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Frank Spiser, he's CEO at Metafied. We're gonna be talking a bit about bitcoin and what's going on there. I mean, as I'm looking at bitcoin, I'm seeing it up over one hundred thousand, which is really a big number that we did see it hitting earlier before. What is the runway here, Frank? What are people saying about bitcoin right now?
I mean, right now, bitcoin sort of at a crossroads where you know, the support level is probably around ninety seven thousand, but the top is sort of undetermined, and if it breaks through the one oh five one oh seven level, we could see it go all the way up to you know, one sixty one seventy five pretty easily, because there's a lot of institutions buying, and you know, states like New Hampshire just recently passed their their strategic preserve that will allow but then the whole bitcoin and
with other states following, I think you'll see competition for the available bitcoin on the market, so the top top people much higher.
You know, I've noticed Frank is, ever since Liberation Day, we've seen the dollar really fall out. I was trying to think of an appropriate way to say that that the FCC, Yes, the dollar has weakened substantially, and at the same time we've seen a strengthening a bitcoin. Now, I'm not insane, right, I'm not gonna say this digital
currency with absolutely nothing backing it. Besides, like you know, the faith that a Reddit group has put into it is going to replace the dollar as a world reserve currency. But it kind of looks like that, doesn't it.
Yeah, Matt, I wouldn't say you're insane at all, and I would say, what's backing it is the common belief that people can transact in peace without the without the permission or without needing to sort of rely on the printing press of a of a fiat currency. I think that's been the original intent of bitcoin all along, and you're starting to see that coalesce. I think what we saw over the past week or maybe the past month, the big bitcoin asset is up twenty five percent for
the past thirty days. I think you're starting to see it returned to the point where it's unhinged from the equities markets, and it's no longer moving a tandem with sort of the global equities markets. People are starting to see it as a way to diversify risk away from those markets and away from some really uncertain policies, you know, in terms of like money supply, tariffs and the like.
And you know what's interesting.
I actually was at at ATM the other day and it has the option to use bitcoin to pull out money as opposed to using my debit card.
But that's crazy. You don't want to spend bitcoin, do you. You don't want to spend bitcoin, do you, Frank?
I mean, it was the wildest thing.
I don't know if.
Nora knows this because younger people don't remember, but there is a dude who bought two pizzas for ten thousand bitcoin. Ten thousand. How much money is that worth today, Frank?
A lot.
The last time I checked, it was about four hundred million dollars in my business, so that's a little expensive for my taste. But I would not use bitcoin. It would not spend it. It's becoming, you know, it's right now, according to its market cap, the fifth largest asset in the world, just ahead of Amazon.
I mean, how are people thinking about bitcoin right now. I mean, I think that the market is really in an interesting space where tariffs have been in focus. People are really interested about the geo politics trade tensions. How exactly does that affect bitcoin.
Bitcoin allows governments to sort of move money around in a way that they as long as they will both accept it on either side the original intendants. You just have two parties in the trade. You don't need a third arbiter. So my sense is, and I don't have the data to prove this, but it feels like with the volumes we're seeing in the market, there's people finding innovative way ways around sort of the tariff restrictions and
controls just by just by alternative currencies. That could be the case, but I think the world is at a point where it sees it as a valid asset. It's starting to become more certain that it's going to stay there for the long term, and you're starting to develop around that where that wasn't there in previous cycles. So what was there was just speculative belief that it would
one day get to where it is now. But I think we're finally at a mature point in the market development where you're seeing people actually build around it and consider it for for ways to to execute trades, to leverage, you know, different ways around you know what, what the world's throwing at.
Them right now?
Uh?
You know, I look at on the Bloomberg terminal, c ryp go as I'm sure you know, as everyone knows, pulls up a list of cryptocurrencies. But I don't really care about any of them, frank not even Ether. I only care about Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Why bother with the rest of these? What are they?
Like?
Five thousand other cryptocurrencies.
There's quite a few, and I would actually say most of them are junk. And that's coming from somebody who has a company who does crypto based stuff. It doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. Eath, for instance, is up you know, eleven percent over the previous day. It's it's up you know, forty percent for
the previous thirty days. And what that is is an indicator that the DeFi markets, where you're starting to see decentralized finance products pop up, the settlement layer for all of that is EATH. So, uh, that's an indicator that the market does want to develop ways to alternatively you know, move move capital around, and you should pay attention to ETH as a barometer for the appetite to develop these types of things.
I just want to say they start. But frank uh, you know talking at the top about how you don't want to be a slave to the fiat currency. Right, Bitcoin is is proof of work, Right eth is proof of steak. It seems like it could be swayed by some big holders.
That's correct.
Eth is one of those things where the money supply is not definite. I definitely prefer the economics of bitcoin, for sure, and it's a lot more fair to the users. But ETH is one of those things that it's sort of the base layer of decentralized finance, and for that alone, it's it's sort of worth seeing what people are willing to build for. I think what we need to do to get some more clarity here is to get some
regulatory certainty around stable tokens. And if we can do that, you know, we'll start to see the bridge between the traditional finance system and crypto become a little more certain and clear, and the innovation start to ramp up.
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.
I really do want to into what's going on at Citadel. We're going to be joined here by Anna Kaiser, and she's based in Miami Hope. The weather is great there, it's rainy here in New York City. But Citadel is pushing for a four year non compete in Florida. It's essentially a lobbying spree. Four years sounds insane to me for a non compete. I'm really interested to hear what the reception has been and what's really going on here.
