There continue to be worrying signs for the cryptocurrency market after a significant fall in the value of Bitcoin this week.

On Thursday evening, the largest and most well known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, fell to a low of $18,630.99

This value is now down over 60 percent from the year’s high of $48,234 on 28 March.

Slight recovery

And on Friday morning the value of Bitcoin had recovered somewhat and is trading at the $19,399.39 mark.

This is still another decline from May, when the value of Bitcoin had dropped below $32,000 (£25,900).

That meant the largest cryptocurrency was down more than 50 percent from its high of $67,802.30 in November 2021.

Bitcoin accounts for about one-third of the total cryptocurrency market and has a market capitalisation of approximately $640bn.

This week Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, had also dropped 7.5 percent to $1,016.08 on Thursday, losing $82.38 from its previous close.

On Friday morning Ether is trading at $1,057.70.

Crypto pressures

Both digital assets have struggled since US based Celsius Network last month said it would suspend withdrawals and transfers.

That decision caused the value of the global cryptocurrency market to fall below $1 trillion (£810m) for the first time since January 2021.

Another negative impact on the value of Bitcoin and other crypto assets has been the spectacular collapse of so-called stablecoin TerraUSD in May.

In mid May the organisation founded to maintain the stability of TerraUSD said it had spent more than $2 billion (£2bn) of Bitcoin reserves in a failed attempt to maintain the so-called stablecoin’s 1:1 peg to the US dollar.

The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) said at the time that this process wiped out virtually all of its Bitcoin reserves.

Later that same month, a South Korean crypto investor was arrested after visiting the Seoul home of Do Kwon, creator of the TerraUSD “stablecoin”.

“Chancers”, a social media personality who conducts streams on cryptocurrency-related topics, is currently under investigation by police after ringing the doorbell of Kwon’s condominium and speaking with his wife.

He expressed regret for the intrusion, according to local media, but called for Kwon to appear in public and apologise to investors.

But crypto assets are generally under pressure this year, after central banks in countries including the US, UK and Australia raised interest rates in an effort to combat inflation.

Investors also fear the economic effects of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Adblock test (Why?)

Meta Platforms has reportedly signalled that it is also bracing for a serious economic downturn and has slashed its hiring plans.

According to Reuters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff on Thursday that Meta has cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30 percent this year, as he warned them to brace for a deep economic downturn.

Meta is not alone. Tesla is already restructuring its operations and is in the process of axing 10,000 jobs, after Elon Musk announced he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and planned to cut headcount by 10 percent and “pause all hiring worldwide.”

Hiring reduction

In May it was reported that Microsoft had adopted a more cautious approach to hiring new people, amid growing concern at the global economic situation.

This comes as the world faces inflationary pressures, rising fuel costs and food prices, caused in part by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and the economic fallout resulting from lockdowns imposed during the global Coronavirus pandemic.

And now Meta (Facebook) is reportedly bracing itself for stiff economic headwinds.

“If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history,” Zuckerberg was quoted as telling staff in a weekly employee Q&A session – audio of which was heard by Reuters.

Meta has reduced its target for hiring engineers in 2022 to around 6,000-7,000, down from an initial plan to hire about 10,000 new engineers, Zuckerberg reportedly said.

Meta confirmed hiring pauses in broad terms last month, but exact figures have not previously been reported.

“Shouldn’t be here”

In addition to reducing hiring, Zuckerberg reportedly said, the company was leaving certain positions unfilled in response to attrition and “turning up the heat” on performance management to weed out staffers unable to meet more aggressive goals.

“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg reportedly said. Harsh.

“Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me,” he reportedly said.

Last month, Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of both Meta and Facebook, and one of the most high profile woman in the tech industry, announced she would step down from her role in the Autumn.

Depressed outlook

Reuters has also seen an internal memo which reveals that the firm is bracing for a leaner second half of the year, as it confronts macroeconomic pressures and Apple iOS privacy impacts to its vital advertising business.

