Ripple's XRP cryptocurrency soaring to new heights this week. Coindesk's Director of Research Nolan Bauerle and Fortune Staff Writer Robert Hackett explain factors driving altcoins up, and Bitcoin down.
"Bitcoin has an enviable problem of being so popular, and such strong brand name that it became hard to access," says Bauerle. "I think when people saw that surge hit in December they said well I'll try something else." Altcoins like Ripple's XRP, Ethereum, and Tron posted significant gains in the first week of 2018.
"Retail investors are gobbling it up," says Hackett on some companies adding the word "Blockchain" to their name. " On Thursday Ripple's co-founder Chris Larsen became one of the wealthiest Americans on paper with his shares of the cryptocurrency growing to more than $59 billion. But Hackett says its important to note these shares are hard to transfer to direct wealth. Even if he were able to cash out all of his fortune, the markets would not handle it well says Hackett.
The global bottled water industry is booming, and it's coming at a steep environmental cost, according to the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
Sanofi has announced that it will lower the list price of its insulin drug, Lantus, by 78 percent and will set a $35 cap on out-of-pocket costs for all patients.
Eleven of the biggest U.S. banks Thursday announced a $30 billion rescue package for First Republic Bank in an effort to prevent it from becoming the third to fail in less than a week and head off a broader banking crisis.
A total of 33 states and the District of Columbia now allow at least some form of sports wagering, but the prospects are mixed for expanding sports betting to additional states this year.
Neel Shah and Caitlin Kelly describe how their company EZ Newswire fared following Silicon Valley Bank's stunning collapse as other banks are feared to be in similar precarious states.
