host: how does the bitcoin become part of a bitcoin market? guest: bitcoins are created through a process called mining. the mining process is a bit complicated. you have a set of people who are trying to find a solution to a particular mathematical equation. firstr finds a solution is a given currently 25 new bitcoins which is worth $20,000 today. that happens about every 10 minutes. they go to whoever manages to solve the equation first. bitcoins have trickled into existence. and that will continue to happen. host: who sets the equation that they want people to solve? who is the creator of this equation? guest: that goes back to the original history of bitcoin. in the beginning it was the creator who set up the system. the system has evolved and the rules have changed by consensus of the people who are creating and using the bitcoin software. the idea is the equation solving functions as a voting process where the number of your likely to be the first to solve the equation depends on how many copy tatian will resources you are putting in. it

received was about bitcoin so that's very interesting because we've seen bitcoin is now on the radar of some folks that would naturally be in the crosshairs of potentially being disinter mediated by bitcoins talk about a little bit well it was interesting also because the person who asked the question was an executive at wells fargo so it was a nice little combination there i think the response was was pretty much spot on for an investor coleraine they couldn't say anything other than you know we look at it it's interesting we think it has some scaling issues and things like that but they said we're paying attention and that's as it should be and they finished off the conversation by saying they're comfortable i think that's probably a bit much to say and i wouldn't be as comfortable in their position because they are likely to be disrupted and disinter mediated quite solid minutes talking about bitcoin in the business because clearly you've got retailers like overstock realizes that it's a great way to pass on savings to consumers because the cost of transactions are fractional what

keene, no one cares about bitcoin. michael mckee, no one cares about bitcoin. a great lesson for mp all. i am honored to get your opinion. myit is like reality tv and perspective. i do not write about bitcoin, do not have a particular view on it. something that is thoroughly unregulated by any central bank makes me nervous. a slight marks of theory without theoretical foundation. there is no foundation underneath really good ideas. where are you on this? >> i am not sure what you just said in plain english, but bottom line, i think there is a farce. no central bearing house. we just found out this morning has six percent of this effectively gone missing. that is part of the problem. >> that is the twitter question of the day. are you still a bitcoin believer? you can tweet us @bs urveillance. >> calmed down. take your medicine. >> coming up, we will hear from the google chairman, eric schmidt, on the fight with apple over operating systems next. streaming live on your tablet, phone. we are fired up. in way have another espresso, please? ♪ >> good morning, every

using bitcoin again is. it is ninety eight percent cheaper than it would be through traditional means and as a as a business i mean that's that's one of the primary points about bitcoin is the business case forget about the interesting aspect of the software and is it a currency or not a currency just as a straight up or down business this is a fantastic new business correct well it's secure it's fast it's cheap and as such it's going to be attractive for merchants it's massively reduces the risk because the transactions themselves don't need to be encrypted the network doesn't need to be protected from fraud because computation ensures trust not lack of access so everyone can access the network which makes it a lot easier for merchants to use bitcoin for retail operations there's no charge backs there's no fraud issues as before it's much harder to steal consumers identity so it's easier for consumers and you don't need all of the identity information like at the moment if you want to do a credit card trans

people would buy bitcoin. now the bitcoin sales are slowing down the stop. it has almost been a year since people stopped using mt. gox for the actual price. they use a service called bitstamp now. it is important to separate bitcoin from mt. gox. if you cannot get your dollars at wells fargo, you do not blame your dollars. >> there's no regulation yet. that continues to be a problem. >> there's definitely regulation. there is transmission licensing. new york has regulations for licensing. that is the reason why you do not see exchange. i am not operating in the u.s. right now. people are working in europe. over time, as you see these regulations evolve, you will see more secure exchanges come along. with a coin, you have the option. you do not have to trading on mt. gox. >> a lot of people in the u.s. do not stop is located in japan. if you have your money at wells fargo, you probably feel safe. i keep my big wine in my closet on a piece of paper. there will be more and more places in the u.s. that are popping up. market makers for example week that they ar

