♪ hello. you're watching nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. we start with myanmar. the u.n. human rights council has adopted a resolution following the military coup earlier this month. it calls for the immediate release of detainees, including ousted de facto leader aung san suu kyi and the president. it was approved by consensus during a special session on friday in geneva. china, russia, and others pulled out. their envoys said they're

ssociati from the resolution. unacceptab.cumen anmar's baf the resolution also struck -- clearly respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. a u.n. special rap ator cited photographic evidence of security forces using live ammunition against protesters. he described the situation as a breach of international rule. the united states has slapped sanctions on senior general min aung hlaing as well as other individuals and companies related to myanmar's military. officials say it's to help the people's efforts to secure freedom and democracy. the u.s. treasury department said on thursday that the individuals are ten current and former military officials. it said they are responsible for the takeover or are associated with the military regime. three companies on the sanctions list are owned or controlled by the military or security forces. they deal in jade, rubies, and

other gems. president joe biden signed an executive enabling the sanctions. they will see their assets in the u.s. frozen. they'll also be prohibited from doing business with american citizens. treasury secretary janet yellen said in a statement that her department is prepared to take additional action if myanmar's military does not change course. the u.s. commerce department says it has restricted the export of sensitive items to myanmar's security authorities. a seventh straight day of mass rallies against the coup saw protesters gather outside the japanese embassy in yangon. they want tokyo to follow washington's lead by slapping sanctions on the military's leaders. >> translator: we want the japanese government to support us. >> translator: we need help from

japan to bring the military down from the political arena. moving on to an olympic controversy. the organizing committee for the tokyo games is officially looking for a new president after mori yoshiro resigned over his demeaning comments about women. >> translator: my inappropriate remarks have caused a lot of confusion. i'm tendering my resignati as president of e tokyo organizing committee. >> the trouble began last week when the 83-year-old said meetings with women take too long because they ta too much. he later apologized, but that failed to quell the criticism both in japan and abroad. hundreds of olympic volunteers quit in protest. the committee's director general says a ten-member panel will be set up to find a replacement.

he says it will be made up of an equal number of men and women and will include some athletes. >> translator: the selection process for mori's successor needs to be transparent so that we can be accountable. >> the president of the international olympic committee said in a statement his organization respects mori's decision and understands his reasons. thomas bach added the ioc will continue to work hand-in-hand with mori's successor. tokyo governor koike yuriko says the new president should be a leader who can send a message of diversity and social harmony. a panel of experts is giving the green light for japan's health ministry to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed by u.s. firm pfizer and its german partner, biontech. the experts met friday to assess data from japan's own vaccine testing, clearing the final

hurdle for the health minister to formally approve the rollout as early as sunday. >> translator: the vaccine was found to trigger antibodies at the same level as in europe and the u.s. in that sense, we can confirm its effectiveness. >> japan is the last member of the group of seven industrialized nations to approve the vaccine. frontline medical workers will be the first to receive shots starting from the middle of next week. next in line are the elderly with plans to start vaccinating them in april. they will be followed by people with underlying health conditions and workers at care facilities for the elderly. the firsshipmentf the pfizer biontech vaccine arrived friday at narita airport near tokyo from belgium. pfizer has a contract to supply japan with enough doses for 72 million people. but ora recent poll conducted by

nhk shows almost 30% of respondents do not want the jab. data from clinical trials and vaccination drives outside japan show there have been rare cases of severe allergic reactions. ministry officials plan to monitor about 10,000 medical workers who will be vaccinated first for any side effects. japan's tally of new coronavirus cases stood at 1,300 on friday, a drop of almost 400 from the previous day. but officials say the capacity of hospital beds remains under pressure. with coronavirus vaccinations under way in many countries, we're learning more about their effectiveness. one leading israeli health care provider now says the pfizer vaccine is estimated to be 93% effective seven to eight days after receiving the second dose maccabee health care services says of the 523,000 people it has immunized twice, only 544 tested positive for the virus a

