Today Bitcoin Rises as the FED kicks off Its policy meeting in Jackson hle Wyoming Donald Trump teases a new defi Crypto platform as an aid for kamla Harris reportedly says that she'll be More supportive of crypto and Cynthia Lbet a Fidelity digital Asset Management Discusses institutional adoption of Crypto from Wyoming's blockchain Symposium welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm Mackenzie sallos digital currencies Are mixed as the fed's meeting in Jackson Hall Wyoming kicks off now what Are investors listening for well Obviously they want to hear If the Fed Will cut rates next month and more Importantly how much they'll cut we Should hear more about that from fed Shar Jerome Powell in a speech on Friday Now by noon Eastern Bitcoin was back on The rise climbing above $60,000 Meanwhile ether was pretty much flat and Polygon's madic token jumped more than 6% after coin said that it would support Polygon's transition to its new pole Token okay let's talk about the top Stories Bitcoin mining company bit Farms Is acquiring competitor stronghold Digital mining bit Farms says the merger Will cost around $125 million in stock And around another 50 million of debt The deal is expected to close q1 of 2025 After approval from Regulators now this Deal comes as m&a in the Bitcoin mining
Space remains red hot and bit Farms is Actually pushing back on attempts to Make it the target of an acquisition as Well the company rejected a $950 million Takeover offer from Riot which claims to Own a nearly 19% stake of bit Farms as Of August 13th stronghold stock exploded On the news closing 82.5% higher after The announcement bit Farm stock was Relatively flat at that same time next As vice president kamla Harris gears up To take the stage tonight at the DNC and Accept her part's nomination for President and aid for her campaign Reportedly says that she supports Policies to expand crypto Innovation According to Bloomberg Brian Nelson a Senior policy adviser for the campaign Said Harris will quote support policies That ensure that emerging Technologies And that sort of Industry can continue To grow now those comments were Reportedly made when he was asked about Her crypto stance during a Bloomberg Round table at the Democratic National Convention there have been Rumblings That vice president Harris would take a Different stance on crypto than President President Biden Democratic Congressman Rana told us at Bitcoin 2024 In Nashville that he's in touch with the Campaign and hoping to shape their Thinking around the industry we reached Out to the campaign to confirm this
Reporting and what specifically Harris Might do for the crypto industry but Haven't heard back yet now we should Mention that Trump has positioned Himself as increasingly crypto-friendly And just this morning the former President and Republican nominee Promoted a soon to launch crypto Platform called the defiant once spelled With defi to be clear now you can read More about that story from me over at Cnbc.com last the former CEO of a Kansas Bank is headed to prison for more than 24 years after falling for a scam and Leading the bank to failure Shane Haynes Fell victim to Pig butchering it's a Long-term investment scam where the Perpetrators direct victims to Fraudulent investment platforms as CEO Of Heartland Tri-State Bank H stole more Than $47 million of the bank's funds Turned it into crypto and transferred it To wallets controlled by unidentified Third parties this resulted in the FDIC Taking over last summer and wiped out The bank's stock NOW the ex CEO's Longtime neighbor whose businesses used The bank told CNBC that Haynes Confronted him for help the neighbor Said scammers convinced Haynes they were Savvy crypto investors along with taking Money from the bank Haynes also Embezzled funds from a local church and Investment Club you can read that full
Story over at cnbc.com All right for our main story we're Continuing our coverage of the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium which is wrapping Up just as the fed's Jackson hall Meeting starts up today now while at the Conference crypto world's tanaa mckel Spoke to Cynthia Lo bassette head of Fidelity digital Asset Management to get Her take on institutional crypto Adoption all right well thank you so Much for joining us on crypto world Today um it's been a great conference I Want to start with Bitcoin ETFs because It really has been the year of the Bitcoin ETF it came in January and Trading has been or you know for the Price of Bitcoin itself has been a Little bit rangeb for several months now Um I'm wondering what the client Response has been you know they've been Successful these products um but when You're having conversations with your Clients about allocation and portfolio Management what are those conversations Like well we always start with um uh Education and and so when clients are Interested in um gaining access access Uh to these assets uh we offer a range Of of ways uh for them to gain access um But we also provide a tremendous amount Of Education um uh helping um clients to Understand what these assets are um how To think about them uh as Financial