but there are ways within the bitcoin system to kind of confuse where bitcoin moved. but theoretically we could potentially see when the was taken and see the flow of transactions as to where it went. >> so what about the people who lost money? is there any way that they can be made whole again? there isn't an fdic or even a bank they can go complaint to. >> and for a lot of critics of bitcoin they are pointing to this as saying see, we told you so. you put all of this money into a virtual currency and now it's gone away you know, mt. gox filed for bankruptcy. they did say they have some assets but they also have a lot of debt so, right now it's looking like customers of mt. gox feel, you know, we're using mt. gox as their bitcoin bank have lost their savings which is really sad for a lot of people who had a lot of money there. >> so the japanese finance minister was one of those critics. he wasn't shy about his pessimism or skepticism for it how are other countries around the world and possibly their central banks positioning themselves to not just bitcoin but other

bitcoin is a fraud.i believe that bitcoin will not have illegitimate place in history as a currency. >> well, there you go. but i got -- >> i guess we got that question answered. say, listen,e bitcoin is used to smuggle drugs, to buy illegal things -- people use real dollars for hookers and drugs, too. i mean, they do. >> people use real money and real money is something any business or bank would accept. besides, bitcoin is not accepted by the banks. it is not accepted by business at large. there might be a few businesses who accepted, who have invested and want to see prices go up. but i don't believe bitcoin will be used as a currency, which businesses and people will want to have as a store value, or to trade them. i believe it is a fad and i believe it will go away. recently on've seen the exchange's first evidence of that. >> a fad, a fraud, no place in history. i love it. bruce, we will continue the conversation in just a couple of minutes. worldrichards, one of the top-performing hedge fund manag

the first publicly traded company with the word bitcoin a minute is bitcoin shop -- with the word bitcoin in it is bitcoin shop. we have the company's chief executive charles allen joining us now. i was thinking maybe janet yellen was going to have to take a position on this cyber crypto currency called bitcoin. how do you describe bitcoin to those of us using regular money? >> i would describe it as a virtual currency. there are a few. bitcoin has the largest market value, almost $9 billion. bitcoins are created through a process of mining. it is similar to mining going -- mining gold. you have to go out and do work to get it, but it is computer power didn't set of axes and shovels. or tractors and equipment. the effort gets harder and harder each time a bitcoin is mine. you need to invest in expensive computers to do it. it is controlled by a peer to peer network. >> i got to stop you there. when you went to the peer to peer network, i kind of understand what that is because i remember about napster and the idea that once something goes out into the internet either it can bounce around

bitcoin community tried to rally and say this is a digital darwinism and bitcoin is still healthy. officials weeding out so to speak. second, how will this damage of rice? prices have been falling since bitcoin hit $1,,00 in december, then hit $418 on tuesday when mount gox was taken down and cover around $500 this week and third but not least, will this mean more regulation for bitcoin? there are arguments on both sides. some say of the bitcoin community can absorb the loss of mount gox may be the decentralized system could work out but with retailers like overstock.com and mount gox assets in the currency the pro rating including the superintendent of the department of financial services say this is an opportunity to get in and protect investors. bitcoin was on the agenda during janet yellen's congressional hearing yesterday and hear what she thinks. >> with respect to bitcoin, it would be appropriate i think for congress to ask questions about what the right legal structure would be for virtual currencies. my understanding is bitcoin doesn't touch things. >> this is after a tota

one congressman has bitcoin bitcoin asked for campaign donations to his campaign in -- has asked for campaign donations to this campaign in bitcoin. the family of matthew mellon are talking to the u.s. government and trying to pass regulation with them as well. you do not need regulation for bitcoin to work. as long as the internet survives, bitcoin will be out there. --hink digital concern currently will survive even if bitcoin does not. it is a democratically controlled, decentralized currency, whatever starts working in other digital currencies will be picked up and used in the bitcoin source code. >> what about the real issue of the day today? can a digital currency overcome technical issues? you do not have that with real money. >> i wonder where the technical issues are. i asked a lawyer this morning, i told them the exchange is down because of technical issues, and he joked that the technical issues were getting money into cases fast enough. that they have written does not work well enough to communicate with bitcoin source code seamlessly. it causes problems, because a lot of

so just how bad is this bitcoin fiasco for the growth and very existence of bitcoin?look at what the digital currency has done suns mount gox halted withdrawals on february 7th. they were trading around $829 then and has since plunged about $316 and is trading at the moment at $516 per bitcoin. that number is moving back and forth as we speak. is this the beginning of the end for the virtual currency? should investors get out before it's too late, or or is this just a growing pain? joining us now in a fox business exclusive, matthew melon, he tracks the current i and is the co-founder of coin validation which, in a way, is a due diligence service. it sounds like that's what bitcoin needs right now, a little legitimacy and assuredness. >> yeah. bitcoin is going to be absolutely fine. i mean, i think part of the problem is that we've had four years to figure out whether it's a currency or a commodity. i say it's neither, it's simply a protocol, and it's a very, very, very compelling technology. i've had meetings with most of the banks, i've been to ace ya, and i can tel

