"Custom Chips Could Be the Shovels in a Bitcoin Gold Rush"

I've been reading about bitcoin mining for bitcoins. There is now special hardware optimized for running the calculations:

"When ASICs do arrive, they could force many bitcoin miners to give up. Since Nakamoto’s system adjusts the difficulty of mining to keep the rate of production constant, it will become significantly more difficult once the new chips go online. Many small-time miners will find that their outmoded equipment will no longer be able to pay for its own electricity bills. 'It will become more of a business,' says Butterfly Labs’ Zerlan. He believes that will help strengthen the Bitcoin economy and enable it to be taken more seriously."

There's an arms race between bitcoin miners. Another Red Queen race, just like trying to maintain production in the Bakken.

le plan, negatifs taux d’intérêt

"The Swiss National Bank considers the Swiss franc to be massively overvalued at present. This current strength of the Swiss franc is threatening the development of the economy and increasing the downside risks to price stability in Switzerland. The SNB will not tolerate a continual tightening of monetary conditions and is therefore taking measures against the strong Swiss franc."

Iceland Jams Its Foreign Creditors

By ruling that consumer loans indexed to foreign currency are illegal.

Hussman on the ECB's Purchases of Euro-area Debt

From Hussman's weekly letter:

In this context, consider the ECB's proposed 750 billion euro line of defense. Essentially the ECB is saying "We stand ready to buy as much as 750 billion euros of distressed Euro-area debt in order to defend the euro." Simultaneously, despite the fact that Euro area countries are running large fiscal deficits, the worst being in Greece, Portugal and Spain, the ECB is saying "However, we intend to sterilize this intervention, which will ultimately require that we sell Euro-area debt into the market in order to absorb the euros we create." The only way that both statements can be true is for the ECB to admit "Therefore, we are fundamentally promising to debase the quality of our balance sheet, by exchanging higher quality Euro-area debt with lower-quality debt of countries that are ultimately likely to default."

Mexico Racing Against Time at Cantarell Oil Field

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's state energy company Pemex is scrambling to extract what oil it can from its key Cantarell deposit as growing water and natural gas levels in the giant field depress yields of crude.

Cantarell produced more than 2 million barrels per day as recently as 2004, but yield has plunged as the aging field enters its natural decline phase, sending Mexican oil production tumbling to its lowest level since the mid-1990s.

The giant offshore Akal field and several nearby deposits that Pemex groups as Cantarell produced only 713,000 bpd in April, below Pemex's forecast of 756,000 bpd for 2009. Yields from the area have fallen at annualized rates of more than 35 percent in recent months.

Mexico Budget Gap Fuels Debt Sales, Ratings Concern
The deficit in Mexico, while less than half the gap in neighboring U.S. as a percentage of GDP, is more of a concern because 37 percent of the budget is funded by oil, a revenue source that “is very volatile,” Galvan said.

Japan Opposition Party Would Dump Ts

Japan's opposition party says it would refuse to buy American government bonds denominated in US dollars, if elected.