Today's Opening Belle is brought to you by our partners, Equos and Utrust.

Crypto exchange EQUOS has rebranded to EQONEX, pulling together an entire crypto and digital asset ecosystem under one brand.

Its EQO token has also been gaining significant traction as more people discover it, though it’s still affordable.

Since the launch in April, EQO has risen from 50 cents to $1.80 with a market cap of $30 million which is still small compared to FTT, which has a market cap of $10.4bn or BNB which has a market cap of $58bn.

As a result, traders have been flocking to the exchange and volumes have risen by 100 times indicating a strong appetite from investors to get EQO before the halving happening on June 26^th.

Learn more on eqonex.com

💪 From strength to strength 👇

AND the UK's FCA has just approved Digivault, which provides institutional investors with a solution that makes digital asset custody simple and secure.

Want to incorporate crypto payments into your business? Definitely use Utrust.

Blame the BIS for the title. They released their annual report last week with reference to a 'bumpy pandexit'.

It's well worth a read to keep up with the conversations in policymaking circles if nothing else, and also features lovely charts like this one. 👇

Back on topic, we're finally exiting the pandemic...

Biden has declared victory...

Biden Declares Success in Beating Pandemic in July 4 Speech

A triumphant President Joe Biden all but announced an end to the pandemic in the U.S. on Sunday, celebrating what he called a “heroic” vaccination campaign on the country’s Independence Day holiday.

BloombergJennifer Jacobs

Boris is freeing the U.K...

Covid: Most rules set to end in England, says PM

Boris Johnson says the success of the vaccine means England can begin to look beyond restrictions.

BBC NewsGeorge Bowden

And according to Bloomberg's vaccination tracker more than 3.22 billion doses have been administered across 180 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg.

The latest rate was roughly 36.6 million doses a day!

And the vaccinations are working:

A (UK) story in two charts

The rollout of the vaccination programme has altered everything, reducing both the individual risk and the wider one to the health system.

Hospitalisations

Back in January, about one in 10 infections could be expected to translate into a hospital admission 10 days later.

Now that figure appears to be somewhere between one in 40 and one in 50.

Deaths

In January about one in 60 cases resulted in someone dying.
Today it's fewer than one in 1,000.

Those are the statistics that matter.

The full BBC article 👇

Why it’s time to think differently about Covid

The virus is not the deadly threat it was, but the plan to lift all restrictions is not without risk.

BBC NewsNick Triggle

Now comes the psychological readjustment phase.

A lot of people are now programmed to see risks everywhere.

To some, ANY risk now seems unacceptable and it is totally irresponsible of the government to lift the mask mandate.

And they can probably find any number of examples to prove their case.

Unless the new variants prove vaccine-resistant, the pandemic war is won.

As time passes, even the most extreme viewpoints will adjust

Actually seeing peoples faces in a conversation, taking social cues and having physical contact with other humans is hard-wired into us.

It's the default setting.

For all the media talk of a divided world, we've absolutely bossed it.

The sharing of data, research, and vaccine technology across borders is unprecedented, a truly phenomenal achievement in human history.  

Our ability to adapt and co-operate has reached new heights.

Why humans run the world

History professor Yuval Noah Harari, author of “Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind,” explains why humans have dominated Earth. The reason’s not what you might expect.

ideas.ted.comYuval Noah Harari

It has also opened the door to a new way of life.

Except that's the wrong metaphor, because the biggest change is in NOT opening the door (to leave the house and go to work.)

Flexible working is here to stay, and will become a huge part of the 'new normal'.

It won't work for everyone.

Some industries will be more remote than others.

It's hard to build houses from your home office (for now, at least)...

Even within the same industry there could be differences 👇

What does it mean for the future?

How will companies use this to compete for top workers?

There are already skills gaps emerging in most industries.

The workplace is a social environment where people can learn from others, and chats with colleagues can develop into new ideas, new products and innovation.

How easy is it to learn a 'new job' remotely?

In larger companies, it could be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind' when it comes time to talk promotions.

Coronavirus: How the world of work may change forever

Covid-19 upended our jobs. We’ve tried to adapt, but what about the long term? BBC Worklife asks dozens of experts to flag the biggest questions we should be asking in 2020 and beyond.

BBC Worklife

It could mean more automation too...

Pandemic Wave of Automation May Be Bad News for Workers

The need for social distancing led restaurants and grocery stores to seek technological help. That may improve productivity, but could also cost jobs.

NYTimesBy

And would automation necessarily be a bad thing?

A lot of the jobs that can be automated are jobs that most people don't enjoy anyway...

Will these workers remain unemployed or retrain?

There are arguments in favour too.

Less commuting means less pollution.

More opportunities for parents to balance childcare with working from home.

It's going to be fascinating to see how the 'new normal' jobs market evolves going forward...