عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Will 2018 Witness the Spread of Digital Currencies?

Bitcoin medals. (AFP)
Bitcoin medals. (AFP)
TT
TT

Will 2018 Witness the Spread of Digital Currencies?

Bitcoin medals. (AFP)
Bitcoin medals. (AFP)

The year 2017 was exceptional for digital currencies, especially bitcoin, whose value rose 1,800 percent to reach nearly $20,000 in December. Trade in the currency started in January at less than $1,000.

Spread of digital currencies

The combined market value of digital currencies has reached more than $730 billion, reported coinmarketcap.com. This makes them more valuable than giants such as Amazon ($570 billion) and Microsoft ($660 billion). It appears that it will only be a matter of time before the market value of digital currencies reaches a trillion dollars, surpassing the world’s largest company Apple, whose value lies at around $990 billion.

It appears that these digits will not stop increasing any time soon. Each day we hear reports about a new digital currency that attempts to offer innovative solutions to some problems in our daily and monetary lives. Among these new currencies, is one that can currently be traded in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The possibility of issuing the currency is still being studied. Should that happen, it will be part of a joint project between the UAE central bank and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority. Should it materialize, this will mark the first ever cooperation between monetary authorities between two countries to adopt these new innovations.

Some websites said that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was studying the pros and cons of digital currencies. This could be the early signs of a possible partnership between him and one of the digital currencies. He may even go beyond that and decide to have Facebook issue its own currency to challenge bitcoin.

Other reports said that the Telegram app is seeking to develop its own digital currency to follow in the footsteps of the Kik app that issued its own currency, KIN.

These developments and others indicate that 2018 will be a busy one for digital currencies as more major companies and individuals are lured to this new trend for investment. Interest has reached such an extent that some digital currencies have actually turned away new users due to the record level of demand.

Withdrawing bitcoin

How do I get bitcoin? The currency can either be withdrawn or purchased. Whichever method you choose, you must first have an electronic wallet to store the currency. Wallets can be obtained from sites such as Web Wallet, Electrum, Software Wallet, blockchain.info and many others.

In the past, it was very easy to withdraw, or “mine”, bitcoin by using a computer or laptop through the proper program on your device. However, with the growing number of the currencies being released from as far back as 2009, the withdrawal process grew more complicated. Dedicated powerful “miners’ have therefore been manufactured to withdraw the currency. They include the Antminer S9, Avalon 6 and SP20 Jackson. These miners come at a price and some can cost more than $3,000. They also consume a lot of power and require constant cooling. One should take all these factors into consideration before making this kind of investment.

Fortunately, many websites that rely on cloud technology have emerged to make the consumer’s life easier. The sites allow users to rent out miners. Such websites include hashflare.io and genesis-mining.com.

Another way to obtain bitcoin is through buying the currency. They can be purchased through a smart bank transfer or through a bank card. Several websites offer such services, such as Coinbase.com, Xapo.com, BitStamp.com or through bitcoin’s official website, buy.bitcoin.com

Alternate currencies

Bitcoin was not the only currency enjoying an upward trend in markets. Other alternate currencies have emerged in the past year and achieved astronomical success worth 14,285 percent of their price at the beginning of the year. Verge, for example, started the year at no more than $0.00002 and by the end had risen to $0.24. This may seem like a simple figure, but the increase is massive.

Other currencies that enjoyed noticeable growth were Ripple, Dash, Litecoin and Ethereum, the second largest digital currency after bitcoin. Other promising currencies that have entered the market include Electroneum, TRON, Ethos and Cardano.

A word of advice. The digital currencies market is very unstable. It can witness great highs and very quick drops that cannot be predicted. You should therefore carefully study the market and the currency you want to invest in before embarking on an experience that may make you a millionaire or, in the blink of an eye, cost you all that you have invested.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

Egypt to Cut Red Tape for Business and List up to Four State Firms

Egypt’s Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh speaks during an interview in London, Britain June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Marc Jones
Egypt’s Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh speaks during an interview in London, Britain June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Marc Jones
TT
TT

Egypt to Cut Red Tape for Business and List up to Four State Firms

Egypt’s Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh speaks during an interview in London, Britain June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Marc Jones
Egypt’s Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh speaks during an interview in London, Britain June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Marc Jones

Egypt will step up efforts to cut red tape to spur on local businesses and it expects to list as many as four state-owned firms on the stock exchange over the next 12 months, its Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh told Reuters.

Planned reforms aim to streamline company formation but also ease capital raising and make M&A processes easier, especially for non-listed firms, Saleh said.

"Within the coming 12 months, the priority would be in the area of the ease of doing business for already existing companies to facilitate their life... This is quite a hefty job," Saleh told Reuters on the sidelines of a visit to London.

He also predicted more than half a dozen companies would be floated on the country's stock exchange over the next 12 months, including a number of state-run ones.

State-owned enterprises still play an outsized role across Egypt's economy, with the IMF saying progress in reducing their footprint has been slower than expected.

Saleh said the government had got the ball rolling, having announced in March plans to sell up to a 20% share of Misr Life Insurance - something it has promised to do for more than 15 years - and could raise roughly 14 billion Egyptian pounds ($270 million).

