so ethereum has kind of grown to do that, and ethereum is now doing more transactions per day than bitcoinhereum also has this really new, innovative concept of smart contracts. it is much more programmable than bitcoin. bitcoin, you can think of it as a function calculator. ethereum is almost like a program language where you can write any software and run it on a globally decentralized computer. that is kind of a mindbending concept. let's say ethereum is much higher input per second and is much more programmable. emily: you have launched a new app called toshi, which seems sort of like an app store for ethereum. explain what you are trying to do. brian: the analogy i like to use is the internet. when the internet started, it was really difficult to use. and then a browser came out on top of the internet with netscape, and it made it easy for anyone to build an app and also access the internet. we are doing the same thing with toshi. toshi you can think of it as a browser for the ethereum network. we are trying to make it easy for any developer to build an app and users to use. honestly,

ethereum and lightcoin. what do you see happening with ethereum versus bitcoin in the future? have sort of evolved down different paths. bitcoin used to be 95% of all the market cap of digital currency. but it has come down quite a bit to 50% or 60%. bitcoin is ending up being a little more like digital gold, kind of the oldest digital currency, the one people flee to and times of uncertainty, but it has not scale to become a payment network with paper transactions like people might want. ethereum is doing more transactions per day than bitcoin. they also have the contracts, it is more programmable than bitcoin. bitcoin you can's ink of as a simple, four function calculator. you can send a to b, or subtract lead to a. ethereum is like a programming language where you can run any software and run it on a globally decentralize computer. it is a mindbending concept, but it is much more programmable. emily: when it comes to the price, how do you see bitcoin versus ethereum playing out? do you see the bitcoin spike continuing? do you see ethereum surpassing bitcoin, as some have su

good to have you for those who don't know, you want to explain ethereum and how it fits in the crypto kerr aengs universe >> 2008, they invented three things, one was the bitcoin application, the money, the payment cystment, store value. that application was the first application built on the second invention, the block chain, the block chain is a shared trust worthy infrastructure that lots of different actors can use and be certain that no minority set of actors can cheat the system, basically. the third is cryptoeconomics, which marries the first two. it enables incentivization of a whole lot of people to run these systems. enables a system like bitcoin to be of the people, by the people, for the people so ethereum took that second invention, the block chain, the trustful infrastructure, and enabled software developers to

it's based on the ethereum blockchain.e believing in cryptocurrency, then you can snowball into something that a society actually deems valuable. like the u.s. dollar. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean the u.s. dollar? >> the u.s. dollar is based on faith in the system. >> so the only thing backing this money is belief in the competency of the u.s. government? >> unfortunately, that's true. >> so not only is cryptocurrency fake. all money is fake. wake up, wall street. you know money isn't real, right? all this stuff is all fake. but wall street doesn't care if money is real, as long as they're making lots of it. they've been pumping millions into the bitcoin and ethereum, driving the creation of thousand of new cryptocurrency. but how low is the bar for so let me get this straight-- you took bitcoin and just the font. >> and we put a dog on it. >> why is it doge? >> it's base on a people. it's not dog e.coin? >> that's pretty smart, actually. >> it's not. this stupid people currency is worth over $400 million. so why

ethereum you can trade on coinbase. what do you see happening with ethereum versus bitcoin?: they evolved down different paths. bitcoin used to be 90% of the market cap of digital currency and it has come down quite a , bit. bitcoin is ending up, in my mind, being a little like digital gold, if you will. it is the oldest cryptocurrency, the one people flee to in times of uncertainty. it has not scaled to become a payment network with the transaction put through people might want. ethereum has kind of grown to do that and is doing more transactions per day than bitcoin. it also has a new, innovative concept of smart contracts. bitcoin, you can think of as a simple for function calculator. ethereum is almost like a program language where you can run any software and run it on a global, decentralized computer. that is a mindbending concept . but it is much more programmable. emily: you have launched a new app called toshi, which seems sort of like an apt store for ethereum. explain what you are trying to do. brian: the analogy i like to use is the internet. when the internet st

>> can both bitcoin and ethereum exist?one early application of the blockchain technology. it is being picked up right now as a 2.0 value, so it has got an early feel to it. but ether can be a more programmable money. we can see that as a crypto fuel because it powers programs on the world computer. >> you are incredibly diplomatic, but you keep saying they are the early stage. what we normally see in technology is the early stage ones die out. is that what you are saying? >> i am not saying that bitcoin is going to die, but it is very early stages for these technologies. we are going to see lots of different projects, pioneer lots of new -- pioneer lots of new techniques. the ethereum project has been agile and its cooperation of new techniques. we already have tremendous network effect and talent behind us, not just the ethereum foundation for many companies helping to build the technology. >> you just need more recognition, you are saying. they had first mover advantage by scale and scope. >> i would say ethereum is far

