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00:00:00MUSIC
00:00:02Now on BBC News. The latest business
00:00:07business news from across the globe.
00:00:09globe. Business Today. Exodus fears
00:00:21fears investors pull billions of of dollars out of Binance as the
00:00:24the hacked crypto exchange reopens
00:00:26reopens for withdrawals. Oil prices
00:00:29prices dip despite more attacks on on tankers in the Gulf as talks raised
00:00:32raised the prospect of a diplomatic
00:00:35diplomatic solution to the war. The
00:00:37The AI bears take a breather. Tech Tech shares stabilise after Friday's
00:00:41Friday's trillion dollar sell off
00:00:44off and stressed out campaigners campaigners warn of the toxic effects
00:00:48effects of workplace stress. We'll We'll get some coping tips from a
00:00:52a leading expert. Hello. Welcome
00:00:54Welcome along. This is Business Today. Today. I'm Ben Thompson. We're going
00:00:57going to start with fears of a bank
00:01:01bank run on the cryptocurrency exchange exchange Binance after it suffered
00:01:03suffered the biggest ever crypto crypto heist last week. Binance reopened
00:01:07reopened for withdrawals for a few few hours on Sunday, and it's admitted
00:01:10admitted that billions of dollars dollars have been taken out by customers.
00:01:13customers. But the scale of that that is still becoming clear. So So let's run you through the numbers.
00:01:17numbers. And Binance says it suffered
00:01:19suffered a net outflow of $3.6 billion
00:01:22billion that happened on Sunday. Sunday. But according to the Financial
00:01:26Financial Times, that figure is already already higher $5 billion based on
00:01:29on crypto analytics firm DefiLlama
00:01:32DefiLlama DefiLlama. Either way, way, it is still a fraction of the
00:01:35the total funds held by Binance,
00:01:37Binance, which it claims is $171
00:01:40$171 billion. Binance has, of course, course, pledged to cover any investor
00:01:44investor losses, but just how much much long-term damage has been done
00:01:47done to Binance and cryptocurrency
00:01:49cryptocurrency in general by last last week's security breach. Let's
00:01:52Let's talk now to Katharine Wooller, Wooller, who's a banking and financial
00:01:55financial services strategist for for the IT company Softcat. Good
00:01:58Good to have you here. And let me me start with that. How damaging
00:02:02damaging is this Reputationally to to the industry do you think? Yeah,
00:02:04Yeah, sure. Look, it's a big problem. problem. Binance is the world's largest
00:02:08largest crypto exchange. So a place place where private individuals or
00:02:13or businesses or institutions can can buy and sell crypto and a range
00:02:15range of other activities such as as sending crypto and earning interest
00:02:18interest by market share. Binance Binance is the largest organisation
00:02:21organisation in the world of its its type by a significant margin.
00:02:24margin. That's in terms of the assets assets it's holding and also those
00:02:27those daily traded volumes. And of of course it is the largest hack
00:02:30hack in history. It's roughly four four times the size of the largest
00:02:34largest previous hack, which was was an exchange called Bybit in February
00:02:37February last year. So, you know, know, Reputationally it is big, but
00:02:41but in terms of sort of relative relative size, what was stolen in
00:02:44in the hack is a relatively small
00:02:46small proportion of what a huge asset
00:02:48asset class for over 2 trillion USD. USD. That's all the crypto in the
00:02:52the world together. So it's if you you phrase it another way, it's about
00:02:55about £1 worth of crypto for every
00:02:59every £400 worth in the world. So So bad news sort of reputationally
00:03:02reputationally bad news if you hold
00:03:04hold crypto. There was a $100 billion
00:03:07billion sell off as a result. But
00:03:10But equally, you know, the crypto
00:03:12crypto industry as a whole has a
00:03:15a number of other historical occasions occasions where bad news has come
00:03:17come out, whether it was the FTX FTX exchange collapsing or sort of
00:03:21of bad news related to regulation, regulation, and often that bad news
00:03:24news can be shrugged off. And some
00:03:26some of what's been lost in terms terms of value, I'd expect to see
00:03:30see come back. What it has done is
00:03:33is encourage other platforms to improve
00:03:36improve its security and make changes
00:03:38changes to its system to make sure
00:03:40sure that they are secure, that in
00:03:43in itself is very beneficial. I wonder, wonder, though, what the industry
00:03:46industry could be doing to reassure reassure investors that their savings,
00:03:49savings, their investments are safe?
