比特幣價格再度達到6萬美元，主流機構接受比特幣比例提高

比特幣價格再度達到6萬美元，主流機構接受比特幣比例提高

本週，比特幣價格持續走高。週四的價格漲破60000美元大關，再創新高，為2020年3月19日以來首次。coingecko網站的數據顯示，目前，比特幣的價格為59724美元，市值約為1.12萬億美元。在過去24小時裡，比特幣的價格最高為60323美元，最低為58247美元。

今年3月份，比特幣價格累計上漲超過27%。今年迄今為止，比特幣價格累計上漲了102%。

現在，越來越多的主流投資者和公司接受加密貨幣。今年3月初，高盛宣布，由於機構客戶的需求增加，它將重啟起加密貨幣交易部門。

上週三，特斯拉首席執行長馬斯克（Elon Musk）在推特上表示，特斯拉現在接受比特幣支付。也就是說，該公司的電動汽車現在可以使用比特幣購買。

上個月，特斯拉還大舉投資比特幣。該公司在提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的一份文件中披露，它已買入價值15億美元的比特幣，以實現投資的“多樣化和最大化”。

最近，比特幣的交易價格一直沒有低於5萬美元，原因是有越來越多公司宣布接受這種數位資產。

本週一Visa表示，它將允許用戶使用加密貨幣在其支付網路上結算交易。本週二，PayPal宣布，將很快向2900萬家商戶提供新的加密貨幣結算服務，該服務將允許用戶用比特幣和其他三種知名加密貨幣支付商品。

本週四，摩根大通再次對比特幣價格做出預測，該機構將比特幣的目標價從14.6萬美元下調至13萬美元。摩根大通估計，如果比特幣能與私營部門的黃金投資相當，那麼比特幣的長期價值可能達到13萬美元。

比特幣「環境殺手論」劇增！中本聰早想到：「不用 BTC，才是純粹的浪費」

對一些人來說，比特幣預示嶄新的未來金融體系；但也有很多人視為環境災害。比特幣愛好者或許會對抨擊方不屑一顧，可若要讓比特幣大規模普及，勢必得逐一排除反對者的質疑。

比特幣今年迎來睽違已久的牛市，眾人對其增加的「碳足跡」也倍感擔憂。一度對比特幣立場轉為中立的微軟聯合創辦人比爾蓋茲（Bill Gates），2 月受訪時就又表示不支持比特幣，主因便在挖礦產生大量碳足跡。

理論來說，比特幣是完全數位化的類貨幣，乍聽之下似乎是有史以來最環保的貨幣。畢竟與紙幣不同，比特幣不需靠砍伐樹木生成，且供應量有限，不會有增發情況發生。

但是，主流媒體對比特幣是否消耗巨大能源的擔憂卻與日俱增。

《衛報》2 月便以《為何比特幣對地球有害》為標題做影片報導；路透社則抨擊特斯拉（Tesla）一方面提倡潔淨能源，另一手又向「能源密集」的比特幣投入 15 億美元；《華盛頓郵報》也指出，以比特幣購買特斯拉車對環境有負面影響。

比特幣可能永遠要消耗大量能源

無論以哪種指標比較，比特幣都確實消耗大量電力。原因就在比特幣採用名為 PoW 的共識機制，讓礦工以競爭方式解決密碼學問題，凡搶得首位，即能領取該區塊的獎勵。

為了保持競爭力，礦工硬體設備也被迫加入軍備競賽；使用更強大的計算機，消耗的能源自然也會增加。加拿大比特幣挖礦公司 Bitfarms 高層就承認，只要依然使用比特幣，就可能永遠要耗費大量能源。

BBC 報導，劍橋大學最近分析報告結果指出，比特幣一年消耗的能源總量，比阿根廷、荷蘭等國家還多，約每年 121.36 太瓦時（TWh）。假如把比特幣視為一國，耗電量將躋身世界前 30 大。

不過進入網路時代後，無論寄電子郵件、使用社群媒體、銀行網路業務，都在增加人類碳排放。在這環境下，比特幣難道真是碳排放的主要貢獻者？認為惡化環境的責任都在它是否誇大？

中本聰早想到了

外界對比特幣的批評，也讓一則比特幣創造者中本聰（Satoshi Nakamoto）2010 年在比特幣論壇 BitcoinTalk 發表的言論被翻出來。之後中本聰便從人們視野消失，至今仍沒有人知道「他」，或「他們」的真實身分。

