*By Carlo Versano*
There's a civil war underway in cryptocurrency ー and it's shaking investor confidence in the very foundation of the blockchain.
Bitcoin, down 25 percent in a week and over 75 percent since its highs of a year ago, is suffering at least in part from the latest "hard fork" split of the two versions of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) into ABC and SV ー which themselves are just second-rate copies of the original Bitcoin currency, according to Merlin Rothfeld, a crypto investor and strategist with the Online Trading Academy.
Rothfeld predicted the volatility in Bitcoin will be a good thing in the long term, as it "shakes out" the vulnerabilities in the relationship between crypto and blockchain.
All of the things that have consistently appealed to Bitcoin investors ー the decentralization, transparency, chain of record ー are still intact, Rothfeld said. "That's very appealing to have this kind of autonomy."
Some investors worry that miners are mining "empty blocks" that would modify, and thus interfere with, the older version of the blockchain of a specific currency ー and that shakes the confidence of the entire market that relies on "proof of work" algorithms to record transactions, according to Rothfeld.
Once investors better understand how those vulnerabilities are being exploited, they can be patched, Rothfeld said. But until then, we should expect the volatility to continue and Bitcoin demand to wane. "I don't see it stopping anytime soon," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/whats-next-for-the-bitcoin-slump).
As Meta and Microsoft ramp up their AR and VR tech futures, analysts have been waiting on word from Apple, but the consumer tech giant is reportedly delaying such an announcement. Doug Astrop, a managing partner at Exponential Investment Partners, joined Cheddar to dive into the rumors about the possibilities of a foray into the metaverse by Tim Cook's megacorp sometime in 2022 or 2023. "We can't really predict with a great deal of certainty how it's going to play out, but I'm confident Apple's going to be a big player and do very well in any scenario that unfolds," said Astrop.
Makena Kelly, politics reporter at The Verge, joins Cheddar News to discuss what's next for net neutrality as Biden's other nominee for the FCC, Gigi Sohn, awaits votes from the committee and Senate.
Specializing in AI, robotics, and automation for the global supply chain, Symbotic announced last month it will be tapping the public markets in a SPAC deal with investment giant SoftBank. Symbotic CFO Tom Ernst and Vikas Parekh, a managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers spoke with Cheddar about going public and the future of modernizing logistics amid the constrained supply networks. "The supply chain is fundamentally broken," said Ernst. "By employing the best in modern technology for autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence, we're able to fundamentally rethink the way in which you receive and store and sort goods, making for a dramatically more efficient supply chain."
Michael Hershfield, Founder & CEO of Accrue Savings, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the company's new round of funding, and its core mission of rewarding consumers for saving rather than taking on more debt with buy now, pay later options.
Markets opened higher on the first trading day of the new year as investors continue to watch inflation and the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the U.S. Frances Newton Stacy, Optimal Capital Dir. of Strategy/Market Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Markets opened higher as investors react to positive data on the labor front, with weekly jobless claims falling to 198,000 for the week ending December 25. Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the market open.
Sky Harbour, a company developing private aviation infrastructure, is gearing up to land on Wall Street. The company announced plans to go public through a SPAC deal with Yellowstone Acquisition Company, valuing the combined venture at $777 million. The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange as $SKYH.
Dish Network is reportedly in discussions to merge with DirecTV. According to the NY Post, the two sides are currently 'trying to iron out the details.' The competitors have had talks in the past -- over the course of the past 20 years, but those talks been halted by the DOJ over antitrust concerns. Lydia Moynihan, Business Reporter, NY Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