00:03:51safe? Yeah. Of course. So look, I
00:03:55I think from a cyber point of view, view, it's really interesting. So
00:03:58So the entry point for TraderTraitor TraderTraitor who are being credited
00:04:01credited with the hack is actually actually relatively simple. It's
00:04:04It's what's called an end point compromise.
00:04:06compromise. So that's when a hacker
00:04:10hacker manages to get unauthorised unauthorised access to either an an individual device or a computer.
00:04:14computer. Typically within Binance Binance network. So that raises lots
00:04:17lots of interesting questions around around custody. So that's how exchanges
00:04:20exchanges or custody providers look look after their customers. Crypto
00:04:23Crypto and specifically what's called called virtual keys. So that is the
00:04:26the way that you essentially access access your crypto. It's a piece
00:04:29piece of code which allows you access.
00:04:32access. So a lot of exchanges would would keep their crypto offline in in what's called cold storage. That
00:04:36That means it's not connected to to the internet. So inherently harder
00:04:39harder to hack. And of course, there's there's lots of elements of traditional traditional financial infrastructure
00:04:43infrastructure that apply here. So So if you think about things like
00:04:46like insurance, you can insure against against cyber attacks when of course
00:04:48course appropriate risks have been been managed. Regulation depending
00:04:51depending on where the exchange is is located, the specific regulations
00:04:54regulations called Dora, the Digital Digital Operational Resilience Act, Act, which has applied since January
00:04:58January last year and that is designed designed to ensure financial infrastructure
00:05:01infrastructure can withstand and and respond to and recover from those
00:05:05those failures, often from cyber cyber attacks. Catherine, good to to talk to you. Thanks for explaining
00:05:08explaining all that for us. Thank Thank you. Katharine Wooller there there at Softcat thanks. The price
00:05:12price of oil has dipped on hopes
00:05:14hopes of a diplomatic solution to
00:05:16to ending the US-Iran war, but oil oil prices do remain at their highest
00:05:20highest level in months. Iranian Iranian negotiators wrapped up three
00:05:23three days of talks in Qatar on Sunday. Sunday. Well, in the last few hours,
00:05:27hours, Iran's foreign ministry said said it's considering a two day plan
00:05:30plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,
00:05:32Hormuz, but only if the US agrees agrees to conditions including sanctions
00:05:35sanctions relief. Meanwhile, shipping shipping in the Gulf is still under
00:05:38under threat. These images were shown shown on Iranian state television
00:05:42television claiming to be two oil oil tankers that exploded after striking
00:05:45striking mines whilst travelling travelling through what they say
00:05:48say was an unauthorised route in in the strait. Now we can't verify,
00:05:51verify, though, when those pictures pictures were taken. Oil prices are
00:05:54are at their highest in months. The The international benchmark Brent
00:05:57Brent crude is down 4% this morning.
00:06:01morning. It's about $108 a barrel. barrel. While Middle East energy energy analyst Kate Dourian has been
00:06:04been telling us about the current current status of the conflict. The
00:06:08The Israeli elections were inconclusive.
00:06:10inconclusive. So Mr Netanyahu is
00:06:12is is going to remain as caretaker. caretaker. So and we know what his
00:06:16his position is. He wants you know,
00:06:18know, he wants Iran. He wants more
00:06:22more attacks against Iran. He wants wants regime change. But at the same
00:06:25same time, we're seeing some diplomatic diplomatic moves. Qatar obviously
00:06:29obviously is one of those Gulf countries countries that was really, really
00:06:32really hit hard by the closure of of the Strait of Hormuz. And, you
00:06:35you know, because they don't have
00:06:37have the option to move their tankers
00:06:40tankers and export LNG, which is is why we've seen such very, very
00:06:43very high prices for gas in Europe
00:06:46Europe in recent weeks. They've come
00:06:48come off a little bit, but it's,
00:06:51it's, you know, the market is also also bracing for the possibility
00:06:55possibility that after the midterm midterm elections in the US, there there may be renewed attacks against
00:06:59against Iran. Iran has said that
00:07:00that there would be no geographic geographic limits to its response.