♪ >> all right ethereum >> okay.ple of reasons for doing this and really, this gets to my approach as a trader, also as an emerging marking guy you can make a lot of arguments that trading in cryptocurrencies and platforms is the brave new world of emerging markets. i've been there before my view ten days ago is as we were getting into the bitcoin contract mania and the futures that were coming out, what's next, what are the three main tokens that are traded on coinbase, bitcoin is the largest, now over 80 million, it's just a matter of time, folks. to me, if futures were a driver for bitcoin, they're a driver for ethereum there's a big difference between bitcoin and ethereum ethereum is an open-ended platform it's an advancement on the technology as you think about it as a trader, it is the largest place to get the next round of trade flows. as we talked about, this was a $2 billion market cap back in july it's now an $80 billion market cap. this is where we are if we look at the chart here, we've actually moved --

ethereum is much more -- how much more on the year.will see more, many of the things are going to grow even faster than bitcoin has in the past year. emily: let's talk about some of the comments we have heard. a bubble, a fraud. what do you think? olaf: i think people have been saying that since the beginning. emily: i know you do not think it is a fraud. olaf: i think the folks saying those things do not understand the technology may be as well as they could. i also think that whenever something is this large of a breakthrough, it challenges established world views and ideas about the world, so i think that a lot of folks see their existing worldview challenged about maybe what is possible, and it scares them a little bit. i think oftentimes the response to understanding bitcoin for the first time can be backlash. many of those folks over the last five years were originally skeptical, as they learn more about the technology, they come around and see this is a massive breakthrough. emily: we talked about how you believe the block chain

it is -- ethereum is not gold like bitcoin is.hing you could look at is where are the users going and where are the developers building the new apps,? i see developers building more on it. today. be's --hat was going going base ceo. news, a big blow to spanish prime minister. these are live pictures from barcelona. towardsextent independence for catalonia in spain. we will be right back. this is bloomberg. ♪ emily: let's keep taking a look back on some of the biggest interviews of the year. amazon says a switch to the cloud is just beginning. i sat down with amazon's the eeo and asked if he growth of the unit has surpassed his wildest expectations. certainly grown fast and i don't think any of us would have had the audacity to predict it would grow as fast as it has, but i think we always believed it had a chance to be a significant business, and that is because just inside of amazon, we had a lot of internal development teams that want help moving fast on top of a technology platform. the fact that amazon wanted it made us think

tehere -- ethereum is not trying to be gold, which is what bitcoin is. to be more like a payment network or something more programmable, so that factors into what the price will be. one of the broad things you can look at is where are the users going coins. if something is more scarce, the price can be driven and where ae developers building the new apps. i personally see more developers building apps on top of ethereum today, so that's one other factor that could point to what it might be in the future. emily: we talk about this a lot on bitcoin, whether bitcoin is a fraud, are we in a bubble or not. if it's not a fraud, is it a bubble? what do you think? brian: is it a fraud, i certainly don't think so. digital currency has gone through a number of periods where there is a run-up and then it will correct back. i think we are going through the most recent run-up period, probably the fourth one we have company, and i a would expect it to correct back at point, but continue over time in an upward channel. emily: you guys have not implemented this. do you

him -- ethereum is far more secure bitcoin.t has 30 x the number of developers that the next most popular blockchain system, which is fabric, in terms of developers. when you are building an ecosystem, the only thing that matters is developers. scarlet: i want to pull it back here, because people still get confused about what bitcoin is, what ether is, and what to currencies represent. we stopped with scott galloway -- talked with scott galloway, and he says he thinks bitcoin is a chaos proxy, a mistrust index. young people losing faith in institutions that oversee the central bank. that is an outsider's perspective. from an insider's point of view, is that the right way to think about it? joseph: it represents a bunch of different factions, let's call them. there is an early crypto-anarchist faction, there are currently many different wall street types being drawn into the space. there are people using bitcoin for payments. we have taken the technology in the ethereum context and enabled average software developers to get in t

