much -- >> i'm sorry our customers -- >> i'm coming in soon. >> have supported us throughout the years by buying our sauce up and gift certificates even when we were closed >> we got to go, sal >> so sorry, sal we will definitely be there soon we appreciate you being here today. >> that's going to do it for us on "squawk on the street." i'm going to be in soon, i promise. "techcheck" starts now with a new s&p record good monday morning. welcome to "techcheck. i'm carl quintanilla with jon fortt, deirdre bosa. s&p just hit that all time high this morning nasdaq got one of its own as well, rallying up to more than a

percent at session highs any new price on bitcoin above 50k, we'll talk about that coming up, call it a peek under the hood a debate on robinhood as a host of names initiate the stock. the ceo of klarna will join us as the company hits a record 20 million customers. finally, facebook releasing that previously shelved transparency report we'll talk about some of the data they put forward, that they did not perhaps want you to see earlier later on this hour >> and just in case you're trading those all time highs, we'll start with robinhood, initiation from a number of big banks in some of the first calls by the street since its july ipo. keep in mind, shares are up more than 10% from the ipo pricing, but almost 50% off the highs and analysts overall seem to rate it with neutral or equal rate ratings from several of the

top firms including goldman sa sachs, and rare underweight from jpmorgan mizzuhu calling it not a meme but a sing later for gen-z the stock moving higher today, carl >> the question is where will robinhood go from here fresh off some calls today, piper sand ler, you make the point that the firm's growth has not been without controversy at moments but we believe it has been battle tested and preveiled numerous times explain why you think that narrative continues. >> well, you know, it is a market where there is huge competition, also, you know, they're creating a new category, bringing in investors really that have not been in the market before i think there is a lot of focus

on investor protection and i think that is very fair to think about. but the reality is robinhood is very focused on making sure that they educate their customers and provide an experience that really they can grow with those customers. so we look at it as this is a story much bigger than just trading, and already accumulated 22.5 million customers they want to be the single money app, which is what that means is be a relationship across all financial products to our customers and building products that their customers want and they're building in conjunction with customer feedback we think that there is quite a controversy around, i think they built a business for customers, they got competitive advantages over a number of legacy incumbents and advantages over a number of the finteches as well. >> that transition if we're going to agree it is go to be valued longer term on a broader

portfolio of financial services, how much investment is going to be required and do you expect chop as they make that transition >> yeah, there is always elevated churn when you have extreme growth so we do think there will be some churn and some chop, but they got a tremendous balance sheet now, over $5 billion in cash so they're investing heavily they have been investing heavily. the dogecoin was such a big poise of revenue, they added over 500 head count. it is much larger than what is happening in trading single currencies so i think that's what you have to buy into. they're going to be able to penetrate some of the other markets. if you look at other financial services, their cash management product is an example, they rolled out initially, had some stumbles and rerolled out a product that they now have over

5 million customers using it i think that speaks to the fact that they're building the platform for the customers, and really focused on that versus some of the outside noise. >> devin, that crypto opportunity not lost on other finteches. you said that robinhood wants to be the single money app, but so does every other fintech out there and paypal and square are much further ahead in terms of user accounts. how are you convinced robinhood will be able to turn its young user base and sell them on other products when there is so much more out there >> you know, you're right. there are a couple firms that are arguably robinhood on that front. but robinhood is also far ahead of the -- most of the other firms in the space that are also trying to go toward that opportunity. i think you have to look at through a couple different lenses here. they're investing incredibly high level into crypto spaces. i mentioned added over 5x the number of employees there and i think it is, again, building the

platform for their customers and if they do that well, then they're going to succeed in our opinion. but it is going to be competitive space, always is trading was really competitive when they got in and look what they have done there. that's the point that we're looking at this through. and then this ipo business, i think it could be really a big customer acquisition opportunity for them they added -- six deals on the platform already they have been five times or more oversubscribed and that's a business i think that individuals would be interested in if robinhood can build that out more and get success, that could open them up to an entirely new audience that has not been -- >> you got this outperform, so, you know, got to take the other side to draw the details out what happens when the market cools off. it always does eventually, right now it is so much of what has been driving robinhood is the retail investor, that tends to be really into trading when the

