The thing about crypto ownership

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":10.56,"text":"The Thing is one of the more mysterious characters in the Marvel universe. "},{"start":14.464,"text":"Seemingly agglomerated from giant cheese puffs, he is visibly less human than his Spandex-encased compadres. "},{"start":20.619,"text":"Similar ambiguity surrounds crypto assets. "},{"start":23.474,"text":"These are recognised as “things” by UK law. "},{"start":26.279000000000003,"text":"This means they exist beyond the fevered imaginings of crypto bros. But what kind of things are they, exactly? "}],[{"start":33.15,"text":"The Law Commission, a statutory review body, posed that question in a report this week. "},{"start":38.617,"text":"The answers are crucial to the ownership rights of would-be investors. "},{"start":42.233999999999995,"text":"These not only matter if you dabble in cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, currently trading at under half its peak value of almost $69,000. "},{"start":50.577,"text":"Stocks and bonds may eventually become digital assets, exploiting the purported advantages of distributed ledger technology. "}],[{"start":57.709999999999994,"text":"We tend to assume we have enforceable title to assets we buy and sell. "},{"start":61.901999999999994,"text":"There is not much point paying for something you may not actually own. "},{"start":65.332,"text":"But unwitting investors can come a cropper when property rights turn out to be shaky. "},{"start":69.67399999999999,"text":"A decade ago, for example, UK shareholders in Bumi, an Indonesian coal group listed in London, found that it lacked control of some mines supposedly belonging to it. "},{"start":79.24199999999999,"text":"Shares hit rock bottom. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":81.88,"text":"Doubts perennially overhang US-listed equities of many Chinese groups with intermediate holding companies. "},{"start":87.597,"text":"It is unclear whether these securities provide genuine partial ownership of businesses in China. "},{"start":92.664,"text":"That is one of several reasons never to overpay for these stocks. "}],[{"start":97.06,"text":"Ownership of crypto assets can be just as uncertain. "},{"start":100.427,"text":"Blame the conduct of unregulated platforms such as FTX in allegedly misusing client funds. "},{"start":105.869,"text":"The added difficulty — for example when pursuing reimbursement — is the legal ambiguity of crypto assets. "}],[{"start":112.84,"text":"They are not physical “things in possession” such as cars or houses. "},{"start":116.65700000000001,"text":"Nor are they “things in action”, ownable solely via legal contracts like stocks and bonds. "},{"start":121.87400000000001,"text":"They are created digitally rather than through physical or legal processes. "}],[{"start":126.79,"text":"The Law Commission therefore wants legislation to define bitcoin and its ilk as “third category things”. "},{"start":132.482,"text":"It also proposes that laws governing collateral, in loan transactions for example, should be extended to embrace crypto assets fully. "}],[{"start":140.96,"text":"Many-splendoured case law should progressively normalise ownership of digital assets, the body believes. "}],[{"start":147.52,"text":"The proposals are “good for consumer protection”, according to Dion Seymour of specialist tax advisory firm Andersen LLP: “Courts will spend less time arguing whether digital assets are possessions that investors can go after. ”"}],[{"start":159.92000000000002,"text":"But it is a moot question whether you should hold digital assets, even with solid ownership rights. "},{"start":165.09900000000002,"text":"Lex’s view is that cryptocurrencies have no utility except for speculation, secretive transactions or as badges of nonconformist ideology. "},{"start":173.00400000000002,"text":"We see the bitcoin price as an indicator of speculative exuberance, nothing else. "}],[{"start":178.10000000000002,"text":"Non-fungible tokens, which certificate ownership of online art among other things, are status symbols. "},{"start":184.12900000000002,"text":"A Birkin handbag has the same function but you can also tote your keys and phone around in it. "}],[{"start":189.82000000000002,"text":"There may be better use cases for other digital assets that deploy distributed ledger technology. "},{"start":195.29900000000004,"text":"One example could be tokenising stocks and bonds so they are cheaper to deal in. "},{"start":199.54200000000003,"text":"Central bank digital currencies might be another. "},{"start":202.40900000000002,"text":"But the glacial pace of development and adoption suggests these remain solutions in search of a problem, whatever their ownership status. "}],[{"start":209.61,"text":"