what does this all mean for the future of bitcoin?st of all, you used to broker big bitcoin trades but you don't do that anymore. why not? >> i could not bank. i had thousands of accredited investors i wanted to put into a bank and they saw bitcoin as too much of a risk. ?> is it too early is all of this uncertainty mean the beginning of the end of this digital currency? >> i don't think so. if you look at yellen's response, she saying we have the regulation we need. wemt. gox was audited, probably would not have had this problem. going forward were going to see companies that banks will want to work with. >> what is going on at mt. gox has had a big impact on the industry. where does it go from here? >> overall this will be a net positive. mt. gox has been a disaster over the years. it has been hacked. the biggest scare in the price drop was caused by them blaming the bitcoin protocol and transaction malleability. if we can move on without mt. gox we will see better exchanges pop up. >> so many bitcoins were stolen from mt. gox. how

six bitcoin exchanges they insist that bitcoin is alive and well. they say mt. gox is darwinian, something had to go and weeded out. melissa. melissa: thanks so much. one of these has sound ad alarm. we have alabama security commission director. thank you for joining us. >> glad to be here. melissa: why are you sounding the alarm right now. >> look, we have received a number of complaints and if you look all over the internet people are having trouble getting their money out and i don't think people really understand that this is unregulated. it is a virtual currency. it is not backed by anything. you're taking high-risk. a lot of people got in bitcoin for investment interesting. that is where sec and security regulate, come in. it is transferring money and back and forth that is money transmitter issue. and volatility it acts like a commodity. that is cftc issue. at some point there has to be legislation on this. melissa: defenders say just because mount box has problems doesn't mean the entire currency is debunk. bit stamp says bitcoin is not dependent on any

who would invest in bitcoin. why would they invest in bitcoin. i understand that price is low, currently. and the other problem was the price fluk twuted dramatically, right. >> four sure, and i would not recommend anyone invest in boit coin until there are regulations and until those are in place, and even then, there'll be a lot more mainstream more investment to come down the line before i recommend anyone get into this. >> how long do you think it will be before bitcoin gets back on track? >> i think it will be a couple of months. once we see regulations come online, superintendent lowsk. >> led the way, issuing licences. we'll see that, it will be a while before mainstream users will want to take a look. >> rob while, great to have you on the program. thanks for sharing your insight. >> from bitcoin to a different commodity. gold coins. a california couple walking their dog on their property found a rusty tin cannister poking out of the ground. there was more than one, each tin, more than 1400 rare gold coins dating from 1847 to 1894. the va

bitcoin? >> we will look at bitcoin. down.ng, mt.e headline for so many in support of bitcoin. and many that have been suspect. we will talk about that. will join us from citigroup, talking about equity markets. this market is unloved. dow, nobody is on board. a little caution on the equity markets. we will talk to jared cohen of google on the digital world. in our 7:00 hour, we will focus on digital security. >> some great stories around that subject at the moment. thank you very much, tom keene coming up with "surveillance." back to europe, how are the markets? let's find out. manus cranny at the touchscreen. what tomicking up on said, these markets are coming off pretty heavy levels. look at the london market, up at a 14 year high yesterday. at aeally are looking driver. exports coming out of germany, confidence there. of ataking a little bit pause. mortgages in the u.k. up at a six-year high. we have the political issue down in italy, matteo renzi going to go for his second photo. darling costs touching low costs. -- borrowing to

have authority with respect to bitcoin. certainly would be to askiate for congress questions about what the right legal structure would be for virtual currencies that involved nontraditional players. >> this as a protester confronted the ceo outside company headquarters in tokyo. what does this all mean? for the future of bitcoin? our ceo joins me now in the studio. first of all, you used to broker big bitcoin trades. but you do not do that anymore. >> i do not. i cannot bank. i had thousands of accredited investors want to put in the bank than just saw bitcoin is too big of a risk, a little too early. >> my question is, is it too early? is all the uncertainty around bitcoin right now, could this mean the beginning of the end of the digital currency? >> i do not think so. things have changed in the last few months. you look at yellen's is responsiveness, she is saying she had the regulations she needed. hadrobably would not have this problem if it was audited and whatnot. --ng forward, >> the price is going down. >> overall