market is hot and then run away when it is not are they going to need more corporate customers? are they going to need 401(k)s and has theirbrand in a sense been tarnished with that more conservative group because it has been associated with gamification through this period >> sure, so, trading is going to ebb and flow that's outside of their control. we have the view that the first half of this year was not normal it was above average and we are going to see some moderation off of that the way we modeled this is they're going to be offering a number of new products to their existing customers and new customers in the coming quarters and coming years and that's going to be instrumental here. robinhood built a platform disrupting incumbents that have legacy tech debt, that have a much higher cost to deliver because they have branches and people and not built for mobile first you look at the existing finteches and there are good

competitors and this is not winner take all market, but robinhood have honed their own destiny and have better economics. that's how they're approaching additional product buildout. so this is not just about trading. in the near term it could be choppy if they succeed, it is about their ability to connect together a number of additional financial products that really help their customers optimize their financial lives. >> that's good stuff, devin, appreciate that very much, we wait -- make our way through 11 initiations on hood today. our apologies to richard petto of piper we had technical issues. we look forward to having richard on the new roadblock facing uber, lyft and doordash. shares of those companies are recovering after big losses premarket after a california judge ruled that proposition 22, that's a state measure,

exempting companies that rely on gig workers from treating them as employees, ruled that it was unconstitutional, despite 60% of state voters supporting the measure last fall. the judge called it a violation of workers compensation law. uber responding to the ruling by saying it defied both logic and the law and about to appeal. the news comes as wall street gets more bullish with morgan stanley calling it a top pick and ever corps and oppenheimer did the same last week the street loves uber, but we got to note, it is -- it has underperformed since ipo, still trading below its ipo price. and agree or disagree with this ruling from the judge, getting a lot of opinions on both sides, it does raise questions about their playbook there is huber, $40 a share. ipo at $40 a share this is the playbook, the one we saw play out in california, that cost millions, hundreds of millions of dollars. trying to bring that same playbook to massachusetts, to

new york, to you could argue even other countries, like the uk and this kind of goes to show that it is not straightforward, even a win isn't just a win here. >> yeah. it is weird, carl, in the sense that it -- i'm used to a direct vote of the people being the primary thing. it is like legislatures, trump what judges do and the will of the people kind of overrides everything so this ruling i'm not a lawyer, but it is a little weird to me as d. says, underscores how muddy the waters continue to be here i don't know what a win looks like for the gig economy companies anymore because i'm not sure their business models work a lot of them doordash seems to be working pretty well. but, you know, look at uber, they changed the way they paid drivers so they could give the more stable paychecks, but now that there is high demand, the drivers want to see the upside in that, the goal posts seem to keep moving. >> yeah. does seem like part of the

judge's problem with this was this requirement to the prop that you would need 7/8 vote to approve any amendments, which he saw as too high of a bar you're right b of a says likely that on appeal this goes to the state court of appeals, if the industry loses there, probably goes to the california supreme court and that could take close to a year. we'll keep our eye on it but that morgan stanley call on uber is interesting. price target 72. >> that could be why you're seeing shares higher now, even though they were lower in the pretrading hours this is going to take a long time to play out so sticking with this latest challenge too, we can't forget it is just uber and lyft and doordash and instacart as well, let's bring in host of the sway podcast kara swisher what do you make of this what do you make of this what does a win look like in the gig economy anymore? that's a great point from jon?

>> it is not a win, it is lawyers. these are the way things go. this is how legislation is made. there was always go to be pushback from unions, which is what happened and figuring out how to give workers benefits and pay they deserve this is a fight that uber had since the beginning when it was created and it will have until it is sorted out properly. so they're going to continueto get legal challenges to whatever they do and wherever they do it and every single municipality they attempt it in california is the biggest and most important but these laws will be fought. i think -- many people think california supreme court will uphold this. where does that leave them negotiating with unions or drivers or a union of some sort to give people a living wage and to protect their healthcare benefits so they just are going to have to pay for what it caosts to hae the people in their system until they can automate everything and they then they don't have to worry about a robot so much.

