Flaxseed

Voraorn Ratankorn/Shutterstock

Chris Woolston
June 19, 2021

You may think of flax as a source of fine linens, but the plant's greatest value may well lie in its small, dark seeds. As far back as the 700s, King Charlemagne ordered every loyal Roman to eat flaxseed for health, and today many alternative medicine gurus echo that decree to all who will listen. Flaxseed is more than just nutritious -- health experts believe the seed can actually help prevent heart disease and many types of cancer.

Why is flaxseed healthy?

The humble-looking flaxseed packs an amazing arsenal of nutrients. First of all, it's rich in soluble fiber, which gives it power to lower cholesterol. Several human studies have found flaxseed to be effective at lowering total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins (LDLS, the bad cholesterol). It does not appear to have any effect on high-density lipoproteins (HDLs, or good cholesterol) or triglycerides, however. In one study, people with high cholesterol who ate a muffin baked with 50 grams of flaxseed meal every day enjoyed a 7 to 8 percent drop in their LDL cholesterol in just three weeks. Some studies have suggested that flaxseed has little impact on cholesterol in post-menopausal women. However, a 2008 study among post-menopausal Native American women found that daily flaxseed supplementation reduced total cholesterol and LDLs by 7 percent and 10 percent, respectively. These cuts in cholesterol are more than enough to significantly lower a person's risk of heart attack or stroke.

Providing fiber isn't the only way flaxseed might benefit the heart. The seed also contains more omega-3 fatty acids than any other plant source. These fatty acids, which prevent blood clots that could lead to a heart attack or stroke, have recently come to attention as the key ingredient that makes fish so good for the heart. But if omega-3s are what you're after, you may want flax instead of salmon. A gram of flaxseed has twice as much omega-3 as a gram of fish oil.

Another potential use of flaxseed is to treat mild menopausal symptoms in women. One study found that 40 grams of flaxseed was as effective as oral estrogen-progesterone in improving mild symptoms of menopause.

On top of all this, flaxseed is an unbeatable source of multipurpose nutrients called lignans. In fact, the seed offers 75 to 800 times more lignans than other grains and vegetables. Lignans spur powerful antioxidant activity, which means they may help prevent many types of cancer as well as hardening of the arteries. And, like the isoflavones in soy, lignans may be able to prevent breast and other cancers by muting the effects of estrogen in the body. Laboratory studies in rats have found that flaxseed effectively lowers the risk of breast cancer and colon cancer. A 2008 study of 161 men with prostate cancer found that a diet supplemented with flaxseed helped to slow the progression of the disease. More research is needed before flaxseed can be recommended for this purpose, however.

How can I use flaxseed?

Health food stores sell flaxseed in bulk as well as flaxseed meal and oils. The oils make good salad dressings, but they don't contain any lignans or fiber. To get the full benefits of flax, choose the seed or meal, both of which have a mild wheatlike taste. You can sprinkle whole seeds on cereal or casserole or mix ground-up seed with orange juice. (Use a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder to grind the seeds.) You can also use freshly ground flaxseed or meal in place of wheat or oat bran when making muffins, pancakes, waffles, and bread. Ground flaxseed will stay fresh for a day or two in the refrigerator and for a month in the freezer. But don't eat more than two tablespoons in a day; any more, and all of that fiber may make you feel bloated.

References

Jenkins DJ, et al. Health aspects of partially defatted flaxseed, including effects on serum lipids, oxidative measures, and ex vivo androgen and progestin activity: a controlled crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr ; r;69(3):395-402.

Cunnane SC, et al. High alpha-linolenic acid flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum): some nutritional properties in humans. Br J N; 69(2):443-53.

Greg Annussek. Flaxseed. The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. Gale Group.

American Cancer Society. Flaxseed.

Mayo Clinic. Flaxseed and Flaxseed Oil (Linum usitatissimum).

Hallund J, et al. A lignan complex isolated from flaxseed does not affect plasma lipid concentrations or antioxidant capacity in healthy postmenopausal women. Journal of Nutrition; 136(1): 112-116.

Zhang W, Wang X, Liu Y, Tian H, Flickinger B, Empie MW, Sun SZ. Dietary flaxseed lignan extract lowers plasma cholesterol and glucose concentrations in hypercholesterolaemic subjects. British Journal of Nutrition;; 1-9.

Patade A, et al. Flaxseed reduced total and LDL cholesterol concentrations in Native American postmenopausal women. Journal of Womens Health;; 17(3): 355-66.

Demark-Wahnefried, W, et al. Flaxseed supplementation (not dietary fat restriction) reduces prostate cancer proliferation rates in men presurgery. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention; 17(12): 3577-87.

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. Flaxseed.

Lemay, D, et al. Flaxseed dietary supplement versus hormone replacement therapy in hypercholesterolemic menopausal women. Obstetrics and Gynecology;100(3):495-504.

Plague Victims Weren't Always Dumped Into Mass Graves, DNA Evidence Reveals

CLARE WATSON
19 JUNE 2021


When the Black Death ravaged Europe midway through the 14th century, it wiped out around half of the population with deaths so swift, people had to bury countless victims in mass graves. At least that's the story archaeological remains have told us until now.


Researchers have just unearthed new evidence suggesting mass burials are only one side of the devastating story wrought by the plague because, as it turns out, some victims were laid to rest in their own graves with great care.

The University of Cambridge team behind this new study sampled nearly 200 graves and detected ancient DNA of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the plague, in the teeth of some people who died from the disease and were buried alone.

"This [research] greatly improves our understanding of the plague and shows that even in incredibly traumatic times during past pandemics people tried very hard to bury the deceased with as much care as possible," says University of Cambridge archaeologist and lead author Craig Cessford.

The discovery adds a new dimension to the plague's long and horrible history, which stretched on for years after the Black Death of 1346 to 1353 in what became known as the second plague pandemic (after the first, a few centuries earlier).

Even to this day, outbreaks of the plague still emerge, in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and Peru. China and California have also recorded cases in recent years, though the disease can now be treated with modern antibiotics, if available.


But people in the Middle Ages had a couple more centuries ahead of them before the cause of this deadly disease, Y. pestis, was described by Swiss-French bacteriologist Alexandre Emile Jean Yersin in 1894.

Fearing the contagious disease that killed people within days, victims were buried in mass graves, or 'plague pits', such as the one unearthed at a 14th-century monastery in northwest England. It contained 48 skeletons, and over half were children.

The archaeologists behind that dig had thought that some of these people – even though they were laid to rest in mass graves – had been buried with care, possibly wrapped in shrouds, based on the compression of the skeleton's shoulders. But it was a hunch that needed more evidence to stick.

Armed with DNA sequencing techniques, the University of Cambridge team set to work sampling over 190 skeletons from five burial grounds in and around Cambridge, including a friary, urban hospital cemetery, and a church, hoping to find ancient DNA preserved in the teeth of people who succumbed to the plague.

