Snow storm hitting all over the United States… Even urgent vaccination is disrupted
[앵커]
The U.S. is suffering from severe cold and snow storms at the end of winter.
75% of the total area was covered by snow, and most of the regions reached the lowest temperature in decades.
Let’s connect Washington and hear the news.
Correspondent Lee Kyung-hee.
[기자]
Yes. It snowed close to three-quarters of the total area.
Two-thirds of the population, or 200 million people, are affected by this snow storm and extreme cold.
As temperatures dropped sharply, the central and southern regions were one after another with the lowest temperatures in decades.
Even in winter, it averaged around 10 degrees and dropped below zero to warm Texas.
In particular, power cuts to 5.5 million homes in nearly 20 states, including 4 million homes in Texas, have led to a cold overnight situation.
The electricity supply is not working properly, and the vaccination is also disrupted.
Harris County, Texas, is in danger of corrupting more than 8,000 vaccines as electricity is cut off even in vaccination stores, and Missouri and Tennessee have declared that vaccinations will cease for several days or this week.
Due to bad weather, vaccine delivery across the United States is not smooth, both Florida and Chicago say the vaccine will not be delivered in the next few days.
Another snow storm is coming here, so bad weather in the south-central US is expected to continue throughout the week.
[앵커]
This time, we will also look at other issues.
Recently, the price of cryptocurrency and bitcoin has been skyrocketing.
For the first time ever, you broke $50,000?
[기자]
Yes. The price of cryptocurrency bitcoin surpassed 50,000 dollars for the first time in history and 55.1 million won in our money.
Bitcoin price hit 5191 dollars in New York this morning, and it was over 50,000 dollars earlier in London.
Since cryptocurrency is traded on an exchange basis, the transaction price is slightly different for each exchange.
Bitcoin price, which was hundreds of dollars just five years ago, rose 170% in the fourth quarter of last year, reaching about $29,000 at the end of the year, and more than 70% this year alone.
In particular, last week, the US electric car company Tesla, led by Elon Musk, was known to have purchased 1.6 trillion worth of bitcoins, leading the surge.
In addition, it is analyzed that the value of the existing mainstream financial companies has increased as the news that they are gradually starting to see cryptocurrency as a means of trading or investment.
Another reason is that the value of money is falling due to low interest rates in the US and it is difficult to find a place to invest.
[앵커]
There was a so-called bitcoin craze three years ago, but it didn’t last long.
What is the prospect this time?
[기자]
Yes. Bitcoin has also skyrocketed in 2017.
At the time, the value soared to close to 20,000 dollars, but the following year, it plunged more than 80% to 3,000 dollars.
Cryptocurrency advocates are optimistic about further gains, saying that this rally is a qualitatively different market from the previous sharp rise.
At the time, individual investors led the price increase, but this time, institutional investors such as global companies and financial companies joined the group.
JPMorgan Chase said that bitcoin has emerged as a competitor to gold as an investment asset, and analyzed that the price could reach $146,000 or about 150 million won in the long run.
However, the voice of warnings to investors is not easy given that the volatility is so high.
The Wall Street Journal said that many financial institutions still have doubts about digital currency investment due to extreme price volatility and lack of practical use.
In particular, it is predicted that the critical view of global financial authorities could be a big variable in the future of Bitcoin.
In fact, European Central Bank President Christine Lagard said in a recent interview that bitcoin is not a real currency and called for more regulation on cryptocurrency, saying “I will not buy or hold it”.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at a Senate approval hearing last month that “I think a lot of cryptocurrencies are mainly used for illegal finance. We need to consider reducing such use and not being used for money laundering.”
So far, I’ve been telling you from Washington.
Yonhap News TV article inquiries and reports: katok/line jebo23
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