week or more later. that's just over 0.1%. by comparison, it found about 3% of people in an unvaccinated control group tested positive. according to a tracking website affiliated with the university of oxford, more than 150 million around the world.dministered britain's economy has taken its biggest hit on record with plunging by almost 10% during 2020. the office for national statistics says the country's gross domestic product shrank by 9.9% in real terms compared with the previous year. that's worse than the eurozone's 6.8% slump. coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions caused the uk's first contraction since the global financial crisis in 2009. it's the largest fall since data became available in 1949. retailers, bars and restaurants have been periodically forced to suspend operations under

measures designed to stop the spread of covid-19. -- gdp during the current january to march period to fall from the previous quarter. a nationwide lockdown remains in place to cope with the highly transmissible form of the virus. preeminent japanese writer kensington bureau has deposited more than 10,000 pages of handwritten manuscript and documents to his alma mater, the university of tokyo. oe was born in 1935 and has been a major figure in japan's literary scene since the mid-1950s. in 1994, he became the second japanese person to win the nobel prize in literature. officials at the university say

the documents were being kept at the writer's home and the number of publishers. they include manuscripts of "lavish are the daead" released in 1957 and another released in 1979. the officials say the university is the first public institution in japan to receive a bulk deposit of the writer's manuscripts. the university's faculty of letters plans to establish a search center for modern japanese literature with oe's works at its core. china's lunar new year holiday has begun, but the coronavirus pandemic is putting a damper on family celebrations. as nhk world's makita naoki reports, it's forcing some people to put a new spin on an age-old tradition. >> reporter: the streets of beijing are awash in festive colors, but the usual steady stream of visitors won't be here to see them. ain stations that should be

packed are far from it. foreign travel is expected to drop 20% from last year's levels. businesses like restaurants and hotels which rely on the annual surge are taking a major hit. but others are cashing in. this delivery business says orders have shot up 40%. it says people who canceled their trips home are sending gifts to make up for their absence. shang jawei can relate. he normally spends the holidays with family in his farming village. inead, he' keep working in beijing. >> reporter: shang will get a hike in pay during the holidays,

but he'll miss his parents. >> translator: my parents really hope to spend the spring festival with me. we live apart all year with just one chance to see each other. >> reporter: families that usually bond at the dining room table may be looking for a safer option. this hot pot chain is promoting a virtual service that would connect diners across cities. managers hope they'll fill an emotional void while making up for lost revenue. >> translator: customers can connect online with friends and relatives at different shops and feel much closer to them. >> reporter: no matter how they celebrate, it's clear the coronavirus has forced people to emphasize what's most important -- their love for family. makita naoki, nhk world, beijing.

here's the three-day weather forecast for selected cities around the globe.

one more story before we go. vietnamese trainees in japan have celebrated the lunar new

year at a budest tempdhist temp tokyo. interns are staying at the temple in saitama prefecture. they include those who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. some were unable to return home even though their training period has ended. that's because vietnam maintains strict entry controls. this individual came to vap four years ago. he hasn't seen his family in person since then. he reached them by video call using his smartphone. >> translator: i feel lonely because i cannot return home for the lunar new year. my parents are in poor health because of their ages. i worry about them. >> the trainees handed out new year delicacies and treated vietnamese visitors from the local community to a special noodle dish. that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo.

thank you for joining us. ♪ welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm shibuya aki. there is no denying climate change. our planet is facing unprecedented environmental hazards. pollution and warming of the atmosphere as well as the oceans. we're all experiencing it in some way or another. today we look at three countries in asia that are tackling environmental issues through government, private, and community efforts.

and it's an uphill battle. sugar, for many people, they can't live without it. but it's not always so sweet. thailand is the world's second largest exporter of sugar. but its traditional sugarcane harvesting method involving open burning deeply impacts air quality. starting in 2019, the thai government began rolling out nationwide reforms to reduce the practice. >> reporter: at these sugarcane fields in northeastern thailand, harvesting is under way. the country is one of the world's top sugar producers, churning out about 10 million tons a year. but one of the main harvesting methods behind this huge quantity has recently come under scrutiny for its environmental impact. what you see happening behind me

right now is a traditional method of harvesting sugarcane, which is burning. sugar is extracted only from the sug sugarcane stalks so leaves must be removed before shipment. farmers do this by burning the field, which is more effective than cutting the crop by hand. >> translator: we only burn the crops because it's more efficient. >> reporter: but the fires choke the air with smoke and pollution. amid growing concern, the thai government has moved to cut the practice drastically. farmers last season burned 50% of their crops. officials want to lower that to 20% this season and a mere 5% next season. producers also want to change their ways, including this company. it owns a specialized machine that is more efficient than manual labor.