do you see ethereum surpassing bitcoin at some point?rian: i never want to give investment advice. bitcoin does have a guaranteed amount of scarcity built in. there will only ever be 21 million coins. if something is more scarce, the price can be driven up. ethereum has taken a different approach, which is that there might be a modest inflation curve. disney ceo bob iger will likely continue his tenure at the company. he had planned to step down. after the board of directors extended his contract. for -- and now the top story, broadcom's fourth-quarter results. the chipmaker beat forecasts and has its investor call going on right now. we are continuing to monitor this call. to talk about it more, i want to bring in alex barinka, who covers deals for us. what have they said so far about this qualcomm potential takeover? alex: the biggest potential tech takeover ever. broadcom's cfo did give a bit of clarity as to what they are thinking about this deal. he did say that if a definitive agreement were to be signed, they expect the deal to go

we are early stages for ethereum and a lot of it is the radical. are not a lot of voice we can touch the ethereum block chain. one example to help you understand it, i was able to buy a record on the block chain a couple weeks ago. my money was processed by the code in the block chain and it sent say four dollars to the lead singer and three dollars to the guitarist and they programmed this ahead of time. there is no music company in the middle or publisher in the middle. it cuts out the middleman and the backers feel it is a new version of the internet that will be more peer-to-peer. ofyou can see the potential it, but a lot of it is still theoretical and still potential. but it has a lot of developers very engaged and committed to it. additiont was a good and something people should be on the lookout for. julia: you pointed out this had a few teasing issues. there is also a problem with hackers. we saw hackers steal $55 million worth, $171 million lost when funds were frozen. just in terms of relative stability and ease of use, if we are simply t

once in a while you grab the real things like bitcoin and ethereum. at some fake things like some of the stocks that are running with no fundamentals whatsoever. and recognize that those are happening in concert. emily: are you seeing anything that makes you uneasy, and if so, what? olaf: it is so emergent and so experimental. i think it is really good that money is flowing into things that are less sure. emily: not for the people who lose money. olaf: yeah, no, of course. of course. i think my number one concern is people basically investing in things that they don't understand. this is complicated and esoteric technology. and i think that your kind of retail mom-and-pop investor should be careful, particularly when they are investing in more experimental technologies outside of the blue-chip cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. emily: how long do you think it will be before we see more cryptocurrencies being offered? olaf: we will soon see dozens of crypto futures. blow we will see stocks up. again, there is a stock flying through the roof wi

there are not many ways you or i can touch the ethereum block chain.xample to help you understand it, i was able to buy a record on the ethereum blockchain a couple weeks ago. i spent some ether, like $10. my money was processed by the code in the block chain, and it sent, you know, let's say four dollars to the lead singer and three dollars to the guitarist, and they programmed this ahead of time. there is no music company in the middle. there is no music publisher in the middle. so what it does is it really cuts out the middleman and the backers feel it is a new version of the internet that will be much more peer to peer. so you can see the potential of it, but a lot of it is still theoretical, and is still potential. but it has a lot of developers who are very engaged and committed to it. so we felt that it was a good addition and something people should be on the lookout for. julia: right. so you clearly pointed out this had a few teasing issues. there is also a problem with hackers. i mean we saw hackers steal $55 million worth. they had $171 mill

ethereum was up 28%. what's going on? some appear to be taking parts of their profits from bitcoin and buying into other cryptocurrencies like litecoin the theory is that bitcoin traders could take their big profits and move them into litecoin which hasn't moved as much, it would rally more, investors would make more money, you get the idea what's litecoin? it's just another cryptocurrency, simpessentially. it's the fourth largest bitcoin currency what's the difference between bitcoin and litecoin like bitcoin, litecoin runs on the blockchain, a public ledger of transactions. there's a limited supply of litecoin, 84 million, versus 24 million for bitcoin. some say it's better than bitcoin because it has a faster transaction speed. bitcoin transactions don't happen instantaneously. that's very important. each transfer requires a number of confirmations that could take several minutes or more. litecoin can supposedly do it quicker. there are hundreds of these cryptocurrencies out there and it's not clear where this will end

is not -- ethereum is not trying to be like gold, it is trying to be more programmable.ore broad thing you could look at is where are the users going? where are the developers building the new apps? i see more developers building apps on top of ethereum today, so that is one factor that could point to what he will be in the future. emily: we talk about this a lot on bloomberg. his bitcoin a fraud or not? are we in a bubble or not? if it is not a fraud, is it a bubble? brian: i don't think it is a fraud. it is it -- is it a bubble, maybe. had a new plateau each time it comes up and it comes back a little bit. we are going through the most recent run-up period, the fourth for us as a company. i expect it to correct at some point, but continue over time in an upward channel. emily: there is an update called segue which would speed up transactions. when do you plan on implementing that? brian: it is probably not in the next top five things customers are requesting. people want more assets on the platform, they want a better experience, meaning identity verification, higher l

