Techmeme: A profile of blockchain auditing service CertiK, which inspects smart contracts to help clients like Yuga Labs avoid critical bugs that can lead to lost crypto (Clive Thompson/MIT Technology Review)

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January 3, 2023, 6:00 AM

Top News

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:

In an open letter, Cameron Winklevoss accuses Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert of engaging in “bad faith stall tactics” after Genesis halted withdrawals — The fallout from the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire just got messier, with digital-asset entrepreneur …

More: Wall Street Journal, International Business Times, The Block, CoinDesk, MarketWatch, Bitcoinist.com, Cointelegraph, CoinGape, CryptoSlate, Trustnodes, Forkast, Reuters, Coinpedia Fintech News, Watcher Guru, Inside Bitcoins, crypto.news, LinkedIn, The Daily Hodl, Slashdot, Decrypt, and CryptoPotato

Tweets: @cameron, @barrysilbert, @zhusu, @zhusu, @edzitron, @cameron, @tier10k, @tier10k, @basedkarbon, @rj_valair, @iamdcinvestor, @mikeburgersburg, @adamscochran, @ap_abacus, @ramahluwalia, @thecryptojourno, @ashcryptoreal, @kyleldavies, @autismcapital, @tier10k, @cameron, @coloradotravis, @alistairmilne, @mayazi, @tree_of_alpha, @bowtiednightowl, @iamdcinvestor, @frances_coppola, @tier10k, @mikeburgersburg, @dylanleclair_, @natbrunell, @alistairmilne, @silvermanjacob, @tier10k, @patio11, @snowden, @autismcapital, @tree_of_alpha, @levie, @imnotthewolf, @pierre_crypt0, @sell9000, @bradmillscan, @toptickcrypto, @caspiancey, @cryptoncoffeee, @lowstrife, @arthur_0x, @dshollers, @amuse, @autismcapital, @loopifyyy, @riddle245, @hsakatrades, @jcoviedo6, @219_eth, @sss4321_s, @koeppelmann, @basedkarbon, @levie, @kgreifeld, @btc_jacksparrow, @basedkarbon, @fintechfrank, @ap_abacus, @mhonkasalo, @scottmelker, @convertbond, @sassal0x, @leeorshimron, @ap_abacus, @edzitron, @ramahluwalia, and @wublockchain

Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:

A look back at 2022 as a dismal year for startups, from plummeting investments to scarce public listings, as data suggests 2023 could be even more difficult — Founders and investors face potential further declines before venture-capital market recovers — Startups had a dismal year …

More: Silicon Republic, Feed Me, The Economic Times, Inc42 Media, Sifted, and Cointelegraph

Tweets: @dannygroner, @todd_yancey, and @grhyasen

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

A look at the longest tech boom so far, including crypto's rise and fall, VR falling short of its hype, the marketplace economy's growth, pizza robots, and more — From pizza robots to the crypto meltdown, the long bubble has shown us the hilarious, the regrettable, and the unexpectedly triumphant

More: CNN. Tweets: @henkjeebee and @wsj

Stephen Katte / Cointelegraph:

Luke Dashjr, an original core developer of Bitcoin, claims someone stole “basically all” his BTC by compromising his PGP key; a wallet shows ~217 BTC were moved — A Bitcoin OG and core developer Luke Dashjr claims his PGP key was compromised, resulting in virtually all his Bitcoin being stolen from him on Dec. 31.

Ax Sharma / BleepingComputer:

PyTorch identifies a malicious dependency using its “torchtriton” library name, warning nightly version users to uninstall; the hacker claims ethical research — PyTorch has identified a malicious dependency with the same name as the framework's ‘torchtriton’ library.

More: The Hacker News, Security Affairs, Neowin, Naked Security, and PyTorch Website

Mastodon: @campuscodi@mastodon.social, @ax@c.im, and @ax@c.im

Tweets: @vxunderground, @pytorch, @infernosec, @the_eddieknight, @vxunderground, @milescranmer, @mark_riedl, @ax_sharma, @ax_sharma, @soumithchintala, @ax_sharma, @amitaico, @bradgeesaman, @hepfeickert, and @evaristegal0is

Evelyn Cheng / CNBC:

A look at China's growing, Beijing-endorsed “virtual people” industry, including scandal-free influencers, performers, and customer service representatives — - Tech company Baidu said the number of virtual people projects it's worked on for clients has doubled since last year …

More: Beyond Search

Mastodon: @MikeElgan@mastodon.social. Tweets: @tedkempcnbc, @balajis, @balajis, and @balajis

Daniel Gilbert / Washington Post:

A look at the wave of US doctors and telehealth startups prescribing ketamine online, aided by looser pandemic-inspired federal rules for controlled substances — People can take the drug at home, thanks to federal action during the pandemic. Some experts worry it's now too easy to get.

Tweets: @ferenstein, @recoverydoctor, @anammostarac, @washingtonpost, @loriamontgomery, and @bydanielgilbert

Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:

Shopify President Harley Finkelstein says the company's Audiences marketing tool, which uploads customer data to Meta and Google's ad platforms, is a key focus — Canadian ecommerce group touts new tool that allows retailers to pool customer data and better target ads

More: PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @eric_seufert, @eric_seufert, @burcaw, @eric_seufert, and @eric_seufert

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:00 AM ET, January 3, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Oliver Darcy / Status:

Sources: the Los Angeles Times has laid off dozens of employees on the business side this week, including VP of Communications Hillary Manning

Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:

Guardian US expects $44M in donations in the US and Canada in 2025, up 33% YoY; contributions make up 60% of revenue, which exceeded costs by $16M in 2024

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

AP photographer Evan Vucci and AP Chief White House Correspondent Zeke Miller testified Thursday about damage done by the White House ban on the wire service

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More News

Lora Kolodny / CNBC:

Email: SpaceX is raising $750M in a round likely led by a16z at a $137B valuation; the company raised $2B+ in 2022 and was valued at $127B in May

More: Financial Times, Reuters, The Information, and Bloomberg. Thanks:@mattrosoff

Deena Kamel / The National:

Riyadh-based Manafa, which offers SMBs debt and equity financing based on a crowdfunding model, raised a ~$28.2M Series A led by STV and Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures

More: FinSMEs and Wamda

Moneycontrol:

India releases draft online gaming rules, seeking to create a self-regulatory body and to require parental consent for gamers under 18, for public consultation

More: Reuters, Coinspeaker, Digit, Bloomberg, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, Times of India, The Economic Times, The Hindu, Livemint, Entrackr, and Inc42 Media

Tweets: @cnbctv18live, @_digitalindia, @chandrarsrikant, @rajeev_goi, and @payalmehta100

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Zomato co-founder and CTO Gunjan Patidar leaves, after the exits of two senior executives and another co-founder in December; Zomato's stock fell 57%+ in 2022

More: The Economic Times, Inc42 Media, Reuters, SiliconANGLE, The Economic Times, DealStreetAsia, VCCircle, and Tech Startups. Tweets: @hrushb

New York Times:

Research: 35+ companies have pledged ~$200B for chip-related manufacturing projects in the US since spring 2020 across 16 states and 23 new chip factories

More: MIT Technology Review, Slashdot, Financial Times, and MarketWatch

Tweets: @secraimondo, @veroderugy, @briandeesenec, and @dealbook

Rita Liao / TechCrunch:

An overview of Chinese tech companies rushing to match generative AI tools like DALL-E 2 despite tighter regulations, censorship, US chip sanctions, and more

More: New York Times and Firstpost Tech

Earlier Picks

Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:

Berlin-based Flink, one of the last independent grocery delivery startups, hit €400M in 2022 sales and expects to be profitable in 2023; Flink has raised $700M+

More: TechCircle and Bloomberg

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:

A profile of Matrix, an open-source, decentralized protocol for messaging interoperability that saw its network's users double in 2022 to at least 80.3M

Tweets: @hyoondae, @rschuler10, @alexanderchopan, @hannan_rai, @michaelguimarin, and @psawers

Matthew Smith / Wired:

A look at the use of AI to design and test games, such as to tune difficulty, find world geometry flaws, and sniff out situations that make it impossible to win

Tweets: @mcdreamyai and @wired

Chris Velazco / Washington Post:

Hands-on with the Pixel 7 Pro's Real Tone, which claims to render skin tones more accurately in photos, compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max

More: Forbes. Tweets: @onlyjust30ya, @mindofsamliao, @gpanger, and @tressiemcphd

Chloe Cornish / Financial Times:

A look at the impact of the funding crunch on India's tech startups, which raised $24.7B from January to November 2022, down 35% YoY, per data provider Tracxn

Tweets: @parijatjha47, @catcheronthesly, @copperlife, @financialtimes, @sushantsin, @financialtimes, and @johnreedwrites

Wall Street Journal:

A look at the rise and fall of Alameda Research, whose troubles began well before the crypto crash as the firm took big gambles, winning some and losing plenty