*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).
Markets closed the day mixed, and well off their lows of the day following a market meltdown earlier in the session. The Nasdaq staged a comeback late in the day, even amid ongoing worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Doug Flynn, certified financial planner and co-founder of Flynn Zito Capito, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the markets' close and what's driving the major indexes.
Two companies recently announced a new partnership aimed at addressing the growing demand to borrow against crypto - digital assets capital markets firm CrossTower is partnering with commercial bank, BankProv. The companies are launching a crypto lending platform that will allow Bitcoin miners to receive loans to invest in crypto mining equipment. The companies say the program also addresses the difficulty of breaking into crypto mining due to the high cost. CrossTower research analyst Martin Gaspar joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-gen social sports platform Break the Love recently raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Break the Love's platform and iOS app allows users to discover and book group-based tennis activities, to either learn, train, or compete. The new company has already gotten support from a few big names in the world of tennis, including the coach of Naomi Osaka, as well as the United States Tennis Association and the brand Wilson. Break the Love founder and CEO Trisha Goyal joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The world of NFTs and cannabis are colliding as luxury cannabis company Peakz gears up to launch a digital dispensary in the metaverse. CEO Jessie Grundy and Tiffany McBride, managing director of social equity ventures at The Parent Company, an investor in Peakz, joined Cheddar to break down exactly how a digital dispensary would work. Grundy also talked about offering low-cost NFT courses in an effort to help Oakland, California, residents not miss out on new investing opportunities, and McBride discussed why the tech-forward vision of Grundy was worth investing in for The Parent Company. "He comes with really fresh ideas that he's vetted, that he's experienced in, and I really believe the thinking along Jessie's lines is the future of cannabis," she said. "He's more than just flower and a story. He comes with concepts that are new that are innovative, and that is easy for us to get behind."
Daniel O'Brien, president and global head of enterprise at HTC America, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to discuss new products and services the virtual reality brand showed off at CES 2022, including a wrist tracker — in lieu of controllers — for more accurate interactions connected to its all-in-one headset, the VIVE Focus 3. O'Brien also described a cloud-based, 5G content delivery system. "We partnered up with Lumen Technologies and from six miles away we delivered high bandwidth VR to a headset directly in the Wynn Hotel during CES," he said. "And people were able to walk around in their virtual experience through a wireless signal."
Samsung unveiled a slew of new electronics and upgraded designs at CES 2022. With a heavy focus on gaming and the future of work, the company showed off its all new Odyssey Ark, which boasts a massive 55 in. curved display designed to give users a more immersive and captivating experience. Sang Kim, SVP, Samsung Electronics joined Cheddar's Michelle Castillo to discuss the company's biggest launches as well as major trends to watch in 2022.
The UK's Information Commissioner's office is scrutinizing Facebook's parent company Meta over child safety practices linked to the Oculus headset, according to a report. The agency is looking to question the tech giant about how it's protecting children from harmful experiences in virtual reality.
Disney has secured a patent for a digital world simulator for headset-free augmented reality expected to be accessible in parks by tracking smartphones and projecting personalized 3D displays, an indication that the entertainment giant is gearing up for its entry into the metaverse.