the price is something you make up >> it's pegged to ethereum. >> how do you do that?it's a simple thing it's not pegged to -- it's just based on -- >> why can't -- my price i cannot respect anything. pegging is something, because i wanted to tell my friends, because i'm lending you -- because i give you to do business with me, and use that microfinancing, plik roe lending is a -- you know shadow banking as some people believe is -- i'm a banking guy. this is a big industry, you don't understand cryptocurrency are going to play a bigger role in microlending. >> better believers in general about cryptocurrency -- >> but i'm telling you we this is not because -- >> if you control sell your own stock, would you sell it have you sold your own stock in any way? >> no, i own 55% of the company. and 92% is bosch we don't touch that stock. >> and you cannot sell >> no, i'm a profit at company i'm a profitable peeble, nasdaq, all i need is $6 million to get into nasdaq. >> you're basically gives short seller the green light, because you're saying you basically don't deserve thi

there are not a lot of ways we can touch the ethereum block chain.xample to help you understand it, i was able to buy a record on the block chain a couple weeks ago. i spent some ether, like my $10. money was processed by the code in the block chain and it sent , let's say four dollars to the lead singer and three dollars to the guitarist and they programmed this ahead of time. there is no music company in the middle or publisher in the middle. it cuts out the middleman and the backers feel it is a new version of the internet that will be more peer-to-peer. so you can see the potential of it, but a lot of it is still theoretical and still potential. but it has a lot of developers very engaged and committed to it. we felt it was a good addition and something people should be on the lookout for. julia: you pointed out this had a few teasing issues. there is also a problem with hackers. we saw hackers steal $55 million worth, $171 million lost when funds were frozen. just in terms of relative stability and ease of use, if we are simply talking about the

kryptonicrypto ne before christmas, coinbase spending trading everything from bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, it's all getting slammed. crypto stocks taking it on the chin, square, overstock, the cme, even riot blockchain getting crushed after their big runs bitcoin are used to this volatility but this is the first time many new bitcoin believers are feeling the crunch since piling in. how long does this last, will these newbie investors be scared off for good, dan? >> this is not a bad thing, especially if this whole crypto thing will have some legs here from october to late november, bitcoin doubled, it went from 5 to 10,000 then doubled again we had a 30% pullback, it felt like a panic it was in all the alt coins, a lot of really bad headlines. our twitter feeds were taken over by crypto in the last 48 hours. it's important to remember this is one asset class, it did not go into other asset classes. i know a lot of people who have been on this train, i have not, i'm just a tourist, i'm gambling like most of you on my coinbase iphone people are waiting for the pullback we might have put in

i think the same thing will happen with ethereum the top two or three, it won't just be bitcoin trading in futures, especially if this is universally accepting that crypto is here to say. i got long in ethereum last night. >> wow >> i haven't changed my life position because of this i would argue we've had our futures moment with bitcoin already. >>> still ahead, biotech is surging and there's something happening this weekend that could send the stocks even higher we'll explain. i'm melissa lee. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide here's what else is coming up on "fast. >>> look, up in the sky. it's a bird, it's a plane. >> it's boeing the stock surging to fresh all-time highs if you missed the run, don't worry. we'll tell you how to buy it for less >>> plus america has gone crazy for crypto currencies. and all next week, "fast money" is taking you inside the world of bitcoin how to buy it, how to sell it, how to be a crypto bullar. the biggest names in the world of digital currency, on "fast money" all next week for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why

. >> we talk about bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin what about ethereum, ethereum classic, which they thinks like the value play of these things light coin, z cash. >> is there an investment thesis on buying ethereum on the basis, on the thinking that it's going to be the next futures contract to be issued >> so, yes, we've already seen some private futures contracts being issued on that i think the relative value trade for ethereum is that this is the new internet this is a decentralized internet, and it is trading at roughly a tenth of the price, a tenth of the market cap or network value of bitcoin i would argue with the amount of stuff that's being built on top of it that it should be more valuable than bitcoin. >> bitcoin gets a lot of headlines, but the reality is, how long is it going to take for someone to issue futures on ethereum not that long. >> yeah. >> but it's also about the size of these networks, right ethereum is a blockchain bitcoin has a blockchain it's about how these things are used the more people who use these mechanisms, the more valuable the tokens issued off of th