Renewable tech: the seductive urge to demerge

"}],[{"start":213.86,"text":"Spinning out a business by getting it a separate stock market listing can electrify a company’s own share price. "},{"start":219.764,"text":"That may be the hope behind Renault’s plan to float Ampere, its independent electric vehicle manufacturer. "},{"start":225.36900000000003,"text":"Yet Renault’s long-term future depends on switching out of combustion engine vehicles. "},{"start":229.887,"text":"So why sell any of its EV business? "}],[{"start":233.28000000000003,"text":"The energy transition could place a number of legacy businesses into run-off. "},{"start":237.67200000000003,"text":"Some can afford to retain new ventures with high growth potential in-house as insurance policies. "},{"start":242.73900000000003,"text":"Others lack the required capital. "},{"start":244.83200000000002,"text":"A third group believes a partial demerger — in which shares in a separately-listed offshoot are distributed to investors — will create new currency for anticipated M&A. "}],[{"start":254.60000000000002,"text":"Consider the possibilities. "},{"start":256.654,"text":"Renault sold 228,000 EVs and hybrids in Europe last year. "},{"start":260.97200000000004,"text":"That placed the French carmaker third in market share. "}],[{"start":264.93,"text":"An initial public offering of Ampere could raise €1bn-€2bn from share sales. "},{"start":270.284,"text":"But is the transaction really necessary? "},{"start":272.702,"text":"Renault wants to accelerate growth. "},{"start":274.844,"text":"It has enough available cash to cover Ampere’s needs for years, some €4bn-€5bn thinks Dan Roeska at Bernstein, "}],[{"start":283.06,"text":"Germany’s Thyssenkrupp is in a different boat. "},{"start":285.689,"text":"It would like to float its hydrogen unit Nucera. "},{"start":288.369,"text":"The parent does not have the capital to give the business a decent push. "}],[{"start":292.91,"text":"Nucera has electrolyser production capacity of 1GW a year, Lex estimates. "},{"start":298.214,"text":"That is high. "},{"start":299.394,"text":"But profits may take time to materialise and competition can only intensify. "}],[{"start":304.77000000000004,"text":"The parent wants to simplify its structure and decarbonise other capital intensive businesses including steel. "},{"start":310.63700000000006,"text":"It could use any funds raised. "},{"start":312.56700000000006,"text":"Thyssenkrupp’s joint venture share in Nucera could be worth €2bn. "}],[{"start":317.76000000000005,"text":"A successful IPO can, meanwhile, offer a smaller division a chance to grow independently. "},{"start":323.58900000000006,"text":"Competing for capital is tough within a conglomerate. "},{"start":326.40700000000004,"text":"Finance directors favour divisions with quick returns on investment. "}],[{"start":331.11000000000007,"text":"Italian energy group Eni expects its renewables business Plenitude to grow partly via acquisitions and thinks a share currency will help. "},{"start":338.5520000000001,"text":"So far the markets have not warmed to the idea of a spin-off. "},{"start":342.09400000000005,"text":"Eni may try again. "},{"start":343.7370000000001,"text":"TotalEnergies and BP — both with in-house renewables units — will watch with interest. "}],[{"start":349.81000000000006,"text":"We have omitted one reason for spinning off energy transition businesses: corporate happenstance. "},{"start":355.1770000000001,"text":"Managerial ambition and activity for the sake of it are real factors. "},{"start":359.0570000000001,"text":"They would appear to apply at Renault more than strategic logic. "},{"start":362.46200000000005,"text":"Ampere may ultimately be worth more to its parent as a division than via a demerger. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":367.01000000000005,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftacademy.cn/album/114142-1688183067.mp3"}