Tag: covid-19

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Beginners Forex Education Forex Market

How Is COVID-19 Impacting the Forex Market?

I’m not here today to talk about algorithmic trading or systems or tools. I’d like to tell you something that is in the focus of traders in recent days and especially because it is an important issue because it affects the lives of many people. As you know, if it affects people’s lives it affects […]

I’m not here today to talk about algorithmic trading or systems or tools. I’d like to tell you something that is in the focus of traders in recent days and especially because it is an important issue because it affects the lives of many people. As you know, if it affects people’s lives it affects […]

I’m not here today to talk about algorithmic trading or systems or tools. I’d like to tell you something that is in the focus of traders in recent days and especially because it is an important issue because it affects the lives of many people. As you know, if it affects people’s lives it affects the economy and, of course, the currency market. But how does the forex market react in this environment? We’ll tell you…

I’m sure you’ve heard of Covid, but just in case, let’s discuss. It is a virus that we can catch through the mouth, ears, nose, and even the eyes and affects the respiratory system. Symptoms are dry throat, cough, sneezing, muscle cramps, breathing problems, high fever and can be as fatal as kidney failure leading to death.

It seems that there is a consensus and that the virus started in Wuhan (China) in about December 2019 last month and has traveled through Japan, Thailand, and now America. There are several hundred people infected and he has several deaths on his back.

How Coronavirus Impacts Markets

Understanding history will help us understand the reaction of markets in a similar case, bearing in mind that each circumstance is different from the previous one. The outbreak of the virus is reminiscent of the SARS pandemic in 2002 and 2003 that killed some 800 people, most of them from China and Hong Kong, according to World Health Organization data.

SARS had a significant impact on Asian currencies, in its rates and actions from the point where infections were officially identified by the World Health Organization in February 2003 to the peak of new daily infections.

How many times have we already warned that the markets least like fear and uncertainty? With this background, the investor keeps his portfolio and prefers to be out of the market before possible strong movements that affect him in a bad way. This leads to falls in global indices and greater volatility in the foreign exchange market.

Coronavirus and the Currency Market

To the point, Ruben. It is clear that because of the nature of the coronavirus the currencies that are most affected are the Asian ones. The Japanese yen (JPY) is acting as a refuge, as it usually does in times of economic uncertainty. That is why we can see in most crossings how it is being strengthened with respect to other currencies. The Chinese yuan (CNH) is looking very weak and in most pairs, we can see strong movements down the currency.

Also important is the Australian Dollar (AUD) which, due to its direct relationship with China, is being negatively affected. This is because of Australia’s trade relationship with China. Any signs of slowdown or risk directly affect AUD.

What to Do As a Trader

It is impossible to predict what happens with active x and establish clear rules for buying or selling in these situations. The ideal is as we always say to rely on cost-effective systems that have an advantage and management with connection and disconnection rules. Systems should be created by already contemplating data or market scenarios with high and low volatility. That being so, you should have no problem when events happen. Manage your systems as if you were a watch and adjust your risk so when the volatility is triggered it affects you as little as possible.

There are traders who prefer to stay out until everything happens, fully understandable as well. But remember that most of the time there’s going to be some event that’s going to create uncertainty for you.

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Forex Market

Guidance for Trading Forex During Times of Crisis

People generally go about their daily routine without fail, but things change during times of crisis. For example, if the weatherman predicts tornados or even snow in some states, people suddenly go into panic mode and rush out to buy milk, bread, and toilet paper until grocery store shelves are empty. Whenever someone perceives a […]

People generally go about their daily routine without fail, but things change during times of crisis. For example, if the weatherman predicts tornados or even snow in some states, people suddenly go into panic mode and rush out to buy milk, bread, and toilet paper until grocery store shelves are empty. Whenever someone perceives a […]

People generally go about their daily routine without fail, but things change during times of crisis. For example, if the weatherman predicts tornados or even snow in some states, people suddenly go into panic mode and rush out to buy milk, bread, and toilet paper until grocery store shelves are empty. Whenever someone perceives a potential crisis on the horizon, their everyday thought process changes and they begin to go into survival mode.

