Cooking the Books podcast: Is bitcoin legit now?

There's been a shift in how the mainstream finance world approaches the cryptocurrency. Photo / 123RF

Each week BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald’s Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it’s the shift in how bitcoin is treated by the mainstream finance world. Hosted by Frances Cook.

If you’ve kept an eye on the financial news lately, it’s been impossible to ignore bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency.

First came the unexpected embrace of the traditional finance world earlier this year, with the approval for the first time of bitcoin ETFs in the US.

These new funds make it easier to invest in bitcoin, and mark a step change in how the traditional finance world accepts the coin.

Then came the highly-anticipated halving of bitcoin last month, which changes how much of the cryptocurrency is produced.

All of this with a background of rocketing prices as the coin hit new highs of value.

It’s coming off the peak a bit now, but it’s still well up there… at least at the time of recording. Look, it’s bitcoin, things can change within hours.

Anyway, where does all of this leave the once fringe investment? Is it finally going fully mainstream?

For the latest podcast, I talked to Jon Howie, CEO of stake.

For the interview, listen to the podcast here.

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• Listen to the full interview on the Cooking the Books podcast. You can subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.