00:07:04response. So, you know, we're still
00:07:05still in a state of no war, no peace,
00:07:09peace, diplomatic efforts ongoing. ongoing. But the US doesn't seem
00:07:11seem to be involved. It's between between Qatar and Iran. So we just
00:07:15just have to wait and see. But prices
00:07:17prices have come off on, on expectations expectations that there may be a
00:07:20a diplomatic solution. Kate Dourian Dourian there. Now let's turn to
00:07:24to Wall Street because there could could be a bit of a calmer start
00:07:27start to November, with US shares shares set to open higher after a
00:07:29a brutal sell off at the end of last last week. Well, fears over the valuation
00:07:33valuation of tech shares and the the vast amount that's been bet on
00:07:36on AI saw around $2.5 trillion wiped
00:07:39wiped off the tech dominated Nasdaq
00:07:42Nasdaq 100 index last month. But But the big question Will the calm
00:07:46calm last. Let's talk to Janet Mui, Mui, who's head of market analyst
00:07:48analyst at RBC Brewin Dolphin in in London. Janet, good to see you.
00:07:51you. And let's ask that question
00:07:53question will the calm last do you
00:07:55you think? Hi. Hi. Thanks for having
00:07:58having me. I'm doubtful that the the car will last because I think
00:08:02think in the near term there are are still quite a lot of risk event.
00:08:05event. For example, tomorrow's midterm
00:08:07midterm election and also the ongoing ongoing geopolitics, the fluctuation
00:08:11fluctuation in oil prices and the the uncertainty in US interest rate
00:08:14rate direction. Of course, the AI AI trade is is one of the biggest
00:08:18biggest risk out there because in in the latest earnings season, there
00:08:22there are evidence that some companies companies are starting to miss their
00:08:25their earnings estimate. And there's there's evidence that they're still
00:08:28still pouring in hundreds of billions billions of dollars into this AI
00:08:32AI capital spending and their free
00:08:34free cash flow has been eroding. eroding. So this concern is unlikely
00:08:38unlikely to go away because we're we're talking about AI investment
00:08:41investment that, you know, multiple multiple years in the horizon and and the returns are still uncertain.
00:08:45uncertain. And Janet, you say some some are missing, some are not though.
00:08:49though. And there are real winners winners and losers from this AI boom.
00:08:51boom. Just talk us through
00:08:57that. Yeah, sure. So basically, I I think the expectation first of of all for earnings is still too
00:09:01too high. So there are companies
00:09:03companies that are beating earnings
00:09:06earnings estimate because their fundamental fundamental business are very strong.
00:09:10strong. However the size of the earnings
00:09:13earnings beat has been smaller compared
00:09:14compared to last quarter for example.
00:09:17example. And because of the size size of this AI build out, I think
00:09:20think investors are very concerned concerned that, you know, those large
00:09:23large tech companies that historically
00:09:25historically have very huge cash cash flow, they're actually using
00:09:28using all of that to build AI. And And so if you're an investor, you
00:09:31you care about profits, you care care about cash flow, you care about
00:09:33about debt. And there's also evidence
00:09:35evidence that even super profitable profitable companies are having to
00:09:39to borrow huge sums of money to fund fund this AI. And obviously investors
00:09:43investors are concerned about that. that. Yeah. And one of the big issues
00:09:46issues has been as you touch on the the vast amounts of money that have
00:09:49have been pumped in and waiting for for the payday, waiting for the return return and for some companies that's
00:09:53that's coming sooner than others. others. And, you know, is that purely purely what investors are focused
00:09:57focused on right now, a return on
00:10:00on that investment? Yeah. I mean
00:10:03mean for cloud companies, the likes
00:10:05likes of alphabet Amazon, Microsoft
00:10:10Microsoft and meta, their cloud computing computing business is profitable
00:10:14profitable because the demand for for AI computing is going through
00:10:17through the roof. On that front is
00:10:19is is pretty clear for some companies,
00:10:22companies, the AI build out for smaller
00:10:24smaller size companies, midsize companies,
00:10:28companies, they're having cash flow flow issues. They have to borrow borrow a lot. And fundamentally,
00:10:32fundamentally, they're not that cash cash rich. We talk about the mid-sized
00:10:34mid-sized cloud computing companies companies and those companies are
00:10:38are having to actually issue debt debt at double digit percentage in
00:10:42in the debt market. So I think that's that's the problem. And if you talk
00:10:44talk about software companies, obviously
00:10:48obviously AI could be very beneficial beneficial to companies with a good
00:10:51good ecosystem, but there are many many companies in the software sector
00:10:54sector that are losing that competitive competitive edge due to AI. So in
00:10:58in short, there's a lot of uncertainty. uncertainty. But you're right, there there will be winners and losers.
