blockchain companies focused on other verticals. i think all boats will rise. >> a number of companies have added blockchain to the name of their company because it seems to be so hot. not every blockchain company appears to be a blockchain company. >> it's -- reminiscent of us who have been around the valley around 20 years and this happened with the add dot com to your company and your valuation went up. >> a lot of companies are adding it but from your every day consumer perspective, there's a marketing hurdle there. why should i as a consumer trust the blockchain more than i should trust an experian? >> experian is a loaded one. >> for sure. >> the dynamics around blockchain and cryptotography around block chain, the bounty to hack that is so high. it's constantly under test. to date there have been compromises of end point and hacking that occurred around end point but blockchain technology so far demonstrated a very robustness around security and authentication and ripple as an example never had nothing happen to this. >> can we talk about money? i love talking about money. is -- there's a bunch of sort of cryptocurrencies that have blockchain underneath them. >> bitcoin is the ob

blockchain blockchain services and some hardware related to it was probably a $700 million business in 2017. some research companies estimate these guys got 30% of it by 2022. some research companies are expecting this to be almost an $8 billion business. ibm seems well positioned here i don't think you're going to get a whole heck of a lot of answers right now about blockchain and what that means for it if you get some of these strategic imperatives doing well for the second quarter in a row, this stock will gap up it could fill a gap from last april. i think you just play this, the call spread, target the risk, define that gap. if you think there's a chance, and you get two consecutive better than expected quarters, this stock is going to go back above 170, possibly 175. today, when the stock was trading at 164, you could buy the february 165/175 call spread buying one of the feb 165 false for 415, selling one of the calls at $1.15, you could make up to $7 then your risk is the $3 in premium you paid, and you lose all of it. >> that's a lot of numbers >> i will say this it actually makes a lot of sense, the trade you're picking, for a host of reasons. one of them is, as we often point out, you are going to see elevated options premiums. that's why you want to look to spread trades like you're doing here ibm, unlike a lot of other stocks, still has to show

blockchain blockchain services and hardware related to it was probably a $700 million business in 2017. some research companies estimate they got 30% by 2022 and some are expecting this to be an $8 billion business and ibm seems well positioned here i don't think you get a whole heck of a lot of answers right now about blockchain and what that means for it. if you get these strategic imperatives doing well for the second quarter in a row, they already have a low tax rate. the new tax reform won't be a huge deal. this stock could fill a gap from last april i think you play this with a call spread and going to define your risk and target that gap and if you agree and think there's a chance you get two consecutive better than expected quarters, this stock will go back above 170 when the stock was trading at 164, you could buy the 175 call spread paying $3 and buying 165 calls and selling 115, break even at 168. and then your mass risk is the $3 and premium you paid and lose all of it -- >> that's a lot of numbers. >> i will say this, it actually makes a lot of sense the trade you're picking for a host of reasons. we often point out the four catalysts such as earnings, you'll see elevated options premiums and that's why you want to look to spread rades. >> and ibm unlike other stocks, still has to show us -- despi

the slippery streets by all these storefronts talking about bitcoin, but particularly blockchain, blockchain, blockchainat's one part of the new technology. our guys like you capturing the gaintial technological of things like blockchain? jacob: we recognize for a much the extraordinary potential and benefits from the blockchain technology. it is being implemented and used and we are putting a lot of resources into it. it raises an important point also to clarify. there was bitcoin and cryptocurrency. bitcoin is not a blockchain. you can be all in favor of the blockchain and still find a deficiency in bitcoin. furthermore, bitcoin is not the only form of an cryptocurrencies. what's the problem with bitcoin? it's anonymous, which is no good because it can be used for wrong things. scalability is no good. it comes from somewhere. if you could design and satisfyingurrency these limitations, at least you will be able to go on. regulated and regulated in the appropriate way. tom: when i get together with mr. dimon, we will continue this conversation. jacob frankel. when we go to london. -- let me go to londo

share, the reason it takes three days, somebody has a physical share with a blockchain, the blockchain makes it so our blockchainsre immutable. nobody can go back and say that didn't happen. >> give me a real-life example away from health care. because we've talked about it many times where watson is taking data and creating value from looking at billions of pieces of data instantly, and why is that different from another company. >> in banks, they have thousands and thousands of regulations they have to deal with in every country. our big global bank customers have to do this 50 times what we have watson doing is learning the rules so they can navigate we can do that with a cognitive system anybody can go to h&r block, anybody in the u.s. and file their taxes. h&r block is backed by watson. watson's helping them, helping them prepare your taxes. >> let's say i want to be a seller of ibm. i listened to martin tell a good story, you're in a good position, who knows, the ceo had your job now, the one you had. so we're looking at martin moving up, and we say wait a second that guy's talking about free cash flow, i d

blockchain. i think regardless of where the individual coins go, blockchain is not going aaway i don't have stock and square is how i'm playing it >> morgan stanley raised numbers. 22% short interest if you are looking for a beta play on the back of ethereum, amd is the thing >> a quick question to you. >> yeah. >> if this bitcoin craze was so amazing. bk, where was he. >> switzerland >> what did he bring. >> this is what he brought for all of us. >> it's almost insulting >> get a close up. >> for scale, let's sigh, here a bottle of water and the to be letter own, so you can get a concept of the size of the ca y candy. >> maybe he had a bad week on his bitcoin stock. >> it's overrated. how about nestle krurch, hersheys make american chocolate great again. >> from our crypto crackdown to a pot bust, one hedge fund manager is shorting one stock in the space. >>> after, that we are monitoring company conference calls. much more "fast money" right after this we have a short amount of time to get our patient to the hospital with good results. we call that the golden hour. evaluating patients remotely is where i think we have a potential to make a difference. (barry murrey) we would save a lot of lives if we could bring the doctor to the patient. verizon is racing to build the first and most powerful 5g network that will enable things like precision robotic surgery from thousands of miles away. as we get faster wireless connections, it'll be possible to be able to operate on a patient in a way that was just not possible before. when i move my hand, the robot on the other side will mimic the movement, with almost no delay. who knew a scalpel could work thousands of miles away? ♪ >>> welcome back to "fast money. intel and western digital reporting earnings after the bell cue the magnum pi. if you are a josh lipton fan, we are giving you a double dose of josh two beards he is breaking down the after hours action in the blue chip stocks take it away. >> i feel like somewhere tom selleck is listening and wincing at that comparison i apologize to mr. celek let's get to intel results outstanding. top of mine meltdown inspector, the vulnerability, the security flaws exposed earlier this monday the ceo addressing that at the top of the call. listen. >> we have been working around the clock with our customers and partners to address the security vulnerabilities known as specter and meltdown we have made progress but we have more to do. we are committed to being transparent keeping our customers and owners appraised of our progress and through our action, building trust security is a top priority for sbrel. >> remember, sbrel executives said they don't expect any kind of material financial impact from those vuler in bltsd. ceo now saying they are focused on delivering high quality mitigation, patches to address those flaws. for the business units they focus on data center group revenue, up 20% to a record $5.6 billion. better than expected talked about broadband advanced strength, a richer asp mix chips for pcs that clocked in at $9 billion down 2% but better than expected for more on intel's results, check in tomorrow to squawk alley. that is when jon fortt is going to be speaking to intel's cfo bob swan don't want to miss that. quickly, touching on western digital moving in the opposite direction here that stock was up 10% year to date heading into this report. down 6% over the past six months western digital, a solid b on the bottom line -- beat on the bottom line. bit of a beat on the top investors clearly disaount pointed the ceo talking in a statement about the strong operating cash flow. he talked about continued healthy demand in their end markets. ditz appointment there first quarter we are hearing from western digital since they ended the nasty legal fight with toshiba. that call is starting right now. backs to you. >> thank you josh lipton in san francisco. guy, your report >> intel is the report we talked about this at the beginning of the month it was unanimous across the desk the sell off off of that announcement was probably overdone talk aboutet going in front of a story. he did a good job. they had some flaws but did a good job they were right up front about it and this report proves the selloff was overdone i think it's going to continue to rally off of this report. >> there was an adverse relationship between amd and intel. and then when the ceo of intel got on and said this is ubiquitous through the whole entire space everyone is going to have the security breaches and whatnot going forward then you saw them start to work basically in the same direction. i think the strong report out of intel, the bar was low and they crossed over it. that's going to be strength for amd. and the other side of it, wdc, that one is going to be weak going forward. i think you will see the inverse correlation with the two names. >> cross over a little bit to apple, related in the chip space but apple had a rough week it's down 4% thisseck would. lots of concerns about -- >> the blockchain>> blockchain and the data that they are getting from the chip suppliers, et cetera, karen, what do you think of this decline? >> i don't know. everybody seems to be concerned. i can buy into that. it can't be bad for the apple story, right. >> right. >> this kind of performance. but across the birdie it can't be bad but i don't know if it would be enough to overcome. >> to allay the fear. >> if they do miss dramatically. >> when sammy reported what they did i would listen to them they are seeing dma. inventory bad is not bad for the sector that's better than last year i stay long. >>> coming up, starbucks burning investors, the stock is down more than 4% we will here from kevin johnson later this hour. >> plus just say no. that's one what hedge fund investor is telling investors about high finlyg pot stocks we will tell you what has him so paranoid about the space when "fast money" returns. you always pay your insurance on time. tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. what good i