In some cases, this is for the better, although people often overreact when it comes to small-scale events. Fortunately, we don’t have to deal with crisis mode too often and many of us forget about the frustrations of the last crisis shortly after it’s over. 

In the past, humans went into crisis mode a lot more often and for different reasons, like predators, hunting dangerous wild animals, or because of an incoming attack from a rival tribe. In today’s modern world, most of what we would consider a crisis revolves around the weather, economic, political, and health-related issues. A great example would be the Coronavirus Pandemic, which has inspired a lot of fear, along with hoarding, distrust of the government and in a vaccine, lockdowns, quarantine, and other problems. It would have been nearly impossible to predict what was to come just a few months before the virus began to spread. 

It could be argued that things could have been done to slow down the coronavirus pandemic and to stop it from reaching other countries. Many people believe that the government did not take the virus seriously enough in the beginning, which caused slower and less abrasive actions than what was necessary to stop it. This isn’t that surprising, considering that the modern world has not dealt with such a large pandemic in quite some time. Some scientists and institutions did promote research that suggested this type of thing was possible, but many of us simply weren’t prepared to deal with this crisis. 

Crisis and the Financial Markets

We mentioned how humans operate in two modes: regular everyday life, and crisis mode. It works the same way with the financial markets, as people tend to panic and act differently whenever they perceive a crisis. Since buyers and sellers drive the market, this can cause a lot of issues within the market itself. 

One of the most important things you can do as a trader is to learn to identify whether a potential “crisis” will be small-scale or if it is a world crisis. For example, traders all over the world obviously aren’t going to be worried about a tornado warning in your home state, while a world war would affect things on a global scale. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the recent Coronavirus Pandemic are two more examples of world crises that had a large-scale effect on the market. Once you’ve identified which category a crisis falls into, you will need to apply different trading rules depending on what you expect to see with the market.

There are two rules that can be used to help you accurately identify whether a crisis should be considered normal or a world crisis:

  1. Consistent movement in the markets with unnaturally high volatility; declining stock markets; and ranges lasting for some time over their long-term averages are signs of a real-world crisis 
  2. Emotional reactions from traders that result in crashing stock markets are a sign of a real-world crisis that shouldn’t be taken likely

In order to check for the first rule, you can apply the average true range indicator over the long term in order to compare the results to recent daily ranges for the forex, stock, and commodity markets. 

The Bottom Line

Although we don’t have to worry about large-scale crisis too often in the modern world, things can happen quickly and catch us off guard, sending us into full-scale panic mode. As a trader, it’s important to be able to identify just how big of a deal any new crisis might be and whether it is a normal crisis or something that will affect the entire world. This can change the way the market behaves and you’ll need to be prepared and on top of your game to keep up. Remember, even if you believe that a crisis will be widespread, it’s important not to panic and to continue trading with a level head. Always stay up to date on the news and pay attention to what other savvy traders are saying to get a sense of what your peers expect.

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Forex Market

COVID Crisis: USA Vs. Europen Market Recovery Battle

COVID-19 has without a doubt taken a toll on markets around the world. The United States and Europe, in particular, are battling to be among the first to recover some sense of normality. Which will prevail? Here’s what we have to say on the matter. The US market is recovering faster than the European market. […]

COVID-19 has without a doubt taken a toll on markets around the world. The United States and Europe, in particular, are battling to be among the first to recover some sense of normality. Which will prevail? Here’s what we have to say on the matter. The US market is recovering faster than the European market. […]

COVID-19 has without a doubt taken a toll on markets around the world. The United States and Europe, in particular, are battling to be among the first to recover some sense of normality. Which will prevail? Here’s what we have to say on the matter.

The US market is recovering faster than the European market. In particular, if we compare with the absolute high of mid-February, we see that the US market, measured through the SP500 index, is -16.79% below that high. On the other hand, the European market, measured through the DAX30 and Euro STOXX 50 indices, to take two examples, remains -22.02% and -24.24% below the maximum, respectively.

This divergence in the response of the US index to European indices is, in principle, unexpected. Without entering into data that the reader should already know in detail, it is known that in the European countries most affected by COVID-19, including Italy, Spain, Germany, and France, the curves of cases and deaths per day have already shown, at the time of writing this article, a clear setback.