. >> how do you think about that versus ethereum and e-cash an any one of these other forms >> i thinkn the dust settles, today you see lots of different tokens coming into the market ultimately there will be five to ten dilg tagital currencies tha matter >> tell us, for those of us who don't understand the stuff, what's the difference use case between ethereum and bitcoin >> so, bitcoin is really meant to be a transaction currency -- >> except it's not being used for transactions >> today it's largely driven by speculation. no question about that may not be the most popular thing to put out there, but certainly it's for transactions. ethereum, it was intended to be a substrate for the internet of things you're talking about a new layer of technology that can allow for smart contracts, connected devices. so, they can -- >> it's not digital gold >> it's not digital gold. >> at all. >> ethereum was not intended to be a form of money what is ethereum >> i'm sorry >> i'm thinking about getting down into the rabbit hole, you say people -- i'm not sure that's the right way to say it it's get

ripple is starting to account for 5% of that you could begin to value the ripple token, the same with ethereum which is designed as a block chain system for use across financials, insurance, quite a few different industries if we say these companies are starting to use ethereum for this amount of trade and processing money, you can start to value it. that is of course a few years off yet. at the moment it's very difficult. the other danger is a brand-new coin could pop up -- >> time off. >> and be something like that. that is much better than the existing product that's another danger. this is the early stages experimenting without any kind of idea of actually is this something you can implement or something that will stick around for the next few years. >> one of the things that's quite striking that you and i talked about before over the last few weeks with the huge surge in interest in bitcoin in particular, we've seen a real slowdown of the transactions because seemingly exchanges are being overwhelmed. you've talked about some of the ether products like ripple across the globe that distin

to mind >> ethereum has been doing well.e have not entered the bubble territory of bitcoin, but it's holding its own. the real story is that the ico trend we saw earlier this year is beginning to cool down a bit. there was a point about three, four months ago when icos were rolling out, you know, almost every day. and they were fetching huge amounts of money this has cooled down now no doubt because the money they're raising, there's no point in spending that money because the price of bitcoin keeps going up >> when we see other governments, whether it's venezuela or others endorse cryptocurrencies but not bitcoin, what does that mean for bitcoin? is that a good thing or a bad thing? >> i mean, i'm a little bit skeptical about the idea of bitcoin being used as a medium of exchange. the funny thing is the more it goes up in price, the more it becomes asset. the less useful it becomes as a day-to-day currency. people won't be using it it because of law, people will be hoarding it instead of spending it in terms of what sort of

you're right, especially when more cash and capital is going to other cryptocurrencies, litecoin, ethereumll of those companies have a market cap of over 1 billion >>> some dig name compabig comp sharing the wealth after congress passed a landmark tax reform bill. landon dowdy has more. >> reporter: corporate america reacting to the biggest overhaul of the u.s. tax code in 30 years, promising more pay for workers or more investment in training at&t will pay $1,000 bonuses to 200,000 employees, and invest an additional $1 billion in the united states. cnbc parent company comcast also sharing the wealth saying it will give $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 employees invest $50 billion over the nex five years in its infrastructure we heard from boeing, they will invest 3$300 million in work force training and facilities enhancements for threes. the banking world is reacting. wells fargo and fifth third bank are raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour fifth third is handing out bonuses to more than 13,000 employees. we'll see if this trend continues throughout the day as corporate america

the other dogs get jealous ethereum is not pictured there you get this kind of fevered pitch, you have to have fun with it the dog on the right, formerly named bug, then named chevron for a while, beats the hell out of me. people think i don't know bitcoin. i know bitcoin he's on the right. >> bitcoin brings you your slippers in the morning. >> bitcoin swallowed a shoe lace last weekend he was sick. he came back and hit 19,000 today. >> jim, great to see you, we look forward to being on your show >> love being on your show, you guys are the best. >> tonight on "mad money" at 6:00 p.m >> i named one of my dogs cramer [ laughter ] >> he did not swallow a shoe >> i wonder if nvidia feels bad now, bitcoin is overshadowing. the new dog in town. >> you should be naming your dogs boeing. at the end of the day, who needs bitcoin when you have boeing what they reported in the third quarter was an upgrade in free cash flow, which is extraordinary, they'vebeen wowing people all year with free cash flow. now, what jim pointed out is very important this is a company that's not necessarily looking t