The remains, mostly unearthed in singular burial plots and one mass grave, were dated to between 1349 and 1561, so these people likely died during the second plague pandemic. This was confirmed in 10 of the 197 skeletons analyzed, which tested positive for Y. pestis.

"These skeletons have previously been almost impossible to recognize and attention has thus focused on the exceptional mass burials" because the fatally fast disease "leaves no visible traces on the skeleton," writes Cessford and his colleagues.

Individuals buried in the friary chapter house who died of the plague.

 (Cambridge Archaeological Unit)

With DNA evidence confirming the remains are those of plague victims, "these individual burials show that even during plague outbreaks individual people were being buried with considerable care and attention," explains Cessford.

"Particularly at the friary where at least three such individuals were buried within the chapter house," and a fourth person was also carefully buried at a nearby church, says Cessford.


The most striking aspect of the way these plague victims were buried, as Cessford and his colleagues explain in their paper, is the effort people must have invested in burying their kin within the chapter house walls.

"The chapter house had a mortared tile floor; dozens of the tiles would have to be carefully lifted before a burial was inserted and either reinstated or replaced with a grave slab afterwards," they write.

"This [also] contrasts with the apocalyptic language used to describe the abandonment of this church in 1365 when it was reported that the church was partly ruinous and 'the bones of dead bodies are exposed to beasts'," Cessford adds.

The team did find some people who had received mass burials and tested positive for Y. pestis, which is a good comparison, but in finding the first evidence of medieval plague victims buried alone thanks to ancient DNA, the study opens a new chapter for archaeologists.

Cessford and his colleagues say it could be the start of a big shift in our archaeological understanding of societies facing severe epidemic outbreaks, writing that the discovery draws a "more comprehensive picture of frailty and resilience in past societies."

"If emergency cemeteries and mass burials are atypical, with most plague victims instead receiving individual burial in normal cemeteries, this calls into question how representative these exceptional sites are," the team concludes.

It also makes you wonder what story will remain of the coronavirus pandemic that scourged 2020 and is not done yet.

The study was published in the European Journal of Archaeology.

Why Ethiopia’s 'alphabet generation' feel betrayed by Abiy
Lucy Fleming - BBC News
Sun, June 20, 2021


Oromo protests in 2017 - Ethiopia

When Abiy Ahmed became prime minister of Ethiopia three years ago, the Oromo community felt their shackles had finally been broken.

He was one of them - he understood the anger of the country's largest ethnic group who had led mass demonstrations leading to his predecessor's resignation.

He knew what their crossed arms - the shackle symbol made famous at the Rio Olympics when marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa raised his arms at the finish line - really meant.

Feyisa Lilesa made crossed hand shackle sign famous at the Olympics in 2016

"Many people saw [Abiy] as a new Messiah," says Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC).

For Oromos have felt like second-class citizens in their own country - once referred to even in official circles by a derogatory slur known as the G-word, the equivalent of the N-word, and made to feel ashamed of their cultural identity.

Most Oromos live in the Oromia region, as the country is divided into ethnically based states. Yet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, which is completely surrounded by Oromia, some Oromos say it was frowned upon for them to speak Afaan Oromoo in public, even on a bus.

This frustration found a voice in the "qubee" generation, which means "alphabet" in Afaan Oromoo - a reference to those who were taught in their mother tongue for the first time, a policy introduced to schools nationwide in the early 1990s after the fall of the Marxist regime.

"Qubee" also makes a political statement, pointing to a decision for the Afaan Oromoo language to adopt the Latin alphabet, distancing itself from the Ge'ez script used in Amharic - the working language of the country.

And with more education, came a political awakening.

"As more educated Oromos started comparing their history with other histories like that of South Africa, they realised that the inferior position assigned to them by the system was unbearable," says Faisal Roble from the US-based Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs.

'Brutality exaggerated'

They learnt how modern-day Ethiopia was formed under Emperor Menelik II through conquest - and how their land was lost.

But not all Ethiopians see it the same way.

Menychle Meseret, an academic at Ethiopia's University of Gondar, says many of the claims about Menelik's brutality are baseless and exaggerated for political gain.

Emperor Menelik II fought off Italian invaders, but has a mixed legacy in Ethiopia

"Much of Ethiopia's history is not written by trained historians, it's written by politicians - the allegation that five million Oromos were killed by Menelik for example," he says.

"When you check such numbers there wouldn't even have been five million people in the whole of Ethiopia at that time."

Yet Oromos did feel economically and culturally subjugated, which Mr Faisal puts down to the royal elite regarding them as "uncivilised", a view which continued during Emperor Haile Selaisse's four-decade rule, until his overthrow in 1974.

"One of the tenets of the era of Haile Selaisse was to Amharise the Oromos... so that's why you will see a huge urbanised Oromo lost to their traditional names and culture and who assumed the Amharic language and Amharic names," he says.

It is the alphabet generation who have bucked against this and embraced their cultural identity - they want their language to be recognised as one of the country's working languages, they want to feel at ease in Addis Ababa, which they call Finfinnee, and have more of a say in its administration and growth, they want more autonomy over Oromia and they want jobs.

This new-found confidence was encapsulated by Hachalu Hundessa, a former political prisoner turned music star whose lyrics fuelled the Oromo protests.

Oromo cultural pride is now being expressed in fashion

Amid the euphoria that greeted Mr Abiy as Ethiopia's first Oromo prime minister, things did change.

Oromo fashion shows were held in Addis Ababa, the Oromo's Irreecha thanksgiving festival took place in the capital for the first time in a century, investment came to the region, political prisoners were released, and opposition figures, including the hugely popular Oromo media mogul Jawar Mohammed, were welcomed back from exile.
Hero killed

There was a little unease about some of Mr Abiy's other political reforms, but last year things deteriorated fast when Hachalu, who had said he was getting death threats, was killed - the motive is still unclear.

For the alphabet generation, their hero was dead - it led to a wave of ethnic unrest, leaving more than 160 people dead and the arrest of opposition figures like Mr Jawar, who now faces charges of terrorism and incitement to violence.

Hachalu Hundessa, seen here in traditional Oromo costume, had become increasingly politicised whilst in prison

Any democratic government would be left with no choice but to enforce the law when confronted with such scenes, says Mr Menychle.

Yet the repercussions have led Mr Jawar's OFC and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) to boycott next week's general election.

"The political space has been shrinking. For example last year we had 206 offices across Oromia and now we have only just three offices," says the OFC's Prof Merera.

Mr Abiy's Prosperity Party (PP) will have no real competition in Oromia. This is the party he formed after dissolving the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of four ethnically based parties formed in 1988 to fight the Marxist regime.