The response of the US index to European indices is, in principle, unexpected.

While countries such as Italy and Spain are accused of having delayed and failed in their response to the virus, the truth is that the curves of new infections have stopped growing, entering a phase of recession, product of the strong measures of social isolation promoted in these countries.

This is not the case in the USA, where many analysts believe that the government’s response was even worse, and where both the new cases and the number of daily deaths, have taken much longer to give in, and continue still, albeit more slowly, to rise.

This temporary divergence in impact and response to COVID-19 would lead to the conclusion that the same should have happened with the impact on equity markets, that is, Europe should have anticipated its recovery to the United States. However, the opposite occurred, as can be seen in the chart below (in green the S&P 500 index).

“This temporal divergence in the impact and response to COVID-19 would lead to thinking that the same should have happened with the impact on equity markets… However, the opposite happened.”

Of course, the explanation for this is far from unique, and it would be a mistake to pretend to give an explanation by ignoring the interconnection that exists between the world’s financial markets today, which does not make it possible to study one case in isolation from others.

Even so, we believe that the lower impact and faster recovery of the US stock market vis-à-vis Europe is basically due to the different response of its central banks. In particular, the EDF took drastic monetary policy measures very early on, while the response of the European Central Bank (ECB) was later and more modest. But let’s look at it in detail. We believe that the lower impact and faster recovery of the US stock market vis-à-vis Europe is basically due to the different response of its central banks.

Everything must start from seeing the differences with which the ECB and the Fed faced the crisis for COVID-19. In the case of the ECB, the benchmark interest rate was set at 0.25% since 2016, its historic low. In particular, after the crisis of 2007-09, the ECB had to continue to cut its reference rate several more times in subsequent years, among other cases, to assist countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Greece, as well as countless other problems it had to face.

Let us remember that German bond yields, as well as those of many other Eurozone countries, have been negative for years. This meant that, by February 2020, in the face of the COVID-19 surge, the ECB had very limited room for maneuvering in its monetary policy.

Different was the case in the United States, where although the financial crisis of 2007-09 forced the Fed to cut its rate to historic lows, from 2016 to 2019 the rate could be increased successively. This fact, let us also recall, had inspired innumerable criticisms from Donald Trump towards Jerome Powell and the Fed, indicating that the Fed had made bad decisions by not cutting its rate, as while other countries in the world could place their debt (sell their bonds) at negative rates, a positive rate was still payable in the United States.

This difference between the starting position of both central banks ended up being decisive in our opinion, as it allowed the Fed to take drastic measures in the face of the COVID-19 crisis and the ECB could not do so.

“Different was the case in the United States, where although the financial crisis of 2007-09 forced the Fed to cut its rate to historic lows, from 2016 to 2019 the rate could be increased successively.”

As we know, very early on in March, the Fed was able to cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points in the face of the sharp decline in equity markets. This move, while failing to contain the falls, was a sign that the Fed was ready to act.

-On March 15, again as an exceptional measure outside the FOMC meeting schedule, the Fed cut its rate again, this time directly to zero.

-On March 23, in addition to the previous measures, the Fed committed to an asset purchase plan to expand its balance sheet (quantitative easing) by a total amount, in principle, unlimited funds, an unprecedented measure.

Closer in time, on Apr 9, the Fed announced a new plan to inject up to $2.3 billion into the economy, including the purchase of state or municipal bonds. As is clear, the Fed’s monetary policy response was swift and drastic and adds to the fiscal policy that was also conducted in the United States with the same characteristics.

The Fed’s monetary policy response was swift and drastic and adds to fiscal policy. The ECB’s starting position was very different, with its interest rate almost at zero, it had no room for further cuts. All the ECB’s actions with regard to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 were limited to a single intervention, on 18 March, with the announcement of an asset purchase plan (quantitative easing) for 750 billion euros, substantially lower (one third) the one announced by the United States. The lack of further action by the ECB has been strongly questioned by analysts.

“The ECB’s starting position was very different, with its interest rate almost at zero, it had no room for further cuts.”

We believe that the criticisms are adequate, but it is often omitted to consider that the starting situation with which both central banks faced the COVID-19 crisis was clearly different. If we look at the positive side, there is indeed one thing to be recognised about the ECB’s only intervention, it seems to have been with timing or decision of the right time. The starting situation with which both central banks faced the COVID-19 crisis was clearly different.

