“To the extent it is used I fear it’s often for illicit finance. It’s an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions, and the amount of energy that’s consumed in processing those transactions is staggering,” the former Fed chairwoman said. Yellen’s comments have been cited as a reason for bitcoin’s recent losses. However, Yellen’s assessment of bitcoin as a inefficient medium of exchange is an important point and one that has already been raised in the past by bitcoin bulls. Using a volatile asset in exchange for goods and services makes little sense if the asset can tumble 10% in a day, or surge 80% over the course of a two months as bitcoin has done in 2021, critics argue. To put a finer point on it, over the past 12 months bitcoin has registered 8 corrections, defined as a decline from a recent peak of at least 10% but not more than 20%, and two bear markets, which are defined as falls of 20% or more, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The SSE was the first modern stock exchange to open in China, with trading commencing in 1990. It has now grown to become the largest stock exchange in Asia and the third-largest in the world by market capitalization, which stood at RMB 50.6 trillion (US$7.8 trillion) as of September 2021. Stocks (both A-shares and B-shares), bonds, funds, and derivatives are traded on the exchange. The SEE has two trading boards, the Main Board and the Science and Technology Innovation Board, the latter more commonly known as the STAR Market. The Main Board mainly hosts large, well-established Chinese companies and lists both A-shares and B-shares.