It had been dominated for more than two decades by Tigrayans, who make up around 7% of the population - another factor in the Oromo protests that brought him to power.
'Togetherness'

Mr Abiy's idea was to have a more ethnically diverse party - the country has more than 80 ethnic groups - but with a unity of purpose to resolve ethnic differences which often boil over to violence.

This vision is in his book Medemer, published at the time of the PP's launch, an Amharic language term that can be translated as "coming together".

Chart showing the ethnic make-up of Ethiopia

Oromos number around 40 million out of Ethiopia's population of 115 million.

How Ethiopia has changed over the last 50 years

The city cutting long hair and the internet

"Calling for unity and togetherness is a good thing," says Mr Menychle, "because if you see Ethiopia today, ethnicity is stretched to the maximum, where people are dying, saying: 'You're not for one of us.'"

However, Mr Abiy has been Machiavellian in his determination to set up the PP, says Mr Faisal, ditching Oromo allies who disagreed with him like Lemma Megersa. Mr Lemma had nominated him for prime minister, but was sacked last year as defence minister for criticising the PP's creation.

Mr Faisal agrees that the PP has opened its doors to more groups, but says it could be a way to impose "autocratic rule" - something Oromo politicians who favour a more decentralised federal system fear.

"Clever city boys took him over," says Prof Merera, alluding to how he feels Mr Abiy turned his back on the promises to Oromia's youth and has been swept along by ethnic Amhara sympathies.

Mr Faisal puts it more bluntly: "Abiy realised that Amharas control the intellectual power, the media, the plutocracy… he came to realise that the only way he could control Ethiopia was by aligning to the Amhara ideology."

The same month as Medemer was launched, Menelik's renovated Imperial Palace in Addis Ababa was opened to the public for the first time, along with 15 acres of grounds called Unity Park. It had been lovingly renovated and inside was a life-size waxwork of Haile Selassie.

A waxwork of Haile Selassie on his throne can now be seen at the Imperial Palace

Mr Abiy took care to say it was all funded by donations - but Mr Menychle says it all fed into the rhetoric of opposition Oromo politicians wishing to make political gain.

The academic argues the prime minister has in no way let Oromos down when it comes to the PP or language.

"The government is also working on this language issue - if this is the demand for Afaan Oromoo to be a working language, it will not be a problem."

More on Ethiopia's election:

Ethiopia election: A sham or democratic rebirth?

A quick guide to Ethiopia's election

The Nobel Peace Prize winner who went to war

Fact-checking Abiy Ahmed

In fact he says Mr Abiy has been at pains to strengthen institutions, with the appointment of Birtukan Mideksa to head the electoral board and Daniel Bekele, once head of Human Rights Watch's Africa division, to lead reforms at the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - both of whom had been jailed in the wake of the disputed 2005 parliamentary election.

The state-linked EHRC has been outspoken in its criticism of atrocities being carried in the Tigray region, where war erupted in November, and of abuses in Oromia - recently condemning the public execution of a teenager suspected of being a rebel, an allegation his family deny.

'Double-edged sword'

And it is the rebel insurgency in western and southern Oromia and subsequent crackdown where Mr Abiy comes in for criticism from everyone. These are no-go areas which suffer internet blackouts and where elections will not be held on 21 June.

Map of Ethiopia, showing Oromia

"We are killed by double-edged swords," a resident in western Oromia told BBC Afaan Oromoo, meaning civilians were being killed by both the rebel Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the security forces.

For Mr Menychle the prime minister, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, was too hasty in 2018 in inviting groups like the exiled OLA back without first agreeing the terms of their return, especially for those who were armed.

After the OLA's homecoming, negotiations over disarmament and integration into the security forces broke down, fuelled by distrust over Mr Abiy's vision for Oromia.

And Prof Merera fears these elections will not deliver durable peace and stability - to the detriment of the alphabet generation.

"A country at peace gets good governance and in turn meaningful economic development. Our youths are flocking to Yemen, flocking to South Africa, flocking to Europe and then losing their lives.

"The young people especially want real change."

CLIMATE DENIAL AS PUBLIC POLICY
Anti-Alberta energy inquiry seeks responses from 40 groups, two years after UCP launch
Lisa Johnson 

EDMONTON JOURNAL

Alberta’s $3.5-million public inquiry into alleged foreign-funded anti-energy campaigns is asking 40 organizations to respond to its work, two years after its 2019 launch.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

 Steve Allan, commissioner of the UCP's anti-Alberta energy inquiry.

The inquiry is reaching out to about 40 unnamed organizations to respond to its evidence and potential findings. The subjects of the inquiry are expected to keep the materials that pertain to each of them confidential until they become part of the public record.

The organizations have until July 16 to submit responses to the inquiry, headed by commissioner Steve Allan.

The inquiry, struck by the UCP government in July 2019, has been granted extensions four times , with the latest deadline now set for July 30. It’s final price tag is expected to be $3.5 million — $1 million more than initially budgeted.

Allan intends to rely on public sources of information such as websites, primarily published by the organizations, public statements by organization officials and public filings with regulatory authorities for his potential findings.

Formal “notices” sent to individual organizations grants them standing as a “participant for response,” which is the second phase of the “inquiry engagement process,” said a news release issued by the inquiry Friday evening.

“I will not make any finding in respect of you until I have had an opportunity to consider and analyze any submissions you make in this process,” Allan said in the notice of letters.

The United Conservative government has long contended that foreign influences were funding groups opposed to Alberta’s oil and gas industry in an attempt to “landlock” the province by curtailing oilsands development to the benefit of American competitors.

Critics have said the inquiry could amount to a “witch hunt” and attempt to bully environmental groups concerned about the pace and scope of oilsands development.

In May, an Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench judge dismissed an attempt to stop the inquiry, ruling that the environmental law firm Ecojustice failed to prove the inquiry was called to intimidate charities that have raised concerns about the industry’s environmental impact. JUDGE HORNER HERSELF IS RELATED TO AT LEAST ONE UCP CABINET MEMBER AND FORMER PC CABINET MINISTER

Energy Minister Sonya Savage has blamed the legal challenge for wasting time and leading to the latest extension.

The specific direction of the inquiry has also been changed multiple times , with tweaks that broaden who and what the commissioner should look into. It first outlined procedural rules for how organizations could respond to the inquiry in September 2020.

NDP energy critic Kathleen Ganley has called the inquiry “bumbling” and “a farce” that has driven investment out of the province.

In January, the inquiry was criticized for spending nearly $100,000 on reports critics called “textbook examples of climate change denialism,” including one which argues that the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will create a dystopia ruled by restrictions akin to COVID-19 lockdowns.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

#NOTOKYOOLYMPICS
RPT-Olympics-Venue medical officers want no spectators amid COVID-19 fears

Ju-min Park and Kiyoshi Takenaka
Sun, June 20, 2021, 

TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Facing the daunting task of keeping the world's largest sporting event safe, some emergency medicine officers overseeing Tokyo Olympic venues are calling on the organisers to bar spectators over risks of a jump in COVID-19 cases.