00:11:02losers. Jana, always good to talk talk to you. Thanks so much Janet
00:11:04Janet Mui that RBC Brewin Dolphin. Dolphin. Thank you. Now if you're
00:11:07you're back at work this Monday, Monday, how are you feeling? How
00:11:10How are your stress levels? Well, Well, amid geopolitical turmoil,
00:11:13turmoil, fast changing technology technology and the constant threat threat of restructuring, the world
00:11:17world of work is a pretty stressful stressful place right now. Campaigners
00:11:19Campaigners are trying to raise awareness awareness about it and the impact
00:11:23impact it can have if left unaddressed, unaddressed, unaddressed. We've been
00:11:27been speaking to a human performance performance expert who's trained trained people working in some of
00:11:30of the most high pressure environments environments from the US Air Force
00:11:33Force to the sales floors at Goldman Goldman Sachs. He took us through
00:11:36through some of the advice that he
00:11:37he gives. Stress in and of itself
00:11:40itself actually is is not the issue.
00:11:41issue. And the avoidance of stress stress certainly isn't the answer.
00:11:45answer. But stress in the absence absence of recovery does become problematic.
00:11:49problematic. So the main message message is we need the stress that
00:11:52that actually creates the opportunity opportunity to optimise performance. performance. The opportunity for
00:11:56for us to grow as humans. But we
00:11:58we also have to pay attention to
00:12:01to where the growth happens and the the growth happens in the recovery
00:12:04recovery phase when we talk about about these stressors. So that's
00:12:08that's an important word. The stressor stressor is the thing that's delivering
00:12:11delivering the stress to the individual. individual. We often talk about them
00:12:14them in very big kind of macro descriptions descriptions like what's happening
00:12:18happening in the Middle East, what's what's happening in my company, the
00:12:21the brain fundamentally doesn't like like that because it feels like it
00:12:25it has no control. We're just reacting reacting to whatever this thing is
00:12:28is going to do to us. So so for example, example, what we need to do in those
00:12:32those situations is start to pay
00:12:33pay attention to what we can control.
00:12:36control. And that shifts the focus focus from external to internal.
00:12:39internal. Now I'm going to decide
00:12:41decide how I interact with this situation, situation, however big, however complex,
00:12:44complex, I'm going to do it on my
00:12:47my terms and that calms the psychology psychology down. And that then in
00:12:51in turn calms off physiology down, down, which is very important in
00:12:54in our ability to sustain our performance performance without getting exhausted,
00:12:58exhausted, overwhelmed or burning burning out. That is your business business this hour. We'll see you
00:13:01you very soon. Bye-bye. MUSIC
00:14:20gains. Follow our coverage right
00:14:21right here on BBC News. MUSIC
00:14:42Nearly two years since Donald Trump returned to office, where does
00:14:45does America stand? Oil disruptions
00:14:48disruptions caused by the war in in Iran have driven up the price
00:14:51price of diesel. Will voters strengthen strengthen his hand or change the
00:14:55the balance of power? So I'm asking asking you to pretend that I'm on
00:14:59on the ballot. Our team explore what's what's shaping the vote and what
00:15:01what it means for America and the the rest of the world. You're live
00:15:05live with BBC News. The US midterm
00:15:08midterm elections 2026 on BBC News.
00:15:13News. Hello. Welcome back. I'm Mark Mark Lowen. Let's return now to our
00:15:16our top story this hour. Both Ukraine Ukraine and Russia say their emergency
00:15:20emergency alert apps have been hit hit by cyber attacks. Ukraine warned
00:15:24warned late on Sunday that its air air alert app appeared to have been
00:15:28been compromised after citizens received received false notifications. Later,
00:15:31Later, Moscow said that an app belonging
00:15:33belonging to its emergencies ministry ministry had been targeted. A little
00:15:36little earlier we heard from the the Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko.
00:15:39Merezhko. He is the chair of the the foreign Affairs Committee in
00:15:42in the Ukrainian parliament and says says his government hasn't been able
00:15:45able to fully confirm who was behind
00:15:47behind the cyber attack. But it has has suspicions. We don't know for
00:15:51for sure who to blame, but seemingly
00:15:54seemingly it was Russia and attempt attempt to cause panic in Ukraine.
00:15:58Ukraine. But it definitely