Besides regulatory challenges, Facebook is facing increased competition from the likes of TikTok and YouTube grabbing user (particularly youth) attention, as well as a squeeze of advertising revenue, and Apple’s privacy changes start to impact.

The company must “prioritise more ruthlessly” and “operate leaner, meaner, better executing teams,” chief product officer Chris Cox wrote in the memo, which appeared on the company’s internal discussion forum Workplace before the Q&A.

“I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce. We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets,” Cox reportedly wrote.

In May this year, Facebook revealed its daily active users (DAUs) was at 1.929 billion, but for the first time ever this figure was down from 1.930 billion DAUs in the previous quarter.

The Cox memo was “intended to build on what we’ve already said publicly in earnings about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have, where we’re putting more of our energy toward addressing,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in a statement.

The guidance is the latest rough forecast to come from Meta executives, who already moved to trim costs across much of the company this year in the face of slowing ad sales and user growth.

Adblock test (Why?)

Chris Tucci is a Professor of Digital Strategy and Innovation at Imperial College Business School where he head’s the School’s Centre for Digital Transformation – designed to help businesses understand the far-reaching organisational implications of the digital revolution – something which has been of vital importance for the past 15 months due to the pandemic.

His research concerns how organisations can make transitions to new business models, technologies, and set-ups – the results of which he shares directly with senior industry figures and business leaders on Imperial’s Executive Education programmes, advising them on their own business practice.

Adblock test (Why?)

BT Group and its Openreach unit are facing the prospect a strike by staff members belonging to the Communications Workers Union (CWU) over a pay dispute.

The CWU represents 40,000 BT staff, has today voted to carry out what would be the first national strike in 35 years for the telecoms giant, unless a last minute deal is reach.

This could happen, as BT has faced the prospects of strikes back in 2010 and again in July 2021, which would have been the first national strike at the former UK incumbent since 1987.

Inflation issue?

That July 2021 agreement settled a row about planned job cuts and site closures as part of BT’s moderisation drive, also included an agreement that “BT will implement a pay increase for team members next year (i.e. 2022).”

According to ISPreview, that pay agreement would “depend on various factors including business performance, economic outlook and inflation.”

BT meanwhile told Silicon UK that it had awarded a fully consolidated pay increase to its team member and frontline colleagues of £1,500.

This represents a pay rise of around 5 percent on average and 8 percent for the lowest paid and it was effective from 1 April 2022, the carrier said.

But according to ISPreview, the Deputy General Secretary (Telecoms and Financial Services) of the CWU, Andy Kerr, had previously called for a pay rise of 10 percent to recognise the “contribution our members have made to the business”, and he promptly rejected BT’s offer.

Kerr warned that, given the surging level of inflation, the offer would have effectively represented a “relative pay cut“.

Last year BT also gave 60,000 frontline staff a special bonus of £1,500 in recognition of their work during the coronavirus pandemic keeping the UK’s communication channels working.

The CWU held three strike ballots, for BT, Openreach and EE.

Both the BT and Openreach ballots gained over 90 percent approval for a strike, but the EE ballot narrowly failed to gain enough votes.

Disappointed BT

BT meanwhile has told Silicon UK that it was disappointed at the CWU action.

“BT Group awarded its highest pay rise for frontline colleagues in more than 20 years – an average 5 percent increase and up to 8 percent for those on the lowest salaries,” a BT spokesperson told Silicon UK.

“At the same time, we’re in the middle of a once-in-a-generation investment programme to upgrade the country’s broadband and mobile networks,” the spokesperson added. “These investments are vital for the benefit of our millions of customers and for the UK economy. Above all, they are central to the success of this business – and its colleagues – now and in the future.”

“Our job is to balance the competing demands of BT Group’s stakeholders and that requires careful management, especially in a challenging economic environment,” said the BT spokesperson. “The result of the CWU’s ballot is a disappointment but we will work to keep our customers and the country connected.”

BT said that it will await notification from the CWU of its intention to launch any specific industrial action.

The carrier also said it had tried and tested processes for large scale colleague absences to minimise any disruption for our customers.

