Gary Vaynerchuk, the outspoken CEO of creative agency VaynerMedia, checked in with Cheddar before the weekend to share his views on the biggest stories this week.
On creating jobs in the digital economy post-COVID:
"We've seen this before. When there's huge technology advancements, things evolve," he said.
Rather than focusing on the jobs being lost to technological changes, Vaynerchuk emphasized the "millions" of jobs being created around capturing and producing online content. He pointed to the emergence of “non-fungible tokens” or NFTs, which are digital certificates on the Ethereum blockchain that authenticate ownership of a digital asset and can be bought and sold.
Digital economy evangelists such as Vaynerchuk see NFTs as crucial to monetizing the web.
"It feels like a sea change: the blockchain, the ledgerization [or] digitalization of all goods, the way music is distributed, books, the way art and collectibles are sold, the way season tickets can be sold."
The goal, Vaynerchuk explained, is for the NFT market to set prices for the online economy.
On the possibility of new regulations for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies:
"Regulation is the elephant in the room," he said.
On the one hand, he said bitcoin has gotten "over the hump" of gaining legitimacy with the general public, but that it now presents a challenge to sovereign nations on what steps they will take to regulate the cryptocurrency, and how those actions could impact its long-term success.
"I think it's going to be extremely interesting over the next half-a-decade to a decade to see what happens, and how much momentum will that currency, that community have versus what happens if it gets overregulated," he said.
On the upcoming direct listing of Coinbase, a digital currency exchange:
"You don't see companies doing this level of revenue profitably before an IPO, with a trend that is so macro that they're dominating in," said Vaynerchuk, who disclosed that he invested in the company back in 2014. "So, I'm just very curious what the market is going to do with it, but they have a lot of good math on their side."
Facebook parent Meta officially has changed it’s ticker symbol from ‘FB’ to ‘META’. Paul Meeks, a portfolio manager, Independent Solutions Wealth Management, and a professor of practice in the Baker School of Business at The Citadel, joined Cheddar News to discuss why the tech giant has had to make big changes to its name, its ticker, and its business plans. "When you see what's happening in digital advertising — and there was a slowdown there even before the threat of a recession, which could cause a even more drastic slowdown next year — they had to pivot," he said. Meeks noted he sees Facebook dominating in the metaverse space going forward — whatever that may end up being.
Sports merchandising company Fanatics announced it will be making trading cards featuring college athletes, a deal made possible by the NCAA's change to NIL rules for its players. Anchors Kristen Scholer and Ken Buffa break down the deal for Cheddar.
Catching you up on today’s top business headlines with household wealth falling in Q1 for the first time in two years, Meta officially changing its ticker symbol from ‘FB’ to ‘META’, and updates on Tesla.
The European Union has approved a 40 percent quota for women to sit on company boards. This comes as only 9 of the 27 EU member states have gender equality legislation.
Amanda Victoria, co-founder and CEO of Siponey, joins Cheddar News to talk about the company's canned cocktails. The spritz is made with only four ingredients — wildflower honey, aged rye whiskey, sparkling water, and fresh lemon juice.
Officials and power operators are bracing the public for blackouts caused by higher-than-average temperatures this summer. Utility officials in California and Arizona are warning of potential interruptions this summer due to the strain on energy supplies. Heat waves and drought conditions weaken power grids and available electricity reserves. This also makes hydroelectric power less reliable and raises the risk of wildfires.
Cisco DeVries, CEO of OhmConnect, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
The markets opened lower on Thursday as investors hold their breath ahead of the May consumer price index, which will give investors a better picture of the state of inflation in the United States. Michele Schneider, a partner and the director of trading research and education for MarketGauge.com, joined Cheddar to discuss. "If the CPI read is softer than what's expected, we actually might get a rally," she said. "If it's more than expected, then I think it will spook the market."
