique crisis, making the current concern premature. Yet Woo points to unusual flows, including activity by early-era holders. Reports say some Satoshi-era wallets have seen transfers over the last 12 months, and that behavior can change market sentiment fast. Sometimes a few large moves are enough to tilt prices for weeks. Related Reading: Urgent Crypto Reform: Treasury Secretary Says The Clock Is Ticking Bitcoin And Gold: Diverging Paths Amid Market Volatility At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $68,700, indicating market volatility due to the inability to sustain last year’s peak at around $126,000. Gold, for its part, is trading at around $4,950 per ounce due to safe-haven pressures driven by market uncertainty. Bitcoin is still a speculative asset, while gold is a traditional store of value, some analysts say. The correlation coefficient between Bitcoin and gold is relatively weak, almost to the point of being nil, suggesting that these two assets are not correlated and tend to move independently. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

#COMMODITIES#TECH
Emotion Analytics Market to Reach $10.5 Billion by 2031 at 15.3% CAGR
openpr46d ago

Emotion Analytics Market to Reach $10.5 Billion by 2031 at 15.3% CAGR

According to a new report published Emotion Analytics Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report, by Type (Text Analytics, Facial Analytics, Speech Analytics, Video Analytics), by Enterprise Size (Large Enterprise, SME's), by Deployment Mode (On-premise, Cloud), by Application

#TECH
IT sector contributing 7pct to Romania's GDP formation
stiripesurse_ro46d ago

IT sector contributing 7pct to Romania's GDP formation

The IT sector contributes more than 7% to the formation of Romania's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but only 5% of companies operating on the national market use Artificial Intelligence (AI), while less than a third of adults have digital skills,...

#ECONOMY
New Crypto Protocol Mutuum Finance (MUTM) Confirms Roadmap Progress as V1 Protocol Went Live
benzinga46d ago

New Crypto Protocol Mutuum Finance (MUTM) Confirms Roadmap Progress as V1 Protocol Went Live

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mutuum Finance (MUTM) has officially confirmed a key development milestone as its V1 protocol goes live on the Sepolia testnet. The update marks a clear transition from roadmap planning to functional delivery. While many new crypto projects remain in the conceptual stage, Mutuum Finance is now allowing users to interact with its core lending framework in a live, risk-free environment.The activation of the V1 protocol signals measurable roadmap progress and strengthens confidence among early participants. As the project advances through its structured distribution phase, investors are closely tracking how these technical milestones align with its long-term vision of building a professional, non-custodial lending and borrowing hub.What Is Mutuum Finance (MUTM)?Mutuum Finance is a decentralized liquidity protocol designed to facilitate digital asset lending through smart contracts. Its primary goal is to provide a transparent environment where users can earn yield or access liquidity while retaining ownership of their assets.The system is built to handle transactions, risk management, and interest rate adjustments through code, reducing the reliance on manual oversight. The protocol uses a dual-market structure to accommodate different user needs. This framework includes two distinct lending models:Peer-to-Contract (P2C): This is a pool-based model where lenders deposit assets like ETH or USDT into shared liquidity reserves. Borrowers draw from these pools ...Full story available on Benzinga.com

#CRYPTO
3 Best Cryptocurrencies Under $5 to Invest in
analyticsinsight46d ago

3 Best Cryptocurrencies Under $5 to Invest in

Mutuum Finance joins Shiba Inu and XRP among the best cryptos to buy as crypto market investors seek strong growth and real utility under five dollars.

#CRYPTO
Top Crypto Narratives Dominating 2026
mpost46d ago

Top Crypto Narratives Dominating 2026

Crypto’s 2026 landscape is defined by a shift from speculation to maturity, with narratives centered on institutional‐grade infrastructure, real‐world integration, and compliant on‐chain systems shaping how the industry evolves.The post Top Crypto Narratives Dominating 2026 appeared first on Metaverse Post.

#CRYPTO