blockchain corp — blockchain being the technology that powers bitcoin and other digital currencies. the share price tripled. not surprisingly, regulators are worried and many think this is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the dot com bubble. our technology editor david grossman explains what has been going on. a rose by any other name, of course, but in the corporate world names matter. the promising start—up backrub that managed to conquer the world would not have done had it not changed its name to google. would blue ribbon sports have made such a swoosh if it hadn't become nike? 20 years ago, everyone added e or dotcom to their name. now, the word is blockchainin in theircompany name, people will think, we will go with them, because i will see a good return. you are seeing that a lot. anything with bitcoin is doing well. blockchain might be able to do similar, so people will want some. it's the technology that underpins currencies like bitcoin. it allows every currency to verify every transaction. it means you can do away with a central register which is vulnerable to hacking. blockchain is opening up a way to do finance which is more transparent, cheaper, faster, and it gives us the ability to cut out a lot of the middlemen and automated processes, whilst still keeping the same level or an improved level of security. but it'll take time. we still have a long way to go. we need to battle test the technology. there will be ups and downs along the way. from a starting point, it's a really good start. are companies simply cashing in on the name? take, for example, online plc, an essex—based company that plodded along with a share price so flat

promising anything, they're not saying blockchain is our primary technology or blockchain is our primary product. they say, we're going to start looking into blockchainnvestment opportunities >> you better be careful with what you say and how you're conducting your business if you're really a pet company and a small percentage of your company is blockchain and you're using the name, that could be fraudulent look, they're good companies, there's good places to invest in this space but there's also the seedy people out there i'm hearing about it it's reminiscent of the dot-com boom and bust, when anything internet became a stock public offering, many of them failed and many of them were scams, as we know. >> what should investors look at i look at walmart. they say they're using blockchain to track port prices in china does there have to be a use case or is it good enough to say, if a company is just saying, hey, we're going to use blockchain for something, should investors look at that as a red flag >> not necessarily i'm talking about companies where they're touting their ability to market bitcoin, be consultants, maybe improve the process. those are

blockchain's -- blockchains. other things they are planning to do have been implemented by us. they are now treating tokens into neo tokens. yvonne: a few months ago -- we were talking about mainstream cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, ripple. that pack now. but below you, dozens of the new cryptocurrencies now. what do you make of the new coins? does it hurt or help the market? depends.i: it coin, the token, the team behind it is focused on fundamental technology, i would say it is beneficial to the market, to the industry. but if it is a hyped up a vehicle, it is bad. really quickly, we only have a few more seconds -- what do you say to those critics who cryptocurrencies are a complete fraud, and just a vehicle for money laundering? anything can be used for bad purposes. but we need to use of the pot -- we need to look at the positive side. believe blockchainchange the future of human society. please focus on the technology. founder,a hongfei, neo thank you for joining us from shanghai. betty: that is it for us. jampacked last few hours. our market coverage continues with haidi lun. this is bloomberg. ♪ retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. ♪ >> is 12:00 p.m. here in sydney. this is bloomberg markets: asia. ♪ haidi: asia-pacific stocks snap their winning streak after wall street's first fall this year on a stronger yen weighing on japan. so much for armageddon. despite attacks from china, growth -- they a major restructure at the airlines after a top s

blockchain technology behind , but a lot of the divisiveness comes from these volatile market movements. are these two separate things? >> we don't doubt the blockchain technology as well, but cryptocurrency is just one application of blockchaint and we believe many cryptocurrencies will survive and do well. ,e believe cryptocurrencies smart contracts, decentralized applications can be built on top of them. bitcoin can't do that. others have privacy and transparency that far surpasses bitcoin. if we look at -- and i have spoken about this before to our clients -- if you equate the blockchain technology to the internet and look at the underlying applications, social media is just one application of bitcoinrnet, where as is just one application of the blockchain. there are players that started out when the social media platforms came about, but due to the fact that they were not as advanced as competitors, they fell out of favor with investors , and bitcoin in its current form, we think the market turns its back on bitcoin this year and will fall out of favor relative to other cryptocurrencies that have more utility. haidi: do you think without regulatory support that this is a story that ends badly? factor, they privacy factor

the thing was with even thinkig about different models like blockchain, blockchain in itself like ideologicallyis very libertarian, right? >> i hadn't thought about it, like even the idea of tribes, there probably make more sense to say they are communities that belong and it's okay to share. it's like i'm an individual in the world and where connecting like that. i would say the other thing about business models is that, again not to fall back on regulation of the ideas you're supposed to make ability for things that are harmful and that's what you don't pollute otherwise would be a great business model to chop all the trees down and pollute the river and make the most money. i think it is on us to sort of ad the cost to this so that will work. >> to extract the most value. >> from them or what they are doing? >> that's the alternative. >> right. >> i would also add, i think it might, one other leave is like the demand side of things. even if it's hard to imagine a world without facebook and amazon and google and apple, what does it look like if we start demanding different versions of those t

blockchain in its name. there is a sports bra maker that puts blockchain in its name. an e-cigarettes company that did the same thing. cory: wait, sports bras? and blockchain? would have thought blockchain could help the manufacturing process for a sports bra? but they are not really doing anything in blockchain, just adding that to the name, like the late 1990's early 2000's when companies were adding .com to their name even though they had nothing to do with the internet. their stocks would surge. it is deja vu all over again. cory: when i was a money manager, when i was looking for stocks that i did not believe, i would look for things along the line of the trend. a social media company that did not have a social media network, or a wireless company that did not have a wireless product. so, when i saw this one, i don't know if it is fake or real, but when i saw it had both the internet of things and blockchain in its description and has zero revenues, but over $1 billion in valuation, i thought this was worth kicking around a little bit. julie: not even just no revenue, it has $15,000 of cash in their hand you wrote in your story. they're burning through

does not equal blockchain. blockchain does not equal bitcoin. it is considered maverick off the radar. the bank of england has been in this several years. china will look at this. it will get co-opted into the mainstream financial system. actual see some interaction of that technology this year. the cryptocurrency is a bit of a sideshow from that aspect of the technology, which can work and make finance more efficient. currency?tcoin a geoffrey: no. it is not. it is a vehicle for speculation. currency is a medium of exchanges. until you have a critical mass, a large particle mass, of institutions or commercial entities accepting bitcoin as a oritimate exchange for goods services or products, then we can have a discussion. at this point, it is not happening. to equate the two, i do not think it will happen. exactly. that is where i wanted to go. i do not want you to get in trouble with that general of the bank of switzerland, but help me with the central bank of south korea. what are their degrees of freedom in dealing with the speculative frenzy

blockchain, the application side is continuing to develop. in 2018, not only will we see $50,000 price levels, but i think we will be seeing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology emerging from its bof blockchaine application side adolescence and really coming into its own as an empowered and self competent, self-aware technology. we are not going to be talking about how blockchain is impacting the markets. we will be talking about how blockchain is impacting the world. emily: and learning how to socialize. thank you so much. cory johnson, thank you, and for that story. coming up, streaming services take home high honors of the golden globes. we give you a list of winners, next. this is bloomberg. ♪ emily: sony music publishing and facebook signed a deal for online video. it will allow facebook users to post songs from artists like ed sheeran and taylor swift from a catalog of 3 million songs. the multiyear accord will give songwriters the chance to earn royalties when their music is used on facebook and instagram. financial terms were not disclosed. could mesmerizing qualities of the iphone foster a public health crisis? two big shareholders of apple think so. the california state teachers re

blockchain. also president of the global blockchain business council. welcome to power lunch are these individuals right to be concerned about the anonymity of blockchain he supposed anonymity of blockchain. >> they're right to have a lot of questions, and what concerns me is there are so many regulators in the united states, but all over the world, who are just waking up to what this is it's really critical that they learn and take the time. i have to hand it, this is not the first time they have talked about this, but most people are kind of just openening their eyes to what's happening here. >> is regulation needed, and if so, what kind? or do we even know yet >> yeah, we're big believers in smart regulation, but we always say, you can't have smart regulation until you're smart. our job is to actually go in and talk to regulators and explain to them, start at point a and work them through what they need to know, how they can understand the difference between blockchain and bitcoin, blockchain and other cryptocurrencies, the applications of blockchain technology, and also frankly why everyone is so excited about this technology. >> can you articulate

blockchain. i'm buying blockchain. whether or not bitcoin is successful or not, blockchain will be successful in the longer term i'm buying that based on t-zero which is their ico >>> despite the regulation talk, bk says there's one coin that should be the next shiny addition bk, head over to the plasma. >> i'll try to walk and talk the interesting thing about the regulatory talk coming out of south korea, i wouldn't be surprised if they go the japan route where they are really good regulation, similar to what we have here in the u.s but let's take a look at one coin that was interesting to me that i bought today off of that ripple news. so i think that ripple news was very big ripple had the use case for it, to send stuff around the world now you'll be able to actually use the currency or money gram will start doing that why don't we look at another one. stellar. stellar is one that is very similar to ripple. it's created by one of the creators of ripple effectively the company split, and they went out and created stellar. they're already working with ibm. they inked a deal with of them to do cross border payments. ibm h

blockchain -- population. and now he is in blockchain -- lthough he is not particularly saying blockchain -- will change the technologyring the power back to the people. if it did actually come to fruition, facebook would be harmed because it would not be necessary to spread information in the social network. emily: several guests on this show have suggested blockchain could be one thing that could disrupt some of the big tech monopolies. what do you think of zuckerberg saying he will be spending time on cryptocurrency this year publicly? david: i think that was a very smart note he posted yesterday. i think it was a necessary step in the right direction. the first of many steps he will have to make to addressing the challenges to his services in modern society. on the one hand, the cryptocurrency part is defensive and on the other hand creative. , many peopleout believe the best way to compete with facebook down the road might be with a blockchain-based system that somehow gave individuals more control over the personal data. if that were to be possible somehow, it is very hard to angine how you create ecosystem. iss

blockchain — is highly valuable. it is the security of the system, and it manages the supply of bitcoin. and one of the clever things about blockchain, is that it is made to work by a disparate set of self—appointed custodians, called miners. the whole brilliance of blockchain for making it all hold it together. the miners don't even have to go underground or dirty their hands. our technology editor, david grossman, has been looking more closely at what they do. lost in a cryptocurrency maze, which is pretty fitting, because cryptocurrencies, like their most famous incarnation bitcoin, are based on extremely complicated puzzles. these puzzles are programmed into the source code for bitcoin. roughly every ten minutes or so, a new puzzle is released and computers all over the world race to solve it. because the value of bitcoin has gone up so markedly over the last year or so, well, this activity has become more and more popular. it can be fabulously lucrative. it's called bitcoin mining. cryptocurrencies like bitcoin don't have a central register. their strength comes from having what is called a distributed ledger. it's a blockchain. the blocks on the blockchain contain details of every transaction in the currency‘s history. as new transactions happen, they

blockchain technologies and even currencies that use blockchain rather than is when we that elevate into a conversation of what they might be. the company that owns movie pass, they have a public structure that is complicated. the business is really simple. physicalflix at a movie theater. i talked to them about the notions of using blockchain and what they will do with it in listen to what he had to say about how block and much -- blockchain might change business. >> i think the public doesn't quite understand you're on the only thedisrupting not way you go to movies, but the distribution of content. buts not just movie pass, expectlot of businesses to use this technology to solve problems.ms -- old >> how do you know when some of these businesses are using this generate and not to buzz? >> i think some cases are obvious. when you see companies change the name and do things that have a short-term effect on their -- it isn it seems interesting to see how they talk. kodak, another company -- with a listen to what they say and the details they give us about how that might work through a >> how much more often do you think we'll see this happening? -- we will bel sonting on thinkers and toes between the two of us that is at least 20. >> we talk a lot about bitcoin and ripple. if there was one other cryptocurrency that you're w

blockchain capitalization. i think blockchain will easily be equities this year. >> easily. >> i think bitcoin and ethereum individually will be equities this year. the aggregate blockchainould do a lot better. >> tom, graded to see you. pete, your thoughts. >> it's all about risk appetites. it's a matter of how much of your entire portfolio, and second of all, within these various oins, how much and how do you want to allocate it across and where you think the biggest gains are. 5% or less is the smartest way to be involved >>> still ahead, do you want to make crypto without much risk? dan nathan will show us how. >>> guy's time to shine, he's at the plasma warming up to pitch the one stock he says could be a home run for investors this earnings season. the name and much more when the name and much more when "fast money" returns how much do you think it cost him? $100 a month? $75? $50? actually, duncan got his $500,000 for under $28 a month. less than $1 a day! his secret? selectquote. in just minutes a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highly rated life insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. duncan's wife cassie got a $

blockchain in the ad? they linked ibm with blockchain? they have a blockchain project. spectability to cryptocurrency ands and blockchain? >> it gives respect for block chain. block chain always had the respect. even jamie dimon dissing bitcoin everyone knows -- everybody knows blockchain can revolutionize the world, particularly financial industry. ibm, sort of missed the cloud if you will. they made some acquisition. they're trying to get ahead of the curve. what is the next hot thing? where can we be. a smart move i think on their part. they have to follow up to become a real leader. but to your point blockchain is real. i also think the cryptocurrencies when all said and done a couple of them will be part of our everyday lives and they will survive the onslaught. it is like the wild west right now though. stuart: i'm dying to see if old tech ibm goes up tomorrow because they incorporated the word blockchain. ashley: it has been done by others. msnbc could have blockchain to give it credibility. >> kodak, kodak's stock, remember their stock took off, that was legitima

blockchain to a public blockchain that's what people are missing with ibm >>> our next guest says we might be on track for the greatest bull market ever, wow. it has been a while since we've seen julian emanuel, now chief equity and derivative strategist at bdig, congratulations >> it's been nine glorious years built on gains derived from low rates, earnings growth, and you met expansion, significant multiple expansion however, the road to 3,000 we think is going to be a little different. we think the gains this year are going to be built on earnings growth and we don't actually need multiple expansion, because we're going to have single digit, high single digit, low double digit earnings growth bolstered by tax reform. the question is, after gains of 305%, could this end up being the greatest bull market of all time quite possibly but if that's the case, we're going to have to beat the bull market of the 1990s. however, in our view, if you keep interest rates in check, you keep this global synchronized growth metric in check and earnings growth continues apace, we think you could get there by the time this bull market has run its course >> greatest bull market ever shall we invite julian over? come on over, julian karen will bring the chair in. thank you, karen take a seat, julian. welcome to the desk. >> great to be here. >> what's the thing, though, that could derail the greatest bull market ever >> it's a couple of things if you get too far in the ten-year, 3% is too far, the distance between where we are now and 3% is going to be a reflection of a more growth-ier metric you get too far and stocks will have to start discounting the fact that rates are higher than expected the other thing of course would be if the economy starts to turn over we don't see that. recession probabilities are very low. things are growing nicely. if that happened to happen, and the fed continued raising rates, which is how bull markets typically end, that's where we run into problems as well. >> fed missteps is probably at the top of your list of things that can go wrong. >> yes >> what's the probability of that happening >> well, you can't discount it, because if you look in the past, when you've had fed leadership transitions, as we're about to have, markets have run into problems it happened when greenspan took over from volcker in 1987. the financial crisis happened a year after bernanke took over. markets tend to have to digest >> those weren't self-inflicted, though this would be selfself-inflicted >> the fact is, it's not just powell at the top that would be different, the whole leadership is going to change the market will have to get the confidence that the fed will keep things moving on the right track. >> julian, i've known you for a long time. hearing you this confident about markets, i mean, this is a very smart strategist, a guy who looks for what's wrong i know we talked about the fed, but isn't the fact that consumer confidence and business confidence are at record highs, doesn't that tell you that we're at extreme levels, that a guy like you that thinks contrarian is wrong, that tells me thattings that in positioning is already here. it can't be that good. >> fair point. that's part of why we think that this year's narrative is volatility moves higher. that's a got to be a dose of reality. 2017 was too easy. the money was too fast, let's say. but for us, the fact is, is that this global synchronized growth metric, it doesn't die easily. and that's really significant underpinnings. and yes, we're worried about valuation. it's a concern every day and we get lots of questions on it but until rates really start to move, we can move higher >> it's not valuation, it's confidence, to me. people are too complacent. >> last question, julian, then we'll let you go 3%. do we hit that this year >> we don't think you do we're sort of keying off of consensus. that's around 288, 290 >> so at least another year for the greatest bull market ever? >> that's what we're thinking. >> julian emanuel, thank you btig what do you think? >> if you look at the market today, what are the risks out there? it's the bond market we saw it this morning, bond yields up all of a sudden for the first time futures why down ten handles that was like running around with your hair on fire big news. it's not really that big news. but for this market it was big news so i agree with julian, somewhere around 3% seems to be the trigger that most people are saying, you know what, this is going to start to impact valuations, we're going to have to start taking our earnings down, start taking our targets down you might want to get ahead of it and start taking profits. when they get to 2.9 >> what have you done today? what do you think of the whole greatest bull market ever? >> i'm always long, that's my bias buy s&p puts against it, thinking the volatility will spike higher, which happens for like an hour and they expire worthless, which is okay, it helps me sleep at night. i'm long t&t to me the biggest risk is inflation forces the fed's hand. the market is okay with what's on plan right now. >> with a spike in rates >> yes, an unexpected, significant spike in rates >> what did you do today >> a stock that fits into our earlier discussion the jnk and the hyg were to the high yield etfs, trading today and yesterday through the 50, 100, 200 moving averages that to me is showing sensitivity to credit. >>> coming up, the dean of valuation says you can't value bitcoin. but there's one surge in cryptocurrency you can value he'll tell you what it is. >>> plus activision blizzard is making a bet on one of its biggest games. we'll talk to the ceo. >>> and later, one retail stock is surging and someone on this desk thinks it's the beginning of a major tnaurround. much more "fast money" after this your bbf your backup singer. your frenemy your boo your roomie so one phone for you and one phone for someone in your squad. buy an iphone 8 and get a second iphone 8 on us when you have directv. >>> welcome back to "fast money. let's take a look at target, topping the tape shares soaring more than 2% today, now up more than 6% this week after the company raised guidance after stronger than reported holiday sales are target shares finally hitting the bullseye, are they the next walmart, karen? >> i don't know, maybe i would have thought the stock would be up more today i thought that was pretty good, and they see some momentum and, you know, i don't think this is an out over their skis kind of guidance maybe there's a possibility they do better than that. it's not super cheap but nothing is super cheap right now i think it's sort of interesting right here >> forced to choose. >> another way of saying -- >> would you rather, in disguise, my little trick. target or walmart? >> tgt tgt. we sat not on this desk, upstairs >> we are upstairs >> or downstairs >> this is upstairs. there is no upstairs >> it was 6:30 in the morning, target came out, stock was trading, i looked at you and said, don't fade this move, mel, remember that? >> yeah. >> except for a brief period of time a couple of weeks ago after they reported this, the stock has been a rocket ship no, it's not cheap, but it's cheap in comparison to walmart >> which gets to the conversation from the top of the show, is walmart value, is target a better value? >> walmart is trading at two standard deviations. walmart, its old self, didn't have this whole e commerce think that people think is going to compete with amazon. target made some noise about their ability to compete in e-commerce this is where target is cheap to its peers, relatively in line with itself. maybe that multiple needs to go higher >> there's a tiny chance that target could get acquired. i wouldn't own it, but it is possible i wouldn't pay anything for it but that is a possibility that walmart does not have. >> for me the catalyst here, i would pick target, to answer your question. i've liked walmart quite a bit all through '17. here i think there's just more upside surprise that could come out of target. i know what walmart's strategy is, it's a good strategy but target has multiple strategies they could hit. maybe there's a bid, they my get taken over i still think they're a catalyst for 2018 >>> patrick doyle is about to speak to jim cramer, his first interview since announcing he's stepping down from the c suite in june. i'm melissa lee. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide meantime here is what's coming up on "fast. >>> warren buffett bashing bitcoin. but after you hear what he said about internet stocks in the '90s, you might go full crypto we'll explain. >>> plus -- >> shall we play a game? >> we shall. video game stocks are on fire. and east port could take one of them to new highs. the name when "fast money" returns. >>> in terms of cryptocurrencies generally, i can say almost with certainty that they will come to a bad ending now, when it happens or how or anything else, i don't know. but i know this. i get into enough trouble with things i think i know something about. why in the world should i take a long or short position in something i don't know anything about? >> that was warren buffett sitting down with our own becky quick. this isn't the first time bust has bashed a speculative industry with sky high valuations take a listen to what the oracle of omaha said about internet stocks 20 years ago. >> i would say there's no one here that can understand some new internet company i said at the annual meeting this year if i were teaching a class in business school, at the final exam i would pass out information on an internet company and ask each student to value it and anyone who answered, i would flunk. >> go gators, by the way >> that's what papa told university students in 1998. internet stocks have come a long way since then since the tech sector makes up a large percentage of the s&p 500. is this deja vu? is buffett right about crypto? or does one of the greatest investors of all time have it gone bk, you're going to say yes, he has it all wrong >> you know what, i'm not going to say he's got it all wrong there are parts of the crypto market that are in a speculative frenzy you're getting valuations in some of these things, i'm not necessarily talk about bitcoin, some of the smaller coins, you're starting to see speculative frenzy they don't have much behind them and they will end up bad in that particular sense an important thing to remember here is, you had a bubble in internet stocks, but it was still a transformative technology amazon, facebook, google, all came out of that era if you're looking at what's the next internet investment over a long time frame, then buffett is completely wrong >> i'm invested there. i don't know how we're doing on valuations, brian. you talk about valuations being fraught. i'm not even sure what's there i'm surprised mr. buffett didn't talk about the equities that are attached to crypto and putting valuations and why he didn't reference a kodak, which maybe i'll look even sillier when it's 30 bucks a share, but to me, i don't understand this. i will say, and this goes back to the rbc interview we had the other night, the fact that it's conceptual, the decentralization coming from crypto is something that a lot of people have a tough time finding an explanation for. it's there >>> aswath damodaran is a professor at nyu and joins us from california. is warren buffett right on crypto >> i think he's brushing the entire sector with too broad a brush. i don't think you can write off cryptocurrencies altogether. will it end badly for some of the people involved? absolutely, for those people who got on the bandwagon late and are playing the pricing game for some of them, it's going to end badly. but looking forward, i agree with your panel that there is a future for fin tech. i think we mix together lots of different crypto investments in the cryptocurrency space some of them are going to succeed. some of them are going to not. i think to put them all together in one big bucket and throw them over the edge doesn't make sense to me. >> is that why you think you can value ethereum versus bitcoin? >> when i look at the cryptocurrency buckets, i see three separate buckets there's cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which cannot be valued because they're currencies ethereum is a crypto commodity it's marketed as a lubricant for smart contracts. and smart contracts are what the fin tech, the blockchain revolution is going to deliver ethereum can become a significant part of that business and you can value it as a commodity. there are commodities that can be valued as slices of businesses to view them all as worthless and useless is wrong >> it's karen, let me ask you something. in the original internet bubble in 2000, did you find you had the same ideas about difficulty of valuation, or were there other metrics that got you comfortable then >> you know what, i love valuing difficult to value companies it makes me strange. i get them wrong every single time >> he's the dean of valuation. >> so i valued amazon every year since '97, i bought amazon four times, i sold it four times. i didn't buy it at the right time, i didn't sell it at the right time but to me there is a way to value companies. i don't think you can walk away from a business and say i cannot understand it because the older you get, the less you'll understand if you take the buffett view, most of the world will be out o

blockchain in the u.s., using blockchain the home is owned by chris murphy he is selling the packer house for $1 million despite it being assessed at 264,000, he wants to use the sale as a way to promote blockchainechnology. >> so interesting. >> we have seen a house or two sold with bitcoin already, but -- >> i know diana olick did a story about paying rent in bitcoin. >> once or two transactions so far. >> the whole lambeau field packer nation is so interesting. right in the middle of a neighborhood. >>> the bills are in the playoffs for the first time since 1999 and they're looking to celebrate after securing a win in miami. the bills needed the bengals to beat the ravens to advance to the postseason, which they did in a show of gratitude, the bills tweeted out to the bangles, the people of the city of buffalo and bills fans thank you. very cool for the bills. >>> now to sports on the field college football national title game is set after the two some my final games were played last night. alabama took on clemson in the sugar bowl this time it was all alabama the crimson tide rolled over clemson beating the tigers 24-6. at the rose bowl, oklahoma and georgia went to double overtime. this was

, that is the name of a company, long blockchain, they have agreed to be acquired by stata blockchain, all-stock deal. you remember long blockchain as long island iced tea, got it? >>> ibm, they're up a little bit this morning, 1%. that is not a big gain in this market. they jumped into the blockchain deal last week. they're at 164 this morning. >>> how about the price of bitcoin, where is it now? $12,000 per ounce. that is down 1hundred dollars. because the south koreans want to ban it? ashley: they said this over the weaken and they re-emphasized looking at that option very much alive. this is important because the south korea is the third largest trading of cryptocurrency in the world. it has a big impact. we're seeing a report that china too is clamming down. that there at some point there will be a regulatory crunch for cryptocurrency. all of that pushing the press down. stuart: conventional stocks straight up. bitcoin straight down. i wonder if there is a connection? i don't know. i just don't know. >>> the clock is ticking for the government to avoid a shutdown. in my opinion i think we should shut it down. that is the big

blockchain? william: it is a function of the investment opportunities. we are seeing deals now showing up in the portfolio for growth and rise that have dimensions of blockchain the drive the capability of the platform. investor, whatth do you see in cryptocurrencies and blockchainothers are willing to dismiss? william: where blockchain is so interesting, there is bitcoin and the currencies themselves, and you can debate whether bitcoin will be a store of wealth. erik: what do you think? william: as an american, it is tough to imagine, but if you grew up in summer like nigeria. erik: or venezuela. william: the potential for a currency that is not governed by fiat is enormously compelling. i honestly do not prove to be an expert and i would not prognosticate on whether that is highly likely are not, but as an american with the dollar being effectively the global currency, it is hard to imagine. blockchain is a methodology that has lots of different applications, and there is a lot of word going on in many different sectors that are easily -- utilizing blockchain. erik: a couple of questions about tpg growth. -- let a justppen preface this by saying, uber has been one of tpg growth's most successful investments. william: that is right. erik: what has to happen bef

