Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/934206
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 11 Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum suffered a severe crash after South Korea announced it would ban all anonymous cryptocur- rency trading earlier this month. Bitcoin took another hit yesterday after the price plunged from €9,616 to €8,807 in just a few hours during the evening. Bitcoin and blockchain expert Simon Taylor said he believes it's evidence of a government trying to get its hand around a subject which was seen as ungovernable. "Historically we thought this thing was decentralised, there was no way to control it but what you have here is centralised exchanges. This is the same as a bank. This is something that holds the bitcoin or the digital currency on your behalf." Taylor added that the South Korean government's decision to ban cryptocurrency trading had been taken to crack down on all possible criminal activities the anonymity of bitcoin trading could have facilitated. The ban is expected to deliver a harsh blow to the cryptocurrency market as Seoul and the rest of Asia handled a large portion of global crypto trading activities. "I've seen various estimates that between 20 and 30 percent bitcoin trading has been through South Korea at some point. Same for Ripple and some of the other key currencies," Taylor said. "They were holding currency on behalf of anonymous actors. What South Korea has now said is 'we think there could be fraud, we think there could be money laundering.' All kinds of bad activity could be happening. "If we prevent anonymous people from being on these exchanges then maybe we can rein in some of that." New regulatory noise emerging from New York will concern wallet holders with Fortune reporting that Federal judges in Brooklyn, New York, are about to rule on the question of what exactly bitcoin is and whether it can be regulated. It comes after bitcoin wallet and exchange services reported a cryptocurrency robbery of nearly €431 million in Bitcoin rival NEM, prompting Japan's financial watchdog to launch an investigation on all exchanges to better prevent future thefts. According to Coindesk, Bitcoin was trading for €8,775.32 at 9.21am GMT yesterday – with Ripple selling for €1.02 and Ethereum for €951.13. Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Cryptocurrency fears at boiling point as South Korea implements trading ban The BBC's gender pay gap: Cuts could backfi re The issue of the gender pay gap has been swirling around board- rooms for the last few years. Creating fair and refl ective remu- neration structures for all staff has been made a priority, especially with the Gender Pay Reporting Regulations coming into effect from 1 April this year. From that date employers with more than 250 workers will have to produce gender pay reports. The BBC's announcement on 26 January that the salaries of senior male journalists were to be cut in response to the recent outcry on inequality of pay within the corporation was a bold one. Auntie Beeb, it would seem, was taking the men to task. But Auntie allowed those men to be paid at that level – far in excess of their female colleagues – in the first place. Discrimination claims The problem with cutting male workers' salaries is that it leaves employers exposed to even more claims of discrimination. This is not a case of C-level executives turning down bonuses after shareholder outrage. There appears to have been some behind-the-scenes negotiations in which individual employees are taking the fall for something that the institution has created. An employer cannot simply slash a worker's remuneration package, certainly not on the basis of gender. Asking any employee to take a pay cut without proper process and reasoning is a very risky move, especially if there is no commercial or per- formance rationale for doing so. Organisations are leaving themselves open to constructive and unfair dismissal claims because they cannot insist on pay cuts or reducing pay without con- sent. Any employer following the BBC's lead would likely find itself at risk of claims of unduly pressuring staff into the cut or that the cut was based exclusively on their gender. The logic would be just as hazardous if employers were cutting staff salaries based on race, sexual orientation or disability. Unfair pay structures The other major issue with such pay reductions is that the decision can be construed as an admission that an employer has got their pay structure wrong. In this case, it could be claimed that the BBC is effectively openly acknowledging that it has implemented and operated an unfair pay structure based on gender. (In fact, it only took a few days before a group of 170 BBC female employees or former employees were reported to be looking at demands for back pay and pension adjustments over the disparity). Evidently this is problematic if female employees look to bring equal pay claims in the future. This also extends to public image; how can organisations hire and retain top talent of all types if the employer is then seen to follow such an example. Will men join if they think their pay may be slashed because of some data points beyond their control? Likewise, will women want to join an organisation in which they are told that there is effectively institutional disparity in pay? Hardly an encouraging environment. So as the 1 April date looms, organisations may have already collected and digested their data but they have to think very carefully about how they present and react to the details. Many employers will have skewed figures that appear to show an imbalance of pay against women. On paper such findings may look bad but it is how an employer responds to those figures that is key. There are numerous variables that can and do shape the gender pay gap figures so organisations should be looking at ways to create and implement a transparent strategy to respond positively to any issues that have been highlighted. That is what the government, candidates and employees are looking for. Discrimination still exists, so organisations should continue in their efforts to establish that all staff are treated in a fair and reasonable way. Hurried decisions over published pay gap figures may win some PR credit in the short term but they may do lasting damage to both the workforce and the organisation. Bitcoin's price has fallen again into 8,000 territory as the South Korean government began to implement a ban on all anonymous traders in an attempt to crackdown on crypto criminal activity Ahead of a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing on unequal pay at the BBC, the broadcaster has found a solution that could be problematic in the long run