>> until they can automate everything, but they have detached their autonomous technology units from the company and i wonder you said they're going to have to pay for it but the riders have to pay for it for better or worse some people are comfortable about that what about the business model? does this work are these tech companies or glorified taxi companies at the end of the day >> i had that issue. i asked that to many of the ceos of uber and one of the original ones said until we get to automation, that's going to be a real problem i asked is this a business model that works without charging more money? that's what has to happen. the numbers are quite higher they're not cheap anymore to use uber it costs have to justify expenses that's what is going on here they're going to continue. they can't legislate or push proposition their way out of this one this is a big issue. they have to negotiate with

drivers and get to a place where the business model makes sense and makes sense for the workers. they're not going to hide from this they can't run from it, can't drive away from this we'll see what happens they can say this is a technicality and the voters have spoken, but they haven't spoken and this is not over by a long stretch. >> yeah, but 58% to 60%, that was a pretty significant win for prop 22 and a lot of these gig workers don't want to be employees. look at doordash they say that their dashers on average only work 10 to 15 hours per week it is not their main job it is a side job there are so many layers to different sorts of companies in the gig economy. >> 100%. >> and flexibility is important. i wonder if to some extent we're putting it on the company to -- the companies to solve problems that really society, that governments, that states, that the federal government needs to solve in terms of how do we enable a workforce to be

productive, to be flexible and still have protects for healthcare, for vacation, for sick days, for things like that. >> it is a very big issue. years ago -- ten years ago, talking to gavin newsom, about what an employee is. i did an interview about talking about that what is an employee, how can they carry healthcare from job to job when you have this changing economy, more of these kind of workers, how do you protect them if not, we do have a nation of sort of lords and surfs, right i think it is a bigger issue but the companies are right in the middle this is their business plan to use these workers, to deliver their services and so they're going to have to buy necessities and face legal challenges even if the voters voted this, they did spend a lot of money to get them to vote that way they have to deal with this in a way that is going to continue until they get to some sort of equilibrium from an economic point of view and labor point of view. >> what does this mean i can always count on you to

think big thoughts we're more than two years into a public uber and the stock is treading water at around 40 bucks a share. huge disappointment. this was the poster child of the gig economy. what does it mean that it is still doing that and what does it say about the state of the overall gig economy that it represents. >> it is an expensive business and we always pretend it is not. it has been subsidized by venture capitalists and others and it is a expensive and difficult business to do, like airlines, like a lot of different businesses there is technology that is a critical part of this, it is not the only thing here. a lot of things can be solved by technology that just don't t this is a social issue what is the takeaway it is a tough business uber will not be valued hugely until you get rid of the guy in the front seat and that's not happening anytime soon and so therefore they have to deal with the gi in the front seat and whatever they want, some of them don't want it, some of them

do, but a guy and a woman in the front seat, they have to deal with that. and they're going to struggle with unions, struggle with workers, struggle with governments until that's worked out. >> right not clear when that is going to happen seems a long way off and probably less clear who is going to be the leader there thanks so much >> thanks a lot. >> up next, the ceo of $46 billion fintech player klarna, "techcheck" is just getting started. it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat.

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the fintech company expanding its crypto service to the uk this week. the first international expansion from last year customers will be able to buy, sell and hold digital currencies like bitcoin and ether through the app. the announcement comes as bitcoin tops 50k, the highest level since may 14th and a lot of the crypto names, jon, from june and july lows gains of 70 to 100%. >> and sticking with fintech,

the flexible payment trend, including buy now, pay later, really popular, klarna announcing today it has hit a record 20 million customers in the u.s., doubling its customer base since last june klarna shopping app says it is 4 million monthly active users in the u.s. joining us now, sebastian siemiatkowski. good to have you back. what i wonder here is what the next hill to take is for klarna in particular, and for the space. a lot it seems of the transactions that klarna backs are smaller, relatively speaking is it important to move to larger ticket items and maybe even longer and riskier terms for paying them back >> actually i would say almost the opposite our earnings from other markets have been it is in the purchase

