CNBC.com’s Pippa Stevens brings you the top business news headlines of the day. In today’s program, CNK.com’s MacKenzie Sigalos explains the launch in El Salvador of the acceptance of bitcoins across the country and why some citizens are protesting the move. In addition, the opening statements will begin at the trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes.
Bitcoin falls about 10% as El Salvador adopts it as its legal tender
The price of bitcoin fell on Tuesday after surpassing the final $ 52,000 on Monday, reaching its highest level since May.
The price action will take place on the day that El Salvador adopts the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization as the legal tender currency, becoming the first country to do so. Bitcoin fell to 16% on Tuesday morning. According to Coin Metrics, it fell approximately 9.5% and traded at $ 46,892.04. Ether fell 12% to $ 3,441.21.
The adjacent cryptographic shares MicroStrategy and Coinbase also lost approximately 9% and 4%, respectively. Coinbase users experienced delayed or canceled transactions at “high rates” in the morning, according to the company he said in an update on Twitter, but these issues were resolved in the afternoon. Major cryptographic exchanges Kraken and Gemini were also investigating delays and performance issues.
Leading automakers fear global chip shortages may persist for some time
Automakers, including Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler, are still struggling to cope with the impact of global chip shortages, as executives at each of the companies warn that silicon shortages are likely to continue. feeling a problem.
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius and Ford of Europe Chairman Gunnar Herrmann told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Monday at the Munich Motor Show that it is difficult to know when the complex problem will be solved.
Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automaker, has lost market share in China as a result of the shortage of chips, Diess said.
“We are relatively weak due to the shortage of semiconductors,” he said. “We are more affected in China than in the rest of the world. That is why we are losing market share.”
Diess said his colleagues in China have been pushing for more semiconductors, and described the lack of chips as a “big concern.”
Elizabeth Holmes lives on the grounds of a $ 135 million estate in Silicon Valley during her trial
On the same day that former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes was granted a delay in her criminal fraud process due to a pregnancy, her partner received a traffic summons.
William “Billy” Evans was summoned March 17 for “not showing license plate,” according to San Mateo County, California court records.
The appointment revealed a new direction for the couple: a house at the leafy end of Green Gables, one of the most expensive estates in America.
CNBC has independently confirmed that Holmes and Evans are currently staying in one of the houses that dot the 74-acre property. The property, which is currently listed for sale for $ 135 million, is located in Woodside, one of the richest cities in Silicon Valley. The opening statements of his trial begin this week.
The Green Gables website features “an architectural masterpiece in the best natural setting.”