the equipment is about $200,000, making it out of reach for most farmers. so the company rents it to them at rock bottom prices. the firm is trying to encourage farmers to take environmental measures even if it increases the costs. >> translator: we were able to harvest half of ouewcrops without burning. >> translator: we want to promote environmentally friendly production. i think setting up a new harvesting system will lead to long-term development. >> reporter: the move is part of a growing trend in the sugar industry towards green practices. about 30% of sugarcane remains as the juice is removed from the crop. one producer has created a new business for finding a use for this by-product. last year, the company began to produce straws made from the fibrous material.

the firm says they are stronger than paper straws and that they present a business opportunity. many people in bangkok have a growing environmental awareness. the straws have become popular at cafes in the city, drawing praise for their eco-friendly nature. >> translator: i think it's good to protect the environment. >> translator: we want to add value to the pulp, but we also hope to be a part of the move toward greener practices and the opportunities they bring. >> reporter: thailand's sugar industry is beginning to embrace a move towards sustainability. producers are discovering the eco-friendly practices can mean sweet success. tammarin desjupa, nhk world, bangkok. >> while some farmers want to comply with new regulations for harvesting fresh sugarcane, they often struggle as the stakes are

simply too high. without solving the farmers' low income and reducing machinery costs, shedding this old practice of burning may not be an option for many farmers. india is another country plagued by air pollution. the giant country has many regions grappling with high levels of pollution caused by vehicle exhaust emissions and fuel burning, all at a cost to human health. a 9-year-old girl has been speaking up and demanding governme action. >> reporter: it's late at night, but licypriya kangujam is standing in front of parliament demanding legislation to fight air pollution. >> i'm here in the night today because our leaders don't hear our advice in the daytime. so i'm trying to do the protest in the nighttime, and i want --

i want our leaders to take immediatclimate tion to fight this air pollution. >> reporter: the young activist's motivation came from her father. he told her air pollution apparently kills tens of thousands of indian children every year. the shocking number strengthened her resolve. >> i always tell the stories what is happening around the world. naturally she developed feelings of asking questions. >> reporter: local media picked up her story. she drew attention at home and abroad. she received an invitation to the u.n.'s cop-25 climate conference, where she made a direct appeal to world leaders. >> i want our leaders to do more action. otherwise, our future will die soon. they must act now. >> reporter: she met another

famous young person at the conference, climate activist greta thunberg. but even after reaching the world stage, she faces an uphill battle back home. public engagement with environmental issues in india is persistently low. kangujam operates under the close eye of the authorities. in october, police detained the 9-year-old for about 40 minutes for protesting without permission. she received a warning of arrest if she did it again. recently she works mostly online. on this day she took part in an environmental forum. she called on children from around the world to join her cause. tree planting is another focus. she regularly uploads posts about it as an effective way to

combat air pollution. her posts have made an impact. now her 90,000 global followers are also sharing photos of tree planting. >> people always tell me that you are too young to get involved in such activism, but i've proven that age doesn't >> reporter: despite her young age kangujam is determined to carry on fighting. she believes that beyond the smog of chronic pollution there is a bright future ahead for the children of india. abhushek dhulia, nhk world, new delhi. >> prime minister modi has been promising to tackle pollution since taking office and even set targets for reducing hazardous air pollution, some saying coming too late and offering too little.