中本聰寫道：

比特幣讓交易成為可能，效益要遠高於電力成本。因此，沒有比特幣才是純粹的浪費。

比特幣誕生以前，數位貨幣的概念早已出現，也曾付諸實踐，但從沒取得如比特幣的巨大成功。中本聰認為，比特幣「必須」涉及可證明的能源消耗，否則沒有其他方法能以去中心化方式，向全世界公平分配數位單元價值。

中本聰以黃金為例解釋：

（比特幣挖礦）與黃金和開採金礦的情況相同。挖出黃金的邊境成本往往會趨近黃金價格。開採金礦也是資源浪費，但這浪費的後果遠遠低於將黃金當作交換媒介的效益。

和比特幣類似，開採金礦也是能源密集型產業，並有大量資本支出。此外，採礦業是完全自由的市場，礦工往往被剝削，使真正從事辛苦工作的人賺到的反而是最低的薪水。

除此之外，中本聰也已預見未來將有無數開發者在比特幣區塊鏈上建立 Layer2 第二層解決方案，不傷害比特幣交易透明度的前提下，提升能源使用效率和交易速度等。Liquid、Lightning Network 等 Layer2 研究也行之有年。

此外，礦工能源消耗採可再生能源的比例也持續上升。根據劍橋大學替代金融中心（CCAF）去年 9 月發表的《全球加密貨幣指標研究》，高達 76% 礦工使用的電力包含可再生能源，甚至有 39% 礦工「只」使用可再生能源。

