Techmeme
March 3, 2022, 9:25 AM

Top News

Andrew Rummer / The Block:
Ukraine's Mykhailo Fedorov abruptly cancels the planned crypto airdrop, saying the country will sell NFTs to raise funds instead  —  Ukraine's government abruptly canceled its planned crypto airdrop and said it would instead sell NFTs to raise funds following last week's Russian invasion.
Scott Chipolina / Decrypt:
Elliptic: Ukraine has received over $50M in crypto donations across 89K+ assets since February 26; blockchain data shows $10M in BTC and $16M in ETH donations  —  The Ukrainian crypto crowdfunding effort has now exceeded $50 million, through almost 90,000 separate donations.
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Ukrainian vice PM Mykhailo Fedorov calls on Sony, Ubisoft, Microsoft, and other gaming companies to ban all Russian and Belarusian accounts during the invasion  —  Vice PM says move “will motivate the citizens of Russia” to rise up in protest.  —  Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister …
@oracle:
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
A group of 35 former employees at crypto startup incubator ConsenSys allege “serious irregularities” in Swiss court over an asset transfer and demand an audit  —  A group of former employees of the ConsenSys AG is alleging “serious irregularities” at the startup incubator that owns …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon plans to close 68 brick-and-mortar retail locations across the US and the UK, including all of its Amazon Books, 4-star, and Pop Up stores  —  - Amazon plans to close all locations of its Pop Up, Books and 4-star stores, the company confirmed to CNBC.
Matt Robinson / Bloomberg:
Sources: the SEC is probing the NFT market to determine if tokens are securities, focusing on fractional NFTs, in which a token is broken into units for sale  —  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinizing creators of NFTs and the crypto exchanges where they trade to determine …
New York Times:
A look at Friends With Benefits, an a16z-backed DAO with a buzz-fueled social club, which attracts artists and investors but faces problems with its elitism  —  Friends With Benefits is a V.I.P. lounge for crypto's creative class.  Is it empty hype or the future of friendship?
Ethan Diamond / Bandcamp Updates:
Epic Games acquires Bandcamp, which will continue operating as a standalone marketplace and music community; Bandcamp has paid nearly $1B to artists and labels  —  I'm excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Several US state AGs launch a probe into TikTok, focusing on whether the app's design and operations negatively impact young users' physical or mental health  —  - TikTok is under investigation by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general to determine if the popular short-form video …
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Google tells staff in the Bay Area and other US locations to return to physical offices three days a week starting on April 4, in a shift to a hybrid work model  —  - Google told employees on Wednesday that it expects them to begin returning to physical offices April 4.
David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times:
A look at anonymity in crypto, as some VCs back founders without learning their names and pseudonymous entrepreneurs control hundreds of millions of dollars  —  Investors give money to pseudonymous developers.  Venture capitalists back founders without learning their real names.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple announces a digital-only event dubbed “Peek performance” will be held on March 8 at 10am PT; a 5G iPhone SE, revamped iPad Air, and new Macs are expected  —  Apple today announced that it will be holding its first event of 2022 on Tuesday, March 8 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify closes its office in Russia “indefinitely” and removes all content from RT and Sputnik in the EU and other markets, except for Russia  —  Spotify has taken several steps in response to Russia's military attack on Ukraine, including closing its offices in Russia “indefinitely.”
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Prominent open source advocate Miguel de Icaza is leaving Microsoft, which he joined in 2016 when it acquired Xamarin  —  Former Xamarin cofounder Miguel de Icaza is leaving Microsoft, the company he joined through acquisition just over six years ago.  —  Well-known open source advocate …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter will expand its Birdwatch fact-checking feature to “a small and randomized” set of US users for feedback, after testing it since January 2021  —  Twitter says it's expanding access to Birdwatch, its community-based fact-checking initiative first revealed in October 2020.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Apollo.io, which develops B2B sales intelligence software, raises a $110M Series C led by Sequoia Capital at an estimated $910M post-money valuation  —  One of the bigger impacts of Covid-19 has been that more business than ever before is now being carried out online.

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Kate Conger / New York Times:
Ciaran Martin / Lawfare: