Bitcoin's roller coaster ride continues, but this time some of the financial establishments

have jumped on board. Could the cryptocurrency be about to go mainstream?

You're listening to Money Talks on Economist Radio, our weekly podcast on the markets,

the economy and the world of business. I'm Ratchan Asharnberg, the economist finance

editor, and coming up on today's show, can the new investment deal agreed by the European

Union and China strike a delicate balance between competition, cooperation and confrontation?

It's not so much naive as deeply cynical. The European leaders, particularly in Germany,

believe that this is almost the last chance to get any concessions out of China.

And what can companies do to bridge the gap between the workforce of today and the jobs

of tomorrow?

People often ask me about the cost. What happens if companies invest to train people and

people leave? And I always say, what if you don't train them in this day?

First Bitcoin, the world's most popular cryptocurrency, had an extraordinary 2020, increasing in value

by more than 300%. It began 2021 that even stronger, hitting a new record on Sunday, January

the 3rd, of more than $34,000, before its stratospheric rise, faulty with a drop of around

10% on Monday. Its recent journey has led some analysts to predict the price will soon

surge into the hundreds of thousands. Others see a bubble soon to burst as happened in

2018. How to make sense of this Whiplash ride?

So 2020 was an incredible year for Bitcoin, which has been on a roller coaster ride,

which is basically for most of its existence. Alice Foward is the economist, Ball Street

correspondent.

In general, Bitcoin is quite an liquid market. It's very fast moving. It tends to see these

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