Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Let's stick with the digital currency space and bringing Chris Marslik.
Speaker 2: He's the CEO of crypto dot com, which last week
Speaker 2: announced the partnership with Trump Media and a blank check
Speaker 2: vehicle to launch a new crypto treasury business. It's focus
Speaker 2: buying up crypto dot COM's own token, known as Chronos
Speaker 2: or Crow. I think, Chris, it's one of those stories
Speaker 2: where we start with the basics. Where did the idea
Speaker 2: come from to do this of a Kronos treasury company?
Speaker 2: Where did it originate?
Speaker 3: I think it's a little bit of a trend by
Speaker 3: now and pioneered by micro seller of micro Strategy, and
Speaker 3: I think every single blockchain from the top, say twenty
Speaker 3: will have a leading treasury company that will be focusing
Speaker 3: on driving demand for it and acquiring as much as
Speaker 3: physically possible. And we thought that with Trump Media to
Speaker 3: do so, it's just the perfect match.
Speaker 2: So there are a number of initiatives between Crypto dot
Speaker 2: com and Trump Media or the broader Trump family. Where
Speaker 2: did that relationship start, Who did you first meet and
Speaker 2: how long have you held those relationships?
Speaker 3: So I think it dates back a couple of years.
Speaker 3: And you know, we always look forward to working with
Speaker 3: people who are procrypto, who want to help drive this
Speaker 3: industry forward. And I think it has to be said
Speaker 3: that both the current administration and specifically Trum Media Technology
Speaker 3: Group has probably done it out in this space. We've
Speaker 3: helped them execute on their bid contrast strategy with a
Speaker 3: multi billion dollar a bit coin purchase. We help them
Speaker 3: consider coins, so we provide infrastructure, and this new play
Speaker 3: on cr is just an extension of the relationship.
Speaker 1: Extension of a relationship that broads out to ETFs, that
Speaker 1: brought out to payments, a subscription creation, but it also
Speaker 1: broads out the conversation that people are having about more
Speaker 1: broadly benefits to the Trump's broader family when it comes
Speaker 1: to crypto, Chris, when you're having those conversations with friends
Speaker 1: with family, how do you talk about whether or not
Speaker 1: there might be any conflicts of interest? Which I will
Speaker 1: reiterate the family and indeed spoke to you for the
Speaker 1: administration would say there are none.
Speaker 3: And you know you have to agree with their statement
Speaker 3: because everything is held in Briad trusts and this is
Speaker 3: a published company that operates independently and we are still
Speaker 3: a privately held company, but we love partnering with people
Speaker 3: who want to really take this industry forward. So I
Speaker 3: think people need to understand that the administration has a
Speaker 3: certain agenda which places cryptocurrency industry at the very center
Speaker 3: of it, with setting out a very ambitious role for
Speaker 3: America in this space, and anything we can do to help,
Speaker 3: we'll do, so we'll support it.
Speaker 1: What's interesting is you say you're still privately held, what
Speaker 1: are the plans of crypto dot com? More broadly, we're
Speaker 1: just hearing of IPOs of Gemini, and they're like, would
Speaker 1: you ever think of an ipo? Would you ever think
Speaker 1: about selling parts of the business?
Speaker 3: Right? I have to admit it's quite tempting to consider
Speaker 3: these options, given how richly the market value scypto companies
Speaker 3: these days. We certainly have the numbers to do so.
Speaker 3: We've done about one point five billion in revenue last year,
Speaker 3: about a billion in gross profit, reinvested about seven hundred
Speaker 3: million of it. So let's say a three on a
Speaker 3: million net profitability this year. I think it's going to
Speaker 3: be better, especially if we see the Federate cut and
Speaker 3: a strong Q four following. So we have the numbers
Speaker 3: and we've been approached by all the top names in
Speaker 3: them of the investment banks. We want to be a
Speaker 3: very well run company, so we are working on preparing everything,
Speaker 3: but no decisions have been made at this point. We
Speaker 3: think that we actually enjoy operating as a private company.
Speaker 3: It alls us to move really fast. We've got a solid,
Speaker 3: solid balance street, so we don't have to make any
Speaker 3: decisions in a short term.
Speaker 2: Some breaking news this morning that you're looking at starting
Speaker 2: sports prediction markets, particularly for the NFL. That's so interesting.
Speaker 2: There was market reaction from some of the established players
Speaker 2: that in that space. Right, explain how it's going to
Speaker 2: get It's going to work, but why.
Speaker 3: Look, we think that prediction markets are going to be
Speaker 3: huge and sports is a part of it, but it's
Speaker 3: not the whole thing. And if there is any company
Speaker 3: out there, a large business that wants to build out
Speaker 3: a prediction market operation, we are the perfect infrastructure partner.
Speaker 3: We are regulated by the CFTC. We've got battle tested
Speaker 3: trading technology, very robust, APIs all the best market makers.
Speaker 3: We want to be the liquidity center for prediction markets
Speaker 3: on shore in the US, so we'll play very aggressively
Speaker 3: in that space.
Speaker 1: And you're someone who's comfortable perhaps in markets that regulation
Speaker 1: is always trying to catch up with. Chris, it's interesting
Speaker 1: that the CFTC federal courts is still debating whether ultimately
Speaker 1: sports prediction markets counter is gambling. How do you think
Speaker 1: about the regulation process having given what you've lived through
Speaker 1: when it comes to crypto.
Speaker 3: I think it's news space and it's going to evolve,
Speaker 3: and the regulatory setup is going to have to evolve
Speaker 3: with it. We've gone through this journey of cryptocurrency, so
Speaker 3: we are used to being the role of being in
Speaker 3: the role of a trusted counselor to regulators and helping
Speaker 3: them understand how they can do their job effectively while
Speaker 3: allowing market participants to make use of these wonderful instruments.
Speaker 2: Just very quick, Chris, do you expect that this could
Speaker 2: be some sort of meaningful contribution to revenues this year?
Speaker 2: You kindly gave us your financials for last year. Just
Speaker 2: model it out for us.
Speaker 3: I think it's still it's not gonna be a massive
Speaker 3: contributor this year, but we're also very aggressive and pricing
Speaker 3: for our partners, like it's all about building liquidity right now.
Speaker 3: But if you look at what's going to be in
Speaker 3: like five years time. I think it's going to be
Speaker 3: a massive business line for US.
Speaker 1: Crypto dot com C Chris Maslak is great speaking with you.