As we know, the intervention is 18-Mar, which practically coincides with the minimum of the stock markets. In other words, we see that the ECB had far fewer tools at its disposal than the Fed, but it used them with better judgment, at least in the decision of the moment.

In conclusion, US equity markets have suffered smaller declines than Europeans and have recovered faster, although behind this is greater Fed intervention (at a higher cost of resources for that central bank).

The ECB was more modest, with only one intervention, but more precise at the time of making it, which implies a much lower cost of resources for that central bank. What seems very clear is that investors believe that the US economy has a greater capacity and potential to face this extreme event compared to Europe, which, while hit by the pandemic at first, The next few weeks will be dramatic for America.

The United States starts from a better baseline, good employment indicators, and modest but acceptable growth, and has the institutional capacity to react more quickly to problems. On the other hand, the Eurozone is based on a vulnerable situation, a stagnant economy and high levels of unemployment for the level of development, The same institutional complexity that has not allowed it to re-emerge from this macroeconomic situation is what leads to a lack of responsiveness.

“The United States starts from a better baseline, good employment indicators, and modest but acceptable growth, and has the institutional capacity to react more quickly to problems.”

Only the ECB was able to carry out measures, because of its independence, but with little room for maneuvering. On the other hand, the main European leaders have not coordinated powerful measures to get out of this extreme situation. For all these reasons, once again the North American stock market is better positioned to recover in relation to its European counterpart and this has been reflected by the market, unless once and for all the Eurozone wakes up.

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Forex Market

Covid-19 and Dow Jones: Market Collapse and Prospects

The coronavirus epidemic appeared in January 2020, but markets reacted with a collapse only at the end of February. Until then, the epidemic once widespread in China was considered local. But after the emergence of an outbreak in Italy and many other new cases in Europe, it ended the patience of traders. If we look […]

The coronavirus epidemic appeared in January 2020, but markets reacted with a collapse only at the end of February. Until then, the epidemic once widespread in China was considered local. But after the emergence of an outbreak in Italy and many other new cases in Europe, it ended the patience of traders. If we look […]

The coronavirus epidemic appeared in January 2020, but markets reacted with a collapse only at the end of February. Until then, the epidemic once widespread in China was considered local. But after the emergence of an outbreak in Italy and many other new cases in Europe, it ended the patience of traders. If we look at the context of a profound fall in production, and a break in economic ties and, Dow Jones lost more than 20% in just 3 weeks. Has the fund been reached yet? Is the coronavirus so terrible? What are the Dow Jones’ prospects for the future? Let’s try to answer the questions raised in this article.

Dow Jones Crash: Stock Market Crash Due to Coronavirus Panic

From February 21 to March 12, in just under 3 weeks, Dow Jones has lost more than 20%, plummeting from an all-time high of 29551-29219 to 23553. During the last week of February, the world market lost 5 trillion dollars. In capitalization, the US stock market lost 1.7 trillion US dollars. Financial Times rated the first week of panic as the worst since the 2008 crisis.

Dow Jones and Coronavirus: Overview of Events

Finally, an imminent coronavirus epidemic was discussed in January this year, when China began to record a truly dramatic increase in the number of people infected. The epidemic partially affected several countries in Asia, but US stock markets did not respond to this, and on February 18, Dow Jones updated its record high to 29,551. Investors felt that the epidemic was local, not dangerous, and would soon be taken under control.

Expectations for a quick solution to the epidemic were not met. On 21 February, the Italian authorities reported the first six cases, the following day there were 50. This was enough, and investors immediately withdrew their capital from all world markets for fear of the further spread of coronavirus. The mass-selling panic continued during the following week.

“Misfortunes never come alone.”

At the end of February, it was hoped that the would almost reach and the thaw would begin. At that time, according to WHO, the number of new cases recorded daily was decreasing, and markets took the news positively. In early March, Dow Jones even climbed a bit. And perhaps the upward movement could continue, were it not for the dispute between OPEC and Russia.