hopefully people like kangujam can be forces to see policies through. in our final story, we head to the water. hokkaido is famous for its salmon, but we aren't seeing hauls like these anymore. the reason, a phenomenon known as marine heat waves, which are making the waters uninhabitable for salmon and other species. >> reporter: salmon are the focus of fishing boats off the coast of kushiro in hokkaido prefecture. but recently, some surprising catches are turning up, like this massive ocean sunfish. the species commonly prefers warmer environments such as the waters of western japan. but lately, catches of ocean sunfish have increased. meanwhile, the haul of salmon has fallen by about 90% compared with peak years. this dramatic shift is due in

part to a recent uplift in marine heat waves, a phenomenon in which sea temperatures rise up normally for more than five consecutive days. the areas in orange and red on this map show where marine heat waves have been detected. throughout 2020 frequent heat waves have been recorded in waters around hokkaido. in some cases, temperatures rose as much as 5 degrees celsius on seasonal averages. >> translator: a temperature change in the ocean of about 3 to 4 degrees celus is equal to a shift of between 15 and 20 degrees in the atmosphere. and that will cause a drastic change in the type of fish living there. >> reporter: this seafood products company in hokkaido has been hit hard by the change. it usually lands the country's largest hauls of the popular fish pacific saury. in recent years, the company began emphasizing its saury products.

it spent millions of dollars installing a high-temperature, high-pressure processing system in a state of the artifactry. but since then local catches of saury have drastically declined. >> translator: some people wonder why we can't just sell different fish. but you can't so easily repurpose your entire facility. >> reporter: the poor hauls of saury have put local fishermen in a desperate situation. as a result, some have switched their focus to yellowtail. the fish used to be a rare sight in hokkaido and is of lower value. each ship can carry over ten tons of yellowtail. to preserve freshness and add value, the fishermen drain the blood from every fish as soon as it's landed. local officials have launched promotions showing people various ways to cook and eat yellowtail. >> translator: the meat is so

thick and juicy that it's hard to believe it's fish. it's very delicious. >> reporter: the warmer oceans continues to threaten japan's northern fisheries. adapting to dramatic shifts in the marine ecosystem remains a challenge to both the fishing industry and local communities. tameru yosuke, nhk world. >> local fishermen are concerned that hauls will continue to dwindle with certain species going extinct in the near future. these heat waves have also been observed in the pacific northwest of the u.s. and australia, and researchers report that they even contribute to the death of seabirds and coral. the relationship between the heat waves and global warming is still unknown, but the good news is that research is ongoing including prediction methods to offset heat wave damage. developing countries, governments, npos, and

communities and individuals -- it's safe to say coordinated efforts between all these parties may be the key to a sustainable global community and, of course, a healing planet. thank you for watching and see you soon.oçai■>ú■og■risectarian.

>> this is al jazeera and these are your top stories. the fourth day of donald trump's second impeachment trial has concluded. his lawyers wrap up the defense arguing the trial is unconstitutional and evidence against trump was fabricated. he's accused of inciting a riot on capitol hill last month in which five people died. both sides face questions from senators and a verdict is expected this weekend. >> in about eight hours of proceedings, there was a lot of

fractious exchanges, not the least of which, donald trump's team accusing the democrats of prosecutorial negligence saying they edited tapes, that they misrepresented tweets, that they falsified documents. that is a big accusation to make. they also said this was driven by hatred, by a dislike of donald trump, that this was all about punishing him and they were exercising a great degree of hypocrisy. >> the united states will revoke the terror designation of who's. president biden and aid groups thought it would worsen an already catastrophic crisis by preventing deliveries controlled by the rebels. but the group may be hit with more sanctions after it attacked a saudi airport on wednesday. a british human rights lawyer has been elected as the criminal courts lawyer.

after weeks of debate, the member state voted for one of the four candidates. he will begin the next nine year term next year. the head of the world health organization, the -- say the origins of the coronavirus pandemic are not clear following an investigative mission in china. experts have not confirmed the source. but it's all to disburse a theory that it came from a laboratory there. the team says it probably originated in about. those are your headlines. the news continues on "inside story." >> hundreds of protesters gathered to demand the government lift a curfew, the first in the country since world

war ii. protesters who were not following social distancing rules were repeatedly ordered to disperse by police. >> it's to prevent a scenario where thousands were writing in cities across the netherlands. >> they started throwing stones and letting off fireworks. police moved in to clear out the area. kim: a big moment for cryptocurrencies. america's oldest bank says it plans to hold and transfer and issue digital currencies. what will this mean for the global economy? this is "inside story."