frequency. the more we get into daily transactions it is more important and very occasional big ticket purchase you may be doing. and i feel that, like, in that area i believe that over time we'll see much, much stronger margin compression than we have seen in the last year, which i would, you know, i'm staying away from the high ticket purchases that we're using. >> do you drive that more frequent use through rewards, through the same sort of playbook that credit cards have used but maybe in a different way? >> yes i would say that's definitely one area of it i think big, you know, reason for the shift, customers are tired of interest, tired of credit cards and the banks, tricks, trying to push you into revolving, pay less and 29% interest will hit you next month and there is a strong -- we see

strong sentiment among consumers. they want something true to them, that is not a revolving -- not about pushing credit forward, these things are important, we, to give you one example, our big growth right now, 78,000 stores in the u.s. are now -- we're seeing massive increases in those volumes and the preference of the physical stores as well so that's super exciting and to your point, loyalty program is doing extremely well in incentivizing customers and finding new products and ways to save money >> sebastian, good morning, it is deirdre i wanted to get your take on something controversial in the payment space. that's the latest that payment processors are putting pressure on the company to restrict content and that will hurt their creators now, this is about explicit content, but in the past we have seen finteches and payments companies take stands on what or

what not to process, when it comes to gun controls. do you think fintech companies should be making ethical calls to process or in clklarna's cas finance certain transactions >> great question. i think we're moving towards a massive shift. i saw an announcement of a payday lender being shut down in the u.s. due to the fact they couldn't find investors anymore because nobody wants to support the companies. i think there is a massive strong sustainability shift that is happening in all businesses now. and i think every ceo, every company needs to ask themselves what is our business model, how do we want it to work, what are the type of partners we want to work with. you're forced to take a stance on topics like this and make very difficult decisions not only because necessarily because it is tied to revenue and profit, but because more importantly because sometimes it is so granular, it is hard to make decisions, right? i do think this will be a continuous trend there will be an expectation on

any brand to -- who you associate yourself with and what decisions you make in regards to these topics. >> that's a clear answer, sebastian. are there certain retailers or, you know, transactions that klarna would step back and say we're not going to finance this? >> yes so, for example, we do not touch gambling at all from our perspective. and we have also specifically ethical requirements around adult entertainment and so those are two examples and we also evaluated gun sales and similar items as well from that perspective and this is a much more granular topic as we get into the details of this. but in general i do think -- i think it is the right thing to -- in general, i'm very positive about -- the world is face a massive climate crisis, diversity crisis and i think there is a positive shift to really put sustainability at the core of it and also sustainable

business models what is helping klarna now because the dabanks, how they're tripping customers into higher interest rates and resolving, more and more people are looking and saying is this sustainable? is this good credit cards, they take $70 from poorer house hholds and move points to higher households. >> speaking of models in banking, the street continues to scratch its head about the way in which the buy now pay later sector reports debt performance, they criticize the lack of background checks, they say the default remains a hidden risk. what is the standing answer to that right now >> well, look, i -- we have the fortune to have existed for 16 years so we underscore why and the way we underwrite in this

industry is different. when you apply for a credit card, you get a limit and the bank says go out and spend a thousand dollars and we'll see what happens we take per transaction decision, so we give people $50, we see whether they pay it back, whether they can treat that in their responsible way and if they do, we slow the availability and credit limits of those customers, very different way to underwrite and has prove within our historical 16 years of data our loss rates are half of the credit card industry standards we perform software checks when it makes sense, but that depends on the product and we think as a bank, we're a free regulated bank in europe, we really strongly believe in our i ways underwriting and feel there is no worry from that perspective. >> with the consumer wins, that's a good thing. thanks, sebastian siemiatkowski,

ceo of klarna. >> thank you so much for having me coming up, facebook shelving and then unshelving a transparency report. the details of the company reportedly thought would cause public outcry. that's up next "techcheck" will be right back jason, did you know geico could save you hundreds on car insurance and a whole lot more? cool. so what are you waiting for? mckayla maroney to get your frisbee off the roof? i'll get it. ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ whoa. here you go. (in unison) thank you mckayla! dude, get it. i'm not getting it, you get it. you threw it. it's your frisbee. geico. switch today and see all the ways you could save.