Another OPEC meeting was held from 4 to 6 March, where it was decided to extend the agreement ending on 1 April to reduce oil production. There is no clear justification for why Russia flatly refused to extend the agreement, but more events took place as follows:

Saudi Arabia, interested in maintaining the agreement, practically declared a price war. Saudi Aramco Corporation was instructed to offer customers record discounts (6-8 dollars per barrel). As of April 1, Riyadh will dramatically increase oil production from 9.6 million to 10, 11, and 12 million barrels per day.

There is information indicating that Russia will seek to remove US oil shale production from the market, as it ceases to be profitable when the price of oil is less than USD 40. There were also vague indications in the Russian media recently that the rouble should weaken slightly. In other words, this scenario was predictable.

On March 9, many quotes from several markets, including Dow Jones, showed another record decline. On that same day, the Dow Jones dropped 7.79% in just one day, reaching a minimum of 52 weeks. The most stable stocks were those of Walmart Inc (-0.06%), Virizon Communications Inc (-1.83%), Pfizer Inc (-3.60%). The shares of Dow Inc (-21.66%), Chevron Corp (-15.37%), Caterpillar Inc (-14.28%) fell more than all.

What Steps Should Investors Take Now?

The current situation with the expansion of coronavirus in Europe is still quite tense today. According to WHO statements, in Europe cases are increasing. Italy remains the country most affected at the moment. On March 10, the country registered around 1000 new cases of the disease and 168 deaths, the country is now under lock and key. Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic are entering quarantine. Cases of the disease have already been reported in Turkey, Georgia, Bolivia, Panama, and Jamaica. Analysts believe that in developing countries (e.g., CIS), statistics could be even sadder because, for various reasons, coronavirus cases can be diagnosed as regular flu or simply hidden.

But not everything is so bad. China has officially declared that the coronavirus epidemic is fading in the country. The growth rate of the disease in recent days is 0.023%, the number of new cases of coronavirus is 10.03, 74% of those infected have already recovered, 16 temporary hospitals have been closed.

Although WHO has described the outbreak of coronavirus as a pandemic, the organization admits that the common flu occurs every year and that between 40 and 45 million people are infected, 600,000-650,000 of them die from the flu or its complications. WHO fights with new types of viruses every year, however, this does not result in such a dramatic collapse of markets, panic, and quarantine.

Based on the above, there are certain unknowns:

Who will benefit from the coronavirus-fueled panic? Corporations lose billions, transport communications (logistics, tourism) are interrupted, production volume decreases. But, if the coronavirus mortality rate is 3.4% (WHO data), and the flu/pneumonia mortality rate is 7.1% (CDC data, USA), could the problem be exaggerated? Although statistical data can be skilfully manipulated, only the coronavirus can be compared with influenza or tuberculosis.

Is the coronavirus the most important reason for the Dow Jones accident? Was the pandemic just a trigger? Could it be the last straw in the US stock market that had been pushed extremely hard before?
The solution to these unknowns will give us a clue about the future of the global stock market, including Dow Jones.

This looks like this:

Optimistic: It took China two months to fight the epidemic. The coronavirus is at its peak in Europe, so the situation will be uncertain for at least a month. During this time, the Dow Jones can lose another 10% or more in a panic and drop to 2018 levels. Given the performance of the index in recent years, things are not so bad.

WHO officials point out that the epidemic in China may have begun to decline due to warming, as the virus is supposed to die at high temperatures. The world community should therefore begin to calm down as early as May. Meanwhile, Russia and Saudi Arabia should agree on oil prices (no one benefits from current oil prices), so another problem of geopolitical and trade uncertainty will be solved. The US shares that reached the bottom in May should roll back to historic highs again, amid optimism, the resumption of trading and economic activities, and increased business activity. Although the shares will barely cover the losses quickly, investors, having entered long positions at the lows, will be able to earn 15-20% from Dow Jones alone.

Pessimistic: Panic in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic will fade, yet it will be remembered for a long time. Despite the injection of cash from central banks, the global community will not quickly restore the previous pace of economic growth. That’s why stock markets will recover very slowly if they do. Dow Jones’ situation is even more complicated. Analysts predict that the US stock market is overheated. According to wave theory, a long-term crisis should now begin. And if at the end of February the recession could be called local, there is now a bearish trend. The bearish trend could be strengthened in the midst of the US presidential election this fall. At best, Dow Jones will shrink further and consolidate at the bottom until the end of the year. In the most tragic scenario, the situation in 2008 can be repeated.

