What to watch on the final day at Davos

Jack Ma thinks Western countries need to take their tech skepticism down a notch.

“Today the world is full of suspicion and full of worries,” he said at the World Economic Forum.

The founder of Alibaba (BABA) singled out Europe, saying the continent is preoccupied with regulation and issues including privacy and security. He also said there's not enough understanding of the technology in question.

“To me, to us, it’s opportunity. I don’t believe [out of] over 200 countries, everybody’s puzzled [and] every country’s worried," he added.

Last year, the European Union implemented tough privacy rules that give consumers more control over their data.

The billionaire explained that Alibaba doesn’t debut new technologies in the United States or Europe because of the prevailing distrust.

“We go to the countries who believe in [us] first,” he said. “We go to Africa.”

Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said that when Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, he thought the US president would ultimately drop his fiery campaign rhetoric and partner with China.

“[I believed] he sincerely wanted to create a lot of high-value jobs in the United States,” Fang said. “To do so, he has to export. And where [do] the US exports go? Which country can take up all these exports? It’s China.”

Now, Washington and Beijing are locked in a trade war, and the Trump administration has labeled China a strategic “competitor.”

Fang told attendees at the World Economic Forum that the United States should rethink the designation:

For all the hand-wringing about China, the global order is changing in part because of problems in Western democracies, Fang argued.

“In the Western countries, you’re experiencing tremendous domestic difficulties — and democracy ... is not working very well,” he said, to laughter from the audience. “You need to realize that. You need political reforms in your countries.”

Climate is a major theme at this year's World Economic Forum. And for the second day running, a prominent conservationist has stepped into the limelight.

The star on Wednesday was primatologist Jane Goodall, who brought a toy stuffed chimpanzee to her discussion with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

Goodall, who has spent decades studying chimps in Tanzania, highlighted the similarities between humans and their closest relatives from the animal world.

“The close bonds between mothers and family members, the competition between males for top rank, a lot of swaggering and posturing, reminding me of some politicians today,” she said.

Goodall also had a message about how humans differ from the animals she has devoted her life to researching.

The big climate star on Day 1 in Davos was David Attenborough, who was interviewed by Britain's Prince William.

Bitcoin's price during Davos 2018: $10,000.

Bitcoin's price during Davos 2019: $3,560.

The digital currency was a major focus of last year's World Economic Forum. Its collapsing value is reflected in a much lower profile this time around.

The “CRYPTO” and “BLOCKCHAIN” signs that littered the city's promenade last year have all but disappeared, and bitcoin has virtually vanished from the official agenda. There was a line to get into last year's big panel debate on cryptocurrencies; there were plenty of empty seats on Wednesday.

But the discussion was perhaps more mature.

Elizabeth Rossiello, the founder of digital payments platform BitPesa, explained how the industry was evolving. She pointed to her company, which operates across Africa, as an example.

BitPesa allows people to transfer funds by using bitcoin to move money across borders. “We don’t want to replace the local African currencies … we want to make it easier to have African currency pairs,” she said.

Rossiello argued that digital currencies have shaken off their reputation as only being useful for hiring an "assassin" on the "dark web."

This being Davos, there was also a skeptic on the panel. Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff, who has in the past likened bitcoin to a lottery ticket, said that digital currencies remain vulnerable to manipulation.

“If someone wants to do mischief, there seem to be ways to do it. And then who do you call? Oh, we decentralized it," he said.

The discussion ended with a vote on what’s next for cryptocurrencies. Asked whether “the whole thing is totally overhyped and quite dangerous,” only one member of the audience raised a hand.

That person? Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO of the global international payments system Swift.

There is a distinct hierarchy at Davos. Don't have the right badge? Sorry, you can't attend this event or that speech. Not a big fish? You're definitely not getting invitations to the best parties.

The divide is also apparent when it comes to traveling to Davos: The basic option is to take a bus or train (changing twice) from Zurich up into the mountains. Some billionaires and world leaders jet into Zurich and then take a helicopter to Davos.

Not so Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Looks like he took the train to the World Economic Forum, just like the rest of us non-billionaires.

Theresa May canceled her trip to Davos after lawmakers derailed her Brexit plan. EU officials are here, and say they need her to spell out how she wants to proceed now.

May is hoping that Europe will make concessions that would help get her Brexit plan through parliament. EU officials say the ball is in Britain's court.

"It's not up to us," European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said when asked about how to break the Brexit logjam. "Come to us with options and then we can discus."

Moscovici was speaking to CNN's Julia Chatterley for an interview that will be broadcast at 9:00 am ET on CNNi. He said the European Union's door was open, but "clarification" was needed on what kind of exit deal Britain wants.

Sony didn't wait for a resolution on Brexit. The Japanese company said it would register its European business in Amsterdam, switching its legal base from London.

Sony blamed uncertainty surrounding Britain's plans to leave the European Union. It set the change effective March 29, the day Britain is set to exit the European Union.

Our colleague Daniel Shane, from Hong Kong, has the story:

Bono wants to prove that investments designed to benefit society or the environment are actually delivering on that promise.

The U2 frontman announced during Davos that he's creating a new organization with US private equity firm TPG that will help investors "effectively understand the impact of their decisions."

The firm, Y Analytics, will be based in Washington, D.C. It could help solve a problem that has dogged impact investments: measuring the good they do in addition to their financial return.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum, Bono said that young people are changing business and investing.

Davos will be in full swing on Wednesday, with a packed program of discussion panels and another round of speeches by world leaders.