Today Bitcoin Rises for the week as Investors shake off September's choppy Trading former FTX executive Ryan Salem Is threatened with sanctions in federal Court and the CEO of Crypt Miner core Scientific reveals where the company's AI strategy is Headed welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm Brandon Gomez Bitcoin adding to a Week of gains this morning as investors Stay focused on the macroeconomic Environment and new data out this Morning shows the public is more Confident about the state of the US Economy consumer sentiment in September Rose to its highest level since May Meanwhile inflation expectations for the Next 12 months dropped to its lowest Level since December of 2020 a Bitcoin Spiked late morning and by noon Eastern Traded above the $59,000 level eth also Climbed trading above $2,400 and xrp Rose to 57 as Grace Scale's new xrp trust launches this Morning the investment vehicle could Pave the way for ETF as grayscale has Successfully converted its Bitcoin and Ethereum trusts into ETFs this year Meanwhile shares of micro strategy stock Jumped nearly 7% by midday after its Executive chairman Michael sailor Announced this morning that the company Acquired an additional 18,300 Bitcoin that brings its total
Holdings to 244,000 bitcoin or about 14.6 billion at Today's price now taking a step back to Look at crypto's performance this week Like I mentioned Bitcoin has gained Ground it Rose 115% in the past 7 days while ether Notched an 88.2% gain now investors turn Their attention to next week's fed Meeting when we could see a cut to Interest rates okay let's talk about the Top stories now former president Donald Trump announced his family crypto Project World Liberty Financial will Launch next Monday the announcement was Shared as a video on X where Trump said Quote we're embracing the future with Crypto and leaving the slow in outdated Big Banks behind we're still waiting to Hear more about what this di platform Would do but the company which has now Been promoted by various members of the Trump family says its mission is to Drive the mass adoption of stable coins In Defi and maintain Global US dollar Dominance by spreading a dollar back Stable coin across the world the Trump Family has faced some hiccups for this Roll out just last week hackers appeared To command Deere the ex account accounts Of Trump's daughter-in-law Laura Trump And his youngest daughter Tiff Trump Both accounts promoted a scam that Mimicked world Liberty Financial the
Week prior the former president teased a Crypto plan that he said would be Delivered on the same day possibly Related to this Venture but there was no Followup Trump has positioned himself as The pro crypto candidate in the Presidential election with private Ventures like World Liberty Financial as Well as nft collections his campaign has Also been accepting crypto contributions Since May Harris has yet to publicly State her views on crypto issues but is Reporting importantly warming on the Topic and is indirectly receiving crypto Contributions from the future forward Pack next the federal judge overseeing The FTX criminal cases is threatening Former executive Ryan Salem with Sanctions for lying to the court Salem Who appeared in court yesterday admitted To lying during his guilty plea by Saying prosecutors did not make promises In exchange for his plea now Salem is Admitting that prosecutors assured to End an investigation into his girlfriend Michelle Bond if he were to plead guilty Bond was indicted last month on campaign Finance crime allegations those charges Tied her to unlawful campaign Contributions from FTX during her Unsuccessful bid for a New York Congressional seat in 2022 yesterday's Hearing follows a request from the Former executive back in August to walk
Back his guilty plea arguing that Prosecutors didn't hold up their promise Ultimately though he withdrew that Request judge Kaplan was visibly annoyed With Salem saying he induced him to Accept the plea last September theud Said he would take time to think about What should be done not ruling out the Possibility of putting sanctions against Him judge Kaplan had already sentenced Salem to 7 and a half years in prison More than 5 to S years suggested by Prosecutors or the 18 months requested By his defense a Salem's lawyer declined To comment to CNBC after the Hearing all right let's pivot two mining Companies for our main story this Wednesday crypto world's McKenzie sagalo Spoke with Adam Sullivan the CEO of core Scientific about the company's AI Strategy stry and how he thinks the 2024 Election could affect the crypto Industry core scientific stock up 200% This year and it it seems to be this Larger Trend that a lot of the Bitcoin Miners who have Diversified into Ai and HPC clients are just outperforming the Pure Play Bitcoin miners talk to me About this change in strategy for the Company yeah so it's something that We've been setting up as a company Dating back to our our founding back in 2017 so our facilities were developed to Be multi- or multi-use for not only just
Bitcoin mining but also for the Transition that we're doing right now to High performance Computing and so this Trend is much broader for the entire Industry so you've seen a number of Bitcoin mining companies and now in Similar type uh strategy ships for the Business and it's really about the next Three years in terms of where the Opportunity set truly lies to capture a Large portion of the data center Market Because we're in the largest Trend in Data center history so every Big Data Center company that exists carved out a Niche just so happens at the niche that Bitcoin miners are carved out now are in The largest Niche that has ever been Found in the data center industry and in Terms of the clients that you're working With we've spoken about the $6.7 billion Doll deal that you have with cor weave a Company that's backed by Nvidia where Else are you seeing appetite in terms of This new AI HPC customer that you're Serving yeah it's not just cor that's Building out large models so you think About Microsoft open AI Amazon Google All of these companies are doing Significant amounts of investments in Into this GPU Cloud so it's AI is really Fueling the new Cloud business which is The GPU cloud and is this where your Company is going I mean you said that it Was always a part like a fixture of a
