emily: i'm emily chang in san francisco and this is "bloomberg technology." facebook's crypto play. the tech giant unveils a new cryptocurrency called libra that they hope will be used as widely as the dollar. skeptics are speaking out. jinpingt trump and xi will meet at the g20 to relaunch trade talks, triggering a rally

in the market. amazon and netflix targeted in a campaign from a large group of investors: for transparency in environmental impact -- investors calling for transparency in environmental impact. facebook is launching a cryptocurrency called libra. they want you to think of it like the u.s. dollar but when you can use globally. it is backed by government supported currencies. it is the culmination of a year-long effort as facebook seeks to spur growth on various platforms. uber, visa,ipe, mastercard or among almost 30 companies supporting the project. will this make it to the mainstream or will it be another overhyped facebook product that doesn't take off?

tweeted,herrod brown "facebook is already too big and too powerful and uses data to exploit privacy. we cannot allow facebook to run a cryptocurrency out of a swiss bank account without oversight." kurt, let's start with what exactly is libra and can we use it? kurt: right now, you can't use it. the idea is you would take a physical currency, convert it into this digital currency, and use it in the way you use other money online. friend,send it to a purchase a new parachute with it. you can use it around the globe, not just on facebook and not within the united states. methods oftenment

take years to take off. just look at apple pay. let's look at the reality of, if and when this is launched next year, how it would be used? julie: it would let me send money to someone in another maybe a may a friend -- friend here. they already have millions of customers around the globe they could market this to. the issue with largely deregulatory. depending on what they use it for depends on which regulator gets involved. as you mentioned, going into skepticism.ism and this thing could never get off the ground. it doesn't matter how smart your team is. if regulators give this a no, it

.ill never be a product licensestransmissions for europe, each state. they definitely have the right team but everything moves slowly in fin tech. to bitcoin.imilar they have a 2 billion user base already. emily: the goal of cryptocurrency is decentralized, no middleman. doesn't matter when it is backed by a public company called facebook? that is why they created a nonprofit group out of europe called the lever association, so facebook is just a partner. it is a nonprofit decentralized coin they are trying to sell it as. emily: talk to us a little bit

about how this works. facebook has responded to criticism from senator brown especially about what they get out of it. kurt: if you think that messaging in the way julie described it, payments, could be a good business, they have one billion users on whatsapp and messenger. the idea of maybe lending money one day, doing banking services. more immediately, facebook would say, the more people who have a wallet on their phone with currency they are willing to spend, the more attractive we are as an advertising platform. if you are nike, maybe you want to go to facebook because people librag your ad have the currency right there on their phone ready to spend. toly: let's take a listen how facebook describes the

currency stored in libra. we spoke to david marcus this morning, the executive running this project who also ran paypal for many years. david: the reserve is a very important component of the stability of this digital currency. we welcome open conversations with regulators to figure out how to drive accountability and transparency for the libra association, notably on the reserve. emily: how is the finance community receiving this idea? julie: it depends who you talk to. a lot of u.s.-based companies don't see as much of a use case for this as those internationally. david'steresting to see former company paypal partnering but you also have to take a step back to see who is not on that list. none of the big tech companies. apple, amazon, google are

absent. none of the big banks either. in the interview david gave, he did say he expects some of them to sign on by the time they launch. partners to get to 100 by next year. i think a component of this would be getting buy-in from big tech and big finance. emily: the people excited about this are saying it is like aol for the internet, it's going to bring cryptocurrency to the masses. is that an exaggeration? think it is definitely possible. it is the same use case that bitcoin had. easily accessible, it has the right use cases and user base to go after it. and asia, and a lot of people in asia, a lot of people use we chat as payment options.

i think the banks will come on board. facebook has the power to make this happen. aily: that said, there is graveyard of facebook products that never really got off the ground. certainly, facebook would love to have a counter narrative to tackle the two years of bad news. what makes this different? kurt: i think the biggest difference is the collection of partners they are bringing in. it is one thing for facebook to roll something out that is facebook-specific and it doesn't work. when it involves paypal, visa, uber, there are a lot of people who have at least some skin in the game. i think you could argue facebook has the most, but if they brown and a lot of other partners cap -- if they bring on a lot of other partners, there's a lot of incentive. skepticsme of the

