Overstock.com’s CEO denied reports the company suffered any significant losses because of a glitch in cryptocurrency systems, and said that, despite the media coverage, he still believes Bitcoin holds a lot of potential for the company.
“Right now we’re doing a tZero ICO raising $300 million...People are telling me that’s a business they think has a 3 billion or 4 billion value,” Patrick Byrne told Cheddar Friday.
“I literally have people on Wall St. saying, if I pull off the tZero ICO, and then over two years we do what we think we can do, they say that’s a $40 billion enterprise. People have no idea, yet how much of the financial system we intend to augment.”
Reports emerged earlier this week that a bug created a big opportunity for arbitrage, allowing customers to purchase items with Bitcoin Cash, which trades at roughly $2,500, and return them in exchange for Bitcoin, priced at more than $13,000.
Byrne said the issue was caused by the overwhelming trade volume at payment partner Coinbase. He claims the mix-up, which lasted milliseconds, did not result in any material losses.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/overstock-ceo-responds-to-bitcoin-mix-up).
Businesses are likely to increase salaries budgets in 2022 by 3.9 percent according to a study by The Conference Board. Gad Levanon, head of the Labor Market Institute at The Conference Board, joined Cheddar to provide additional details about the survey's findings. He attributed the anticipated salary hikes to companies looking to retain current employees, a desire to attract a new crop of workers, and surging inflation.
Fast AF, a premiere quick commerce retailer for products and brands just announced the close of its Series A investment round. That round puts the value of the company at $200 million. The company gets items to customers ranging from masks to sneakers and is now launching its own in-house delivery service. Lee Hnetinka, founder and CEO of FastAF joins Cheddar News to discuss the announcement.
Carolina Navas, Snap's head of AR product strategy and product marketing, joins Cheddar News to discuss how Snapchat's augmented reality is changing the shopping game this holiday season.
Steve Case, Revolution Ventures CEO, joined Cheddar to discuss progress venture capitalists have made over 2021 and where investors are looking beyond Silicon Valley. Other locations VC firms are exploring include Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago among others. "Historically there's been a brain drain in a lot of these cities, people leaving for opportunity elsewhere. Now, people are staying," he said of the emerging tech hubs. "There tends to be a collaborative effort in the community to really support startups to recognize the future of the community."
A new study by Pfizer-BioNTech found that a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the emerging omicron variant. The pharmaceutical giants also look to manufacture a vaccine specific to the omicron variant by March 2022.
Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down what to expect from the cryptocurrency executives appearing on Capitol Hill and how it could impact future crypto regulation. "I think what most people want to see from regulation is essentially channeling the good and the potential and putting in place guardrails to minimize the bad," he said.
Michael Steinhardt, 81, has surrendered 180 stolen artifacts from 11 different countries worth $70 million. The former hedge fund manager has also received a lifetime ban from the antiquities market.
Kellogg will go forward with plans to permanently replace 1,400 union workers who have been on strike since October over pay and benefits disputes. The move comes after the union representing the striking staff declined the latest contract proposal.