Assets uh in their portfolios um and and Really offer them um that level of of Assistance um uh with education to give Them um information on how they want to Assess their portfolio allocations Is there like a key theme that has come Up repeatedly at least one that you've Noticed I mean education is so vast what Is kind of um a recurring theme that You're noticing when clients um express Interest uh in the assets they do often Ask um uh not just how should I be Thinking about these assets um uh but They do you know uh want to understand What a portfolio allocation um you know Should look like um and and there really Is no one answer um for for investors s Or or any um you know group of investors I think um you know the approach that That we've um you know taken in these Conversations is um to start with Understanding you know what the uh Client's risk profile is uh and then From there um continuing down the path Of of helping the client to um Understand um uh how they could uh be Thinking about this asset is it uh an Inflation um hedge uh for them in their Assets uh and their portfolio and and That's one way to think about how to Build an allocation um is this asset uh A a good representation of of a Technology asset um and then where in Their portfolio you know would they be
Able to think about um how to uh Incorporate an allocation uh from that Standpoint well that's interesting Because Bitcoin really does fit both Narratives it can and has been an Inflation hedge and it can and has acted Like a risk asset and I'm wondering if Your clients are comfortable living in That gray area I know it can be really Tough to get people to understand a new Con like this is a very new thing and I Think often times people really try to Fit the Bitcoin narrative into something That they're already familiar with yeah And um as we are talking uh with clients Uh about um how to establish an Investment thesis uh you know you could Uh get caught up in in Cross narratives Um but as you know we um are talking to Clients about how they are establishing Their investment thesis uh we encourage Them to think about this U over the Longer term um and so whether you are Viewing this ass as an inflation hedge Or you're viewing this asset as a tech Asset um there's a long-term view that Comes with each of those investment Theses I said this Yesterday when I'm talking with Investors everyone always wants to know What the next crypto ETF is going to be Is there going to be a salana ETF I am Guessing that that's not how you guys Were thinking about Innovation but um
Give me a reality check on that has that Come up for you and how are you thinking About innovating now that these long Anticipated Bitcoin and ether ETFs are Here what do you do now yeah what's next Um we do get that question quite a bit Uh from from a range of uh you know People around us and um the way that we Think about uh how we um prioritize our Our product development uh is driven by A couple of things one of which is um You know what are our clients looking For um as they are uh looking to um gain Uh broader access uh to the EOS system And and while you know I think a lot of People might think about uh looking at Uh market cap uh in the way to establish You know what's next um we're also Thinking about this from the standpoint Of um uh how these assets might comprise A um a diversified portfolio and and how To think about portfolio construction uh In being able to establish a broader um Uh ecosystem investment and and that is Um a big part of of how we are you know Looking at uh product development um we Would like to be able to see uh more uh Products and and more strategies uh that Will be expressed uh in a range of Vehicle uh types to allow for um all Investors to be able to gain access to This Ecosystem so what does that look like I Mean we've been talking about ETFs and
Crypto for about a decade maybe more yes And is it just Bitcoin and ether for now You know from an Institutional Standpoint yeah well uh we did see that Uh recently with the withdra with the Withdrawal of of two applications for a Solana uh ETP uh there's maybe you know In addition to uh both the the client Demand and and also the the market um Readiness and and looking at uh the Ability to be able to uh see scalable uh Investments across individual assets um There's a regulatory aspect as well uh And uh being able to see all of those Elements uh being able to coincide uh May take some time to be able to have The the next big ETP crypto is a new Asset class for everybody how has it Changed your business I mean how Different is it just because we have This new asset class so how has it Changed asset management and how are Things still the same as they were Before yeah um so Asset Management uh in In the way that uh we we have built out Um investment capabilities um in in at Fidelity uh that has not changed in the Way that we have approached uh the the Way to build um a digital Asset Management capability uh what we have Found um that is uh new and and um very Different is that um the the underlying Technology uh for digital assets um and Um more importantly uh the data um uh
And the data models um that are required In order to be able to consume all of The information around these individual Assets um is very different uh and so We've spent um a good amount of time Over the last several um months uh Really looking at how to build an Infrastructure to support um true Onchain Investments okay that's all for crypto World today but we'll be back again Tomorrow and we'll see you then [Music]