Larger business plan when you launched In 2017 but a lot of people thought of Core in the same breath as as being a Bitcoin minor and it seems like you're Really uh straying away from that so is It more about becoming aih HPC Exclusively since that's appears to be Working yeah we're a digital Infrastructure company at heart so the 800 megawatts that we've been operating It's allowed us to be the largest Bitcoin mining company for the last 3 Years and now it's allowing us to make This transition into the high Performance Computing market so it's a Natural transition for the business and Our team is really just a data center Company at heart so that's really where Our skill set lie so attacking this new Vertical is very easy for us to handle So you guys were the largest Bitcoin Minor through bankruptcy as well we were Yeah okay and so I would like to point Out like you're somewhat new to the Company when did when did you start I Started April 2023 okay so you've been Really helping the company navigate made It way out of bankruptcy what our next Steps what do the next few months look Like this year in terms of your strategy For core yeah so we've outlined our Catalyst through the remain of this year Which is really about identifying and Acquiring new sites and then
Diversifying our client base so given This is a new business model for the Company you we signed our first deal About just under 100 days ago and it's Now it's about finding a more Diversified larger client base so that We can continue to grow and to become One of the largest data center companies In North America which AI clients are You going after so some of the largest Ones out there any that you can share Today not today now one thing that I I Want to understand because I I've spent So much time talking to bitcoin Miners And and one of the value propositions That they uh you know that they offer is That yes we're using grid power but We're able to help stabilize a grid Because if you have too many Renewables That you're on boarding and you you Don't have consistent demand for that we Can kind of toggle that toggle down that Demand uh when more people need power You know shift it back up overnight when There's just less uh you know need for For households to consume electricity But what as you move into serving these Aih HPC clients I would imagine that you Can't have that kind of flexible demand Uh buying so like how has that changed Your thought process around uh the value Ad that you you bring to a a grid in a Given state that you operate in whether It's Texas or elsewhere yeah so our
Initial locations were all in places That had lowcost abundant power so it Wasn't just the renewable aspect to it As well so we were hyper focused on Finding locations and geographies that Were really under served communities Because that is a place where they used To have significant industrial and Manufacturing but all that business has Left the United States and so locating At those locations uh provided us a Significant opportunity to grab a large Amount of megawatts and on the Bitcoin Mining side we're still pursuing some Acquisitions on on the Bitcoin mining Side which mainly targets locations Where there's a significant amount of Renewables a significant amount of Volatility on the grid and that's Something that Bitcoin miners have been Able to solve in local communities where They can help stabilize power prices and Also allow new renewable projects to Come online well across AI across Bitcoin there is this Universal need for More electricity that's something that You've been talking with the former President now GOP uh you know Presidential nominee Donald Trump about Um it's my understanding you I mean you Were in closed door meetings with him in Nashville and in marago and it seems Like one part of his uh presidential Platform that he's been you know very
Strong on is the need for greater uh in Terms of his energy policy build out Infrastructure generate more electricity At home to support the AI um boom that's Happening here to make this the Destination for a lot of the companies That are building out infrastructure to Support this growing industry how do you Feel about um a a potential you know President Donald Trump coming into Office and what that might mean for the Work that you're doing at core yeah so He's been very uh forward about his Thoughts on energy dominance and further Energy generation development which is Obviously important not only to our Industry but industrial and Manufacturing broadly speaking and it's It was great to hear last night in the Debate uh Harris also said she wanted America to be a leader in artificial Intelligence and so both parties right Now have kind of centered around being a Forefront leader in artificial Intelligence which is going to require a Forward thinking process on energy Policy and so that's something that we Think is you know very bullish overall For the industry and it's going to be Great Tailwinds if either Administration Comes in right now and provides a a Significant uh Tailwind to our uh to the Energy policy in the United States some People within the crypto industry in
Particular are concerned about uh vice President KLA Harris potentially taking Over if she were to win there is this The worry appears to be that like SEC Chair gendler would remain in place and That a lot of the the policies that We've seen under President Joe Biden Would persist that perhaps uh you know We wouldn't get the kinds of rules uh we Meaning like what the industry is saying Wouldn't get the kinds of rules that Would uh better police the space in the US Are you at all do you share that Sentiment have you been having Conversations behind the scenes with People about what a a Harris Administration might look like for the Crypto industry in particular yeah we Haven't heard too much out of the the Harris uh party yet in terms of what Actually their their policies are going To be I think we have a a good Tailwind Here though from uh some of the policies That they've or some of the broad Speaking points that she's had around Crypto especially crypto for Harris you Know there's been a number of different Groups that have come out in terms of Supporting Uh and so our hope is that there's Enough voices that are close to her that Are feeding her the correct information About Bitcoin and crypto more broadly
That there's not going to be a Significant political risk to Bitcoin in The near term but I think over the long Term we'll be just fine no matter who Who comes into Office okay that's all for crypto world This week we'll be back on Monday we'll See you then