Organisers are to decide as soon as Monday whether to allow domestic spectators into the stadiums for the Games, which were delayed by a year due to the pandemic and now set to start in about a month. Foreign spectators have already been banned.

The Tokyo 2020 president is eyeing a cap of 10,000 people per venue, even as government health experts warn against in-person audiences.

Overwhelming public opposition to the Games has eased somewhat, but a Friday poll from Jiji news found 41% still want the Games cancelled. If the Games go ahead, 64% of the public want them without spectators, the poll found.

Each of the 42 venues has a dedicated official in charge of medical services. Dozens of veteran medics are assigned to handle a problems from heatstrokes to injuries to natural disasters, such as earthquakes and typhoons.

With the opening ceremony set for July 23, Shoji Yokobori, the medical officer for the weightlifting venue, said he fears not knowing how many people will attend.

"The 'no spectator' scenario is better than other options. We may still have a severe pandemic this summer," said Yokobori, the chair of the Nippon Medical School Hospital's department of emergency and critical care medicine in Tokyo.

"I'm the commander of the venue. The number of people in the audience is my biggest concern. I'm hoping there won't be so many spectators," he said.

Yokobori and two other medical officers told Reuters the pandemic adds further strain to what already is an extremely busy job, requiring quick decision-making and on-the-spot assessment of risks.

Olympic organisers have held conference calls with the doctors once or twice a month but have provided only "rough" information so far, Yokobori said.

"We don't have much information on how many spectators and how many athletes will be there. That's why we can't imagine what it will look like," he said.

'ALL-OUT BATTLE MODE'

The medical officers work closely with personnel at medical stations for athletes and spectators coordinating the overall medical service, including transfer to hospitals and clinics.

A number of venue medical officers have quit in recent months, saying they are too busy, public broadcaster NHK reported this month.

Organisers are scrambling to fill these gaps. The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine recently received a request to refer about seven candidates for venue officers, an official at the association told Reuters.

The association rebuffed the request, saying it was an academic institution and did not offer work placement services, the official said.

The organisers did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto recently told reporters he expected to fill the gap in venue medical officers by the end of the month, without elaborating.

Those who have stayed on as venue medics, battling the coronavirus in their own emergency wards since last year, are bracing for a busy summer.

"My number one mission is to get through the Olympic period in an all-out battle mode," said Youichi Yanagawa, an emergency medicine doctor set to work as a venue officer at two cycling venues in Shizuoka prefecture southwest of Tokyo.

Yanagawa, who runs an emergency medical centre in the area, said he was worried that the volunteers at his venue lack training related to infectious diseases.

Given such constraints, an Olympics without spectators would ease the burden on already limited resources in his town, he said.

"But the ball is in the organisers' court," Yanagawa said.

"The Games without spectators would be easy to control, but we don't make the decisions. All I can say is we have to prepare based on what the organisers decide." (Reporting by Ju-min Park and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by William Mallard)

China, Russia playing 'greater-than-expected' roles in global pandemic response

Anjalee Khemlani
·Senior Reporter

Experts' fears that people in wealthier countries will be vaccinated before those in poorer nations are coming to fruition. And the inequity could further pressure the global economy, according to a recent study supported by the International Chamber of Commerce.

"Should countries continue to pursue an uncoordinated approach to vaccine distribution, the world risks global GDP losses in 2021 alone of as much as US $9.2 trillion," the study said.

Health officials around the world have criticized the nationalist strategies of the U.S. and Europe, including, most recently, Italy blocking doses of AstraZeneca (AZN) bound for Australia.

Geopolitical forces are compounding experts' economic worries — with Russia and China stepping up to fill the void where vaccines remain scarce. India, too, is vying for global influence by distributing vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, but its outsized role was somewhat expected. The country is home to one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers, the Serum Institute of India, as well as other vaccine companies producing candidates.

"India is partnering in a very productive way with the multinationals and working [with the] WHO and stringent regulatory authorities. So there's a level of scientific rigor and commitment to excellence that we're not necessarily seeing with China and Russia," said Dr. Peter Hotez, a top vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is already addressing those concerns with teams on the ground, according to Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Aylward told Yahoo Finance the WHO is working with China's Sinopham and Sinovac, and the makers of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, to refine their processes to match stringent global regulatory standards and eventually send their vaccines through the COVAX facility.

But that wasn't always the plan.

"I think we had not expected ... to see such a massive reliance on these countries to manage that combination of political and public health imperative," Aylward said. "Not that China and Russia and India [would] play a role, but at this scale. I think that's a little bit of an interesting development."

Hotez said it could mean a shift in geopolitical tectonic plates.

"The reality is Russia and China are here, they are big producers, and if we could get them into the fold and get them to cooperate ... and improve their regulatory structure, that could be game-changing," Hotez said.
How we got here

President Donald Trump's policies are to blame, Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security, told Yahoo Finance.

"President Trump, in his zeal to disassociate with the World Health Organization, didn't seem to realize that that would also leave a vacuum for some of our rivals to step in and fill [the void]. In particular, China has done just that," Rasmussen said, calling it a "missed opportunity" for the United States to lead fight against the pandemic on the global stage.

But bioethicist and NYU Langone professor Dr. Arthur Caplan notes that the "America First" policy is popular, and President Joe Biden needs to find a balance. Caplan told Yahoo Finance that he supports the U.S. vaccinating its population first.

Oxfam's Nicholas Lusiani, however, said it could negatively impact global supply chains — which was evident last spring when China and parts of Asia were in lockdown.

"It's not just travel agencies that are getting hit by the crisis. Look at retail, at the food and agriculture industries, and even some of the mining sector has been hit really hard," he said.

Meanwhile, researchers have been analyzing vaccine purchase commitments. In December, Johns Hopkins University published a study of pre-market commitments, concluding that 51% of vaccine dose commitments were for high-income countries, or about 14% of the world's population.

The study found that China and Russia, as well as AstraZeneca (AZN) and Oxford (through the Serum Institute of India), and Novavax (NVAX) were going to be the largest distributors. Meanwhile, Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) have also secured several global commitments.

"It just tells you how we're in a very different operating environment that we would have thought," Aylward said.

Last month, McKinsey analyzed the vaccine commitments, and determined the U.S., China, India and the European Union would be the largest exporters of vaccines, while Asia and Africa would the be largest importers.

And while countries like France have committed to donating a small percentage of existing vaccines to African countries, the amount is "not even a drop in the bucket," said Lusiani.

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A call for all G20 countries

The U.S. recently rejoined the World Health Organization, but White House officials have not commented on when the U.S. will begin donating excess doses.