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welcome back to "techcheck." bottom of the hour here, i'm jon fortt. the transparency report, some people think they see right through it julia has the company's newest controversy in a moment. first, a news update from rahel solomon. >> here's what's happening at this hour. a surprise rise in existing home sales last month they rose 2% the second gain in a row following a pullback this spring the inventory of homes for sale also increased from june signaling the slight cooling in the housing market oil prices are breaking a seven session losing streak. wti up 5% today with help from the weakening dollar, texas

crude down more than 10% this month. global dividends on the rebound, a new report forecast that companies will pay out nearly $1.4 trillion in retail this year, that's 3% below the prepandemic peak. and pfizer is paying $2.25 billion to buy a piece of the company that it doesn't already own. trillium helps with the immune system back to you. facebook released its q1 content transparency report after multiple outlets showed they shelved their version because it painted can't in a better light julia boorstin is back and diving into some of those details this morning hi, julia. >> carl, just more tough questions for facebook about

content and transparency and how it does all of these things. facebook released its second quarter report showing a softer side of the platform, the most shared post for those three months was a word puzzle but then friday the new york times reported that facebook had compiled a similar report about content shared in the first quarter. and the times alleged it had not released that report because of concerns that it would look bad. facebook refuted that that is why it didn't release the report, saying rather they didn't release it because of technical issues compiling their report they went on to release the report over the weekend and issued this statement, we considered making the report public earlier, but since we knew the attention it would garner exactly as we saw this week, there were fixes to the system we wanted to make now, the viral post in focus is an accurate story from a reputable outlet, a chicago tribune article about a doctor who died after getting the covid

vaccine, that was the most shared article in the first quarter. now, that article is not misinformation but the headline was shared by pages that regularly do post anti-vaccination content and the link was viewed by nearly 54 million accounts it is unclear how many of those people actually clicked on the link or read the article facebook notes that its most shared links represent . 05% of content views by u.s. users in the first quarter. but all of this speaks to facebook's challenge, not just about managing misinformation, because this article wasn't misinformation, but also about managing the human instinct to share salacious headlines that can play into people's worst fears and also facebook's potential to amplify that sharing and amplify those fears. >> first, julia, i'm trying to figure out what this story is really about because on the one hand, facebook is where i go to find out which relatives and old

friends of mine are nuts and believe really weird things when i thought that they were okay. and that's good information to have but i guess part of it is context, it is amplification, it is how far misinformation actually gets. do we get a sense of that from these reports? are they just -- are they just inflamed things that go and promote people's beefs against facebook or vaccinesor whateve they're upset about? >> well, look, what i think is so interesting and so complicated about this issue, jon, this is a perfect example is this is actually not about misinformation the article that was the number one most shared article was -- the chicago i tribune is a reputable outlet the challenge here is that the headline was that a doctor, healthy doctor died two weeks after getting the vaccine. that headline was accurate that headline got a lot of

people to be concerned about what would happen to them if they took the vaccine. to me this is really about what role does facebook play in enabling people to share their worst fears and does that sharing in some ways maybe change people's behavior when you see those headlines and maybe don't get the full context. it is a very complex issue, jon. >> right, it goes back to we talked about this a lot, julia, the business model and how it requires or relies on that amplification. thanks for breaking down that complicated story for us coming up next, if you're investing in china, our next guest says be wary the latest on beijing's crackdown. that's next. keep an eye on jd.com, shares are under pressure despite a record number of new users "techcheck" is back in two minutes.

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chinese stocks and chinese tech stocks in particular as you know by now had a very rough summer the hang seng tech index is down 40% since february

our lesley picker has some reporting on the funds that have been taken by surprise and you always needed a stomach to trade chinese stocks, but not sure anyone thought the crackdown would go this far. >> you need a strong stomach, but in terms of hedge funds and hedge fund performance it is seen as this beacon of alpha but recent hedge fund returns have been dented by an outsized exposure to chinese names, deirdre. goldman sachs writing in a recent report, the overall popularity of china adrs registered as the highest in our data history making clear hedge funds were generally not prepared for the regulatory shift and impact on prices a third of hedge funds reported long holdings of american depository receipts of chinese companies at start of the third quarter. as a result, goldman's hedge fund vip basket has logged by 13 percentage points during the