ethereum,coin and quickly. and: bitcoin, 100,000 ethereum 50,000.h up on the interview and any other conversations you might have missed. is the function on your bloomberg. check it out. coming up in the program, cheers to that. macau says, pour me another. we will hear exclusively from the chairman of moutai, next. ♪ david: you are watching "bloomberg markets: asia," and i'm david inglis. kweichow moutai is the world's largest liquor maker, yet it has ambitions of growing even more. we spoke exclusively to the chairman of kweichow moutai and he says he wants to bolster sales and even expand into financial services. >> in 2018, we will produce over 107,000 tons of liquor next year and the sales will equal this year's. to expand our financial business next year. we are already running a business company. we are now headhunting top-level executives to help strengthen our financial operations. our goal is for all businesses millionch a combined 100 yen. you see: which areas do those companies coming from? >> we are planning in the china -europe interna

ethereum is down 21%, ripple down 11%. it is currently bleeding into the cryptocurrency space.il investors lost their shirts already, stephen? stephen: a lot is probably hard to say. it is not -- it is not dotcom, not real estate. if it is a bubble, it is a much smaller bubble. i think there are some people on the -- some people who are those kind of people who jump in after investment frenzies have lost money, but to say it is a lot is probably an overstatement. vonnie: stephen gandel is a columnist for "bloomberg gadfly." great function. time for the bloomberg business flash, a look at some of the biggest business stories in the news right now. shares of nike lower today, the world's biggest sports brand posting quarterly sales in north america that missed estimates. nike sales were better than expected in china, europe, the middle east, and africa. the parent of google no longer needs adult supervision of one of the tech world's biggest names. eric schmidt is stepping down as executive chairman of alphabet. he was brought in when google had 200 employees and its founders wer

more: there was a lot optimism around ethereum.red wilson told me he thought it would surpass bitcoin, and now it is not even close. olaf: i think over time, many other technologies in this area will grow essentially. the reason is they actually name also its of new behaviors that are not possible with bitcoin. --ngs like a theory of -- what we have seen happen with largeum, they build a ecosystem of developers that are all building applications and infrastructure on top of the online protocol, so this is the type of thing we have seen never possible. emily: do you think other cryptocurrencies will surpass bitcoin? olaf: yes, i do. last time i was here, i said it would surpass bitcoin by 2018. i stand by that. the types of things we're seeing eum, they arer almost a bit sci-fi, beyond anything you would reasonably think is possible. i'm interested in the applications that will be natively enabled by the technology. services that offer an improvement in storage fromalth, but most things the internet were not possible in an analog wo

if you're an investor, start looking at bitcoin, ethereum and others this story is much bigger than bitcoin to be implying that bitcoin itself could not be the big winner when you talk about darwinism. transactions could take hours. that could be a death nail problems is that so many people want to use the currency, that from time toe time the network gets bogged down yes, what you have in that situation, you have other currencies that step up, don't have as much demand to use the protocols and wi$asettle quicker. improvement coming up called the lightning network, a[, technological implication that willxo solve this. >> what kind of entities do you think would start settling transactions in cryptocurrencies currencies f i can use that phrase >> the obviouse examples. first, we think it's thet reta crowd. >> and they're waiting for regulation to catch up >> bitcoin is still volatile we're only talking about m old. soon you will see corporates looking at cash management strategy and realizing it,ys to have bitcoin to get in and outt(of some of these other exotic currencies quick

currencies in terms of legitimacy and more regulation for these cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum so on? >> there are moves in both directions. we had a story a week or so ago about emerging markets, looking at how in every emerging market were regulators have attended to crack down, it has had the biggest gains in that market. if you look at more developed markets, japan for example has been among the most advanced in terms of treating it as a legitimate asset in creating a regulatory structure and it has gained a lot there as well. i think regulators are grappling with this. it is a currency without a central bank or government or any real control. the cryptocurrency exchanges have the real little oversight or regulation and in many places wriggly breakdown and can't around thevolume, so world, regulators are going to keep trying to figure out how to deal with it. some will just crackdown. that has always been a risk factor. if it was a big one like the united states that said we are going to outlaw it, that would be huge. shery: coming up, the chill in the northeast giving a bo

bitcoin bonanza following this ibo debut, we discuss the ico landscape with ethereum cofounder josephwire on capitol for the gop tax plan with a final bill expected to be unveiled sometime today. will republican leaders find enough votes to cross the finish line? and doubling down after the blockbuster deal with disney. why some analysts say rupert murdoch might be looking for more opportunities in news and sports. we have u.s. markets closing in two hours time. julie hyman is here with the latest. happy friday. julie: happy friday, that seems to be a theme today.