Meanwhile, some of the same struggles plaguing U.S. companies, including a squeeze on necessary raw materials and equipment, are hampering global production as well.

"In recent months we have become particularly concerned that the existing capacity could be constrained by shortages in the supply chain— either the supply of critical consumables or raw materials required for the manufacturing of vaccine or shortages of finishing and filling capacity, shortages of medical glass products ... to actually put the vaccine into," said Richard Hatchett, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) CEO at a recent WHO virtual briefing.

So waiting for more Western-based companies to get regulatory authorization or ramp up supplies is not an option. The European Medicines Agency said it was reviewing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for potential use in its 27 countries instead. European and Latin American countries have already committed to purchasing doses of the vaccine or have authorized its use. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca is launching a combined trial to test both its and Russia's vaccine together.

The vaccine proved 92% effective, according to a study published in The Lancet journal last month. But it is unclear if Russia will produce enough to meet dose commitments soon.

Hotez, who recently penned a book on the topic, "Preventing the next Pandemic," is working on a vaccine with Indian company Biological E, says the solution is for greater "vaccine diplomacy."

"We're overly reliant on the U.S. and the U.K. It's not working for us. We need to bring in all the G20 countries," Hotez said.

Until then, the vaccine battle is morphing into a longer-term problem.

"This is going to be something that continues to affect the global economy, to affect travel, to affect, probably, all geopolitics globally for some time to come," Rasmussen said.

"I don't think that a lot of people in the public in the U.S. appreciate that," she said.

US talk of waiving vaccine patents is merely symbolic: Experts

Anjalee Khemlani
·Senior Reporter

The U.S. is supporting discussions about waiving vaccine patent rights in order to help increase vaccine production globally as a new wave of coronavirus cases, particularly in India, is causing concern.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement Wednesday the country would engage in text-based negotiations with the World Trade Organization.

But Tai also tempered expectations, noting that, "Negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved."

The negotiations center around the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known informally as the TRIPS Agreement. Both India and South Africa pushed for waivers in October.

Many health and policy experts, however, believe the move, while unprecedented, is unlikely to have any real impact.

"I don't see what this move gets us in terms of getting more vaccines," said Craig Garthwaite, director of health care at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Garthwaite told Yahoo Finance it appears more of a symbolic gesture to signal that the U.S. is taking the surge in India seriously.

But if the Biden administration were taking the crisis more seriously, it would have already sent tens of millions of stockpiled AstraZeneca (AZN) doses to India, he said.

The Biden administration has faced stark criticism over its hoarding of AstraZeneca doses, especially after Chief White House Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. would not need them.

One vaccine expert, Dr. Peter Hotez at Baylor College of Medicine, said the U.S. doses would be a "drop in the bucket" of what India needs.

Manufacturing bottleneck

Experts like bioethicist NYU Langone's Dr. Arthur Caplan say the patent waivers are no more than a red herring, "because no one is going to get a vaccine by next month."

The issue hasn't been the technology, but rather the manufacturing process, Caplan told Yahoo Finance. So a patent waiver and technology transfer is useless, he added.

The CEO of industry trade group BIO said in a statement that the effort is pointless, and the U.S. should instead focus on ramping up to provide to the world.

"Handing needy countries a recipe book without the ingredients, safeguards, and sizable workforce needed will not help people waiting for the vaccine. Handing them the blueprint to construct a kitchen that - in optimal conditions - can take a year to build will not help us stop the emergence of dangerous new COVID variants," Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath said.

Pfizer (PFE) CEO Albert Bourla recently told Yahoo Finance that the process to manufacture the vaccine involves 19 countries already — signifying a global effort for sourcing and production— for a technology that didn't exist at scale before the pandemic.

"Right now, the bottleneck is related with the ability to ramp up manufacturing at the levels that the demand is. The issues are with raw materials that are in limited supply. These are highly specialized raw materials ... It's not simple chemicals," Bourla said.

Which is why, even if a company were to get the technology and try to produce more vaccines, they wouldn't be able to sustain regular production, and it would take them at least two years to scale up, Bourla said.

Garthwaite echoed Bourla's comments, noting that making a vaccine, "is not like trying to make a cheesecake."

Meanwhile, Moderna (MRNA) had already voluntarily waived its patent enforcement in October, with no reports of takers on the offer.

Even if there were, CEO Stéphane Bancel told Yahoo Finance that the company doesn't have resources to allocate to bring in a new partner.

"Because we are still a small company, you know Moderna is 1,300 people ... the tech transfer would take resources away this year, to prepare for next year if we were to outsource the technology. That will limit our ability to make as many doses as we can this year," Bancel said.

People wearing face shields and masks as a precaution against the coronavirus as they wait to receive COVID-19 vaccine in Mumbai, India, Thursday, April 29, 2021. India set another global record in new virus cases Thursday, as millions of people in one state cast votes despite rising infections and the country geared up to open its vaccination rollout to all adults amid snags. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

IP is the holy grail

But the biggest questions circulating have been about what it means for future intellectual property protections and how that could affect the U.S.'s standing in the biotechnology sector.

"The holy grail of the U.S. is IP," said Raymond James analyst Chris Meekins.

Meekins told Yahoo Finance Wednesday that the unprecedented move raises questions for something that "has always been a lockbox for good reason."

He noted Tai's comment on the pace of negotiations was important, because the idea that a waiver would be "game-changing action for India or South America in the next three months is wishful thinking."

The proposal, which the EU is also supporting on its end, can help the world control the pandemic. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back on the idea Thursday, according to a Bloomberg report.

Dr. Shereef Elnahal, former New Jersey health commissioner and current CEO of a New Jersey-based hospital said the decision also has local impacts - with international flights, including from India, arriving daily in the region.

That, Elnahal said, is a goal "that should outweigh intellectual property concerns on these vaccines, especially since the federal government has already pumped tens of billions in guaranteed revenue to these companies for vaccine development."

NYU's Caplan said that it's also possible that negotiations could sour if trade partners ask for things the U.S. and pharma companies are not willing to give. On the other hand, a limit to only use this strategy for pandemics, and to set a reimbursement rate of some sort, could make it more appealing for the U.S., he added.

"It's ludicrous to try and protect patents in a worldwide pandemic," Caplan said.

4 Neobanks Show Up for Their Communities

Spencer Tierney
Fri, June 18, 2021

Big banks design their services for a broad customer base, but in doing so, they can fall short of serving the needs of historically marginalized communities. That gap is creating opportunities for new financial technology firms with roots in these communities.

“Representation matters so much in fintech,” says Asya Bradley, co-founder and chief operating officer of First Boulevard, a Black-owned firm offering financial education and services. “If you have a whole bunch of people who haven’t faced [a certain] situation, no one’s going to build [solutions] for that.”