past six months, matching 2008 as the worst stretch on record alibaba had ranked as the top five for 11 consecutive quarters in 2q it dropped down to number seven. other popular chinese names include jd.com, baidu, guys. >> these can be wildly held names. thank you for that hedge funds feel the burn, the journal and leslie alluded to this has new details on the breakdown with beijing, reporting the founder ignored communist party warning signs for years. officials say he behaved like an american entrepreneur. our next guest thinks even so-called safe sectors like electric vehicles and semiconductors they could be hit next joining us now analyst and author jordan snyder thank you for being with us today. good morning there is so much opportunity in china which has attracted hedge funds and investors.

but you think that no sector is safe i was thinking shifts with xi jinping's ambitions to make this a global player, even that is in danger >> thanks so much for having me on no sector is safe in this new era of tech regulation, which we saw start with alibaba in late 2020 and only accelerate over the course of 2021 you're right industries like electric vehicles and semiconductors, which is where the chinese -- which is where beijing is trying to shift the energy of the chinese economy away from this sort of consumer growth story, which you've been seeing over the past ten years, it still going to be subject to a lot of the same regulatory back and forth that you have seen play out in the education space, in e-commerce, in ride sharing. you mentioned semiconductors it is true that the chinese

government is pushing forward semiconductors as an industry at large, and doesn't necessarily mean the individual stock you are holding is going to be the one which is going to come forward. there are these big tensions between which firms are going to be the national champions and get backing, firms can gain and lose favor over time, and there is also an interesting dynamic between the provincial and central level where certain provinces may be pushing forward with their firms while beijing might have a different plan for where it wants the focus of the investment in capital. >> good point. we know there is private companies too that perhaps have state investment that bai eijing could be pushing what is your takeaway, should investors stay away from chinese stocks as a whole? >> i wouldn't necessarily stay away from chinese stocks as a whole, but i would recognize that it is a new reality we're facing now where the chinese government is

going to allow this regulatory volatility to continue over the next -- into the medium term basically the -- xi signaled very clearly that he wants the government to get -- to have greater control over what is going on in the market and in everywhere from education, ride sharing, semiconductors, evs. so various bureaucracies are unleashed to take all the plans that were sitting on the shelf and bring them into the marketplace. what that means for investors is it is going to be difficult, company by company, to understand the different dynamics that are at play and the different interbureaucratic rivalries that which are going to be impacting the performance of the stocks over the next months and years >> i wonder at what point is there a point at which sxi

believes wealth and economy is pressed, power is consolidated within pourt and things like innovation and gdp are the prioritys? >> he's making changes in order to both drive gdp growth, increase innovation, address demographic issues and do the sorts of -- and bring more social stability however, his theory of the case -- his theory of the case may very well be wrong as many listeners of the show probably believe, the private sector generally does a better job of state-owned entities. and there is a risk here which xi is facing as he's introducing more and more government impact on the direction that these firms are taking is that beijing may choose wrong in this sort of growth which he's hoping the

sort of high tech, hard tech and science led sectors will bring may not come to the fore >> great insights. we didn't get to jack ma, the so-called people's billionaire and the smackdown there. pick your brain on that next time thank you for being with us. bitcoin topping 50k in recent hours for the first time since may. just off that level right now. we'll have more on that in a moment take a look at this week's cloud earnings on deck salesforce, snowflake, vm ware and more will report numbers and get the latest headlines here on "techcheck." stay with us

semistocks and stay at home plays have caught the eyes of hedge fund investors that's according to a new report from goldman, even as they lighten up on names like disney and microsoft. catch that call on cnbc.com/pro. in the meantime, "techcheck" is back in a moment trading isn't just a hobby. it's your future. so you don't lose sight of the big picture, even when you're focused on what's happening right now. and thinkorswim trading™ is right there with you. to help you become a smarter investor. with an innovative trading platform full of customizable tools. dedicated trade desk pros and a passionate trader community sharing strategies right on the platform. because we take trading as seriously as you do. thinkorswim trading™ from td ameritrade.

