CNBC.com’s Pippa Stevens brings you the day’s top business news headlines. On today’s show, CNBC.com’s MacKenzie Sigalos explains El Salvador’s rollout of bitcoin acceptance nationwide, and why some citizens are protesting the move. Plus, opening statements are set to begin in the trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes.
Bitcoin tumbles nearly 10% as El Salvador adopts it as legal tender
The price of bitcoin fell Tuesday after breaking through $52,000 late Monday, reaching its highest level since May.
The price action comes on the day El Salvador is set to adopt the largest cryptocurrency by market cap as legal tender, becoming the first country to do so. Bitcoin dropped as much as 16% on Tuesday morning. It was last down about 9.5% and trading at $46,892.04, according to Coin Metrics. Ether fell 12% to $3,441.21.
Crypto adjacent stocks MicroStrategy and Coinbase also lost about 9% and 4%, respectively. Coinbase users were experiencing delayed or canceled transactions at “elevated rates” in the morning, the company said in an update on Twitter, but those issues were resolved by the afternoon. Major crypto exchanges Kraken and Gemini were also investigating delays and performance issues.
Major automakers fear the global chip shortage could persist for some time
Car manufacturers including Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler are still struggling to deal with the impact of the global chip shortage, with executives from each of the companies warning a lack of silicon is likely to remain a problem.
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius and Ford Europe chairman of the management board Gunnar Herrmann told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach at the Munich Motor Show on Monday that it’s hard to tell when the complex issue will be resolved.
Germany’s Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, has lost market share in China as a result of the chip shortage, Diess said.
“We are relatively weak because of semiconductor shortages,” he said. “We are hit more in China than the rest of the world. That’s why we are losing market share.”
Diess said his colleagues in China have been pushing for more semiconductors, describing the lack of chips as a “really big concern.”
Elizabeth Holmes is living on the grounds of a $135 million Silicon Valley estate during her trial
On the same day that former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes was granted a delay in her criminal fraud trial due to a pregnancy, her partner was issued a traffic citation.
William “Billy” Evans received a citation on March 17 for “failure to display license plate,” according to San Mateo County, California, court records.
The citation revealed a new address for the couple: a home on the ultra-lush grounds of Green Gables, one of America’s most expensive estates.
CNBC has independently confirmed that Holmes and Evans are currently staying in one of the homes that dot the 74-acre property. The storied estate, which is currently listed for sale for $135 million, is nestled in Woodside, one of the wealthiest towns in Silicon Valley. Opening statements in her trial begin this week.
The website for Green Gables boasts “an architectural masterpiece in nature’s finest setting.”