Fintech firms that offer banking services, often referred to as neobanks, have certain advantages in the banking industry. By partnering with licensed banks, they can offer their typically digital-only banking accounts nationwide and avoid the costs of managing branches. That can benefit their customers in the form of lower fees and more robust perks than at traditional banks.

Here’s a look at four neobanks on a mission to make a difference for people of different communities.

First Boulevard: For Black Americans

Nationwide protests following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police motivated fintech industry veterans Donald Hawkins and Asya Bradley to build First Boulevard to support their community.

"We literally quit our day jobs, [and] we didn’t know if anyone would fund us. We honestly felt like it was our children’s lives on the line," Bradley says.

Bolstered by an initial $5 million from investors, First Boulevard takes a personalized approach to financial guidance and offerings based on transactions and other data, so different recommendations would be given when someone's paying off student loans compared with when they're buying a house. The firm has an education platform that Bradley says has a collection of short audio clips about personal finance. And First Boulevard provides bank accounts with such features as real-time spending insights, no monthly or overdraft fees, cryptocurrency debit card rewards, free ATM access nationwide, and cash back when buying at Black-owned businesses.

“We’re all about people building generational wealth” and keeping “funds circulated within the [Black] community,” says Hawkins, president and CEO.

The typical white family has eight times as much wealth as the typical Black family, according to Federal Reserve data. That wealth gap partly stems from banks and government programs discriminating against generations of Black Americans, such as through redlining.

First Boulevard planned to start accepting some customers from its waitlist on Juneteenth, observed June 19, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. The neobank joins a growing list of Black-owned banking firms, including such companies as Greenwood, MoCaFi, and Wicket.

Cheese: For Asian Americans

Ken Lian, co-founder and CEO of Cheese, created this platform to help Asian Americans who have had similarly difficult banking experiences to his own.

“Over the years, I paid thousands of dollars in [banking] fees and got rejected countless times for basic bank accounts, even though my FICO score was well over 800,” Lian says. Scores over 800 are considered excellent and usually qualify customers for most banking products, as well as for better rates. Lian says he doesn't know why he was turned down.

Cheese, named after a slang term for money, offers a rewards checking account with a 0.3% annual percentage yield, no monthly fees, two-day early direct deposit and a free national ATM network. Customer support is in English and Chinese, with more languages on the way, and people can contact the bank through the popular messaging app WeChat.

Cheese comes at a time when hate crimes against Asian Americans are in a national spotlight. The neobank encourages customers to support Asian-owned businesses by giving up to 10% cash back from debit card purchases at specific retailers, which was a feature added by popular demand.

Lian says the platform is working on accepting forms of identity verification besides Social Security numbers, making accounts obtainable for recent immigrants. Cheese’s app is available for iOS, and an Android version will launch this summer.

Purple: For people with disabilities

Purple seeks to help people in the disability community save money without risking the loss of government benefits. The Supplemental Security Income program provides monthly payments to nearly 8 million people, most of them with a disability. And being in the program is a big way many people qualify for health insurance through Medicaid. But to get SSI, individuals cannot have more than $2,000, or $3,000 for couples, in total value across many assets, including bank accounts.

“Traditional banks’ monthly deposit [or] balance requirements are unsustainable for families who have to navigate the asset limit,” says John Ciocca, founder and CEO of Purple.

He and his brother Christian are the team behind Purple and youBelong, a social media network that connects people with special needs and their families. Purple started as a way to address the money management challenges that Christian and others in the community are grappling with.

Purple provides a tax-advantaged savings account known as an Achieving a Better Life Experience account. Created under a 2014 law, ABLE accounts let people with disabilities save beyond SSI limits and withdraw penalty-free for purchases that improve their lives, such as housing and education. Unlike state programs that offer ABLE accounts, Purple hopes to be a national brand that makes this saving solution more popular and at a low cost of $3 monthly. Purple also offers a free checking account where every debit card swipe sends money to the Special Olympics.

Daylight: For the LGBTQ community

About 5.6% of American adults, or at least 18 million people, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a 2020 Gallup poll. That percentage has increased from 4.5% in 2017. But barriers still exist, especially for transgender and gender noncomforming Americans and how banks identify them.

Daylight is a mobile-first banking account that makes a priority of calling people by their chosen name, even if it differs from their IDs. The chosen name shows up on debit cards and in customer support channels. This service can protect transgender Americans from being deadnamed, or called by a name given at birth that doesn’t reflect their gender identity. Daylight also asks for customers’ pronouns to ensure they’re gendered correctly in any communications.

The neobank, led by Rob Curtis, a gay man, and Billie Simmons, a trans woman, curates content for the LGBTQ community such as blog posts about the costs of surrogacy, adoption and fertility for queer families. Customers can also get advice from a network of financial coaches who understand the needs of LGBTQ individuals. Daylight launched last year in a limited test phase; people looking to sign up can join a waitlist.

"We do see some fintechs, Daylight as a great example, with products that you can’t get at a traditional bank,” says Hannah Calhoon, vice president of innovations at the Financial Health Network, a nonprofit that focuses on financial stability for low- to moderate-income communities.

“We often find that the folks closest to the problems are closest to the solutions,” Calhoon says.


Spencer Tierney writes for NerdWallet. Email: spencer.tierney@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @SpencerNerd.

The article 4 Neobanks Show Up for Their Communities originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Big banks want communities of color to trust them. But it's not so simple

Samantha Masunaga, Jackeline Luna
Sat, June 19, 2021

Sylvia Adetona has deposited checks at the same financial institution for more than 25 years. That doesn't mean she trusts banks.

Over the decades, the 68-year-old South Los Angeles resident has seen the unequal treatment banks gave communities of color and low-income customers.

In the leadup to the Great Recession, banks issued a disproportionate number of subprime mortgage loans to Black and Latino borrowers. Adetona remembers the for-sale signs dotting her neighborhood — those families lost their homes when they couldn't afford to make their mortgage payments, yet many of the banks were bailed out. Someone she knew had a decent credit score but was still denied a loan. Bank branches shut in her neighborhood, forcing her and others to travel farther when they want to interact with tellers.


"I wouldn't say I have an absolute great relationship with the bank," Adetona said.

Communities of color have many reasons to distrust large national banks. In some cases, the wariness stems from racist practices in the financial system, such as redlining, or from past bank failures. In others, it arose from a lack of transparency about fees or a feeling that national banks want only certain kinds of customers.

Some people have embraced alternatives to America's big financial institutions, turning toward Black-owned banks, payday lenders, credit unions and cash-only solutions.

How — and whether — big banks can build trust is a major question.

"There has been systemic financial exclusion of certain demographics,” said Charles Danso, an assistant professor of finance at Cal State L.A. To truly serve those communities, banks need to "put some thought into generating financial products that will meet the needs" of these individuals.

After the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent uprisings for racial equity, national banks — like many other large corporate institutions — pledged to help reduce the racial wealth gap by investing in Black and Latino communities.