blockchain technology and even currencies that use blockchain, rather than the price is up, the price is down. aat is when we have conversation about what these things might be as a business. i talked to the ceo of moviepass, an interesting start of that has a public structure that is complicated. physicalflix with the movie theater, founded by one of the netflix cofounders. notion ofabout their using blockchaint they will do, as opposed to just talking about it. listen to what he had to say about how blockchain might change business. >> it is. >> more valuable than yesterday? >> i think the public does not quite understand we are on the verge of disrupting the holy you go to movies, but the whole distribution of content. that is the thing, it is the notion of distribution of content. they said they could do it in nine months. but how lots of businesses are expecting how to use this technology to solve old problems. then we can get away from squiggly lines and the stock price and understand how technology is changing business. emily: how do you know when some of these businesses are using this genuinely and not to generate buzz? cory: i think we can look at some cases as being obvious. when you see companies change the name and do things that have a short-term effect on their stock. it seems to me the only possible near-term gains is that, or complete change of business model. and whoo how th

it got a nice mention in relation to blockchain, we're going to understand blockchain i had one of the great data companies of the word, we're fascinated by blockchainwe're going to figure it out we're still in infancy block chain. >> what did you think of kelly visa telling john forte they don't see it as a currency, payment currency, not one they'll accept >> very similar to bank of america. which is that guys, look, understand, bank of america went one step further they are convinced a lot of it no one will want to hear this. that a lot of it is illicit. it's illicit, it's a way to get around regulators and then you come into south korea and china. these are countries -- >> or venezuela. >> that story in the journal about the oil production declining rapidly is frightening and sad. >> you can begin -- >> they are a big user of bitcoin. >> when schlumberger saying they are not going to be in oil anymore. really talking about them making a lot of money i think it was over at morgan today. when they say we're not dealing with you, you're not drilling because you can't drill without schl schlumberger. >> it's going to be a new high for morgan stanley

blockchain, tweeting today, we are contemplating adding blockchain to our name so we will increase our followers by 70,000%. is this something to joke about? cory: i'm a big fan of jokes. sec is tob of the protect investors from the worst markets have to offer. they've halted exactly one of these stocks. that is ubi blockchainas the second largest of those companies, briefly achieving $3 billion market cap. right now, the tally is one-to-one. one joke and one enforcement action. i think the tallies should be 100 jokes and a lot more in work to administer a fair market. they should be careful in using their enforcement power. the sec is needed to protect investors. ubisaying that is what blockchain or others are doing, but someone is preying on investors. the sec has not taken any action. sticks notion of a tweet because they haven't done much besides tweet. emily: eric is dying to jump in. >> it is not like the sec isn't paying attention. the sec came out with a statement last week alerting investors to the risks of cryptocurrency investment, telling the market that it is vigilant, that it is pursuing potential enforcement action, and reminding people that this is, as much as anything we've ever seen, a buyer beware kind of market. even if the sec fines fraud, the agency wanted us to know there may be no mo

blockchain israel. this is born of more than just the fact that he has made a ton of money buying and selling cryptocurrencies, he too believes that blockchain, the underlying codes to all cryptocurrencies has the power to transform finance and reshape it. now that is kind of dreamy but that is sort of what diamond is getting at and it is the business all the other bank ceos are taking a look at blockchainhy they also realize that they can't ignore the bitcoin futures market. now let's be clear. one thing that people may get ,onfused with his merchant bank he is not doing an ico, there will be no token here. this will be a busy fund, it will also trade cryptocurrencies like defense -- hedge fund would have that there will be no hedge fund that and it will be no visible investing or put on money into ico's. but it is not in and of itself going to be crypto. >> we seem to be in the middle of the perfect storm of exuberance and regulation and now we have the fort worth branch of the sec cracking jokes on twitter about blockchain, tweeting that we are contemplating adding blockchain to our name so we will increase our followers by 70,000%. >> jokes are all right but is this a joke about? >> i love comedy, i am a big fan of jokes, i think we should appreciate our lives with levity and jokes all the time but the job of the sec is to protect investors from the worst that capitalism and the mar

mention today saw the launch of two blockchain , which uses the underlying technology, not necessarily investing in blockchain on its own, but companies involved with blockchainr form. the manager of one expects to see the bitcoin etf's coming to market by the second quarter. don't have an etf based on bitcoin yet, but now that you have futures you have some example of a derivative based on the coin out there, so we are now waiting to see if the fcc will approve this product here it -- the sec will approve this product. perhaps this is all the more reason to be talking about the underlying technology and not the froth. scarlet: thank you for joining us with that story. looking into other cryptocurrencies and futures contract. coming up, what you need to know to gear up for tomorrow's trading. this is bloomberg. ♪ this is bloomberg. ♪ scarlet: "what'd you miss?" the u.s. stocks resuming the rally. all indices at record highs. 300 points higher for the dow. julia: apple putting money to work, potentially. scarlet: don't forget earnings. may be a government shutdown. maybe a government shutdown. morgan stanley reports fourth-quarter results. julia: china release

blockchain in their name, and the stock goes to the moon. for example, there is an iced tea company, changed its name to sound like it was a blockchain company, long island iced tea, became long blockchainock went straight up. now it's a little bit down today but it did go straight up. what is going on with all this? >> i think there is sort of a mantra out there, you know, all things blockchain are good and it requires really discriminating mind and investors to know, that merely a name change is not something that adds value to a company in the long term. so you may see these stock machinations out there with people trying to tag things, stuart "varney & company" blockchain, all of sudden increase in viewers or bart chill ton blockchain. people have to be careful. stuart: let's simplify this, would you bart chill ton buy into -- bart chilton would you buy bitcoin? >> i might t was up at 20,000, stuart, a couple weeks ago. it changes so rapidly. before we went on air it was 14,636. it was down to 11 a little bit ago. i would probably put a little bit in there and look at other cryptos that are safe. stuart: you wouldn't say no way, jose, i'm not going to touch this thing? you would not

blockchain. some don't use a blockchain. they all have different use cases. it varies by token.on't know what the future looks like. i would guess that it's like every other industry. ,t would have a concentration with a few players as the most important. >> it going being one of them? that there are others. they will be the dominant market of unknown size. >> what is the correlation between cryptocurrencies and traditional asset class s -- classes? tom: we had to issue tokens to each other and issue them to asset classes, but they are essentially nonexistent. joe: would you expect that correlation overtime as bitcoin talks about stabling out? maybe. interestingly, it is the most negatively correlated to gold. it looks like it is cannibalizing gold. it hasn't risen, so institutions are still refusing to own crypto. the points it get to where it becomes more systemically important? evil were down on cryptocurrencies, and people are saying that it doesn't matter, because it's not real. tom: if crypto was a nation and where does it fit in the global market caps? it's the 19th a gue

blockchain? >> we look for transformative stories and that is what we see with the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, the real returns are not at the top end of the market anymore. they are impact glass locations of blockchain'splications of blockchain. that is at the early stage, because the zero be the use of practical use of blockchain, even as the bubble deflates because there is too much a speculative money, in terms of people pumping and dumping. anna: very serious practitioners are starting to take this seriously and work out what blockchain could mean for their particular industry. at the same time, we have on the cryptocurrency, the headline grabbing things, many places like asia clamping down on speculation in cryptocurrencies, or in the years, or the trading of cryptocurrencies. how big is that regulatory threat? >> most of them are not censor -able. if you are trading in the korean won, that is where the government can get you. are trading at a 40% premium compared to anywhere else in the world, so there is a massive amount of getting away the controls, things going on like that. the government cannot sustain that because of money sovereignty. anna: will the government's put up with that? you ment