“We proved this during the pandemic and as a precaution we are ready to do the same again should industrial action go ahead,” it said. “We will do everything we can to keep our customers connected.”

Adblock test (Why?)

Alphabet’s Google division is facing fresh privacy complaints, after a group of ten European consumer groups banded together against the firm.

The ten consumer groups, under the co-ordination of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), announced they are taking action to ensure that Google complies with the law, particularly the privacy by design and by default required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The groups are apparently making official complaints to their respective privacy watchdogs, alleging that Google is harvesting a vast amount of users’ personal data via their Google accounts.

Repeat offender

It comes as recent research from ExpressVPN warned that millions of Britons are worried, or very worried, about how much companies can know about their Internet search history.

Indeed the research highlighted how people are sharing their online surfing secrets with Google, but not with their friends.

The deputy director general of the BEUC meanwhile has described Google as a repeat offender, pointing out that the BEUC filed complaints in late 2018 “against Google’s location-tracking practices and the Irish Data Protection Commissioner in charge has still not issued a decision on the case.”

But now concern is centred around how much data Google still collects “using deceptive design, unclear language and misleading choices when consumers sign up to a Google account to encourage more extensive and invasive data processing.”

“Tech giant Google is unfairly steering consumers towards its surveillance system when they sign up to a Google account, instead of giving them privacy by design and by default as required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),” the group stated.

“Contrary to what Google claims about protecting consumers’ privacy, tens of millions of Europeans have been placed on a fast track to surveillance when they signed up to a Google account,” said Ursula Pachl, deputy director general of the BEUC.

Complex opt-out?

“It takes one simple step to let Google monitor and exploit everything you do,” said Pachl. “If you want to benefit from privacy-friendly settings, you must navigate through a longer process and a mix of unclear and misleading options.”

“In short, when you create a Google account, you are subjected to surveillance by design and by default,” said Pachl. “Instead, privacy protection should be the default and easiest choice for consumers.”

The BEUC pointed out that a consumer can choose to create a Google account voluntarily or be obliged to create one when they use certain Google products and services. For example, they must create an account when they buy a smartphone that uses Google’s Android system, if they want to download apps from the Google Play store.

Signup is the critical point at which Google makes users indicate their ‘choices’ about how their Google account will operate, the BEUC noted. With only one step (“Express personalisation”), the consumer activates all the account settings that feed Google’s surveillance activities. Google does not provide consumers with the option to turn all settings ‘off’ in one click, it stated.

The group said that if consumers want to activate the more privacy-friendly options, this requires “Manual personalisation”: five steps with ten clicks and grappling with information that is unclear, incomplete, and misleading.

“Regardless of the path the consumer chooses, Google’s data processing is un-transparent and unfair, with consumers’ personal data being used for purposes which are vague and far reaching,” it alleged.

Individual actions

Ursula Pachl noted that the BEUC’s previous complaints about location tracking are still not resolved.

“Meanwhile Google’s practices have not changed in essence,” said Pachl. “The tech giant still carries out continuous tracking and profiling of consumers and its practices set the tone for the rest of the market. We need swift action from the authorities because having one of the biggest players ignoring the GDPR is unacceptable.”

The ten European groups complaining are a French consumer group, as well as others in Greece, the Czech Republic, Norway and Slovenia.

The German group has sent a warning letter to Google – the first step before a civil lawsuit.

Groups in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden have also written to their national regulators.

The BEUC also said that “US consumer groups from the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) network are also sending a letter today to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) denouncing Google’s practices.”

Google statement

Google responded and told Reuters that users can choose from different options when they open a Google account.

“These options are clearly labelled and designed to be simple to understand,” said a Google spokesperson. “We have based them on extensive research efforts and guidance from DPAs (data protection authorities) and feedback from testers. We are committed to ensuring these choices are clear and simple.”

Google has been fined more than 8 billion euros ($8.4 billion) by EU antitrust regulators in recent years, and is the focus of two ongoing antitrust investigations.

It could face fines worth up to 2 percent of its global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU privacy rules.

Adblock test (Why?)