U.S. Bank said it would offer $116 million in community grants and investments in small businesses and organizations owned and led by Black people, among other programs. JPMorgan Chase said it would invest $30 billion over five years into Black and Latino communities through funding for businesses, home loans and opening "community center" branches in underserved areas that provide additional services aimed at unbanked or underbanked households.

Last month, one of those Chase community center branches opened in Los Angeles' Hyde Park neighborhood. To oversee the branch's new services, the bank selected Jordan King, who lived in South L.A. for several years as a child while his mother, a Jamaican immigrant, was a doctor at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

"I can’t say that we had really any sort of relationship with bankers and, equally as important, didn’t know any bankers that could identify with my mother’s story and us as a Black family," he said, adding that his family didn't have access to complex banking services that fit his mother's high income level.

The community branch is a renovation of a preexisting Chase bank branch, with space and equipment for community meetings, financial literacy sessions and other gatherings. It also added new staff positions including a community home lending group focused on guiding unqualified borrowers toward their first home purchases and minority business consultants to advise South L.A. business owners.

"We want to give people that access to those bankers, to those experts that we know have been missing in South L.A., at least at this scale, and be that change and be that ecosystem to support the folks that are here now," King said.

The hope is that, with workers embedded in and coming from the area, the bank will be woven into the community.

Branch manager Christanne Fuston walks though the new community room at Chase Bank in the Hyde Park neighborhood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

“Trust is predicated on really being aware of what a community needs, really aware of how people are receiving us, how people are experiencing us," said Jonathan Morales, Chase's head of community banking for California. "There's a lot of sentiment out there that people may not necessarily trust banks. This team is really predicated upon listening."

Some community members say just being there is not enough. Around the corner, the Sole Folks retail cooperative provides a place for local artists to show and sell their wares without the high cost of renting their own storefronts. Sole Folks also has an art gallery and art lab where artists can work or hold classes on making such items as ceramics, candles and soap. Co-op vendors and class instructors pay a small percentage back into the co-op and lab.

“It’s really based on group economics and kind of raising each other," said Akil West, Sole Folks' chief executive.

The idea was born out of the pandemic, when foundation and grant funding for the art community in Leimert Park dried up and galleries and studios closed, leaving artists no place to show their art, West said.

"It was hard for these people to keep their studios, have shows and make a living," he said.

West said he sees the organization becoming the "Black think tank" where corporations and other groups will come and speak to the community about what's needed there. The group has also attracted attention from banks and community development financial institutions.

"I want the community to recognize their position, to recognize their power,” he said. "In order for [banks] to survive, they’re going to have to provide services to us.”

Shoppers look through racks of clothes at the August 2020 grand opening of Sole Folks in Leimert Park. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

What those services look like — and how they're offered — is another thorny aspect of trust-building.

A Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. survey found that in 2019, 5.4% of U.S. households — about 7.1 million — did not have a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union. Although the rate of unbanked households has trended downward in recent years, it continues to be high among households of color.

About 13.8% of Black households and 12.2% of Hispanic households were unbanked in 2019, compared with 2.5% of white households and 1.7% of Asian American households, according to the FDIC survey. The most cited reasons for not having an account were an inability to meet minimum balance requirements and distrust of banks.

“There’s probably no simple or easy solution you could implement overnight" to build trust in banks, said Leonard Chanin, deputy to the FDIC chairman. "If people are suspicious or lack trust or know someone who had a bad experience, I think it's going to take a while to persuade people.”

Lakiarra Lofton, 30, has spent most of her adult life without a bank account. As an 18-year-old college student working part time, she opened an account at one of the nation's largest banks. Lofton remembers not being responsible with her money. She would use her card to pay for gasoline, movie tickets and clothes. The transactions would go through regardless of whether she had the funds. Then the fees would follow.

“Before I knew it, I had to not use that card again and walk away because it just sucks having to look at your bank statement and be in the red,” she said.

Years later, she tried to open a new account at a different big bank. But there was a complication. She says the banker handed her the phone and her old bank was on the line, asking that she repay $200 that she owed from the previous account. She hung up immediately and rushed out the door.

Some banks use services that check applicants' banking history. If that report turns up a history of unpaid fees or mishandling of a bank account, customers' account applications can be denied.

“I was really embarrassed, and I just never looked back,” Lofton said.

Lofton turned to check cashing places, prepaid debit cards and, most recently, fee-free mobile banking services.

Although many alternatives to traditional banking can be expensive, there are exceptions. Cirenia Perez, 48, has organized condinas, an interest-free way of saving money, with friends and family members for 30 years. Each week, a set number of participants each chip in $250 and take turns bringing home the pooled money. Perez says condinas have helped those around her save up for a car, pay off high-interest credit cards and buy holiday gifts.

“When you get your paycheck, you spend it,” she said. “But when you’ve committed to saving a set amount every week, you know you can’t spend that money.”

A Federal Reserve report found that as of 2018, 16% of the U.S. adult population was underbanked, meaning that they had a traditional bank account but also used services such as payday loans, money orders, paycheck advances or check cashing services.

On a recent Friday afternoon, Ernesto Huinac, 35, who works in construction, stopped by ACE Cash Express, a check-cashing store and payday lender on the corner of Western and Slauson avenues in L.A.'s Harvard Park neighborhood. He said he comes in every month to purchase a money order for his rent ever since his landlord stopped accepting cash.

Depending on the money order's dollar amount, the fee can run $1.09 to $3.39. But that didn’t seem to bother him. As far as he knows, his bank does not offer money orders.

Some big banks have begun offering such services — opting to provide underbanked people with what they're seeking rather than trying to force a fit with traditional bank products.

Chase and U.S. Bank both offer a simple checking account that provides electronic payments through debit cards, mobile banking services and access to ATMs but doesn't offer paper checks. OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in the country, is among those that offer second-chance checking accounts or a secured credit card that enable people to build or rebuild their credit before moving on to an unsecured card.

"You have all these financial structures in place; it’s possible to come up with services our community needs," said Teri Williams, president and chief operating officer of OneUnited. "But it does take work.”

Black-owned and -led banks were founded to help Black Americans get access to banking services, small-business loans and home mortgages when other, larger financial institutions discriminated against them. But many of these banks don't have enough capital to help their communities build wealth, which — in a vicious cycle — means not very much money flows into the banks.

Credit unions are an alternative to banks and often provide services with lower fees and penalties, though they usually are not open to all members of the general public. For example, USC Credit Union serves university employees, students and alumni, as well as Los Angeles residents who live within five miles of USC's main campus or health sciences campus.

Credit unions also sometimes face a name recognition problem.

"Most people don't know what a credit union is," said Gary Perez, president and chief executive of USC Credit Union. "The overwhelming majority of people who don't work for an entity that has a credit union, they just don't know what distinguishes a credit union from a commercial bank."