though bitcoin goes on.eflected in the value of bitcoin, which is now about $600, which is a lot less than it was worth not too long ago. >> ryan there with the very latest on this bitcoin heist. in just 20 minutes, "surveillance" with tom keene, who joins us from new york with a preview. tom, you'll be looking at bitcoin and italy, am i right? >> francine, happy valentine's day. >> oh, i feel so special. thank you, tom. >> it's a trans atlantic valentine for francine lacqua. francine, the fallout from the merger of time warner cable into the larger comcast, boy, is washington pushing back. we'll talk to our peter cook about the merger, but much more importantly, marshall will join us. this is a guy knee deep in the m&a business. you heard martin soro yesterday on "bloomberg surveillance" talk about all the cheap money out there. we'll talk to marshall sonenshine about the myriad constituencies pushing back against brian roberts this morning. i can tell you there's huge diverse pushback to comcast time warne

we show photos of bitcoin. those pictures don't exist. there is no physical bitcoin.s me to the question about your business. how do you assure the existence of something that doesn't really exist? >> what we have with falcon global a agreement based with a company out of the u.k. with elicit. they have ansured bitcoin vault backed by london premier insurance company. david: let me stop you right there. you say vault, you mean a virtual vault but go that he had. >> that is direct. cold storage that they use, and what would happen if any external or internal theft would occur of any kind the insurance company would back it for the daily value of those bitcoins. david: so let me just see if i understand you here, if, in the course of a day, we see some dramatic fall in bitcoin because somebody like mt. gox has lied about how many bitcoins they have, if it goes down 40% you will be insured for the price of those bitcoins at the beginning of the day, is that right? >> that is not correct. what we have is an insurance against theft of any kind, which as you can see in the

as a bargaining chip, it is early stages. >> let's say you have a few bitcoin, the extra bitcoin shopstarted by nasa engineers. they realized it is great to have a currency, but if you can spend it, what is the point? bitcoin as a mean of speculation is not what we believe in. what we believe, if you have a currency that can be spent on goods and services, then you can do something. the advantage of having to acquire these bitcoins and then go to a specific location on the internet in order to buy products? built convenience will be over time. right now you can with a digital wallet on your phone, you can and pay forde something that way, with your phone. because it is a global currency, you can go to another country and buy a cup of coffee. and moretores companies except bitcoin, it will be more widely accepted. idea, therewith the are no products you can buy, so we have over 140,000 on our website. if you want to buy a flatscreen tv, you can do that on our website. >> the bitcoin shop is small but it is growing. 106stration joined from cents september. the president of the st. louis

this tiny universe of bitcoin.othing wrong with geeks. my impression is people are interested. they don't think they understand it yet and are wondering if this is the next big thing. what are you hearing from regulators? >> there is a lot of learning curve with bitcoin. we have been down to d.c. and the state hearings, and since 2012, it has gotten better. there is a lot better understanding, the regulatory issues that go with operating the business, and businesses are becoming educated as far as this is not a traditional tech company. this is tech finance. there is greater implications as far as regulation and legality. >> is a coincidence governments are outlawing bitcoin? governments freak out when they can't. >> i think there is a lot of posturing as far as their political leaning toward going. i think there is a lot of public statements where people are very pro-bitcoin. as a bargaining chip, it is early stages. >> let's say you have a few extra bitcoin, the bitcoin shop can help. >> our firm was started by n

to take bitcoin now.who take bitcoin sort of directly him as opposed to people who take it from using a gift card or some other sort of indirect method. do you see that taking up with the atm's? i am sure i could pay for beer at handlebar, right? >> absolutely. bitcointake your address, get cash, and go to the bar and purchase beer or whatever you want here. i'm not sure, they are not excepting bitcoin yet, but we have a list of companies in austin excepting it. i got a talk oh the other day -- a taco the other day with bitcoin. people are becoming accustomed to it. coinbase is a good company out there, doing amazing things. also bitpay, these other companies incrementing the point of sale system. i heard there was a point of sale system that integrated bitcoin into their point-of-sale. they take credit cards, cash, and bitcoin on the same point-of-sale system. >> if you can buy a taco with it, it's legit, right? legit.it has gone >> totally. >> any information on orders, any information on other people t

