Techmeme
June 16, 2023, 2:00 PM

Top News

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Anne VanderMey / Bloomberg:
Reddit says 80% of its top subreddits are currently open; Reddark estimates that 5K+ subreddits are limiting access, down from almost 9K on June 12  —  Reddit Inc. said that most of the company's communities were operating as normal — four days after a protest that shut down thousands …
The Verge:
Reddit messages some moderators of the communities participating in the API pricing change protest, looking for defectors “willing to work towards reopening”  —  Some moderators of Reddit communities participating in the protest against API changes today got messages from the company: work to reopen your subreddits or else.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Bloomberg:
NY AG documents: Tether once counted securities from Chinese companies among its reserves; Tether said in July 2022 that it held no Chinese commercial paper  —  Tether Holdings Ltd. once counted securities issued by Chinese companies among the reserves backing its USDT stablecoin …
CoinDesk:
France probes Binance for illegally providing digital asset services and poor money laundering checks; Binance quits Netherlands after failing to get a license  —  Binance is suspected of illegally providing digital asset services to local customers, and implementing poor money laundering checks …
Manya Saini / Reuters:
BlackRock files an SEC application to register its iShares Bitcoin Trust as a spot bitcoin ETF, using Coinbase Custody as its custodian  —  BlackRock (BLK.N), the world's biggest asset manager, on Thursday filed for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would allow investors to get exposure …
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Alphabet plans to wind down Google Domains and sell its assets, including ~10M domains, to Squarespace in Q3 2023, a source says for ~$180M; SQSP jumps 9%+  —  Alphabet Inc. is winding down its Google Domains business and selling its assets to Squarespace Inc., according to a statement Thursday.
Andrew Tarantola / Engadget:
Meta unveils Voicebox, a generative text-to-speech model the company hopes could be the ChatGPT of the spoken word, but won't release an app citing misuse risks  —  But the company won't be sharing the app or its source code for the time being.  —  Today, we are one step closer …
Mia Sato / The Verge:
How the “arms race” of SEO experts has left Google Search and the web drowning in garbage text, resulting in customers and businesses failing to find each other  —  The SEO arms race has left Google and the web drowning in garbage text, with customers and businesses flailing to find each other.
Bloomberg:
In a meeting with Bill Gates, Xi Jinping says China is willing to engage in tech cooperation with the US; Xi is expected to meet Antony Blinken later this week  —  President Xi Jinping said China is willing to work with the world on technology innovation and global challenges including …
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
In a cease-and-desist order, Texas' securities regulator says crypto lender Abra has been insolvent for months and accuses the company of securities fraud  —  State regulators say Abra held tens of millions of dollars' worth of assets on now bankrupt platforms.
Leo Schwartz / Fortune:
Digital assets platform Bakkt delists Solana, Polygon, and Cardano, taking proactive action until there is regulatory clarity on offering coins compliantly  —  Just over two months after completing a $155 million acquisition for the trading infrastructure provider Apex Crypto …
Dana Priest / Washington Post:
Hanan Elatr, Jamal Khashoggi's widow, sues the NSO Group in Virginia, claiming Saudi Arabia used the Israeli company's Pegasus phone spyware to track them both  —  In the lawsuit, Hanan Elatr says Saudi Arabia used NSO's Pegasus spyware to track her and her husband's whereabouts before he was murdered

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Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
Teo Armus / Washington Post:
Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information:
Bloomberg:
Jay Peters / The Verge: