Autor Cointelegraph By Turner Wright

Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44B — crypto industry reacts

Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44B — crypto industry reacts

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 25, 2022 |

In the hours and days before Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s purchase of social media giant Twitter, discussions on free speech were common among many online users both in and out of the crypto industry.Twitter announced on Monday that it will become a privately held company following its board of directors accepting a bid from Musk to purchase the firm’s stock for $54.20 per share in cash — roughly $44 billion. Though the transaction is expected to close in 2022, it is still subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders as well as certain regulators.In one of his last tweets prior to news of the purchase becoming public, Musk said, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means.” Twitter quoted the Tesla CEO saying “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square.”Many, however, seemed to view the multi-billion dollar purchase as potentially having the opposite result. Angelo Carusone, president of nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters for America, expressed concerns prior to the announcement that Twitter agreeing to the sale “would be a victory for disinformation and the people who peddle it,” suggesting that Musk might unilaterally decide to allow those banned from the platform for inciting violence back on. .@GoAngelo: “A sale to #ElonMusk without any conditions will pollute the entire information ecosystem by opening the floodgate of hate and lies. #Twitter’s board needs to take this into account now before the deal is done.” https://t.co/WBoEr1p9Lb— Francisco Taveira (@jftaveira1993) April 25, 2022Jackson Palmer, the co-creator of the meme-based token Dogecoin (DOGE), which Musk has often pushed on the social media platform, called the acquisition a “hostile takeover” antithetical to the idea of freedom. Bitcoin bull Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano congratulated the new Twitter owner, while crypto lending firm BlockFi seemed to take more of a comical stance, posting a mashup photo of the Dogecoin dog and Twitter’s logo. MicroStrategy founder and CEO Michael Saylor did not comment directly on the acquisition, instead replying to Musk with the text of the first amendment of the United States Constitution in a tweet, suggesting he supports the move. House of Representatives member Jody Hice, who has supported false claims of fraud in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, lauded the transaction as a win for the first amendment as well. Elon Musk just bought Twitter!WELCOME BACK FIRST AMENDMENT!— Rep. Jody Hice (@CongressmanHice) April 25, 2022

It’s unclear what first amendment proponents may have meant by their support of Musk’s purchase of Twitter, as the constitutional amendment does not limit private employers in the United States, but rather prevents Congress from passing laws prohibiting certain types of speech. U.S. courts have previously ruled that freedom of expression does not extend to inciting “imminent lawless action.” Similarly, Twitter’s rules state the platform does not allow users to “threaten violence against an individual or a group of people” or incite others to engage in targeted harassment. “The first amendment’s free speech protections don’t apply to private companies” was never meant to be a challenge and yet here we are— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) April 25, 2022

Musk, with more than 83 million followers — far more than former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at 6.3 million — may influence behavior on the platform and social media as a whole as a result of the purchase. The Tesla CEO said on April 14 that one of his top priorities for Twitter would be to eliminate “spam and scam bots and the bot armies,” including those connected to crypto scams. Related: Bitcoin spoofs $39.5K breakout at Wall St open as Elon Musk Twitter takeover nearsAt the time of publication, shares of Twitter are priced at $51.70, having risen more than 32% in the last 30 days.

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Meta will open physical metaverse-themed store in San Francisco Bay Area

Meta will open physical metaverse-themed store in San Francisco Bay Area

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 25, 2022 |

Social media giant Facebook’s parent company, Meta, will be opening a retail store in the San Francisco Peninsula offering hardware for the virtual reality space.In a Monday announcement, Meta said it would be opening a retail store in Burlingame, California on May 9 aimed at providing interactive demos for the company’s hardware products, including virtual reality headsets, video communications displays and smart glasses. The store, which will be located on the Meta campus — its headquarters is in Menlo Park — will feature a wall-to-wall curved LED screen that displays what users see using Meta headsets.“The Meta Store is going to help people make that connection to how our products can be the gateway to the Metaverse in the future,” said Martin Gilliard, the store head. “We’re not selling the Metaverse in our store, but hopefully people will come in and walk out knowing a little bit more about how our products will help connect them to it.”Meta retail store. Source: MetaFacebook rebranded to Meta in October 2021, saying at the time that its focus was expanding beyond social media and later announcing its Metaverse vision for connecting online social experiences and the physical world. Though tech giants including Apple have brick and mortar stores across the world, Facebook’s roughly 2.9 billion users have not had the opportunity to enter a company retail store since the company was founded in 2004. Related: Basic and weird: What the Metaverse is like right nowIn the Metaverse, however, many firms are scooping up virtual properties, with electronics giant Samsung launching a metaverse store in the blockchain-powered world Decentraland in January. Reports have also suggested that major retailers like Walmart may also be preparing to go Meta.

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ECB needs 'globally coordinated regulatory action' on crypto, says official

ECB needs 'globally coordinated regulatory action' on crypto, says official

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 25, 2022 |

European Central Bank executive board member Fabio Panetta said lawmakers across the world must decide how to regulate cryptocurrencies based on potential risks.In a written statement for a speech to Columbia University on Monday, Panetta said global policymakers had made some progress in addressing regulatory frameworks on digital assets, but “not swiftly enough to keep pace with the emerging challenges.” According to the ECB official, the world needs crypto regulated based on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism rules of the Financial Action Task Force, strengthening public disclosure and reporting on regulatory compliance from the industry, and setting up “strict transparency requirements” and “standards of conduct.”One of Panetta’s chief concerns seemed to be how the central bank and lawmakers address the taxation of cryptoassets, describing current requirements as “minimal” and “very difficult to identify tax-relevant activities.” The ECB official proposed taxing cryptoassets based on Proof-of-Work at a higher rate than other financial instruments based on “negative externalities that lead to sunk costs for society, such as high pollution.”“We should bring taxation on crypto-assets into line with the taxation of other instruments and aim for alignment across jurisdictions, given the global nature of the crypto market,” said Panetta. “The introduction of reporting obligations for transactions above certain thresholds, as just recently proposed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), would enhance transparency and combat tax evasion.” Globally coordinated efforts are needed to bring crypto-assets into a regulatory framework, says Executive Board member Fabio Panetta at @Columbia. We must not repeat past mistakes by waiting for the bubble to burst before acting https://t.co/dGo0HV0KmL1/5 pic.twitter.com/2MpmkmtoG4— European Central Bank (@ecb) April 25, 2022According to Panetta, Europe is “leading the way” in bringing cryptocurrencies into its regulatory purview, while the United States is working to supervise crypto service providers over perceived risks. He pointed to the Regulation of Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, as a step toward creating a “harmonised European approach” to crypto as well as the global authority Financial Stability Board cooperating with other financial regulators.“We need to make coordinated efforts at the global level to bring crypto-assets into the regulatory purview. And we need to ensure that they are subject to standards in line with those applied to the financial system […] We should make faster progress if we want to ensure that crypto-assets do not trigger a lawless frenzy of risk-taking.”Related: ECB executive board member talks about current state of digital euro CBDC researchThe ECB has been working on the development of a central bank digital currency, with legislation on a digital euro expected in 2023. ECB president Christine Lagarde has previously hinted the central bank could roll out the digital currency by 2025.

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US Treasury Dept sanctions 3 Ethereum addresses allegedly linked to North Korea

US Treasury Dept sanctions 3 Ethereum addresses allegedly linked to North Korea

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 22, 2022 |

The United States Treasury Department has added three Ethereum wallet addresses to sanctions allegedly linked to the hacker group responsible for the theft of more than $600 million in crypto from nonfungible token game Axie Infinity’s Ronin sidechain.In a Friday update, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, listed three Ethereum addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals restrictions for North Korea’s Lazarus Group. U.S. authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have targeted the group over its alleged role in taking more than 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) from the Ronin sidechain in March — the tokens were worth more than $600 million at the time. The U.S. government department hinted in a Friday tweet that the addresses were added to the list in an effort to stop North Korea from evading sanctions imposed by the United States and United Nations. Blockchain records show at least one of the wallet addresses connected to the Ronin hackers sent funds to crypto mixer services including Tornado Cash. OFAC added 3 virtual currency wallet addresses to the SDN Listing for Lazarus Group. The DPRK has relied on illicit activities like cybercrime to generate revenue while trying to evade US & UN sanctions. Transacting w/ these risks exposure to US sanctions. https://t.co/GMNZkwe1IA— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) April 22, 2022Chainalysis reported in January that North Korea stole roughly $400 million in cryptocurrency through cyberattacks in 2021, meaning the Ronin theft could represent its largest haul to date. Illicit funds linked to hacking groups from the reclusive nation were primarily in Ether at 58%, Bitcoin at 20% and other tokens at 22%.Related: FBI and CSIA issue alert over North Korean cyberattacks on crypto targetsThe addition of the ETH addresses was the latest measure identifying digital assets imposed by OFAC as a means for sanctioned governments to obtain funding. In April, the government department announced it had targeted Russia-based darknet marketplace Hydra and digital currency exchange Garantex for alleged connections to payments from ransomware attacks and other cybercrimes, as well as crypto mining firm BitRiver.

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Binance pushes back against report exchange supplied customer data to Russian government

Binance pushes back against report exchange supplied customer data to Russian government

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 22, 2022 |

Major crypto exchange Binance challenged the accuracy of a report, which stated one of its regional heads agreed to supply Russia’s financial intelligence unit with customer data potentially related to donations for anti-corruption and anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny.Reuters reported on Friday that Binance’s head of Eastern Europe and Russia Gleb Kostarev met with officials from Russia’s Rosfinmonitoring, a financial monitoring service linked to the country’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, in April 2021. Kostarev reportedly agreed to a request from the government body to turn over certain user data — including names and addresses — later telling an associate he didn’t have “much of a choice” in the matter. However, another unnamed crypto exchange reportedly did not agree to provide client data to Rosfinmonitoring due to concerns about how the information would be used as well as the unit’s ties to the FSB.The Rosfinmonitoring may have been attempting to obtain information from users donating Bitcoin (BTC) to Navalny, who is currently imprisoned in Russia after having been found guilty of contempt of court and embezzlement in March. Many human rights groups including Amnesty International have alleged the charges were politically motivated as Navalny has directly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for corruption an accused the head of state of being responsible for his poisoning in August 2020.However, in a Friday blog post, Binance hinted that the report gave a “false narrative” that provided “just enough balance possible to try to avoid a legal complaint.” The firm said it was “categorically false” that it shared user data with “Russian FSB controlled agencies and Russian regulators,” and had stopped working in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. “Today, any government or law enforcement agency in the world can request user data from Binance as long as it is accompanied by the proper legal authority. Russia is no different […] Binance has not entered into any form of unusual agreement with the Russian government that differs from any other jurisdiction.”Binance published the email exchanges between Reuters and its spokespersons, which were part of the research for the report. The firm also said it would write a formal complaint to the news outlet, alleging “hype” or sensationalist journalism.Prior to that statement, many Twitter users seemed to be critical of Binance’s response to the report. At least one person alleged that Russia’s moves toward adopting pro-crypto regulations could be related to its reported attempts to gain access to user data, i.e., allowing citizens to use crypto in order to track transactions. “Russia likes crypto when US dollars are limited but hates it when it is used to fund political opposition,” said Michael Bond, a lawyer and Canadian national.“This is a haunting look into the pressure that the [Federal Security Service] can put onto the leader of a company in Russia, while org leadership outside of Russia has *no idea* it’s going on,” said Twitter user Zach Edwards.Idea: cryptocurrency creates a decentralized financial system independent of banks and regulators, protecting privacy and the funding of political speechReality: your cryptocurrency broker leaks Navalny supporters’ data to the FSB without their knowledgehttps://t.co/tsXLzv74OB— max seddon (@maxseddon) April 22, 2022The report followed Binance’s announcement of limitations for Russian nationals and residents in accordance with sanctions imposed by the European Union. The affected accounts will not be able to deposit or trade using Binance’s spot, futures and custody wallets as well as staked and earned deposits.Related: Binance exec to lead crypto expert center by Russian bank associationBinance CEO Changpeng Zhao hpreviously said the crypto exchange would comply with sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union on Russia-based entities and individuals but not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts.” At the time of publication, the CEO has not publicly responded to the report.

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