well, bitcoin is right around 50k the s&p at record highs and new investors might just be the biggest bulls on the street when it comes to crypto that's according to new data kate rooney has the numbers for us kate >> hey, jon. new investors appear to be more bullish on cryptocurrencies. this is according to our invest in you next gen survie out conducted by cnbc and momentum the new u.s. investors, those who got into the markets in 2020 or later are more than twice as likely to own digital assets that's compared to more experienced traders or those who started back in 2019 or earlier and that newer investor also tends to be more optimistic on the asset class. more than one-third say they think bitcoin prices will be higher heading into the end of this year. that's compared to about a

quarter of the larger investor base and take a look. stocks are still number one with about one-third of new investors holding shares of individual companies, but in a very close second, guys, 26% of new u.s. investors own crypto that is more than twice the level of mutual funds or etf, and it's more than three times a level of ownership for real estate or for bonds. as far as the broader population, 1 in 10 u.s. investors now say they own crypto men, meanwhile, are twice as likely as women to hold digital assets roughly half of all u.s. investors say crypto is high risk but there are some differences in opinion depending on age about one-third of those 18 to 34 say it's risky. those over 64 are much more skeptical. more than two-thirds describe it as a high-risk investment. guys >> okay. when you've been in this hotd market for so long, i guess been invested longer than 2019, it

counts as a veteran investor we'll stick with crypto. cnbc took a look at afghanistan's growing crypto currency underground our mckenzie sagalos wrote that piece and joins us now mackenzie, different reasons why folks in afghanistan are interested in crypto, right? >> yeah, exactly this last week has basically laid bare the worst case for a country running on legacy financial rails. a nationwide cash shortage, a currency that's been touching record lows, not to mention rapidly rising prices of basic goods, and that's why some afghans i spoke to are turning to crypto currencies like bitcoin, ethereum and lightcoin. some people are leaving the country and using their crypto wallets as a way to bring their money with them and others see crypto as a way to stay put. i spoke with farhan who lives in a rural part of the country and up until this last week, he

would day trade as one way to make money i spoke to another person who says he can make more money in crypto in a month than in construction in a year and they also point out the fact that they see bitcoin as a safer store value than the local afghani currency >> now i wonder, mackenzie, how long does this play out? if, say, the taliban aren't friendly to crypto, which i imagine they might be. repressive regimes have tried to control their own crypto currencies, stomp out the ability of people to have their own options. is there the sense that the existing structures of crypto offer individual afghans options? >> yeah, so unlike the rest of the cryptosphere, a lot of afghans dealing in bitcoin aren't talking about it because they don't know what the reaction will be chain analysis shows there is

widespread adaption of crypto happening now. afghanistan is ranked number 20 out of 154 countries on their annual global crypto adoption index. when you're talking about peer to peer exchanges of crypto, afghanistan jumps up to number seven. >> mackenzie, thank you. that entire piece, please do check it out, is on cnbc.com >> a quick programming note. don't miss cnbc's "evolve" live stream tomorrow. the ceos of kohl's, chewy and a lot more as the industry looks to recover from the pandemic amidst the supply chain slowdowns and staffing shortages. register cnbc events.com/evolve retail. s&p within 15 points of 4500 we're back in a minute compet. how? they have a better finance system than we do. i feel like they might have a better finance system than we do. workday. how do they make better decisions faster?

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sir richard branson was with us last hour virgin orbit will go public later this year. merging with nextgen acquisition corp in a deal worth just over $3 billion boeing will also take part in that investment, although the

number on that commitment remains a bit unclear. shares of both boeing and the spac rising in today's trade overall, record highs on the nasdaq, s&p, a lot of record highs. alphabet included. frank holland is in for the judge. let's get to the half. welcome to the halftime report i'm frank holland in for the judge, scott wapner. stocks hitting new highs investors go into one of the most important weeks of the year jay powell and company getting ready to speak about the state of the economy and fed policy. the big question for investors how do you position your portfolio from here and for the months ahead we'll debate that with our investment committee today joining me is bryn talkington, sarat, joe terranova and pete najarian first, let's get a check on the markets. it is risk on again. the s&p 500 and the nasdaq both hitting all-time highs the dow up for a second day coming off its worst week in two mo