Welcome back Squawk box checking the price of Bitcoin. Right now we're at about $107,000. Joining us right now to discuss the state of crypto security and so much more. In an exclusive interview the CEO of Ledger Pascal Gauthier, the company providing crypto wallet services and devices. And he's wearing a hat for a reason. This morning on the air, just announcing a big new sponsorship deal with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs. Nice to see you, sir. Last time I saw you was at the Olympics. So you're doubling down in sports land.
We doubling down for sure. I mean, this is our first, actually. And this is the biggest as the French tech company or the French company, I think nobody has ever sponsored a team, a professional team in the US. I think it's very rare for a European company. But we do this because 30% of our business is in the US. You know, this is the most important market for us. This is where we want to push for sort of education sales, not just in the consumer but also on the enterprise side. But so it's important for us and the Spurs is a great team.
I actually want to talk about crypto, but I'm just curious about one thing about sponsorships, because we have a lot of CEOs who watch this broadcast who are always thinking about where to spend their money. How did you decide San Antonio, of all places?
Well, first values. We met with the CEO and his team, and they pitched us their values. You know, the values of the Spurs, you know, keep your head down, be humble, work hard. You know, we shared exactly the same values. And so as soon as we're aligned on values then you try to look for other things. You know, again the US market is very important for us. So we need air coverage here like we need to do more in terms of top of the funnel advertising. And the Spurs have like a great presence in the US, great international presence. There are just so many boxes that the Spurs would tick. And of course there's a great bridge with France. Tony Parker way back when. Now, Victor Wemby, you cannot make a better story. Even the logo, black and white, you know it fits, it matches the jersey.
Okay, I want to talk more broadly about crypto land right now. But given your international perspective as somebody who lives in Europe, the regulations in the US have always been tough when it comes to crypto. Frankly, I think tougher than some other places. Europe is now its own complicated scenario. But given President Trump now being in office and the genius act and other things getting put in place, what is the perspective from outside the country about what we're doing as it relates to crypto?
So look, my view is my view. You know, I think regulation didn't exist in the US. And I think it's a feature, not a bug. You know, to change the law in the US it's actually very difficult. And when you regulate you have to think about two things. You have to protect your citizens and you also have to protect your business. And I think the US in that regard, and this new administration is thinking about the two when I think Europe has regulated too fast protecting potentially the citizens but killing the business. And so.
It's so interesting because here in the US, you know, if you talk to the folks at Coinbase or some of the other crypto folks, they really wanted to have regulation here.
You know, I think some regulation clarity, especially when you're being sued by the SEC, is what you want. And this is what happened with the previous administration. So that's clear. And also when you're a big business you know you root for regulation because this is the hurdle that you put in place. So smaller companies and innovation cannot follow. But I'm an advocate for low regulation and making sure that innovation continues and making sure that big companies are challenged by, you know, small startups.
In terms of security. And security, specifically for crypto. More people are buying ETFs and doing other buying of Bitcoin rather than through other devices, than actually buying the coins themselves. Does that pose a longer term challenge to your business?
Look, I don't think so. First of all, the speculative aspect of crypto is one thing, but it's not everything. You know, typically not everybody invests in the stock market and not everybody will invest in crypto. Now, will everybody have digital private property? The answer is yes. Whether you're going to hold a bitcoin, whether you're going to hold your identity, where you're going to hold any kind of token, since everything is becoming tokenized, you will need something, a wallet, you need a ledger to put that value on and to put that private property on. So I think the future is bright and everything is being built on top of public blockchain right now. So this era of application, built on public blockchain, where you need your private keys to interact, you know, think DeFi, this is coming. So no, I think actually the future is for us.
But do you want to have the keys to all of your stuff? And the reason I ask is people are getting kidnapped, by the way, including people who have real crypto, including your co-founder was kidnapped.
Yeah. Well, you know, people are getting robbed, and you still have a home. You still have a car. So, you know, the fact that you have private property and people are trying to steal it from you doesn't mean that you shouldn't have private property. Now, the question is, how do you protect your home? How do you protect your car? And how do you protect your value? You know, we're here to give you tools that are easy to use, that have backups. You know, we announced Ledger Recovery Key yesterday and you need to think about your security the same way that you think about your home security. You don't leave your door open. You have an alarm. Maybe you have a dog. All these kind of things are happening in the real world.