Anna.
Yeah. So, as I said, this is a bill that is in the Florida legislature.
It is still waiting to be signed by Governor Rond De Santis, so that is still pending. But it would allow for non competes and garden leaves in the state to last for up to four years, which is.
A really long time.
As as you say, you know, some of the lawyers and policymakers who I spoke to for the story just described this bill as like very employer friendly. It puts a lot of power with the employer when it comes to non compete agreements.
I mean, when I think about people and whether or not they'd actually sign a noncompete. I mean, if Citadel is a big name, of course, but do we feel like they have the juice? Do they really have the reputation enough to really get people to be willing to sign this four year agreement?
Yeah, I mean I should not.
It's up to four years, so I guess it's going to be up to them, you know, how long they want to stretch.
Those I mean, it would be pretty hard for me to imagine doing it.
Four years is a really long time to be out on the sidelines, you know, it could really damage your career. I think it's something that employees there would probably have to think about a lot.
You know, in exchange. Like you said, it's a big name.
They you know, obviously compensate very well, so time great.
Yeah, so you know it's it's it's uh.
It's probably a pretty tough decision that some future employees might have to face.
Yeah, I mean, the devil's in the details, right, if they're if they're paying me enough, and if the four year non compete was gardening leave on which I would continue to get paid a ton, I probably would want to sign that. But it's not always the case, right, That's what I thought when I initially read your story this morning, Anna, like, oh, that would be great, you know, getting full paid for four years hanging out in the keys,
knocking back Margarita's all day. But the issue is you don't always get paid on those years that you have to sit out during a non compete. And even if you do get paid, if it's gardening leave so called, you still often don't get your bonuses. And this is an industry in which people don't matter. People make exactly the line's share of their compensation is in bonuses.
Yeah, exactly.
So it sounds like a dream, right, You just get to sit back and be on vacation. But as you say, salaries actually don't make up a huge portion of compensation for a lot of people who work at hedge funds. So you know, that might help you keep the lights on when you go on a gardening leave, but it's probably going to be a pre pretty big hit to your income.
So it's not quite as sweet of a deal as it appears to be.
So, and the bill has passed the legislature, but it's still awaiting the governor's signature. What's the timeline here? Is this something near term that we could get an answer on this.
Yeah, it's it's still not on the governor's desk officially, you know, the legislator.
The legislative session ended last week. There are you know, a flurry of bills to sign.
This is one of dozens, so it's hard to say when he would actually sign it, but it would probably be in the coming weeks.
And I mean Florida as we think about I always think about people that are making that migration over the Florida great weather. That's what I'm the most jealous of.
But so flat, this is true, And it's not like the greatest roads for me.
It's a no from you.
Yeah, I just it's like flat, long, straight highways.
But the palm trees, right.
Yeah, palm trees are good. And like I said, you know, hammocks and mixed beverage is. I appreciate that kind of thing. But you've got to deal with Florida man as well. Anna, What is it like living in Florida. I mean you're surrounded by people that make the news as a joke, you know, not Ken Griffin, but the rest of the people in Florida. How is it living there?
I mean, it's an amazing place to be a reporter because there's never a dull day.
We are always covering all.
Sorts of different things, different characters, different figures, policies, politics. You know, We've got more Alogo just up the road. It's sort of the center of the Republican Party in so many ways, you know, center of so many ideas that are coming out of the Republican Party.
So I will say, it's never a dull day.
So talk to me about why Florida specifically with this story, right, I mean they obviously have a presence in other states as well, so true, yes, yes, sorry.
The way that the bill is written, it says that these kinds of non competes in garden leaves would be applicable for a company where their principal place of business is in Florida. So in theory that is trying to say that these could extend outside of Florida.
You know.
Also, this is a very heavily Republican legislature. They do often pass things that are sort of friendly to the business community, I think, much.
More so than in New York.
So it's just a it's a friendlier environment for something like this to pass well.
And Ken Griffin, right, I mean, you mentioned mar A Lago's up the road, and I'm sure that when the President is in the state, he commands the obedience of most people there, But when he's not, Ken Griffin is kind of like the de facto leader right of Wall Street South, and he's given so much money I would imagine to Republican candidates down there in the state, as well as the governor Ron DeSantis, that they tend to do what he wants them to do.
Yeah.
Absolutely, I mean he is He's only lived here for three years, but he holds an incredible amount of power and influence, and he's very involved in sort of all levels of government.
He you know, donates.
And supports local candidates and local races here in Miami, you know, state candidates, and is.
Just very involved in politics.
He you know, donates to all of the big charities and philanthropies.
So he has a really big.
Presence here and in just three years, so I think it's pretty impressive.
You know, you see his name on buildings.
All over Miami and even in Palm Beach two where he also owns property. So he has a very big presence for a really short amount of time in my opinion.
And of course this is a really big bill. What are you hearing from sources about the odds of it passing?
You know, Gardner.
Decidas usually will pass something that is you know, business friendly.
It didn't have a ton of pushback in the legislature. The bill sponsors.
Really argued that this is very important for Florida's business community, that this is going to attract businesses that have very high paying jobs because they're businesses that are dealing with you know, high level trade secrets. So they sort of argue that this is actually really important for the business
ecosystem in Florida. So in that in that sense, I think there's you know a good chance that the governor would sign it, but he declined to comment for the story, so you know, we'll we'll just have to.
See, all right, Anna, thanks so much, Anakizer. They're reporting to us live from Miami.