The rapid downfall of crypto exchange FTX, distrust of big data and changes in China’s venture capital market were all key issues on the second day of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
(Bloomberg) — The rapid downfall of crypto exchange FTX, distrust of big data and changes in China’s venture capital market were all key issues on the second day of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
Geopolitics also featured in the day’s discussions, with speakers weighing in on China’s policies following Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power, how to invest sustainably in Asia and the threat of hacking of businesses and governments.
Cargill CEO Sees Lower Food Prices Coming (11:15 a.m. SGT)
Food prices will likely be lower next year, but global crop stockpiles, especially oilseeds, are very tight, Cargill CEO David MacLennan said. All it takes is one bad crop to press prices higher again, he added, saying food companies are doing all they can.
“We’ve done our job, and we’ve gotten food from where it’s produced to where it’s needed,” he said. “We’ve managed the volatility, we managed through supply chain disruptions.”
Climate change, geopolitics and supply chain disruptions are profound — they’re hard to predict and difficult to control, he said.
Singapore’s Teo, Mastercard Talk Data Protection (10:55 a.m. SGT)
Thoughtful regulation and more private sector engagement are among the moves needed to combat a rising distrust of data, Singapore’s communications minister Josephine Teo said. She said there is widespread recognition there’s a problem and there’s a need to help people rebuild their confidence in data.
Teo said if governments don’t know what they’re regulating, it will “end up doing more harm than good,” and piecemeal rules would never work.
On the same panel, Mastercard Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Miebach also said there’s no reason for the private sector not to step up in combating this problem. The question of “who’s going to attack us?” is one that keeps him up at night, he said.
Sarah Hanson-Young, a senator for South Australia, said that regulatory systems are years behind and big tech companies have taken advantage of this for far too long, with the government “playing massive catch-up.”
FTX is Crypto’s Lehman: bitFlyer Chief (10:28 a.m. SGT)
The meltdown of Sam Bankman-Fried’s digital-assets empire FTX is a “Lehman shock” to the industry, potentially causing more crypto firms to fail, said the chief executive officer and co-founder of major Japanese crypto exchange bitFlyer Inc.
“It’s a huge impact,” Yuzo Kano said in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the New Economy Forum, adding that the turmoil may push other firms into bankruptcy. “It may actually continue a little bit.”
Sequoia China Chief on Venture Capital (9:50 a.m. SGT)
Neil Shen, founder and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, said there are seismic changes going on in the venture capital market. He pointed out that the industry had a run of easy years in which startup valuations would rise every six to nine months.
“The market has changed completely,” said Shen, whose firm is considered one of the elite players in the Chinese market. “Now you have to roll up your sleeves.”
He made the case that consultants and bankers have been active in the venture business in recent years, but a core skill is operational experience. If you’ve started a company, then you can make substantial contributions and help entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground. That kind of hard work is essential in the current market.
“That’s the only way venture capital can create value and create returns,” Shen said at NEF.
Geopolitics in Focus (9:05 a.m. SGT)
Great-power politics dominated the first session on day two, with panelists including James Crabtree of the International Institute for Strategic Studies saying it has been a “bad week” for Putin, and that US-China tensions over Taiwan aren’t going away.
Despite a positive meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden this week in Bali, Crabtree said “I don’t think we’ll have to wait very long before we have the next crisis over Taiwan.” The tensions that followed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August “will become more common.”
Nisid Hajari, a Tokyo-based foreign affairs specialist on Bloomberg’s editorial board, said a NATO-style military bloc probably isn’t needed to deter China, and would struggle for support regardless.
Tradeshift Warns on Supply Lines (8:15 a.m. SGT)
Christian Lanng, the chief executive officer of supply chain specialist Tradeshift, said it would take decades for the west to recreate China manufacturing, if there was even any appetite for doing so. Pivoting supply chains takes five to 10 years and cannot be hurried.
Elevated interest rates are imposing an invisible financial strain on supply systems, which are generally quite fragile and weren’t prepared for global shocks like we’ve seen over the past year, he said on the sidelines of the NEF. Any new trade sanctions on Russia are unlikely to have a material effect, Lanng said during an interview broadcast on Bloomberg Radio.
The New Economy Forum is being organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg LP, parent company of Bloomberg News.
–With assistance from Jane Zhang, Peter Elstrom, Takashi Nakamichi, Joyce Koh, Adrian Kennedy, Bill Faries, Tom Redmond, Vlad Savov, Juliette Saly and Michelle Jamrisko.
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