welcome to the proam. for the first time ever, america's oldest bank, bny mellon, says it's planning to offer cryptocurrency services. that's great news for currencies like bitcoin which has been soaring to all-time highs. while investing it can be a roller coaster ride that comes with many risks, that hasn't stopped the chief executive of tesla, elon musk, from purchasing $1.5 billion worth of it. as well as investing in it, tesla is expected to accept a virtual money as a payment. the announcement is pushing bitcoin prices to new records, going above $48,000 per claim for the first time ever. the decision to allow cryptocurrencies in its services is another boost for the digital asset. the ceo and head of digital at bny mellon says in a statement growing client demand for the maturity of advanced solutions

and improving regulatory clarity present a tremendous opportunity to extend our service off earrings to this emerging field. mastercard is planning to open up its network to selected cryptocurrencies. they previously allowed people to use their currencies but without going through its main platform. mastercard says this will create more possibilities for shoppers and merchants, allowing them to transact in an entirely new form of payment. this may open merchants up to new customers already flocking to digital assets. some officials have shown their support of cryptocurrencies. the mayor of miami has recently proposed a resolution offering to pay municipal employees in bitcoin. >> i want to thank the city of miami commissioners for supporting my resolution to procure a vendor to be able to offer employees to get a percentage of their salary in

bitcoin, allows residents to pay for fees in bitcoin and would allow the city manager to cooperate with miami-dade county to have taxes be paid in bitcoin. the city of miami supports efforts to make bitcoin and acceptable currency for us to potentially invested in the future. kim: let's take a closer look at cryptocurrencies and how they work. they are virtual and stored in a digital wallet. transactions are made with no middleman, meaning it bypasses banks. it cane used by goods and services, but not many retailers accept them. payment happens through a system called block chain which records transactions across the internet and stores them in multiple locations. bitcoin was the first online currency created in 2009. since then, thousands of other digital currencies have sprung up.

time to bring in our guests. in london, we have glenn goodman, a financial investor and author of the crypto trader. and in new york, william cohan, a former mergers and acquisitions banker and writer. in london, celso de azevedo and international lawyer and airstrip. thank you for joining us. i would like to begin with you -- how big is this news from bny mellon and mastercard? is this bitcoin it now and truly on its way to the moon? glen: i think it is good news for cryptocurrency in general. particularly bny mellon news because the crypto world has been waiting a very long time for a big asset manager or rather an asset custody company to basically say we are prepared to look after bitcoin, to keep

them using our traditional financial channels that we ourselves maintain and finally, you have such a huge asset manager or custodian agreeing to do that. that will give financial institutions and companies the confidence to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, knowing they will be looked after safely. kim: confidence has been a very big thing. this has been a volatile asset. what is your take? are we going to see bitcoin go up and up or are we going to see a major pullback? we've seen it come down 80% in the past. william: to me, it the earmarks of a well orchestrated 21st century tulip bulb craze. i know it's proponents can't get

enough and the elon musk's of the world drive the prices higher and higher and it gets swept up into the madness of crowds and social media frenzy but frankly, i feel like it's not dissimilar from other asset doubles or crazes that proponents lock onto and go nuts over. i'm not particularly confident it's going to continue in this way. it's news, i don't think it's good news. it's just news. it's patting or inflating of the whole bubble of this currency. kim: what is it that you see that the likes of elon musk, the lack -- the likes of jack dorsey or paypal who are on board, what is it you see that they don't see? william: they are billionaires, so i don't know -- they probably

see things i will never see but money is a confidence game. why does the dollar have value? why does any currency have value? it's because people believe in it. for the moment, people believe in bitcoin. kim: do@@ you think other banks are likely to follow in their footsteps? are they investing or seeing the value? what are the legal constraints banks might face? celso: i'm afraid i'm going to sound a cautionary note to all the positive news. it is good news that the u.s. security's and exchange commissioner has recently pushed back in an interview against the government narrative in the u.s. that cryptocurrencies are a dangerous route for terrorist financing and push back on the

december of last year when the notice of proposed rulemaking was unveiled where banks and money services and businesses would be required to submit reports and keep reports, verify the identity of customers in relation to transactions. where the wallets were not hosted by financial institutions or certain jurisdictions, this would be very onerous knowing your clients requirements. you see the concern in recent statements from mastercard when they were saying they were going