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Forex

Forex & The Covid Exodus Effect

https://youtu.be/WI8BQ6LW_xE

https://youtu.be/WI8BQ6LW_xE

 

The Covid Exodus Effect

While not exactly in biblical proportions, the covid-19 pandemic has had a dramatic effect on people who have been cooped up in lockdown and more worryingly seen the terrible effect of how the virus spreads like wildfire in compacted and highly densely populated areas, such as inner cities.

It is easy to understand how city dwellers who have been restricted to one place for an extended period of time could not wait to rush to the rural areas in the United Kingdom and US for example, where a dramatic increase in people was noted in the numbers wanting to be closer to nature and away from the threat of catching the virus in the city’s.

Buxton lagoon


Many of these were offered a curt, go home, message from local people in villages and areas such as Snowdonia national park and other villages in Wales, where people erected signs telling visitors to return home. Famously, Derbyshire police dyed the Buxton blue lagoon, the colour black to try and deter tourists from visiting.
One of the most concerning aspects of the pandemic was that people were worried there would have be food shortages, however, global supply chains held up remarkably well, and after bouts of panic buying store shelves were quickly replenished, even in rural areas, thus people relaxed about this and went back to their normal level of buying. But the fact that rural areas were not badly affected has given city people more confidence in moving out to the suburbs. After all the virus would appear to be with us for some time, and it is much easier to socially distance in a more rural location than it is living cheek-by-jowl in a city.

Another aspect all over the globe is that people who have been locked up in their apartments and houses have had a chance to think about what is important to them in life, and there is nothing more like being surrounded by sickness and death to make one realise what is important.
And while the technology to enable people to work remotely has been around for many years, employers have been unwilling to implement this style or running their businesses, perhaps because they prefer the face to face working experience, and also so they can keep an eye on their employee’s productivity.

Canary Wharfe

However, the feature of allowing people to work remotely has been largely successful, and where are large institutions such as HSBC in Canary wharf have suggested that there will be a greater move away from insisting that people work in their offices there. Productivity has been up for some firms whose staff have been working remotely, and there are the huge savings that can be made in owning and maintaining commercial properties, or simply selling them or giving up rentals, and no business rates. And although this might have the effect of causing a collapse in the value of commercial properties, there is always the opportunity to convert such buildings into much needed residential homes for those people who do want to remain living in cities.


But this type of thing has been going on for hundreds of years where cities change because of disease: It was the cholera outbreak in the 19th century which claimed the lives of 10,000 people, which brought about the need for a modern sewage system. This may never have been identified without the outbreak.
From the Athens plague in 430 BC and the black death in the middle ages, even through to the more recent Ebola epidemic across sub-Saharan Africa and of course, the currents Covid outbreak, all have brought about changes in the way that people live their lives, they change government policies, transportation, medical research and treatment, the way our children are educated, supply chains, and where many countries, including the USA and UK, are now looking to bring home from overseas productions and third party suppliers, in order to be more self-reliant and all of which has come about due to the Covid virus pandemic.

US HOUSING STARTS


The improvements in housing starts for June in the United States has been put down two people looking to buy and build homes in rural areas. This is seen as the growth aspect to the housing market in the United States right now.
And the same is true in the United Kingdom where estate agents are reporting a surge in the number of would be homebuyers who are looking to move out of city areas into rural or smaller towns. Again, this is pretty much down to the success of home working, which is seen as one of the only positive things to come out of the pandemic, and a need for a better quality of life with less chance of contracting diseases such as Covid.
Here at forex academy, we are also predicting an even greater rise in people looking to trade currencies and crypto coins from home. The timing has never been better. The technology exists, the market has been remarkably unaffected, and has been one of the real winning business to have flourished during this horrendous pandemic.

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Crypto Daily Topic

How Blockchain is Being Deployed to Support Anti-Coronavirus Efforts All over the World

Blockchain is being used in the fight against Covid-19, the novel disease that emanated from China’s Wuhan in December last year and has spread to almost every territory in the world. As at the time of writing, 98, 387 people have died from the disease, and a 1, 633, 083 others have been infected. 

