The top stories and al jazeera of special counsel has been named to oversee to Justice Department investigations into former president donald trump. Us attorney general Merrick Garland made the announcement 3 days after trump declared his intention to run for president in 2024. Based on recent developments, including the former president s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election. And the sitting president stated intention to be a candidate as well. I have concluded that it is in the Public Interest to appoint a special council such an employ. An appointment underscores the departments commitment to both independence and accountability, and particularly sensitive matters. It also allows prosecutors and agents to continue their work expeditiously and to make decisions. Indisputably, guided only by the facts and the law. Kanyes former president and rwandas leader have agreed on the need for fighters to withdraw from captured territory and east and democratic republic of congo. M. 23 fighters have made major gains in recent weeks, advancing towards goma. As fighting with Government Forces intensifies the congolese governments as accused for lender of supporting the great but wondered, denies this attempts to restore peaceful regime. On monday in nairobi, twitters troubles appear to be deepening with reports that hundreds more employees of quit in response to an ultimatum. From new chief executive, ellen musk, twitters offices around the world have been closed until next week. Casting doubts on the social media platforms ability to keep operating on friday must e mailed staff asking to meet employees who write software code. And in the United States, one time billionaire Elizabeth Holmes is being sentenced to 135 months in prison for fraud at her blood testing startup thoroughness. The company collapsed after its technology was revealed to be largely fake hopes, who is pregnant for the 2nd time, told the court, she took responsibility for the companys failing and regretted her actions. Right . Youre up to date. Those are the top stories here on our reserve and stay with us because counting the cost is coming up. Next, stay with us for that spiraling costs dwindling supplies. The shock is being felt around the world with the war in ukraine, triggering gas supply uncertainty. Europeans bracing themselves for an unprecedented winter. Al jazeera reports on the human ghosts of the Windsor Energy crisis. Ah i hello, im wrong matheson, this is time to the cost on al jazeera, your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week its been called criptos Lehman Brothers moment. And the collapse of the f t. X empire has shaken the crypto currency market. So can the crisis be confined on, on investors losing trust in crypto . Also this week, a Tech Industry layoffs for he is reviving memories of the stock market crash 22 years ago. But why are firms cutting down jobs and is at the end of the pandemic . Boone plus will the. Busy wanting ukraine help or hinder world wide efforts to shift from fossil fuels to Renewable Energy. Ah, f d x has been considered one of the safest and most reliable exchanges of a free feeling crypto currency industry, which wants to bring tokens into the financial mainstream. But some bank min free example collapsed to almost over night, highlighting the extreme volatility of the virtual currencies. The downfall has sent shock waves across the market and raised questions over its viability. Hes apologized, but that hasnt helped more than 1000000 creditors who are potentially now out of pocket. On the company was valued at 32000000000 u. S. Dollar in january. But by mid november, it was filing a bankruptcy protection. After failing to secure a rescue from wyvil exchanges, f t x is now under criminal investigation in the bahamas. U. S. Federal prosecutors. Theyre also looking into the case. The crisis is brought back memories of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Thats when the downfall of the Investment Bank sparked the 20 o 8 financial crisis. The ripple effects of f t x is collapsed, have been felt throughout a struggling crypto currency market. Billions of dollars have been withdrawn from exchanges and the prices of several digital coins have dipped. Bitcoin fell to around 16 and a half 1000. 00. It had reached a peak of more than 68000. 00 in 2021. Entire markets. Capitalization now stands at 900000000000. 00 thats done from 3 trillion just one year ago. And that follows a series of setbacks for the trip to currency industry. Nelly or in made the stable coin tedder, us deep crashed and broke. Its 1. 00 to 1. 00 peg with a dollar. Almost a month later, the lending platform celsius paused withdrawals, blaming extreme market conditions. Then came the bankruptcies, including one by 3 arrows capital. One of the most prominent crypto hedge funds in the world. Johnny us from berlin is john us, good os. Hes chairman of the digital utah association. Thats the d e a. And head of Digital Assets and currencies at a tonic. Sir, good to have you were this, the collapse of f t x has seems to have sent shock waves through the industry. Why was f t x so important . So if people today want to buy crypto currency, if they do so by a trip to exchange and f t x was one of the largest with, you know, millions of users with a 1000000000. 