to give some support to cryptocurrencies but they were concerned and said in their statements, not all today's cryptocurrencies would be supported by our network. some of them will be but there should be strict compliance protocols in relation to knowing your customer requirements that was going to be used to snuff out illegal activity. you have term number cryptocurrencies are regulated in a piecemeal fashion by many different regulator provisions, laundering, terrorism financing and you also have many transfer legislation. we have to be optimistic but not

too optimistic. there are many places cryptocurrencies our band. kim: what do you say when you look at the technical analysis and unchain data, what do you think? glen: i don't think it's fair to compare it to the tulip bubble. the dutch tulip bubble was one-off whereas bitcoin -- during the previous boom, the 2017 boom that i was heavily involved in, there was a nagging voice at the back of my mind saying what if this is a tulip bubble because the fact is bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies, like all money are kind of a confidence trick. it's all about faith -- faith in the u.s. government for the dollar and face in bitcoin for people who believe that is the new form of money that will dominate things in the future. the tulip bubble was a one-off, so we have the bitcoin and

crypto boom in 20 and then it cooled off significantly. a lot of cryptocurrencies loss more than 90% of their value, but the fact is it did not die. it proved its worth by coming back, bitcoin in particular to even greater heights. what gives me enormous confidence is the sheer number of institutions, particularly financial institutions but large companies like tesla who are showing they are believing it is the future and it will be around for a very long time and that they need to make the infrastructure and by the assets themselves in order to be part of the future economy. there are so many companies and institutions doing this that i don't think we can dismiss it as a temporary phenomenon anymore. i do think the prices are in somewhat of a bubble. they doubled again and again and

it is getting crazy and they short-term and it may well crash again like it did in 2017 but i do believe cryptocurrencies and digital currencies are here to stay. kim: we are talking about faith and i wonder what are the macro dynamics driving this? in the u.s. ma parts of the world, you have governments printing money and people are worried for what that means for the value of their cash longer-term. is that part of what is driving the growth in adoption of bitcoin? william: obviously, yes. bitcoin is a finite substance by design. there's 21 million bitcoins and people are desperately mining for them and the scarcity value is a function of supply and

demand. the demand is higher than the supply and the supply is going up. -- the prices going up. this is a confidence game in the fact more and more institutions in the financial sector, whether it is bny mellon or j.p. morgan chase is now being dragged into it because it's employees want to trade at an clients want to use it. if more and more people have confidence in this thing that there's no reason to have confidence in, that can be a self filling prophecy. it's no different than fiat money or gold or any other form of currency or store of value that we use to trade with. people need to be able to trade goods and services and if they have confidence that bitcoin is the way to do it, that will be a self filled -- self filling

prophecy. kim: celso de azevedo, janet yellen in the u.s., the new biden administration issued the statement after her senate confirmation hearing talking about the potential benefits for the u.s. and says it has potential benefits and also presents opportunities for states and nonstate actors looking to circumvent the current financial system but then goes on to say it has the potential to improve the efficacy of the financial system. can you talk about those two apparently opposing sides? she saying it could be used in a bad way by bad people, on the other hand, it could reduce some inequality and help our financial system. celso: the first thing i would have to say is there is a force dichotomy there. the two statements may be correct, it doesn't mean one thing is wrong. but they do push in different

directions. there is that risk that cryptocurrencies will be used for people and for fraud and that can be at the same time, they use another financial asset and that is something positive for society as a whole. the question is how do you strike a balance of clever regulation that minimizes the risk of crime while at the same time maximizes the trust society will have in this new asset? kim: what difference does it make when the likes of mastercard or paypal say we are going to let you use bitcoin as a mean of paying for things? is that where bitcoins value comes from, in its ability to be

used every day, or is it more as a store of value, investors buying and holding? glen: it's a store of value. when william referred to it as a tulip bubble, during the 201819 slump, in the back of my mind, i was thinking could that have been a one-off? are these assets going to slowly die as people lose interest? it's all about faith, do we believe these things are going to do well and then they become a self filling prophecy. what's interesting is i think covid may be the reason why they have come back stronger than ever. covid created a new narrative. the idea of that coin as digital gold, when the federal reserve turned on the money printing and started massively expanding their monetary policy and order

