Emily but first to our lead and a bloomberg scoop. Uber has a new number two. The worlds most valuable startup has named Barney Harford its chief operating officer. Harford is the former ceo of the Online Travel site orbitz. He is the secondprofile hire by the uber ceo. He has worked for and competed with khosrowshahi in the Online Travel sector. And it is an interesting move considering the other uber news out wednesday, the european top court has officially rolled the service should be regulated as a Transportation Company rather than a digital company. The ruling is aimed at uberpop which allows people to pick up passengers, the equivalent of uberx. We spoke with the capital managing partner from london along with Bloomberg Technology partner eric newcomer. Eric he has a long history with khosrowshahi. I think that is definitely helpful. This is sort of a loyalist you can bring in, a trusted hand. So i think that is part of it. Barney did a really good job at orbitz. It was a debt laden company. He was able to get a good exit of 1. 6 million. And then, you know, the experience at orbitz and the expedia marketplace is relevant to uber. So, it is relevant expertise, having a Good Relationship already with the ceo, then he was doing this since october to feel the company out a little bit. Emily there were a series of tweets after your story to say uber already does more rides, more than the Worlds Airlines combined, providing flexibility to more people than any company in the world. What does the hire of a former Industry Expert imply about the direction they want to take the company . Eric he is still on the united board and really understands that business. I think it shows the global reach and seriousness of ubers business as an employer. For one. I think his tweets speak to the amount that he thinks of uber company that has obligation for how it treats its drivers. That is a top priority for him, and the Airline Industry is a parallel that uber does not love. Because airlines have these huge, expensive planes, but barney also made the point to me that airlines are doing better these days, more profitable businesses, but certainly that expertise as a Business Model comparison, but also as a Similar Service industry is useful background to bring to uber. Emily i want to talk about this in the context out of this news of the e. U. That uber will now be regulated as a transport company and not a tech company, which is what they were hoping for. This is a big blow to uber. What does this mean . Reporter it is bad for uber because it means more regulation, the potential that they would have to pay their drivers more, have more rules about how they pay instead of a digital platform and super disconnected from the rules of local regulators. On the other hand, uber is already regulated as a Transportation Company in london and paris, two of its most profitable markets. It has already started to deal with this, and the ceos stands has been we are going to work with local regulators to allow them to regulate us as they want. Obviously we are going to have input. I think this is bad and uber is lobbying against it, but the company has already started to pivot to deal with what they saw coming. Emily as a longtime investor in europe, what do you make of this decision, given the challenges that uber is facing in london specifically where you are . Frederic it is interesting as it is basically a confirmation that local regulators in europe and i think it is the case across the globe are looking at these tech, Tech Companies and saying we have rules, and you have to operate in the context of those roles. So in the shortterm, it doesnt change too much for uber. Uber have to operate within those parameters, but it does cap the potential upside. The peertopeer service they were hoping to launch across countries, in certain countries, uber was hoping to enter with the just peertopeer, that will not be possible. That restricts the opportunity, and is an interesting time. As a user, and i keep hearing this, the uber experience for consumers has, over the past four to six months, been diluted. How to get cars, drivers canceling, it is almost as if the change of guard and the change of management and the relief of the pressure had an impact on the development of the customer experience. I think bringing new management that will sort of tighten the grip on the business again is highly needed, and in the short term, uber has got to focus on their core. Emily what signal does this say about the european regulators about the economy in general . There is talk it could be affecting Companies Like airbnb, in that it may be, in the future, regulated more like a hotel than a home rental site, as they would prefer. Frederic there is a sort of general move and orientation and realization across europe that many of the Tech Companies that are global that have very Successful Services have become dominant across europe, have done that by pushing the boundaries too much. Also lots of not paying their fair share of taxes. I think it is fair to expect. Yes, a tightening of the grip. Also a realization by the local authorities that they need to create a level Playing Field for the local operators as well. And for those certain rules but also some fiscal sort of discipline on top of this companies who have been able to use this as a place of doing things. We see a wave of change, and we expect, we see again, a wave of change, and there is demand from consumers, from politicians, from the local services and businesses to say hey, maybe we are being too open. We look at china, china has been very good sort of closing those doors. Maybe it is time for europe to do that as well. Emily so eric, we note that the ceo has been traveling a lot. He has been to london. How do you think this ruling will impact his strategy . Eric i think there is a lot of europe that still is to get figured out. Hiring barney, it is a statement, ok, internally, somebody else needs to run the internal business, because there is so much to do outside. The situation to do in southeast asia, gojek what is going to happen they are, similarly in india, all over the world there are these questions either strategic dealing with competitors or you know countries where the regulation still is not figured out. He is going to be the public face traveling around and either establishing better in markets, cutting deals, or making an apology as necessary. Emily that was frederic court, Felix Capital managing partner, and Bloomberg Technologys eric newcomer. This week, tech watchers finally got a glimpse of one of the most longawaited products. Startup magic leap mixed reality headset. The steam punkesque goggles come with a controller and computing pack to wear around your waist. It is now facing increased competition from the likes of google and apple in augmented reality. Bloomberg has previously reported the gear will cost between 1500 and 2000. And speaking of gadgets, coming up, we will take a look at the big year in Consumer Tech from amazon, google, and apple. What worked, what didnt. What is worth your money . If you like bloomberg news, check us out on the radio. You can listen on the Bloomberg Radio app, bloomberg. Com, and in the u. S. On sirius xm. This is bloomberg. Emily facebook has introduced new features to curb abuse and protect privacy on the platform. New facial recognition features should help prevent unwanted contact when someone you have blocked sets up a new account or tries to contact you from another account they control. The feature also provides the option to ignore a messenger conversation and move it out of your inbox without having to block the sender. Meantime whatsapp was given a month to comply with french privacy law and stop transferring data from facebook users without their consent. The french Data Protection says it wants to ensure the highest level of transparency on the massive Data Transfer from whatsapp to facebook, according to a statement on its website monday. This comes after 28 e. U. Privacy watchdogs published a letter to whatsapps cofounder to reassert their concerns over changes to the privacy policy. Techs big three are constantly fighting for retail supremacy. So just how did google, amazon, and apple try to win your hearts and wallets in 2017 . A reporter takes a look. Reporter it has been a jampacked year for new tech products, and all of the big players are now vying for every part of your life. Google is no longer just a search engine. Amazon is more than a retail channel. And apple more than ever is going for the high end. They are trying to fight to be your number one, and they are releasing more and more products they have started for the ecosystem. Apple is going for the highend and an essential part of your life. The smart phone, with the iphone x is the biggest anticipated gadget of the year. The biggest iphone update in the companys history. So far it has been a hit with consumers so far. Apple expects a recordbreaking holiday quarter. Apple is looking to round out its hold on you with an apple tv, the apple watch, and the apple airpod which make a nice combo. Google wants to sell you a 400 super loud, highend speaker that works well with the pixel 2 phone. I wouldnt recommend the pixel 2 headbuds, but the speaker with stereo sound could be a better fit for your home. Amazon is trying to be everywhere in your room and has released several new speakers this year. My favorite, the echo spot. It is an alarm clock and nightstand device of the future. It is a solid holiday gift for the gadget lover in your home. The Top Companies are already looking towards next years holiday season. Apples home pod, google echo, and alexa will come out in early 2018 after being delayed. The iphone maker is working on its next iphone and an ipad with facial recognition for next year, bloomberg has reported. Google is working on a new phone speaker with a screen. Amazon of course is always working on new echoes. Happy holidays. Emily coming up, bitcoin hits another year on a bigger stage. Why this cme debut could play a defining role in the cryptocurrencys march to mainstream. One of the most popular cryptocurrencies on the planet is facing its biggest controversy. Why coinbase is investigating possible Insider Trading on its platform, next. This is bloomberg. Emily the worlds Biggest Exchange just joined the bitcoin revolution. Bitcoin futures started trading this sunday night on the cme after the cboe introduced similar derivatives of the volatile cryptocurrency. Cme is a bigger player in futures with many players expecting it to make a bigger splash. The exchange got off to a faster start with more efficient pricing. Its most active contract changed hands 21 times versus 570 during cboes debut. It is a huge win, because cmes contracts are five times more valuable. They are tied at five bitcoin versus only one with cboes futures. We caught up with our bloomberg editoratlarge cory johnson looking at ethereum and union square venture. Olaf so it is very, very important that these financial projects and hedging mechanisms are introduced for Institutional Investors. For a lot of these Institutional Investors, it is the first time they have been able to go long or short on bitcoin. Emily so, we have a chart here, showing how futures got off at the cme, at the cboe as well. Cory, what is your take on the significance of this week versus last week . Cory this is a product and exchange where a lot of big money trades. A lot of groups are unable to trade this for legal reasons. They dont actually trade the actual currency itself. This is the only product they can legally get involved with. That is based on a charter or where they are trading, so they can actually, a lot more money can be attracted to these cyber