blockchain currencies will become about control. quest seeming central bank are going to adopt these blockchain currencies? sure, we think that emerging market, central banks will adopt these as a way to borrow legitimacy from the blockchain not be their main currency, china with a cnh like relationship with a blockchain currency, they are to try that in germany -- january and his grandmother with a. venezuela talked about it, you can see other emerging markets look to blockchain currencies as credibility builders were the second-best by arming have credibility now. they could add stability to the currency but we think -- we don't think that it is either or , central bank blockchain or cryptocurrency, of course all that stuff can coexist, we'll see that as an issue. nash, the ceo of complete intelligence. much more ahead, the oil bulls charging to the new year. we will look at this tug-of-war between opec and u.s. shale. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ this is daybreak asia, i am yvonne man in hong kong. now, get to commodities oil was a major factor today, we will $80 this year if blackstone invites for private wealth solution. he released his annual list of populism and that tribalism and anarchy would spread around the world. b

blockchain's. >> kodak. >> we will get to that. companies with no products whatsoever. i took a dive into one of these companies. and founder expertise was not in blockchain's, computer networking, currency trading, processing blockchain's. >> kodak. it was in bed wetting. of information. it wasn't even in bitcoin. the executives of this company had an expertise in bedwetting. alix: how do you have expertise in bedwetting? urine stopper, it was allegedly a radioactive patch. the patch in fact was not radioactive. there was never a product. the stock collapsed from a billion dollar market cap to nothing. the same company saying that they are going to invent blockchain technology. the sec stopped trading the stock after our story came out and that's the only thing they have done thus far that we can see about the trading in these equities. one halt of trading, one funny tweet. i am all for funny tweet. i would rather see tweets really looking at what's happening with investors and how they might be taken advantage of your. -- here. the biggest increase in trading in kodak yesterday. one hundred 20% increase after the company announced a licensing agreement with a company in germany that's going to create a blockchain like

blockchain has the potential to be as disruptive as the internet was. the question is, do we need bitcoin to build out the blockchain i don't think we do. these countries have to be very, very careful to manage the buildout of the blockchain at the same time you don't want teenagers in south korea trading bitcoin at stupid prices i get that they are at a dangerous point here this is going to change things >> bob -- >> bob, we have a guest -- >> go ahead, michelle. >> i was just going to say to bob's point about bitcoin, i've been asking that question a lot. we're going to have the founder of this particular mine on "power lunch." he's a big believer bitcoin will be the blockchain of choice. you're right, that's one of the key questions. >> bob, one of the benefits of bitcoin specifically is supposed to be a global currency, can't be regulated in the ways that many currencies are regulated, but prices are so different by geography and transactions, in some cases take a long time to settle what's your take on whether the utility of bitcoin is living up to the promise in this environment? >> look, bitcoin was not supposed to be a store of value. no matter what anybody tells you about digital gold, it was supposed to be a mec

their credit has been the blockchain again, when we were speaking to an analyst last hour he said blockchain, there will be no money. his view was there's no money in blockchain>> it sounded great on a press release and it's great to sort of promote it. the reality is that and t$2 get you a cup of coffee on the street the reality for ibm, can they grow the core business the traditional business is declining and margins are starting to repeat i do view it, start to see a turn around story, but if you look at the core turn around stories in tech, microsoft, adobe, i could say cisco right here in terms of what they're doing, there needs to be some tough decisions whether it's acquisitions, whether it's divestitures those are some of the tough decisions that the management team's going to need to make there. >> in terms of price, we're looking at the stock at $164 today. you said investors have lost patience you will see knee-jerk reactions up and down. what's a price that's a good entry point? >> look, i think if they the next few quarters continue to show this type of growth you could see 175, 180, $185 stock to see that $200 plus, they're going to need to do s

blockchain. anna: adding it to their name? gerry: it has this impact but it is actually one of the potential first uses for proper blockchain technology, for commercial purposes -- digital rights of photography and things like that. blockchainel useful for authentication, but there are definitely uses. the focus is still on the original introductory technology. matt: you mentioned some of the other currencies. are you interested? cash, maybe it is easier to spend. something like zeke cash is more synonymous. are you interested? gerry: guilty pleasure of dabbling in it last year. not to focus on it. there is a great podcast called blockchain insider and they go into the whole suite of cryptocurrencies and their uses. the currencies themselves are being created, but in reality, they will become the enabler. a lot of them will disappear and you will get more into what the technology is actually doing. a lot of the money is going into developing these technologies. it will be transformational in many ways. i think it is happening a lot becausehan we thought the bottlenecks because the bottlenecks of being able to authenticate across the entire network are being usurped in being able to authenticate in smaller groups. a lot of f

blockchain, the question whether bitcoin will be up or down. it is down recently. blockchain is apparently here to stay. there is place for microsoft, is there not. >> absolutely. you framed it absolutley correctly. bitcoin is one of things that work on blockchain technology. every reason to believe microsoft will be a key player because this is core infrastructure. david: food stuff, guys. hang in there, breaking news on facebook. they are reporting fourth quarter results. go back to gerri with the numbers. go ahead, gerri. >> this is interesting, a split decision in terms of earnings, bottom line. a big disappointment. we expected 1.95 a share. got 1.4 had share. certainly good news for the stock which has been not cross-hairs of a lot of investors looking at it, wondering about this company. a lot of pressure on this company because of what we've seen having to do with kind of material they're putting on facebook and trying to keep off. earnings split decision. eps a disappointment. expected nearly $2 a share. we bottom $1.44. revenues higher than expected at 12.97 billion. that is good news and bad news. shares are down pretty dramatically here. down 6% i believe. down 3%, pardon me. mobile ad revenue, we're seeing 89% of ad revenue in the

on january 3, 2009, the blockchain network had its very first block mined. since then, the bitcoin blockchainr well over half a million blocks. the cryptocurrency boasts more than 1000 different currencies. ofo, the alibaba-backed, chinese ise sharing company, acrossng to companies north america. it is in 20 cities across the u.s. and operates in 250 cities worldwide. last year, it completed value -- funding across north america. it is in 20 cities across the u.s. and operates in 250 cities worldwide. last year, it completed value -- funding rounds that showed its value at -- chris taylor across north america. it is in 20 cities across the is joining us. talk to us about what you see for ofo's expansion in the u.s. this year. what is the road ahead? chris: much larger expansion. it started to speed up in q4. start of q4, we were in only three or four cities in the u.s.. we are now in 20 cities at the end of the year and looking to expand close to 100 cities by the end of 2018, a massive expansion into the u.s., after a fairly large expansion in china and throughout the rest of the world. emil

blockchain can deliver in the likes of banks. blockchain.n and justin: it is not just banks. i have spoken to retail operators handing larger items of clothing, food, things like that. blockchain is like a spider's web. once everything is connected, one bit will tell everybody else what is happening. in terms of security control, anybody delivering anything from money to widgets is a good control system. the blockchain be more interesting. good concept of banks coming out based on blockchain, i hope we will see those this year, i am going to have a look at some of them. bitcoin is a pot, not a -- bitcoin is ua punt. when we set up the confidence index this morning, global competence is out of 25 year high. u.k. confidence is under pressure. it has dropped considerably, aggressively. we have been wrong in our assessment in the u.k.. is beginning to look underpin briefly. is 2018 going to be in the u.k.? justin: business was getting weaker. justin, thank you for being with us on the first edition of 2018. the rest of the european markets are set for the start of a treading day on day one of 2018. guy johnson is up next with the european open. ♪ >> welcome to bloomberg markets, the european open. i'm guy johnson at our new london headquarters. cash equity trade less than 30 minutes away. ♪ guy: china starting the year with a bang. manufacturing pai -- pmi surging. the yuan and stocks strengthening. i'l