00 Trading Volume every day, right . So they were one of the key players. And what basically happens in the end of that f t export taking on very risky position. So they basically took the money off the lines and also the group to ask them to operate and to leverage leverage business, which in the turn out to fail, right, to turn out to provide substantial and just you know, 2 weeks ago the industry feared that something might going on with f t x and literally to the situation that more and more players withdrew their money. Right. Which basically brought them into the situation that liquidity, you know, the grid and he wasnt there and which ultimately led to bankruptcy, filings of actually just when we go and what about the people who didnt take their money out . What happens to their cash . Basically this remains to be seen, right . So its in the bankruptcy process now. So we dont know how much of the money people back off of there. And so this remains to be seen. This will definitely be, you know, a step thanks for the Crypto Exchange space. And well, you know, also leads to a waiver, probably more regulation into space because this was also one of the key issues that f t x was not regulated. Understand. I wanted to ask you about that because one would think that this is going to get significant leverage to those who want to see more transparency. And perhaps more importantly, want to see more regulation. This is on the short term of Course Development about active, horrible, right. So lots of people lost money. Lots of investors lost money, but i think on the long run that can also be like a chance for crypto because it doesnt change anything off the fundamentals of a crypto. So the f t x failed failed. What . A governance issue of f t x, right . So horrible Risk Management, very big legit positions and also the regulatory regulatory gap you mentioned. So we dont need regulation. We also do need more kind of a lot of regulation because its not sufficient if one countries regulating because then entities can move to other countries and those i think what we do need right now. And also, what we will see over the next years to come as a learning of the case. I dont understand particularly very much about cryptic currency. Its, its a very complex situation. And to those people like me, it would seem that this is based essentially on trust. It is on a trust that the system is actually going to work when you get system situations like this. Obviously, that trust gets undermined. How far do you think the ripple effects of this are going to go . Why are other exchanges going to be affected by this . So in the short term, i think they could be, the other exchanges are affected. We dont know yet. Right . So the tuition is so complicated, we dont know what, what ripple effects will come out here. But i think whats really important to understand it is really not, you know, big when, if the room be cooked are not to blame here, right . Its extra blame that the company to blame. So the kind of analogy i would like to give this when buyer can become bankrupt, we didnt say docs are a bad thing, right . Reset basically, you know, one company company, it made a horrible mistake, right . We also need to act which we do you and might be off the regulation. But i think that its really important that it doesnt change any of the continental crypto. But of course, show us that we need more regulation and we also cost proper risk measures governance method inside these very, you know, important a large group to Exchange Companies as well. Having a series of setbacks in the market, particularly over the last year. I mean, the market capitalization just being done from c trillion just one year ago to 900000000000. 00. Why is it been such a challenging year overall for crypto currencies . Yes, so we do see that we are now in a, in the market for one year as you mentioned. And we thought, you know, that mark was kind of specialized in now. And i think the markets are going down, which i think is a logical the development. What we shouldnt forget is that this development is not specific to crypto, right . Its specific to our kind of risky as a class. So we have similar declines in terms of tex dot, for example, that within the past year also declined in a similar size as crypto. So i think the main reason why the technical course are, you know, general macroeconomic reasons. We do see the interest increases in the us that, that basically down the private offices that most of the risky as of but of course, and we do also crypto specific development. You know, we have seen her and were not crash half a year ago. We now does the f t x, but generally i would say that its the macroeconomic situations about, you know, interest rate, high high inflation or the recession. Every developments that are driving down the price of, you know, not a crooked, but general of risk. They the big money course to be made in those risky after those risky efforts that you were talking about earlier, those risky investments which down in this case f t x. But others, one would imagine, will be taking similar risks. There is going to be a lot of pushback if there is an urgency, a sense of urgency to bring in regulation and so on. Isnt it . Yeah, i think it kind of this right. And also why i mean we have checks what was located in the bomb up. They all had an entity, but there was no regulatory standard. And what i would basically car one regarding like more regulation s be currently be in the you in the european union. Theyre the Marketing Group to as regulation, currently negotiated, which is also about, you know, exactly regulating these things. And i think this is what we need, not just in the you, in more countries. And also on a level that is basically, you know, kind of globally coordinated even though of course, from a political level, its definitely, you know, quite a challenge in terms of investment. So you think that investors are going to be a lot more cautious when it comes to the companies in which they invest. As you say, its not necessarily the crypt currency itself. That is the problem. It is the management that is the problem. Exactly. So we want management governance, both part of the Risk Management weve, even after the bankruptcy filing some money kind of disappeared. Which of which of course cannot be the case for such last not, not companies. And in this regard. Right. And i hope that investors not completely, you know, babies basically do not enter this base again because as i said they are on the mantel use cases about crypto that are really interesting that basically, you know, bring the crypto can basically