more trouble for bitcoin. fans are taking their anger out on their apple iphones next. ♪ >> welcome back to "bloomberg west." activist investor carl icon is ending his campaign to get apple to buy back 50 billion dollars in stock this year. an advisory firm recommended that shareholders vote against his buyback for postal and after apple bought back an additional $14 billion in stock recently. icahn wrties - tim cook got a lot of flack for going to dinner with carl i can. what does this say about the result of their conversation? >> i think they can both claim a little victory if carl icahn is backing off and he says he got what he wants and apple was able not to do is pushing for. the bigger context is that tim is -- tim cook has shown big shareholders that he can give them some of what they want. >> there was some aggressiveness , the notion that they purchased so much after the recent drop in the stock shows they were not just nibbling at this. many companies announce your buybacks and don't do them. >> it

and rappers unveil bitcoin grills. (laughter) and then of course, ten years after that, madonna gets one too. well, i don't see what could go wrong. nothing's more reliable and secure than the internet. >> today one of the biggest bitcoin exchanges called mount gox based in tokyo went bust after it was revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoins were missing. >> jon: missing? oh, you know what you have to do here is your problem, at the bottom of the screen is the little trash can, you know that little trash can down there you got to check in there maybe you could, you know what do you call iting there, what i do sometimes, i unplug it, plug it back in, or why don't you try that control alt-- control alt money. (laughter) and by the way what is mount gox, other than the place in a doctor sues book where a fox and a drox share a box is that-- mount gox? >> it's an acronym mtgox. magic gathering on-line exchange t started as a place for people to trade magic cards. (laughter) wait, wait, wait. a place

our bitcoin debate is ready to go. more "money" coming up. ♪ ♪ here we are, me and you ♪ on the road ♪ and we know that it goes on and on ♪ [ female announcer ] you'rehe boss of your life. in charge of making memories and keeping promises. ask your financial professional how lincoln financial can help you take charge of youfuture. ♪ ♪ oh, oh, all the way ♪ oh, oh adam: market seemed to shrug this off. retail sales fell sharply in january, second straight monthly decline but peter barnes is in washington, d.c. on what it means for the rest of 2014. peter, can you put good news on this? >> trying to, adam. once again economists are blaming bad weather for this weak number. some say that is making it harder for them and federal reserve to get a true read on the economy's health and direction. commerce department said retail sales fell .4 of a percent in january excluding autos. sales were flat, december, the holiday shopping season was revised down to a drop of a .1 of a percent from initial read of .2 of a percent increa

do you think bitcoin will be that or do you really believe that bitcoin is here to stay long term despiteproblem? >> i don't think that's a nut anyone has yet cracked but cash is going away. you are seeing different experiments towards making electronic payments a reality. i think bitcoin could be one of the eventual winners. the technology is so exciting, the people in silicon valley are pumping millions of dollars into businesses that think this is going to be the future of payments. i wouldn't want to make a prediction about whether two years from now we will all be paying with bitcoin from our wallet. what i will say is it's exciting to see innovation that will make it cheaper perhaps for consumers and for businesses. the main reason i think merchants are interested in this is they don't have to pay credit card companies when they take payments in bitcoin. that's good for their bottom line. i think overall that's the message that payments innovation is bringing, we will cut some of the fees. >> we need proper regulation. maybe the mt. gox debacle might speed up regulation. thank you v

you've got eastern europe russia active in bitcoin the ukraine apparently is active in bitcoin so countries on the periphery that have been disenfranchised by the money center banks who are backed up with men with guns remember that's what the fiance is about they now realize that as a store of value as a way to transport their money they're adopting crypto currencies so when this will end up in the center of the global economy in the g twenty countries that will come later but it's already happening in africa and europe and south america they're already adopting bitcoin is becoming a way of life because they realize it's a great store of value great way to sun money and it's a great way for economic freedom economic sovereignty and the established bankers are really running scared i think this is what's behind a lot of the recent. kind of increase in banker suicides we've seen about twenty bankers have committed suicide in the last few weeks i think that they realized the jig is up bitcoin is here cryptocurrency they're here they can't compete with crypto currency the they fear having to a