because once they start to launch ethereum futures, those prices will skyrocket?could argue that, but it's hard to say if the same thing will apply the first time your new thing is launched, it becomes extremely important for the reaction of the market next time, so let's say the next future being launched, probably not see a big reaction there >> michael, thanks for joining us >>. >> as we go to break, take a look at shares of western digital today. reportedly dropping its effort to block the sale of toshiba's memory chip business companies have been locked in that dispute since the $18 billion deal was struck in september. stocks at this hour holding on to a moderate gain dow up 56 points quk t see wl ten. "sawonhetrt"il continue in a moment for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. >>> what is deu

. >>> bitcoin continues its march higher along with lesser known digital currencies like ethereum youtrading higher by about 6% jay clayton warning there are tales of fortunes made and dreamed to be made we're hearing the familiar refrain, this time is different. but one less understood part of the bitcoin market is mining how is bitcoin actually mined. that was the warning from s.e.c. chairman jay clayton let's talk to one bitcoin miner and see what he thinks about that joining us is marco streng, this is the world's largest cloud-based mining company good to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> before we get into what jay clayton just said, can you tell me what it is you do i understand you mine bitcoin, but are you doing it on behalf of yourself and the company, or do you provide a service that, for example, if i wanted to buy bitcoin, i subcontract out to you and use your computing power to do it >> yeah, so the fundamental innovation behind blockchain and currencies is decentralized system in order to be decentral, you need to have a decentralized validating mechanism and m

cryptocurrencies to do micro lending but not exactly a cryptocurrency as you would look at bitcoin or oethereumimportant to differentiate between the cryptocurrency space and the blockchain infrastructure that ) lives on. >> great stuff thank you very much. "fast money" continues to have the best guests broadly onko  topic. >>> there's a pair of economic reports on the wall street agenda november housing starts and third quarter currenti account are out. minneapolis fed president, kneel kashkari is speaking this afternoon, firste he will join "squawk box"ee at 7:10 a.m. eastern. he did not vote for a rate hike as well as continuing to have a where bank regulations should be heading to where the consensus is he wants it tot79 ase to softened. carnival and darden restaurants report before the open >>>lp stocks to watch today include mcdermott and chicago bridge are merging the combined company will hav1 revenues of about $10 billion and a backlog of more than 14 billion >>> activist investor starboard value bought a 10% stake in cars.com an s.e.c. filing shows the purchase was made ea

ethereum has lost a significant amount over the past one day there were concerns from coinbase, the largestryptocurrency exchange that individuals were complaining they could not buy or sell bitcoin on the exchange. we got an update this morning, coinbase saying it has resolved issues that disabled transactions that perhaps one of the concerns out there over the past one day. certainly a move to the down side >> if you look at the futures markets, they're young right now, one week for the regulated, two weeks for the cbo. if you look at the intraday highs, we're off 30% in terms of those markets. just to give you an idea how volatile it can be to the upside and down side. >> market cap, bitcoin has lost 1$120 billion of its market cap in less than a week. >> buyer beware situation. >>> in political news, lawmakers striking a last-minute dole to avert a government shutdown. the house and senate passing a temporary spending measure that will keep the government funded until january 19th congress is now, yes, done for the year they'll return to work in january. something to watch there >>> nik

will be bitcoin, ethereum or bitcoin cash that's not how you do a stock portfolio. don't say i'll put all of my net worth in google. i'm never buying apple, netflix, facebook you buy a portfolio. >> i was talking to my wife last night about this she doesn't know a lot about this she says why don't i start my own -- you know, e-coin tomorrow >> yeah. >> why can't we all just started our own electronic currencies tomorrow and we can she said that to me in the most simple way i said you're right and that's a problem. >> bitcoin is just open door software you can copy it and make squawk coin if you could get 40 million people to use it, it would have value. it's just hard to get 40 million to use it. >> we found people are not using it as a currency >> i have a better business idea photo sharing. you can set up a photo sharing site, if you can get 2 billion people to use it, it will be more valuable than facebook. it's just difficult. bitcoin already did it it's been there for nine years it's 24/7 uptime it's hard to compete with. >> we look forward to watching your suc