blockchain. >> that is what block championship we-- blockchain, i am focused on digital occurrences bitcoin could be long digital currency to transfer not store value, gold and dollars have in occurrences kurngs two functions transfer value is what interests me because bitcoin technology or digital technology creates the engineering opportunities to really fundamentally change the way we move money around the world. >> you know. >> blockchainechnology enables that to happen. >> blockchain a trust system, i trust you on the other side of the trade you trust me on the other side of the trade could i use dollars for that i don't neither cryptocurrency right. >> quite the opposite it is we don't have to trust each other, because the blockchain creates mechanism there is a permanent record so you and i can transact without having to trust each other means all the costs of trust that are in the system today fraud risk credit risk custody risk payment risk, translation all that goes away. you take -- just like e-mail when you took mail you got rid of the paper envelopes all the stuff you made it digitals around the intent speed of light took costs out. >> can't i use dollars. >> you can use dollars but according to one of the great economists of our generation 90% u.s. dollar billed biggest are i wouldn't you have had in organized crime tax evasion the reason they are bearer bonds no permanent record the blockchain leaves permane

you have the blockchain and every transaction there are was from day one on the blockchain. >> transparencyctions are between wallet. you see a wallet, you don't have a name associated with it, but there are many places are you do have to give a name say if you bought the bitcoin on a point base exchange -- coin base exchange. there are others out there that use various methods to either encrypt the sender and receiver information, or create a false trail. they create other fake addresses . so, the software that law enforcement and others have used to try to track transactions gets immediately lost. d?lia: shouldn't this be banne like regulators have been behind on this in terms of regulating every aspect, is it something regulators will get more -- toi guess we should speak the bitcoin regulator, i guess we know who that it is. actually, i have no idea. that is the thing. there is not really a -- it is extremely lightly regulated. this is outside the realm of regulation. where regulation comes in is where you transfer from dollars or euros to bitcoin. that is the exchanges. and many exchan

blockchain down sharply as bitcoin plunges. abigail: another day for the craze. we have seen big swings up and down. when bitcoin goes up, these companies go up. it's not just riot blockchain. we have kodak down. someive to bitcoin itself, are pointing to the fundamentals that south korea is cracking down. when you have something parabolic like bitcoin, sometimes you want to just look at the technicals, the buyers and the sellers, to see what happened behind that and what could be ahead. this is a one-year chart. from $1000 big rise to nearly $20,000. in the blue, we have the 100 day moving average. momentum. in orange, we have the 50 day moving average, and more near-term indicator of momentum. in the past, when bitcoin goes today, it's day -- likely to go down abo below $9,0 per bitcoin because it is below that 50 day moving trend. mark: what about long island iced tea? some deal action is helping? abigail: these shares have been all over the map. now, they are down just slightly. the company is merging with satyr blockchain cryptocurrency brokerage. you have to take into account that not so long ago, this company was long island iced tea, almost delisted from the nasdaq, after changing its name to long blockchain, a huge move higher, suggesting this is a bit of a bubble. charlestly spoke about describing this as euphoria at the top of the peak. -- perhapsto swindle this is a sign of that, some of the air coming out of the bubble. abigail doolittle with our stock of the hour. thank you. the asset is beating class food chains, helping the 75% since 2014. today, they are adding more recycling. theing us from chicago, mcdonald's cheap supply-chain and sustainability officer -- chief supply-chain and sustainability officer. there's a lot you can recycle from a mcdonald's meal. >> first of all, thank you so much for having me on your show. today, we are making an announcement in two areas, improving our packaging and reducing waste. by 2025, 100% of our packaging will come from renewable, recycled or certified

blockchain? >> exactly, only because of blockchain. that's what we have been doing. done it and i really believe in that and that will bring efficiency to global trade as well. maria: ralph, we will be watching, we so appreciate it, ralph, ceo of ing, coming up silicon valley's reaction to president trump's new tax plan, microsoft cofounder bill gates will weigh in on the legislation's impact on the technology community. that's straight ahead, alexa patriots to eagles. ai assistant believes who will win the super bowl, you have to hear this in a minute. you know what they say about the early bird... he gets the best deal on the perfect hotel by using tripadvisor! that's because tripadvisor lets you start your trip on the right foot... by comparing prices from over 200 booking sites to find the right hotel for you at the lowest price. saving you up to 30%! you'll be bathing in savings! tripadvisor. check the latest reviews and lowest prices. maria: welcome back, now this a pair of police shootings overnight, one officer is dead and another critically injured. cheryl c

blockchain. maybe having problems with that. problems. seen any >> that's right. that's the thing that makes bitcoin possible. blockchain.a time ordered sequence of every transaction that's ever done with a bitcoin. you know everything you can history of the bitcoin you just bought. the digi digital currency works. to go in ande overwhelm that network of computers all around the world that history.ange you could pay for a yacht for your bitcoinith and go in and hack the network and take that bitcoin back and you still got your yacht. silly example. what's so interesting about you can take over the network and have that much computing power, you might as bitcoinsthere and earn for the transactions that you verify. oneget free bitcoins for you do. the incentive sort of fascinating that there's not really an incentive necessarily to hack it. unless you're like what people from the bat man movie, some joker type. chaos.o wants to sow that's possible. there's aesting strong counterargument. carol: the cost and benefits of education. considered the controversial theme of economies brian's new book. carol: it's called "the case

blockchain. i heard you saying that bitcoin is boring. blockchain technology, of course, not boring yet. isnie: i think, if there such a thing as a debutante ball, 2017 has been a coming out year for blockchaincap for cryptocurrencies was around $18 billion. at the end of the year, $107 billion u.s.. capital,of venture what we have seen last year in 2017, over $3.7 billion were raised by initial calling offerings, which is essentially fornd-raising mechanism blockchain currencies through the selling. we see that the token economy is here to stay. juliette: when you are looking at companies to invest in, what do you look at? is it a matter of, i've seen that before, but what else can you offer? bonnie: from an investor perspective, bitcoin is boring. it is like the motorola cell phone back in 1984. we have a break that ways to give you a pounds, and it works. we realize, after bitcoin, there cointreauthree to major areas in the structure that need to be resolved before we can lead to mass adoption of the technology. these are areas that we are focused on looking for great project teams. -- key areas are scalability visa does about 2000 --nsactions per second, pick paypal can do about 500. bit

he said the blockchain israel and a lot of people said the blockchain is real.transactions if you have them. he goes on to say you have crypto yen and dollars here it he goes on to say he just has a different opinion than others and he himself is not interested much in the subject at all. i am interested if he will change that as well if it continues to rally higher, but one person who is pushing orward is mike no progress -- a famous wall street trader he says he wants to start a merchant bank with some of his money, $200 million. he has laid out a plan. he wants it to start with galaxy buying canadian cryptocurrency called first coin capital. after that, he wants to merge that with a shell company called pharma. he wants to raise money and then farming.at galaxy -- this is actually -- if it happens, it will happen quickly over the next couple of months or so. he says he wants this wrapped up by the first quarter of this year. >> certainly no relief at all in our crazy focus on bitcoin. thank you so much, ramy. containing shipping -- container shipping companie