might say, facebook has so much of my information, why should i give them my financial information as well? facebook also formed this other libra totion called ca handle privacy issues so it can be used in facebook as targeting. but how confident can we be? how much can we trust facebook in the execution? going into itow that they have to make sure that there is a separate entity for consumers to make sure that this is something that you will not be using my data to target me. they have to be careful and make sure they talk with regulators. the second they lose this trust and that is proven wrong, there's so little incentive for someone to come on and use this. facebook has tried payments before and it never taken off so this is like one last big shot

to make it work. if you lose consumer trust in finance, that is big to come back from. kurt, and sonny, thank you all. to purchase assets that t-mobile and sprint are unloading. dish had been on a short list of bidders favored by the justice department. t-mobile and sprint have already agreed to sell boost mobile to get approval from the ftc. coming up, president trump announces that he and xi will have an extended meeting at the g20 after "a very good phone call" today. if you like bloomberg news, check us out on the radio, the bloomberg app, bloomberg.com, and in the u.s., on sirius xm. this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: president trump's top trade representative appeared before the senate finance committee and continued to stress the administration's view that china's taking advantage of the united states. 301 toave used section investigate unfair trade practices with china. we believe our economic relationship with china has been unbalanced and grossly unfair to american workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses for decades. 's sarahloomberg mcgregor is with us, who leads our economic policy coverage. what were the highlights of what lighthizer had? tosay today sarah: -- had to say today?

sarah: president trump tweeted that he and he jinping had agreed to break the stalemate and have these talks at the g20. u.s. officials and chinese officials are trying to get a trade deal restarted again. emily: what should we read from president trump's description of his phone call with president xi and the fact that the two sides will start talking ahead of their meeting at the g20? sarah: as soon as the markets heard news that trump was saying the talks would happen at the g20, the financial markets jumped. this was. seen as a really good sign. when you read between the lines, a white house statement came out saying that trump had said that

there need to be structural changes. it is clear that neither side is backing down from their position. the u.s. wants china to make these reforms. china come on the other hand, china,hat it calls a -- on the other hand, once what it calls a balanced agreement. talks broke down when china backtracked from the commitment to codify changes into laws that would ensure the u.s. that it some protect ip, protect things like state subsidies. those issues haven't been resolved. the meetings my chart a path forward for talks. emily: you have similar kind of mixed messages coming out of beijing. jinpingmedia saying xi is willing to meet with president trump and exchange views.

certainly in the united states, there are many who are unhappy with these tariffs. how does president trump x and presiden -- president trump and president xi kind of walk this line? sarah: you said it right that these tariffs have been unpopular. lighthizer was testifying before the finance committee and many --ators said, while we have while we agree on getting tough on china, the approach has been working. that wouldd tariffs hit toys, smartphones, consumer products that have been spared so far. these companies are basically unanimous in saying that the tariffs in place have hurt us. if you put them on the rest, this would be the final straw for us.

it would raise consumer prices and cause pain and job losses. trump is under pressure, launching his political campaign today, to spare the agricultural heartland and manufacturing. hejust don't know how much is motivated by this to get a deal with china that might fall short of some of the promises he has made to be super tough on them. emily: thank you very much, bloomberg's sarah mcgregor. coming up, calling out big tech companies not over privacy but over their carbon footprint. why investors are saying enough is enough. we are livestreaming on twitter. technology.here @ this is bloomberg. ♪

emily: google is pledging $1 million to tackle san francisco's housing crisis. the tech giant will repurpose some of its own land for residential use. go other $250 million will to incentives for developers to build 5000 affordable housing units. the success of the company has massively driven up housing prices in the bay area. middle income residents have been squeezed out as tech earners have snapped up real estate with new apartments in short supply. names like amazon and facebook are being called out for how they report or don't report carbon emissions. they are among 700 companies targeted in a campaign backed by investors and companies like

hsbc. they want greater transparency when it comes to the environmental impact of these companies. in new york, we have jesse mikel keenan of harvard, who is also of iced -- who has also advised cities and states. a ventureest with capital firm. tech's carbons footprint? you don't usually equate them with power plants or the makers of bluejeans, for example, but they do have a bigger carbon footprint in a different way? from serverint is farms. a big push ton think in terms of sustainability, not just in terms of primary energy

generation but also in terms of offset. i think, as you suggest, the next frontier is thinking across the organization, the enterprise-level, to think about climate change and climate adaptation from primarily a risk management point of view. emily: what is your take on some new companies whose feet are held to the fire? >> it depends what new companies you are talking about. in the tech world, many of them are forward thinking about sustainability and impact for their shareholders, customers, and employees. there's a whole host of different methodologies that you can measure. there's over 150 different frameworks used. one of the most frequently cited is the carbon disclosure project. howy: how would you rate tech companies are at this moment about their carbon