currencies without being involved in the cyber currencies themselves. Emily olaf, how does the last two weeks change what youre doing daytoday your hedge fund . Cory if you wish you were more long. Olaf there has been a huge amount of media interest in this area. There has been a huge number of consumer retailers coming online, just purchasing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. I think that we are seeing more and more institutional wall street players coming onto the scene and wanting to go long in this area. I just think it is great for the whole industry. It is really pushing things forward. Emily cory, you also have Td Ameritrade on friday saying they are getting into this. Cory right. Significant requirements, people have just got so much money behind this in order to trade this. It is not as simple as just trading a stock or currency. A lot of volatility around this. That is owing to the media around this. Emily olaf, you and i were talking before the show. The price has just soared. Every time you come on i say, are we in a bubble . The price keeps going higher. Does the rapid rise of the price make you question the legitimacy of the value here . Olaf what we are seeing in a way is not that dissimilar from the rapid rise you might see from other technologies. When you look at a breakout startup like uber, we are seeing a similar rapid rise there, but it is all happening in private markets that are relatively liquid. Here you are seeing Retail Investors with the ability to actually gain into that rise and see this viscerally day to day. It is not surprising to me we are seeing from other types of breakout industries. I do think this is much bigger than any individual company. It is not surprising to me at all we are seeing this type of growth. I think it feels somewhat inevitable to us that have been in this ecosystem for many years. Emily cory, do you agree with that comparison . Cory it is not just the coins, ethereum and bitcoin and ripple. There is a lot of junk out there. A lot of stocks are flying. I was looking at a Chinese Energy company today with the 18 employees and it has a 3. 5 billion valuation. The stocks went up 860 in the last week. That is a mania. That is not based on what is actually going on for this technology. It is just a mania of people. Olaf i think pushing behavior like that is the inability of Institutional Investors to get exposure. Because a lot of the Institutional Investors dont have the ability to buy the underlying assets. [speaking simultaneously] cory but whenever you see a mania, whether it is the dotcom boom, there were a lot of hucksters and people trying to take the money and bring it somewhere else. Uranium in the 1960s. It has been in real estate. There were people selling fake properties 10 years ago, buy to own, and i think we are seeing that in this general notion of cyber currencies. Once in a while you grab the real things like bitcoin and ethereum. And we can look at some fake things like some of the stocks that are running with no fundamentals whatsoever. And recognize that those are happening in concert. Emily are you seeing anything that makes you uneasy, and if so, what . Olaf it is so emergent and so experimental. I think it is really good that money is flowing into things that are less sure. Emily not for the people who lose money. Olaf yeah, no, of course. Of course. I think my number one concern is people basically investing in things that they dont understand. This is complicated and esoteric technology. And i think that your kind of retail momandpop investor should be careful, particularly when they are investing in more experimental technologies outside of the bluechip cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. Emily how long do you think it will be before we see more cryptocurrencies being offered . Olaf we will soon see dozens of crypto futures. Blow we will see stocks up. Again, there is a stock flying through the roof with basically no financials. Some real frauds emerge. A Realty Income corporation traded at 50 million shares at 20 million violation two days ago. Basically the financials, the company that brought the ipo has censures against it from securities regulators, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I dont think the people buying this dont have any idea of what the firms history is. They just want to get something near something blockchainy. And see it go up. Emily if there is some sort of crash or correction, how far out in is Something Like that . Olaf well, so if you kind of zoom out, cryptocurrency has been filled with these pretty massive corrections throughout its history. I think this is just a natural part of where there is a disparity between the number of people that see what feels like a somewhat inevitable future and then where the technology is. Cory bringing it back to the news of today, the trading of future contracts makes it less likely we will see downsides or any volatility because you will have shortsellers looking to cover the short position. You wont see those 20 corrections like we have seen in bitcoin many many times in the last couple of years. Emily we also dug into coinbase this week as the company investigate allegations of Insider Trading on its platform. The alleged trading came hours before the Company Announced it would allow bitcoin cash. Meanwhile cryptocoins are gaining the attention of global institutions. Here is what bank of England Governor Mark carney have to say about bitcoin this week in london. It has increased significantly in value, but it is not connected to the core of the financial system. In general, it is not levered in orders of magnitude, it is less than the market cap, half the market cap of apple. If you have bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, it is that order of magnitude. It is more like an equity type risk type of spread around the w