不過，可預見的未來，對比特幣造成環境危害的指控想必仍會持續出現。

（本文由 動區動趨 授權轉載；首圖來源：Unsplash）

延伸閱讀：

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There’s a lot of talk about worry coming into play lately. Wall Street watchers are talking about inflationary fears, too much government spending, impending tax increases, rising Treasury bond rates – all signals that should bode ill for the stock markets. Covering the markets for Credit Suisse, however, US equity strategist Jonathan Golub thinks the fears are overblown – at least for the short term. He believes that the S&P 500 has more room to run, and expects gains to continue for the rest of this year. He points to the tech sector, which some fear is growing into another bubble, like the famous dot.com burst of the late 90s, and says, “The market is very simply worth more than it was because the asset is not the same asset anymore. It’s not only that the market is generating more cash flow, the part of the market that’s improving the most is the part of the market that’s grown the most.” In other words, the actual technology behind the tech stocks is simply better than it was 20 years ago – and is providing more value to boost the shares. Bearing this in mind, we set out to find stocks flagged as exciting growth plays by Wall Street. It’s a cliché to remind everyone that past performance does not guarantee future results, but when a stock consistently shows strong share appreciation, over an extended period, it’s a positive sign for investors. Using TipRanks’ database, we locked in on three analyst-backed names that have already notched impressive gains and boast strong growth narratives for the long-term. Green Plains, Inc. (GPRE) We’ll start with Green Plains, a major bio-refining company in the American Plains states. Green Plains refines annually renewable crops – especially corn – into value-added products, including biofuels, corn oils, animal feeds, and industrial alcohols. Green Plains is a major producer of ethanol fuels, produced from corn and used as additive in most commercial gasolines, as well alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Bio-refining is big business; much of our economy runs on biologically and agriculturally derived products, and Green Plains saw $1.95 billion in total revenue last year. At that, the top line was down 32% from 2019, mainly due to demand issues caused by the corona crisis. The company reported lower production run rates, lower ethanol prices, and lower export volumes for the full year. The fourth quarter, the most recently reported, saw a 33% drop in revenues, with a top line of $478.8 million. The main problem facing Green Plains is less corona than political. Ethanol prices are down due to oversupply. While that glut is partly due to lower demand last year, it is also due to increased production on the expectation that, with the Democrats ascendent in Washington at least in part on a ‘green’ platform, there will be governmental mandates for more biofuels. That has not yet materialized. Despite the slower business, Green Plains stock has soared 448% in the past 12 months. This raises the question: Why? At least one answer may come from a shift in production priorities. Green Plains’ management is steering the company’s production toward Ultra-High Protein technology, as a way of enhancing the value of corn-based food product additives. The technology shows promise to increase the value of acreage planted, as measured in usable nutrition. In April of last year, the Green Plains delivered the first of ongoing shipments of ultra-high protein product from its Shenandoah, Iowa production facility. 5-star analyst Craig Irwin, of Roth Capital, sees the shift to high-protein as the key point for this stock. “We see the weak ethanol crush margins in 4Q20 as backwards looking, and focus on initiatives that drive EBITDA growth. The HighPro technology is well understood at this point from Shenandoah, IA coming online in April-20, and mgmt. announced three new plants would move into HighPro construction this year…. GPRE will produce ~380m lb of corn oil after HighPro is adopted… The company’s HighPro tech increases corn oil yields by 50%, and tightening demand could support strong price momentum, in our view,” Irwin opined. In line with this outlook, Irwin rates the stock as a Buy, and his $43 price target implies a 61% one-year upside to the stock. (To watch Irwin’s track record, click here) Overall, Green Plains currently gets total support from the rest of the Street. GPRE’s Strong Buy consensus rating breaks down into Buys only – 4, in fact. With an average price target of $32, the upside potential comes in at ~20%.(See GPRE stock analysis on TipRanks) Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) Switching gears, we’ll look at Babcock & Wilcox, an industrial manufacturer based out of Ohio. The company is known for industrial steam boilers, but in recent years has moved toward greener tech: recycling of biomass and refuse for energy production, and air emissions control systems. The company remains connected to its roots in boiler technology, and is a leader in improving efficiency and cleaning systems for thermal power units. BW’s industry position, in short, is in demand. The company brings a long history of hands-on know-how to its jobs, and in March of this year announced several new contracts in Europe, the Middle East, and Indonesia. The contracts cover aftermarket parts, service, and maintenance for utility plants, and total over $24 million. On its home turf, BW also announced a $20 million contract for the design and installation of thermal power plant systems in North America. These new contracts come after a year in which BW’s shares rose dramatically, by 809% in the last 12 months. This gain includes a 42% spike that has occurred in late March, after the new contracts were announced. Despite the run in share price, at a current market cap of $800 million, B. Riley analyst Alex Rygiel believes BW stock has more room to grow. “We believe BW has strong climate control/renewable/ environmental tailwinds and, when coupled with its global expansion and a strong pipeline of opportunities, is positioned for strong double-digit revenue growth, margin expansion, and profitability in the coming years…. BW ended 2020 with a total backlog of $535M, as previously announced, which grew 21% Y/Y. The 12-month backlog was $302M with more than 60% expected from the Thermal segment. We expect the backlog to grow through 2021 as some delayed projects, due to COVID, return,” Rygiel wrote. Along with these upbeat comments, Rygiel gives BW a Buy rating with a $12 price target. His target indicates confidence in 29% growth this year. (To watch Rygiel’s track record, click here) Overall, analysts are striking a bullish tone on BW stock. 3 Buys assigned in the last three months add up to a Strong Buy analyst consensus. In addition, the $11.33 average price target puts the potential twelve-month gain at ~22%. (See BW stock analysis on TipRanks) ClearSign Technologies (CLIR) The last growth stock we’re looking at, ClearSign Technologies, has posted 775% share appreciation over the past 12 months. The stock shows the gains possible in a sound penny stock; one year ago, it was trading for just 64 cents per share and now it trades over $5. The company behind that growth specializes in emissions control technology – which, in today’s political environment of ascending ‘green’ priorities, is a growth industry. ClearSign provides a range of technical solutions to cleaning emissions for a variety of industries: energy, oil and gas, boilers, and chemical processing. ClearSign has its headquarters in Seattle, with regional offices Tulsa, Oklahoma and Beijing, China. In recent weeks, ClearSign has capped its year of high growth with several new business announcements, including its completed application for firetube boiler burner certification in China, and the concurrent agreement with that country’s leading boiler maker, Jiangsu Shuang Liang Boiler Company, for the provision of next-gen, ultra-low emission, high efficiency integrated boiler burners for the Chinese market. The company expects a government response on the application by the end of 2Q21. At the same time, ClearSign announced that it successfully completed a major three-burner project in California, on contract with an energy infrastructure company. ClearSign also closed a contract with a European refinery customer to design, build, and install a core process burner installation. Another of the Streets 5-star analysts, Amit Dayal, in his coverage of this stock for H.C. Wainwright, sees the business transaction listed above as game-changing for ClearSign. “These developments, especially in the China market, have materialized at a faster pace than we had previously anticipated. We believe the company’s partnership with Jiangsu Shuang Liang Boiler Co. Ltd, China’s leading boiler manufacturer with over 700 active sales personnel and sales offices located throughout China, positions ClearSign extremely favorably to take share in a market comprising 350,000 boilers with a size of around $8B. Similarly, we believe the company’s emerging relationship with California Boiler now opens up the U.S. boiler opportunity for the company in a more meaningful way.” To this end, Dayal gives CLIR a Buy rating along with a $10 price target, suggesting a 76% one-year upside for the shares. (To watch Dayal’s track record, click here) Small-cap stocks don’t always get a lot of analyst attention – they tend to fly under the radar. Dayal’s is the only review on record for this stock, which is trading for $5.65. (See CLIR stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for growth stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.