bitcoins lost two-thirds of their value. it is not all bad for bitcoin ires much. i'm almost happy, bit copies are cheap. i can buy more up. >> with a dozen customers using currency, lip ten design is banking on bitcoin. >> an executive at another chain earlier this year was arrested on money laundering charges. >> a californian couple literally struck gold whilst walking their dog. they found treasure worth $10 million, they found gold quois dating from 1847 to 1894. they plan to sell them on amazon. >> he used to be a trash-talking 22-year-old. looking back on 50 years since the fight turning cashes clay into mohammad ali. >> parents getting the message about childhood obesity. the promising results of a decade-long study. ♪ what is this place? where are we? this is where we bring together the fastest internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary. beam us up. ♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertain

thoughts on bitcoin. this digital currency that is out there. that people say it might be the next big thing? what do you think? >> it is rat poison. [laughter] the good news boy coyne supporters that the currency is still trading near $600 on other exchanges map is in store for bitcoin. does it have a future or eventually disappear to a virtual black hole? joining me now is mark williams. boston university school of management finance professor. and mark, i want to quote you. you said basically this is an exessential threat, quote, one quote, to global commerce. not only you don't like it you say it goes against the principle of sovereign wealth and should basically be completely afraid of the currency. why do you say that? >> right. i wouldn't call it rat poison. you need to be concerned. we've been told for the l.a. year about the benefits of bitcoin. now it's coming out that bitcoin with that comes lot of risks. we saw in the last two weeks that dramatically market shift in russia declared it illegal

." >>> a bitcoin exchange in tokyo has stopped operations. ramin mellegard is here with more on that. >> gene we're talking about a virtual currency but with very real issues arising for everyone involved. officials at a major bitcoin exchange in tokyo have suddenly announced that they've stopped all deals. they say they've taken this step as a security measure. the exchange mtgox suspended bitcoin transfers on february 7th due to what it described as a systems glitch. at the time mtgox said it was trying to repair its system. but on tuesday the site went down. mtgox was considered the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, and boasted more than 1.1 million accounts, both inside and outside japan. but users are now unable to contact the exchange, either by phone or e-mail. early on wednesday, mtgox released the message saying they'll closely monitor the situation, and react accordingly. bitcoin exchange leaders stressed that the problem of mtgox's shutdown lies with the firm, not with the virtual currency itself. they said bitcoin exchanges are wo

. >> i defend bitcoin. i did not tell people to invest in it. people should stay away from it as an investment. people should learn to use it as a tool of finance but not hold onto it as an investment. that is an important distinction. cheryl: we are looking at $350 million of loss in mount gox and that may not end. we will see what prosecutors have to say. thank you for joining us. adam: investors anxiously awaiting details on a multi-billion dollar port region debt offering but current debt holders may be in for a nasty surprise when the plan is announced, peter hayes is head of the municipal bond group, welcome back to markets and what is the timeline on when we know we expect about a $2.8 million offering but when this will actually happen? >> a few weeks ago weber fast tracking the deal and we thought by now we have an offering document with details are around it and we haven't gotten that. in fact as of this morning the and it still had to approve the authorization to issue bondss as well as the impor

the value of a bitcoin fluctuates on demand. a year ago, one cost about $30, and by december it soared to $1,200. but today, the price plummeted below $500. and law enforcement fears the currency is ideal for criminals. last october, the f.b.i. shut down the web site silk road, alleging it was a one-stop shop for drugs and weapons sold using bitcoins. >> it was and i'm sure has been used for illicit activities, but frankly, so has u.s. dollars and diamonds and gold over time. >> reporter: with the biggest bitcoin exchange planning to file for bankruptcy, sill pert announced plans today to create a new exchange and said he's consulting with major banks and with regulators. >> pelley: anthony, thanks very much. here's a rare picture that we received. the president of the united states meeting today with the speaker of the house. it is their first one-on-one meeting in the oval office since december of 2012. we're told that they agreed that there is much work to be done, though in this election year, there's considerable doubt that

that has shaken the bitcoin market and fed into the stomach churning volatility. >> bitcoin is ten timesore riskier than most currencies. >> a professor of finance at nyu. he says bitcoin isn't behaving like a currency. it can't pay a mortgage or utility bill. so for now, it's being bought as an investment on the hope it value will go up. >> there has to be a psychological belief that other people will want to pay you more for it than you paid for it yesterday. >> bitcoin will fade away by the end of the year, but predicts the experiment is far from over. alexis, cbs news, new york. >> now even with the trouble at the site, other bitcoin exchanges have continued to operate and they say the problem is isolated to that one marketplace. now, you and i are sticking with cash and credit. do you have all that? are you following that? >> i'm trying to understand how 744,000 bitcoins go missing if it's all digital. >> and no one realized it for years. >> yeah. >> that's part of the problem with this currency. this is not last we heard about it, that's for sure. >> that is for sure. >> hopefully