Blockchain is being used in the fight against Covid-19, the novel disease that emanated from China’s Wuhan in December last year and has spread to almost every territory in the world. As at the time of writing, 98, 387 people have died from the disease, and a 1, 633, 083 others have been infected. 

Blockchain is being used in the fight against Covid-19, the novel disease that emanated from China’s Wuhan in December last year and has spread to almost every territory in the world. As at the time of writing, 98, 387 people have died from the disease, and a 1, 633, 083 others have been infected. 

Governments and other organizations are scrambling to fight off the disease, and blockchain is aiding these efforts. Universities, the medical, and the private sectors are harnessing the power of blockchain to fight the virus. 

Let’s take a look at some of the ways: 

Blockchain for Monitoring Coronavirus Data 

Hashlog is a blockchain-based data visualization tool by blockchain applications developer, Acoer. Via Hashlog, people can understand and follow the global spread and impact of the virus easily. It combines information and data from a large set of publicly available data, including the World Health Organization’s. 

Hashlog maintains an updated catalog of the total number of infections worldwide, deaths from the disease, cases per country, as well as trends on Google based on interest and region. Thanks to the immutable nature of blockchain, data shared cannot be manipulated or altered in any way. The tool is automated such that data is updated automatically, and researchers and scientists can have a dynamic dashboard to guide them in their work.

Blockchain for Contract Tracing 

Pennsylvania’s Villanova University Department of Electrical And Computer Engineering is developing a platform to fight against the Coronavirus by utilizing a trio of blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and internet of things (IoT) technologies to assist healthcare facilities track coronavirus cases globally. 

The system relies on a private blockchain accessible by healthcare facilities all over the world to publish Covid-19’s test results among doctors on a transparent, secure, and immutable ledger. IoT and AI are used to conduct surveillance on public spaces where people would originally gather, but which would be high-risk for now. Any such gathering triggers alerts over the blockchain. 

These alerts will assist health care providers in making more informed and strategic decisions on how to allocate medical resources that are already in short supply. 

Hasshi Sudler, an adjunct professor at the university’s department, told Coindesk: “Medical institutions, whether they know each other or not, whether they trust each other or not, can exchange information about who they know that is infected and to maintain contact with who is infected, over the blockchain.”

Blockchain for Social Distancing

Spherity is a Berlin-based startup that has developed a decentralized identity system that helps Covid-19 patients get medication while maintaining social distance. Through the Spherity prototype, patients can share their digital fingerprints and know-your-customer (KYC) credentials with doctors in a user-friendly cloud-based and blockchain ecosystem. 

Once their patient’s KYC’s credentials are matched with their health records, they can be issued with an electronic prescription with which they can access medication. 

In another case of blockchain assisting the enforcing of social distancing, the Honduran government has deployed a blockchain based app to track and manage social distancing and lockdown orders. The country’s emergency response unit, together with the Inter-American Development Bank, tech startup Emerge, tech company Penta Network have come together to launch a program called Civitas, which will help in managing telemedicine as well as the permission for people to leave their houses for specific errands. 

If someone feels sick, they will engage with healthcare professionals from the National University of Honduras to determine if the symptoms are for Covid-19. Then, people with symptoms suspected to be related to the virus are directed to healthcare facilities that exclusively deals with it, reducing exposure to vulnerable populations in the region’s other hospitals.

Blockchain for Covid-19 research

About 6000 Ethereum miners are contributing to Stanford University’s Folding@home distributed computing Project. This project pools together GPU power from across the world to search for a cure for Covid-19. 

These miners Belong to CoreWeave, the largest US Ethereum mining pool. And now, they are redirecting the processing power of more than 6000 specialized computers towards the project.

Folding@home is a long-standing Research project Dedicated to finding cures for diseases from Alzheimer’s to Ebola and recently, Coronavirus. It aims to do this by connecting thousands of computers from the globe to form one big distributed supercomputer for the research of a cure for the disease. CoreWeave’s GPU machines, which are designed to perform repetitive calculations, double the power of the distributed network.