Warren Buffett Says Bitcoin Will Come to a Bad Ending
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett is wary of the cryptocurrency mania. “In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “When it happens or how or anything else I don’t know.”
The billionaire investor’s comments came a day after Kodak announced its KodakCoin and a new platform for digital photography called KodakOne. The site is intended to give photographers a place to license their work and receive payments with cryptocurrencies. The company’s stock surged more than 30% after Kodak’s news. Our view is that blockchain and cryptocurrency will have a future, but to Buffett’s point, don’t bet your entire future on it. #Hedge (Source: Inc.)
Kodak Roll Out KodakCoin
The US firm said it’s teaming up with London-based Wenn Media Group to carry out the initial coin offering of KodakCoin. It is part of a blockchain-based initiative to help photographers control their image rights.
Kodak also detailed plans to install rows of Bitcoin mining rigs at its headquarters in Rochester, New York. The company says it can power each rig for four cents per kilowatt hour, which is significantly cheaper than running a rig at home. At Bitcoin’s current value, an up-front investment of $4,000 for 24 months of mining could earn a profit of $500 a month, Spotlite’s Halston Mikail told the BBC.
While it’s disputable if the cryptocurrency industry is a bubble ready to burst, we can safely say that the BlockChain inter-industry wide application is a concept here to stay. (Source: BBC)
Huawei CEO Rages at US Carriers
Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s consumer products division, spent a solid hour mumbling his way through an awkwardly scripted presentation of the Mate 10 Pro for the US market. Part of his discomfort may have been driven by AT&T’s last-minute decision to pull out of a deal to sell Huawei’s phones in the US. This was supposed to be Huawei’s big moment in the American spotlight, and AT&T pulled the rug out from under the Chinese company.
Reports indicate that the carrier’s decision was driven by political pressure within the US, with apparent concern about Chinese espionage — and Huawei’s particular role in that — underlying the whole thing.
The Huawei boss did something unexpected at the end of his keynote, however. Yu proceeded to address the failure of Huawei’s carrier deal directly. Shedding the earlier hesitation in his speech, he made the point that American phone buyers can’t have the best and widest choice of a device if Huawei products — those of the world’s third-biggest phone vendor — weren’t on offer. “It’s a big loss for us, and also for carriers, but the more big loss is for consumers because consumers don’t have the best choice.” (Source: TheVerge)