Banks make money off fees and loan interest, which could make some of these community banking initiatives run contrary to the main goal of profitability, said Danso, the Cal State L.A. professor. Then it becomes more of a moral question.

"Banks, given enough incentive, could develop products for these communities to benefit and to help them move toward a higher economic success," he said. "If somebody doesn't have money, do you not take care of them because they don't have money, especially if it's due to systemic issues?”

Alice Rodriguez, head of community impact at Chase, said serving the needs of communities and turning a profit don't have to be mutually exclusive.

"Can you do both? Yes," she said. "I just think you have to be very intentional about how you approach it."

Adetona of South L.A. wants banks to focus not just on flashy initiatives but also on caring about the individuals in the communities they say they want to help. She'd like longstanding personal relationships to count for something when the bank weighs a loan application. She'd like for banks to figure out how to provide straightforward opportunities and services to more people without the looming specter of surprise penalties.

"If they would do that, then they wouldn't need to say, 'I’m going to spend such and such money to invest in the community," she said. "That's good, but just do right."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times

How the Bitcoin Industry Is Responding to Wall Street’s ESG Concerns

Lyllah Ledesma
Fri, June 18, 2021


One cryptocurrency asset manager is buying emission offsets. A digital-asset trading platform says it wants to be “carbon negative” within 18 months. A new token would wrap bitcoin with carbon credits so that they could trade together as a single asset.

Just a month after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted his concerns about the potential environmental harm from bitcoin mining, sending the cryptocurrency’s price into a tailspin, some industry players are rushing to respond. They’re looking at ways to address the environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues that might deter big institutional investors from embracing bitcoin.

“They are doing it out of the sense of survival,” said John Reed Stark, a former chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Internet Enforcement who now works as a consultant.

Related: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Drops Ahead of Looming ‘Death Cross’

Though some experts had been warning for years that the bitcoin market’s narrative of “institutional adoption” was on a collision course with the ESG mandate that now dominates the activities of big money managers like BlackRock, it’s too early to tell how much of a difference the latest efforts might make. Will the bitcoin mining industry actually shrink its carbon footprint or just announce ambitious goals and make peripheral adjustments to give big investors cover?

“Bitcoin in its current form is not good for the environment,” said Campbell R. Harvey, an economist and professor at Duke University. “Nobody can argue that this isn’t a true statement.”

Some industry executives have criticized the narrative that bitcoin is particularly bad for the environment, arguing that the adverse climate effects are overblown. As MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said at a meeting this week of the newly formed Bitcoin Mining Council, “We are not trying to fix bitcoin” but trying to counter the threat that “people don’t understand bitcoin.”

Another position is that the digital currency’s value to the economy and society justifies the energy consumption.

Related: Mining Council: We Must Counter ‘Misinformation’ About Bitcoin’s Environmental Damage

Jesse Powell, CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, told Bloomberg in an interview published this week that bitcoin is “a lot greener than people give it credit for.” Early Thursday, Bitcoin Magazine tweeted out a screen grab of the interview, and Musk tweeted in response: “Based on what data?”

The issue doesn’t seem to be going away, with bitcoin now changing hands at around $37,500, well off the all-time high near $65,000 reached in April.

So some big players are moving beyond the rhetoric and denial toward business changes that might help to address or remedy any environmental ills.

Here’s a rundown:

Crypto.com wants to be “carbon negative.” Crypto.com, an app for trading cryptocurrencies, announced in a blog post on May 27 that it had set a goal for the next 18 months of becoming “carbon negative.” “Starting immediately, the first phase will focus on an assessment of the carbon generated through cryptocurrency trading, deposit and withdrawal activities across all of Crypto.com’s platforms (App, Exchange, NFT, DeFi, and Crypto.org Chain),” according to the post. “The second phase will identify the most effective ways to offset the carbon generated, with the support of accredited organizations specializing in carbon offsetting and sequestration.” A third-party auditor will be retained to offer accountability. “The climate crisis is the most pressing issue of our time” CEO Kris Marszalek said in the post.


One River Digital and “tokenized carbon credits.” The asset management firm has filed for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would be carbon neutral. The company said last week that an overwhelming majority of assets in an existing institutional bitcoin fund had chosen to switch to a new “carbon neutrality share class.” The firm has “developed an index (BTC.X) based on the estimated carbon emitted per bitcoin and the market price of the offset required to neutralize that emission,” according to a press release. “At today’s prices and estimated carbon emissions, this is equivalent to $55 per year, or 0.15% of the cost of a bitcoin. One River buys tokenized carbon credits, validated on a blockchain.”


CoinShares and the “ESG crypto mining product.” CoinShares, a digital asset investment firm, said in a May 27 press release that it had made a strategic investment in Viridi Funds and that it will advise the manager on “the first ESG crypto mining product in the U.S.” According to the press release, the move will help “meet emerging client appetite for these types of products.”


Tokensoft and the “carbon-neutral bitcoin-backed asset.” Wrapped, a collaboration between tokenization specialist Tokensoft and digital-asset custodian Anchorage, announced a “carbon-neutral bitcoin-backed-asset” called Eco BTC (eBTC). According to a press release, the asset will combine bitcoin and carbon credits into a single digital asset, built atop the Celo blockchain platform. The deal will allow “institutional investors to add bitcoin to their portfolio and meet their fund’s sustainability goals,” Tokensoft CEO Mason Borda said in the statement.

Of course, bitcoin mining represents just one of many industries struggling to adapt to the ESG concerns. According to the Wall Street Journal, General Motors and Ford are boosting investments in electric vehicles to reduce emissions, while utilities including Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy are producing more renewable power.

“The auto industry in America is tackling ESG concerns at the moment,” said Steve Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager Digital. “However, it doesn’t come under the same level of scrutiny as the crypto industry does.”

Harvey, the Duke professor, says some investors might latch onto the idea that their bitcoin-related investments could be sanitized via carbon credits, but he notes that other investors might not care at all – preferring the returns that might come from fast-moving cryptocurrency markets and disregarding the potential environmental impact.

In the long run, Harvey says, the concerns might be mitigated because “eventually energy production won’t be dirty,”

“Then bitcoin will no longer have this problem,” he said.

None other than Arthur Hayes, founder of the BitMEX exchange (and also a defendant in U.S. federal charges over alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act) noted in a blog post last week how crucial the issue had become.

“The ESG narrative is front and center because the most desirable locations for mining bitcoin are those that appear to be ESG-compliant,” Hayes wrote on June 10. “That stamp of approval allows institutional money to check their box, and invest.”

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, told Bloomberg this week in an interview that solutions to address investors’ concerns might be “something the industry could pay without really setting itself back that much.”

“The answer is that it’s not free to mitigate, but it’s not that expensive,” Bankman-Fried said.