be to the fact that they include people to the financial sector, Financial Inclusion and you know, its, its, it doesnt change any on the fundamentals. And this is, i think something one should consider. And my also investors shouldnt step away because hes been markets are the markets where, you know, basically basically stuff is being built. And i think this is also why people shouldnt shy away from trip the now. But of course on a regulatory side, there is definitely the needs to act when he go to get your thoughts on this. And janice ross, thank you so much for being with us and counting the cars. Thank you very much for having me. The f t x, bankruptcy caps a series of challenges faced by Tech Companies industry founders of the morning about a looming recession. For months theyve been telling their employees to expect tough times ahead. Tech giants have long been hailed as employment havens with high salaries. But now some are making the rare move of cutting thousands of jobs, while others are slowing hiring or stopping it altogether. Matter which owns facebook. Instagram on whats up is laying off more than 11000 employees from its world wide head count of 87000. Twitter has cut about half 8 stuff amazon plans to cut jobs to and the list of companies trimming the workforce is growing. Its not just in the u. S. Tech start ups in asia and africa have been cutting their stuff to met a chief executive Mark Zuckerberg blaming the companies, rapid expansion and said hes got it wrong. Invested millions of dollars in the so called met averse, pitching it as a Virtual Reality future in which people will work exercise and go to cancers. Tech founders say the layoffs are partly because they just hire too many people. All twitches new on him in a mosque says his freshly acquired company could face bankruptcy. While joining us from oxford is a very little theater. Hes a professor, the Oxford Internet institute is also also of the book cloud. Empires, how digital platforms are overtaking the state and how we can regain control. And we thank you very much indeed for being with us. Whats changing in the market thats forcing these lay offs, the Tech Companies . So one reason is obviously the overreach during the pandemic. So some extent, to some extent, what were seeing now is a correction amazon, for instance, a set that they simply hide to many people. Theyre expecting the good times to continue, and now the consumer demand is going down. And now theyre having to lay off. But another reason is the macroeconomic situation Rising Interest Rates and these are not unrelated to each other. Publicly listed companies are not able to raise money from the market at such favorable terms anymore. And startups that are be funded or finding it much harder to raise funds from b c. So in order to extend their runway and make sure that they make it through to the other side of the looming recession, theyre having to cut costs. How much of this is also done to misjudgment by on the part of the management . You said, of course, about that the, the over hiring during the pandemic. But we are used to hearing people like in moscow logs uk about make pronouncements about the state of the Tech Industry in the state of the tech in the world. Im almost getting it right most of the time, but this seems to be a significant misstep. Whats going on . Yes, so it is significant. This is the 1st time frame that met our facebook is laying off significant numbers of people in the history off the companies. So that israeli and sort of reckoning up as sorts and you can say that with met suddenly mr. Zocker berg, he bet the farm on the idea of metal verse. He needed to discover a new vision for his company. Facebook run into a lot of trouble around social media manipulation and so on. And so he bet the farm on the idea that in the future people will be interacting with b r goggles in math and birth. And that is proving to be a very costly and vision. And personally, im very skeptical about it as i think are many investors. And so partly broke the problems relate to his lets say, i dont want to say yet misjudgment, because the jury is out there got to this very risky bet. And then as for mister musket, twitter, he paid 44000000000 for a company that was not profitable. And he came out with at least one idea for increasing revenues, which was to start charging for verification. And it turned out rather predictably, some would say that in fact, that was the value of destroying proposition because it decreased trust in the platform and therefore decreased advertiser or appetite. So now hes left with trying to cut costs instead to bring revenues and costs seem to balance and hands massive lay offs of twitter. You mentioned the influence of investors there. And of course, that is key because with regard to be the rise of Interest Rates that you mentioned as well, of course, investors are going to try and find a safe haven for their cash as often as they possibly can. And the fact is, interest has raised Interest Rates that chase people into more secure investments that maybe in some way had an influence in whether or not theyre going to continue the investment in and check companies. Does that mean that we are seeing a temporary see change in levels of invest with Tech Companies or do you think this is pre staging something longer term . Well, suddenly, if the if and to the extent that the Interest Rates come down again, then you would expect to see reallocation and portfolios towards attack and other stocks. But on the topic of investment, i think its also relevant to note that s t x the trouble Crypto Exchange was a big investor in a lot of web 3, encrypt those startups in africa for instance. And those start out may now be finding themselves in trouble. A lot of crypto web 3 start ups also stored their funds on s p s. And now theyre unable to access those funds. And reportedly at least one african startup has had to start laying off people because of this. So the sort of cra