PG&E's New Financial and Environmental Reality

California has continued to fight their most devastating wildfires on record with blazes burning at both ends of the state. The death toll has risen to at least 66 people, and hundreds more remain missing. The widespread damage has overburdened the state's largest utility company, PG&E, with potential liability. On What'd You Miss This Week, Scarlet Fu, Joe Weisenthal, Romaine Bostick and Caroline Hyde spoke with Carolyn Kousky, Director for Policy Research and Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Risk Center about the impact on utilities. California has a unique legal structure of inverse condemnation, which is a "strict liability regime," Kousky explained. Companies are stuck footing the bill regardless of whether their power lines are found to be at fault. No final determination has been made about the cause of the fires, but Kousky estimated they could leave behind up to ten billion dollars' worth of their damage. That number would be on top of 2017's then record-setting year. "We're seeing no more fire season," Kousky said. "They’re happening year round." A new financing regime is needed to deal with the environmental reality, Kousky said.

ICOs were the buzzword of the moment-- raising 22 billion dollars this year alone. That number has dipped along with the broader cryptocurrency market that is nearly 80 percent off its peak. Brendan Blumer, the co-founder and CEO of Block.one, came on to discuss whether too much money was being poured into an over-hyped market. Blumer, who is known for the EOS Token , explained how they were able to capture the four billion dollars they raised and transfer it into fiat. Block.one has had to strike a balance in terms of transparency, Blumer said. To give their investors more insight into how the money was being used, Block.one "structured it very similarly to a proof of work network." But, creating too much transparency can prove to be a problem, Blumer said, and "can actually take away the competitive advantage."