to combat the deflationary effects of covid, that scared a lot of people and made them think they are printing money and leslie. we don't believe in the dollar anymore. it shook investors faith and made them think the dollar is going to be so inflated and would depreciate in value so much that they needed a harder currency. traditionally, that harder currency would have been gold and they did flocked to it to some extent. but younger generations felt we have a new digital gold -- bitcoin because it can only be created in very small quantities and a finite amount eventually. it will stop being created all together in about 100 years. but even now there are only tiny new amounts of bitcoin every single day. so it makes people feel it is a harder currency than the dollar and that's why they have been flocking to it. that narrative will continue to prevail as long as there is

money printing by central banks. if central banks get their act together and have a more sensible monetary policy, then perhaps people won't be so interested in bitcoin anymore. kim: i think we need to talk about the security issue. the block chain itself has been described as very safe, but the personal security of one's wallet not so much. how secure is a cryptocurrency? william: bitcoin in these digital currencies are all about the narrative. everyone wants to talk about the narrative. it's such an exciting story. kim: is that a bad thing? william: until you can use bitcoin to buy this, what is the use of it? it's just a way to gamble. last week everyone was excited

about gamestop and this week they are excited about bitcoin because elon musk decided to buy $1.5 billion with it. there's nothing elon musk likes more than making people crazy. people talk about security -- we will have two wait. it's all about faith and confidence and people want to pretend it's a good store of value, than the price. go up. people thought gamestop was a great store of value. kim: is there any value bitcoin would get to in which you would change your view of it? if it reached $200,000, would that change your opinion? william: no. what would change my opinion is if you could use this thing widely, whatever it is, this currency, to buy things. if i could use bitcoin to buy a house in a liquid way, not just

in a one-off way on a daily basis as part of my daily life, yes. if i could get my hands on it -- i can always get my hands on dollars and use it to buy a house or a car or food. you can't do that with bitcoin except one-off circumstances. kim: i want to talk about the difference between stable coins, by which i mean cryptocurrencies to save a dollar and you have central banks getting involved in digital currencies. what does that say to you about the role of digital currencies and the adoption of digital currencies? is this central banks getting nervous because they want to continue to control money or is something else at play here? celso: i think it is all of this

and you can see some countries have the latest legislation in india modeled on the chinese are you a tory regime which effectively banned trading uses of cryptocurrency while at the same time, the government is working on using its own virtual currency. china imposed a ban on the initial offerings and asked cryptocurrency exchanges be shut down. since then, the china central bank has blocked all access to all domestic and foreign currency exchanges. i think it may be a little more nuanced than that. there was a report last year by the beijing arbitration commission saying china's prohibition of bitcoin is not exactly as suggested because the chinese legal stance -- major

activities are prohibit by the government. at the same time, it allows other types of cryptocurrency activities. it's a very nuanced situation. kim: we have about two minutes left. what do you think about what you heard about the idea of crypto not having its use case until you can spend it when you go to buy a pair of pants or whatever -- you go and buy a bottle of coke or whatever. do you agree with that sentiment? glen: i actually do agree. he referred to mastercard and their move to integrate or allow payments using digital currencies and i did not give you a proper answer. the fact is they are not going to allow people to use bitcoin. they were referring vaguely to

it would be the central government based stable coins you are talking about -- a sort of digital dollar because they consider currencies like bitcoin to be far too volatile in value. they shoot up and down in value and you don't want to get bitcoin one day and find out when you want to buy your cup of coffee that you've lost 30% of the value of the money you are about to buy your cup of coffee with. it's just not usable on a wide scale for everyday payments at the moment. we don't have the infrastructure and the actual price is too volatile. kim: will that change in the next 10 to 15 years? glen: it will change. everything's going to change because there will be a huge battle between the central bank digital currencies, the ones based on the old fiat currencies , there's going to be a fight between that and the decentralized digital currencies

like bitcoin and we just don't know who's going to win. but let's face it, the governments of got power, so that gives them the advantage. kim: it is a fast-moving sector to say the least. thank you for your time. a big thank you for you to watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website, al jazeera.com. please go to our facebook page and join the conversation on twitter. from mate and from us here in doha, thank you.

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