footprint? jesse: i think it varies. pick on amazon for a second. amazon has arguably an unsustainable model when it comes to logistics. if a carbon tax or implemented, our amazon prime accounts would not have a great deal of economic parity. it would be too expensive. then you have other companies not oriented toward logistics or retail, who i think are better suited to engage energy efficiency and other technologies. i think it runs the gamut. emily: amazon says they have set a goal to reach 50% of all amazon shipments with net zero carbon by 2030. but can we really rely on the companies themselves to do the right thing or do they need outside pressure from investors

and activists? abe: i think they certainly need pressure. there's a rising tide and trend of investor and stakeholder support, pushing for efforts. we could list about 10 different efforts in that area. this has all caused tech companies in general to do good things. six to percent renewable is a good thing for amazon from their power procurement. 100%.re going to that is all net positive. i think amazon has a unique challenge in that it is a tech company but it also ships a lot of stuff. that is a huge carbon footprint. emily: we all get so many amazon boxes and we don't want to do with them. abe: i would love to find a sustainable packaging solution to replace the boxes. emily: this is all happening at the same time that the trumpet ministration is rolling back

much of the work -- the trump administration is rolling back much of the work that was done on climate regulations. can they really lead on sustainability when perhaps the political winds are blowing elsewhere? jesse: it is not really the case that corporations and the private sector have to be led by the hands of government in terms of regulation. the fact of the matter is that this is good for business. not just thinking about climate change risks, but climate change opportunities. we were talking a couple of minutes ago about the carbon disclosure project. we now have a task force for climate financial disclosure which i think gives companies a robust methodology by sector to think about a wide range of risks and opportunities. this isn't altruism. this is about making money.

i think what we are going to see in the future, and it is emerging now, a greening and browning of asset classes. i think companies will soon fall into that one way or the other. emily: speaking of making money, i assume there's an investment opportunity in the companies that can help these bigger companies decreased carbon footprints. abe: there's always an opportunity. our investors are pushing for these changes through their investments. the university of california is pushing this through us and their investments. emily: thank you both. coming, we will continue our coverage of facebook's announcement of a new cryptocurrency with our conversation with the man leading this emergent of -- this

initiative. david marcus, we will hear from him next. this is bloomberg. ♪ we're the slowskys.

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this is bloomberg technology. i'm emily chang. facebook unveiling plans for new cryptocurrency called libra. that will launch as soon as next year. we have lots of questions. an weisenthal spoke with executive at facebook to talk about how the cryptocurrency will be regulated. databasehe best structure because if you want centralized governance, this is the best way to achieve it. routet to the blockchain because we will have a hundred

different global organizations to dissipate in this new network. 27 organizations right now. we needed a way to decentralize governance because no one company should control a network that is basically a protocol for value on the internet. >> that's talk about launch partners. one thing people notice is there are no other major tech companies and no traditional existing banks as we know them. where they approached? were there any reason for their absence? >> i know you want to talk about all the companies that are not here. i think we can take a moment and recognize the remarkable organizations that are already joining us. just to reestablish this, this is very early. the seven organizations right now. 100 by the time we launch.

-- 27 organizations right now. see other large technology companies and i definitely expect to see more diversity in terms of geographical distribution and the like. there is so much work ahead. >> let's talk about the structure of how the currency is used specifically. if i were to acquire libra on an exchange, mi able to move those coins to a wallet of my own holding with my own keys like i am able to do with it going? >> yes. -- thee are starting blockchain will be open meaning people and companies can build services on top of the blockchain. you don't need to be a member of the association to build a wallet on top of this new network. we will have a lot of competition for our own wallet area >> the wallet can be

off-line. i can be something in which can hold my keys and coin on a computer or usb drive or a laptop that is disconnected from the network and nobody needs to know that i haven't area >> yes. >> what i be able to transfer those coins to a third party? would i be able to send you those coins the at the blockchain in a way that no entity whether it is facebook or the launching partners would know about? are we able to transact in a way that no third party is able to see it? >> third-party would be able to see it because it will validate transactions and even if you transact on your own on the blockchain the same way others -- noon, third parties one specific party can actually see transactions. the one thing i want to say is despite the fact that noncustodial wallets were you

can manage your private key and move money around will exist, the on and off ramps are going to be regulated. the custodial wallets will be regulated. that doesn't mean that we should not enable a form of digital cash transactions to happen on top of this new network. >> the existence of a digital cash for obvious reasons creates all kinds of regulatory issues because in theory, if i am able to transact with someone in a permission this way, we could be doing something with illegal whether it is debating capital controls, buying drugs whatever it is. how do you enable that kind of free exchange while also dealing with the regulatory bodies that in going to be existing scrutinizing this project all over the world? >> that is a great question. i'm glad you asked it. first thing, we have decided not to enable crypto primitives on this blockchain that would enable will be call shielded transactions.