>> we're trading a combination of bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum, and ripple and we'll be launching many more in 2018. >> is bitcoin the most attractive you've come across in your professional life >> i think it really is, yes i first found out about bitcoin three or four years ago. it took me quite a long time to understand actually what the cryptocurrency was doing but certainly i feel it's an incredibly strong proposition for the future. >> you're not an investment adviser. do you have skin in the game what proportion of your net worth is in bitcoin right now? >> that's a very good question i guess it would be about 5% of my -- >> so part of a balanced portfolio. >> absolutely. >> given that, what's your percentage margin on each transaction on your platform how much money are you making out of the people investing through your platform? >> we've intended to open the lon bonn bloc exchanges as a secure, tradebly fair, and -- >> you're trying to make money out of it as well. >> of course so we'll be opening exchange with about 0.5% fees for retail. >> who regulates you right now >> cur

birth to over 1300 digital currencies, and traders are look to competitors for opportunity watch ethereumripple and li litecoin and get ready for more regulation the s.e.c. has a newly minted cyber unit tasked for finding bad actors who are using digital currencies for money laundering and funding terrorist activities regulation could ultimately add more credibility to the space, and perhaps even pave the way for bitcoin exchange rated funds to be approved >>> let's talk more about cryptocurrencies in the new year joining me is dennis gartman on the cnbc news line buy or sell bitcoin? >> stay away from bitcoin it makes no sense i won't trade it i won't be long of it. i won't be short of it i'll say i understand the rationality and the wisdom behind the blockchain. but the non-common sense of having some sort of an asset that has no asset value behind it leaves me on the sidelines. it's something to watch. incredible to see the public involved in it on the long and short side but i've been a professional for 40 years, i'll leave it to others wiser, more courageous or more stupider than i t

we've talked a bit about ethey'rium and the offering which are generally done with ethereum >>> we in the meantime are taking wire bitcoin tweets tonight. our first guest asks -- is it a good investment tool i'm trying to get rid of traditional stocks to get half bitcoin. >> it's highly risky, so, you know, i always say 1% to 5%, put it in digital currencies. >>> good advice. up next, final trades. just like some people like wet grocery bags. getting a bad haircut. overcrowded trains. turnstiles that don't turn. and spilling coffee on themselves. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv. and for a limited time get a $100 reward card. call 1-800-directv >>> welcome back to fast time for one more tweet. jeffrey asks -- is bitcoin a currency or commodity? >> great question, hard to answer i'm going with commodity it's too volatile to be used as a transactional currency maybe the future is coming if the volatility gets tampened down for today, think of it as digital gold. >>> time for the final trade around the horn. pete >>

what you will probably see and you have seen it over the last month, an incredible acceleration in ethereum because there is underlying intrinsic value there. but what you have with bitcoin is the perfect speculative i don't even want to call it an asset or on vehicle because there is no underlying metrics that show that it is under or overvalued so it can go to $40,000 and people can come on on your show and say that it is you been under or overvalued and both sound very intelligent >> or not fending depending on point of view. >> block chain technology, people keep bringing it up, a ledger based is system where you are sort of proving that this coin or this unit belongs to this person is a nice idea at the same time, i think the fumt allege issndamental sure, incentive to continue to maintain the ledger. they are not mining bitcoin. what are you giving them in exchange that hasn't really been solved beyond what we're seeing here with bitcoin so that is a big question mark for me going forward >> guys, thank you both for joining us maybe we'll see them again soon. >>> when we cokcome back,

succeeded in making bitcoin less usable, they started integrating the likes of blockchain.info, ethereum, now bitcoin cash wallet, where previously they were only a bitcoin wallet we've seen the same thing happen with coinbase, with bitpay, and bitcoin.com. they aren't stupid, they realize this is more than $30, they have to wait days or weeks or maybe never for your transaction to go through. bitcoin core is going to start using something else, and that clearly needs to be bitcoin cash >> i want to ask you about charlie lee, the creator of lightcoin, selling his cash. does it make sense he wants to get rid of this because of a conflict of interest >> i have no idea. charlie lee should be free to do what he wants, they're his it doesn't affect me one bit i don't really see litecoin as being nearly as interesting. it's a competitor of bitcoin core, i suppose. bitcoin cash is an even better version. one really interesting point that charlie lee did make previously, bitcoin shouldn't raise the block size kudos for him to saying do as i say, not as i do, and lightpoint is trying to utilize t