"We're expecting three to four IPOs from our side, from the government side, and around four to five from the private sector," he said. He declined to name other state-owned companies that could be sold or how much such transactions could raise.

The minister said he expected flows of foreign direct investment in the fiscal year to end-June to rise 10% to 15% from $12.2 billion in fiscal 2024/2025.

Saleh said the government would not veer from its commitment to a floating exchange rate. Egypt's pound has been one of the world's hardest-hit currencies by the Iran war, falling nearly 8% since the conflict began. That has driven up inflation and threatened to reignite worries about the overall trajectory for the pound.

"Investors can deal with volatility, they don't deal with uncertainty," he said. "We were very clear and adamant about our policy direction... We are solely targeting inflation." He also said the government would maintain fiscal discipline, regardless of the situation in the region.

Asked about the seventh review of the country's IMF program, which is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, Saleh said the government had achieved or even surpassed targets set on metrics such as its fiscal deficit and primary surplus.

A follow-on program with the Fund once the current one expires by year-end was currently not on the cards, he said.

"When you go and enter into a program, it is because of financial needs and because of other aspects. Those things are not present as we speak."

Business

Oil Edges Lower after Oman Says Mina al Fahal Operations Proceeding Normally

Oil pumpjacks operating in a farmer’s field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November 26, 2025. (Reuters)
Oil pumpjacks operating in a farmer’s field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November 26, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Oil Edges Lower after Oman Says Mina al Fahal Operations Proceeding Normally

Oil pumpjacks operating in a farmer’s field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November 26, 2025. (Reuters)
Oil pumpjacks operating in a farmer’s field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November 26, 2025. (Reuters)

Oil prices edged lower after Oman said operations at Mina al Fahal port were proceeding normally, following a Reuters report that oil loadings had been suspended after an explosion.

Brent crude futures fell by 50 cents, or 0.53%, to $94.53 a barrel by 0915 GMT after settling down 2.84% in the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $92.61 a barrel, down 43 cents, or 0.46%, following a 3.1% loss on Thursday.

Both contracts still looked set to post their first weekly gains in three weeks, with Brent up 2.7% and WTI around 6%.

The contracts rose after fighting flared in the Middle East as US-Iran war peace talks dragged on while traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil passes, remained limited, Reuters reported.

Petroleum Development Oman said on Friday that operations at Mina Al Fahal port were proceeding normally, after three sources told Reuters earlier that oil loading had been suspended following an explosion near its mooring berths.

Oman exports 800,000 to 900,000 barrels per day of crude from the terminal.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected on Thursday a US-brokered agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting. Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he believed progress was being made between Israel and Lebanon and that Lebanon deserved to have peace.

"Any optimism remains heavily clouded by a tangled web of headlines and counter-headlines," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note. OPEC is sticking to its oil demand growth forecast of 1.2 million barrels per day for this year, Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said on Thursday, despite the Middle East conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian oil exports have fallen to their lowest level in six years mainly due to the US naval blockade, according to shipping data, although weak demand in China has depressed prices for the oil.

Business

FAO: World Food Prices Slip in May, Still Near Three-year High

A shopper buys vegetables with her son at a street market in Urcos, Peru, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A shopper buys vegetables with her son at a street market in Urcos, Peru, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
TT
TT

FAO: World Food Prices Slip in May, Still Near Three-year High

A shopper buys vegetables with her son at a street market in Urcos, Peru, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A shopper buys vegetables with her son at a street market in Urcos, Peru, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

World food prices slipped in May from a revised April level, with vegetable oil prices falling for the first time this year while cereals and sugar jumped, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which measures changes in a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 130.8 points in May, ⁠0.2% down from ⁠its revised April level of 131.0, but up 2.9% from a year earlier, Reuters reported.

Despite the small downward correction for the April data, the index remained near its highest level since January 2023 and 18.4% below its March 2022 peak. Cereal prices rose more than 2.6% on the month, with wheat up for a fourth straight month on smaller export harvest prospects, including in ⁠the United States, and higher fuel and fertilizer costs linked to the Iran conflict.

Maize prices were also supported by stronger import demand and tighter supplies in Brazil and the US, the agency said.

By contrast, vegetable oil prices fell 4.6% from last month, their first monthly decline this year, as lower palm and soy oil prices outweighed gains in rapeseed and sunflower oil. After rising for five consecutive months, international palm oil prices declined, reflecting expectations of weaker global import demand and uncertainty in crude oil markets.

Vegetable oil prices on average were still more than 20% above last year, as ⁠elevated energy costs ⁠following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz raised demand for biofuels made using organic materials, such as oil-rich plants.

Sugar prices jumped 7.5% from last month to 95.1 points, but remained 13.1% below their level a year ago. The increase was mainly driven by concerns over an anticipated tightening of global sugar supplies in the coming months.

In a separate cereal supply report, the FAO said it expected world cereal production - including rice in milled equivalent - to shrink 2% in 2026/27 to 2.98 billion tons.

Production of all major cereals is anticipated to decline, albeit for many from record levels reached in 2025, with the largest year-on-year decrease in percentage terms forecast for wheat and the smallest for maize and barley.