meaning that if you are a criminal and you want to transact on a network, this will not be our network of choice because accounts are not anonymous or shielded. law enforcement can do their thing the same way they are doing it with that coin. -- bitcoin. the current effectiveness of anti-monday the -- money a lowring is catching percentage of money laundering happening in the world. the vast majority of money laundering is happening in the cash. people to join a digital network with digital money with regulated on and off ramps meaning if you want to libra youney into will have to go through regulated entities. shieldingthat, no transactions enabling regulators to observe themselves what is

going on with the network. only relying on institutions to report transactions i think will only improve the effectiveness of money laundering. that is definitely being done with this in mind. you can have the best of both worlds. enabling people to use digital cash and be their own custodian. and at the same time, not only meet the regulatory requirements that improve on the effectiveness of money laundering programs. that was david marcus with facebook. talking to us about libra. we have breaking news about maxine waters. she is asking for facebook to testify on its cryptocurrency plans and to halt any development of a new cryptocurrency until they

testify and regulators can review it. this was coming from reuters. again, maxine waters asking facebook to halt development of libra until congress and regulators can review it. we talked earlier about skeptics and lawmakers speaking out. this will be an uphill battle for facebook to win over regulators as facebook is the link with other regulatory issues on multiple other fronts. president trump recently suggested that the u.s. should follow the example of russell's bureaucrats in hitting with antitrust regulations and fines. sat down with a ceo and talked about what she is watching as antitrust investigations potentially take center stage in the tech industry. any platform, i think it

is good that there is a discourse around topics like antitrust or privacy and clearly more scrutiny is needed. vimeo, the role that we expect to play is we will continue to partner with any entity that is looking to make sure that platforms like us are operating responsibly. that is the tech that we are taking. i imagine google should be taking a similar tack. youtube, i know you consider that more of a partner than competitor, help bit of a job are they doing at controlling and dust inappropriate content? >> youtube as well as other platforms, we could all be doing a better job. that is quite clear. we're all constantly investing in things like trust and safety and what are the right guidelines.

we are fortunate in that our community of creators tend to be , andssionals, filmmakers we don't all have the same challenges that youtube and facebook have. we take that work and that responsibility very seriously and we are constantly looking at ways to improve our processes and guidelines to make sure that the environment for our users is safe. >> i am curious about how to -- what you think of the likes of gopro. content isfocus on focused on what we are not doing. software for service company. we build a tool for a creator or small business to be able to make and distribute their videos online. that is not on us specifically as everywhere all over the internet.

gopro -- we are quite agnostic. that means we try to integrate with any software, any camel -- , anyway you are try to make video we are a good partner. you said the business is fantastic. is there a point at which you might consider spinning off? see a hugenow, we market opportunity and we have the capital and resources in our parent company to go after that opportunity with focus. now, i am very interested in execution and doing the things -- if the time came that we needed to consider an ipo, we could and would. our parent company has a great

track record of that. emily: coming up, something fishy. teaching or self-driving car have to manage the road. that is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

alphabet investors are calling for a clawback of executive pay. google execs accused of sexual harassment got paid tens of millions index of packages. me toies consider inspired policies. bird brain. valley, thatlicon might become a term of endearment. that is because big tech firms are looking to the minds of birds, mice, and fish to try to make breakthroughs in ai. they are hoping that seven-figure salaries will lower neuroscientists to advance their narrow networks for things like self driving cars. you can read about it in this week. -- businessweek.

this is a fascinating story. what do technologists or tech companies like google have to learn from the mind of a bird? >> it seems incredible. it turns out that finches have the perfect brains for technologists to study. they are complicated enough that you can learn interesting things about how the brain works but they are small enough that you can get in there and watch individual neurons fire and see how birds learn. songbirds are among the only animals that learn to sing from their parents. they don't innately know how to chart or grant. neuroscientists can look at their brains and see how they make decisions. try toy learn things and apply that to artificial intelligence. >> you discovered there has been -- a an influx of experts.