and big news on bitcoin.is tablet has one of the worst screens he has ever used outdoors. walt will tell us exactly what he's looking at in just a few minutes. >>> first up, less start with netflix. the online streaming giant has cut a deal with our parent come past to boost the speed of streaming by paying the company to ensure original programming faves like "house of cards," will stream smoothly. mitch lowe is the cofounder and former coo and president of red box. he joins us this morning from los angeles. mitch, it's great to have you. good morning. >> good morning, carl. thanks. >> obviously this is huge news in our business and all sorts of businesses. terms of this deal were not disclosed. i wonder, do you have any idea hoyt might have been structured and whether or not it's going to insulate them from many down the road? >> this is the perfect time to do this deal. probably getting the cheapest price just by setting the precedent. and it was inevitable. you know, you can't continue to run. i think the

the brouhaha, the implosion of bitcoin. we have the guy who's been out since valentine's day protesting. he is still there and he is going to phone into the show. you will not believe what he says about bitcoin now. >> all right. >> oh, by the way, kelly, did you know that it's the reformed broker's birthday today. >> it's your birthday? >> it is. >> it's karen finerman's birthday. >> tonight we have a very special surprise. a series of surprises, actually. >> i can't believe you didn't tell me. i'm not wishing you happy birthday. your present was hanging out with all of us. over to you, melissa. >> thanks, kel. we're playing all of karen's favorite songs throughout the hour. "fast money" starts right now. in new york city's times square. we have tim see more, steve bros so he, karen finerman. someone who uses tesla's, the used ones are selling for more than new ones. 30 different companies in the s&p 500 hit all time highs from a variety of sectors. netflix, google, gilead, delta, tyson. has the market typed out. brousseau

in addition, the firm itself owned about 100,000 bitcoins. we found out that almost all of them were gone. >> they said the company has lost all bitcoins and deposits that they were keeping for their customers. the officials said customers bitcoin losses total more than $400 million with friday's exchange rate. they added it's possible that someone illegally gained access to the trading system to steal the assets. they said an investigation is continuing. mtgox officials said they have filed an application for protection from creditors at the tokyo district court. mtgox is the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, holding more than 1.1 million accounts both inside and outside japan. on february 7th, it suspended bitcoin transfers due to what officials described as a system glitch. on wednesday, the site went down. >>> government leaders in tokyo say they hope an upcoming meeting between japanese and north korean red cross officials will lead the way to further discussions with leaders in pyongyang. red cross officials are sitting down next week t

bitcoin is not illegal.on of these products that people are spending their livelihood building. it seems strange. >> we you come to an agreement with apple? is thesuming block chain most popular bitcoin app in the world. i use it on my iphone a. i still have it so i can use it. we've come to an agreement? --if anybody has artie app downloaded the app, they can still use it. we are willing to work with them and would love to find a way to make it cooperative on both sides. think about the issue? ity are still in -- allowing . they say it is an issue with the source code. what do you think we will see as far -- they do half of all the exchange volume. are watching a situation unfold their the demonstrates it is an internal issue. this not a bitcoin problem. they need to resolve this and the more sincere about it. in reality, they are not playing as important a role in the digital currency world. you can go to that stamp. the price will recuperate quickly. hopefully they will get it resolved. every window serve

and 2014 has gotten off to a rocky start for bitcoin.he worst days in the coin's history. >>. >> it's bad to use mt. gox, isn't it, if they can't get their cash out. >> it's terrible for people to use mt. gox. i think there's a real risk that some people will never see their money there. there's been troubling signs coming out of mt. gox for close to nine months. it really escalated in the last month. >> why can't this happen to any other -- i mean, everybody is going to look at this and go, if i've lost money in this bitcoin exchange, why would i put any more money into bitcoin? >> that's a very good question. a lot of people in the bitcoin community have been saying don't regulate us, keep us regulation free. now you're hearing new voices coming out saying regulation would be a good thing. and that's the positive side of regulation. there's things in place to protect people's money. >> it's one thing to lose money because of the value of the currency. it's a totally different thing to lose money because a business goes bust. that's a c