ipo,en twitter had been their chief engineer had studied finches at berkeley. i thought that's kind of odd. i didn't think more of it until it elon musk started a brain machine interface company and his first higher was a bird brain expert from boston university. that is really odd. i started to google it and i noticed that a lot of tech companies have binge scholars working for them. then i found neuroscientists with all kinds of obscure animal expertise talked away in various tech companies in silicon valley. >> let's talk about mice and fish. what do they have to teach

technologists? >> one of the more incredible things i follow doing the reporting for this story was a tiny mouse pop on a tiny joystick playing a videogame atari's kyle -- atari style. this is something that harvard is doing. they have these mice rigged up so that their runs fire different colors when they are playing at these video games. then they watched them, they change the route to see if the mice fall off the virtual tracks. look at how these things might play into how a self driving car can make a decision. zebrafish are ideal because when they are babies, their heads are transparent. you don't even need to do anything fancy to look inside their brains. au would just give them special benign virus southerner

on's light up when they fire so you can watch the runs fire through a microscope. birds, mice and fish scholars to go around? because fascinating these used to be of skewered degrees. there were just a handful of phd's. are thousands of undergraduates in narrow science now. you're a postdoc researcher in academia, you might be making $50,000 a year. if you're working for a silicon valley company, you're probably making at least $200,000 per year. some academic institutions are getting angry that big tech keeps snapping up all of their top grads. waslked to one student who the advisee of a professor who

went to narrowly. as soon as he transferred to berkeley, a second advisor quit to work for a startup. are a lot of holes in academia and a lot of students coming up the ranks to try to fill them area >> and some drama also. check out this piece in bloomberg businessweek. hear more from the editors and reporters every saturday and sunday on this week. still ahead, imagine being able to communicate without cell, wi-fi, or satellite service. we will talk to a ceo making that possible next. ♪

adobe shares are rising after the company announced better-than-expected earnings. mobile communications startup was created after hurricane sandy years ago but today they are marking a new chapter. they raised $24 million in a funding round to help connect off the grid on its mobile mesh network. it is even more impressive knowing that only three companies in the same industry were founded by women. let's talk about the technology. how does this work? >> we leverage the phones that we have on us all the time. to useock the ability

them on a peer-to-peer basis. taking thistially mobile infrastructure around us all the time and unlocking their ability to function without the use of centralized connectivity. we all had this problem. you started out to sing on consumers then pivoted to focusing on the military and first responders. they are obviously important. how big of a market is that for you? a $26 billion per year opportunity. surprise given how important it is for people to put their lives on the line for others to have a lifeline to each other and command. we are proud that our tech elegy is being used to allow these people to command and control their missions more efficiently and get home safely. emily: how much money are you making and can you make?

contract in the public sector is a multimillion dollar contract. our customers subscribe to software on talk of -- on top of that. we're in a space where these customers are used to paying a ton of money for technology that is not upgradable. we are turning that on its head. we see the opportunity for a volume business. andan be in the battlefield firefighters are communicating between their peers. we have innovated not just in creating these mesh networks but also on price. the average unit that we sell is about $800. as you are selling multimillion dollar contracts, you can tell that is quite a lot of units. >> women are underrepresented in tech and entrepreneurship.

women like yourself run into many challenges when trying to raise money. what is lesser known is that women who start companies not focused on women rings like fashion or e-commerce or beauty have it even tougher. how have you overcome the aallenges of raising money in silicon valley community when you're focused on the military? you're focused on a gender-neutral pursuit. >> i think that our technology is exceptional. it helps people in the most high-stakes situations. the reason we have been able to addedd in spite of these biases in silicon valley is because the technology is so him changing. not just application in the public sector but if you believe in a future where billions of things need to be connected at all times, you are going to need a network that is

mobile and low-power low-cost that will make that happen. we believe this will be the underlying communication stack for myriad applications including emerging markets and mass-market area emily: go get him. -- go get them. that does it for this edition of bloomberg technology. on wednesday, we will bring you a one-on-one interview with sheryl sandberg. we always livestreaming on twitter. follow us on tictoc on twitter. as is bloomberg. -- this is bloomberg. ♪ >> welcome to daybreak

australia. we are counting down to asia's major market open. >> here are the top stories. wall street approaches an all-time high over optimism about the trade war. will talktrump tariffs with xi jinping at the g20. opecdi