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April 7, 2022, 3:00 PM
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| Paul Vigna / Wall Street Journal: |
One-click checkout service Bolt acquires crypto payments startup Wyre, sources say for around $1.5B, which would make it the largest non-SPAC crypto merger yet — Deal extends crypto's hot M&A market following record deal activity in 2021 — Bolt Financial Inc., a payments-focused financial …
More:
PR Newswire, CoinDesk, Crunchbase News, Cointelegraph, Finextra, Reuters, Coinspeaker, Crypto Executive Guide, The Block, and Bloomberg
Tweets: @bolt, @timigod, @brunoswerneck, @austinj, @oduneweniyi, @bigbrutha_, @carnage4life, @mayazi, @pt, and @henrylmcnamara
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Coinbase adds support for the popular UPI payment method in India, making the cryptocurrency exchange functional in the world's second-largest internet market — Coinbase is adding support for the popular UPI payment instrument in India, making its eponymous cryptocurrency exchange functional …
More:
The Coinbase Blog, CoinDesk, CoinGape, The Economic Times, Cryptopolitan, Coinspeaker, Bloomberg, Inc42 Media, Micky, and CoinDesk
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
India's payments body refuses to acknowledge Coinbase's India launch, saying it is not aware of any cryptocurrency exchange using the UPI payments instrument — The National Payments Corporation of India, the governing body that oversees UPI in the country, said in a statement on Thursday evening … | Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
Google releases “multisearch” for Lens, letting users ask questions about photos and screenshots, in beta for US users in English on Android and iOS — One of the most interesting announcements at Google's Search-focused keynote in September was a big upgrade to Lens that lets you take a photo and ask questions about it.
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The Keyword, TechCrunch, The Register, iPhone Hacks, Droid Life, BigTechWire, Android Police, PCMag, Android Central, Engadget, CNN, Mashable, The Verge, and Gizmodo
Tweets: @searchliaison and @backlon
| Alyse Stanley / Washington Post: |
Epic Games and Lego partner to “shape the future of the metaverse” by building a digital experience where children can play safely online, but offer few details — Epic Games has already outlined ambitious plans for the metaverse and Thursday the “Fortnite” maker announced it intends to build part of it with Legos.
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Epic Games, The Verge, PYMNTS.com, Engadget, TechCrunch, GamesIndustry.biz, Gameranx, GameSpot, TechSpot, Bloomberg, SlashGear, Game Developer, Marketing Dive, PC Gamer, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, TheGamer, Variety, Wccftech, Polygon, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, TrueAchievements, Axios, Kotaku, and Pocket-lint
Tweets: @epicnewsroom, @ldignan, @raffers, @thedextriarchy, and @lego_group
| CoinDesk: |
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gives her first speech on digital assets, saying a CBDC “would require years of development, not months”, and more — The U.S. official addressed CBDCs, stablecoins and regulations. — A digital dollar could become a “trusted money comparable …
More:
Finextra, The Block, MarketWatch, YouTube, CoinDesk, Blockworks, Decrypt, Computerworld, U.S. Department …, Protocol, The Block, Reuters, Cryptopolitan, and Bloomberg
Tweets: @secyellen, @kevinsekniqi, @samjsutton, @cz_binance, @robblackwellab, @robblackwellab, @robblackwellab, @ustreasury, and @joonian
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
Activision Blizzard will convert all its 1,100 temporary and contingent QA workers to full-time employees on July 1 and raise the minimum hourly rate to $20 — Nearly 1,100 temp game testers are getting full-time jobs with benefits — Activision Blizzard has just announced that all temporary …
More:
GamesIndustry.biz, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Protocol, Reuters, Windows Central, Game Developer, Engadget, Polygon, TheGamer, Kotaku, Destructoid, and GameSpot
Tweets: @adashtra and @jaypeters
| Andrew Hayward / Decrypt: |
OpenSea adds Solana NFT trading support in beta with limited coverage of just 165 collections; a marketplace search shows 865K NFTs minted on Solana — At long last, Solana support is finally live on OpenSea—in beta mode. — In brief — Solana NFTs have been added to OpenSea, the largest overall NFT marketplace.
More:
OpenSea, web3lunch, CryptoSlate, Cryptopolitan, and CryptoPotato
Tweets: @opensea, @infinatecrypto, @opensea, and @loopifyyy
| Nitasha Tiku / Washington Post: |
Gwyneth Paltrow, Mila Kunis, and other celebrities are pushing women to invest in NFTs, which critics say is a self-serving feminism centered on white women — Gwyneth Paltrow and Mila Kunis joined a Zoom in January to encourage 5,000 women in the audience to break into the male-dominated world of crypto.
More:
Side Chat With Stephanie. Tweets: @heatherkelly, @nitashatiku, @cryptostacys, @sm, @katienotopoulos, @laurawags, @adriyoung, @sarahnemerson, @laurawags, and @helenbrosnan
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
Apple releases a report it commissioned from Analysis Group, showing that the company's iOS apps “are rarely the most popular app of a particular type” — Apple today shared a new App Store study that it commissioned from economists at Analysis Group, with the report highlighting … | Naomi Nix / Washington Post: |
Meta disrupts covert influence operations by Belarus- and Russia-linked actors targeting Ukrainians, like hacking Ukrainian military staff's Facebook accounts — Facebook said Thursday it disrupted several covert influence operations targeting Ukrainians, as the company has intensified …
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PCMag, CNN, Meta, The Hill, Engadget, New York Times, Bloomberg, Associated Press, SecurityWeek, CBS News, The Verge, and CNET
| Jacquelyn Melinek / TechCrunch: |
Blockchain audit service CertiK raises an $88M Series B3 led by Insight, Tiger Global and Advent at a $2B valuation, bringing its total funding to $230M — CertiK, a Web3 and blockchain security company, has raised $88 million in its latest round, bringing its valuation to $2 billion.| TechCrunch: |
Leaked recording: after laying off Better.com staff in December 2021, CEO Vishal Garg said the company “made $250M last year” but “probably pissed away $200M” — Vishal Garg admits he ‘failed’ in leaked recording addressing significant staff cuts| Jonathan Stempel / Reuters: |
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway discloses the purchase of nearly 121M shares of HP, worth ~$4.2B, for an 11.4% stake; HP's stock is up 15%+ — Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) disclosed on Wednesday that it has purchased nearly 121 million shares of HP Inc (HPQ.N), the latest in a series …
More:
CRN, CNBC, SiliconANGLE, Finbold, Associated Press, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, WRAL TechWire, Seeking Alpha, Benzinga, Protocol, and Financial Times
Tweets: @jesserpound, @fmanjoo, @rationalwalk, @kendallbaker, @stevekovach, @tuviae, @jyarow, @mgsiegler, and @jordannovet
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
OpenPhone, which provides SMBs with a business phone line through its mobile app, raises a $40M Series B led by Tiger Global, bringing its total funding to $56M — Pam answering the phone at Dunder Mifflin become one of the most iconic refrains of life at The Office, and it's really no wonder that it did …
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FinSMEs
| Hannah Murphy / Financial Times: |
Sources: Meta has drawn up plans to add “social tokens”, lending services, and a non-blockchain virtual currency that employees dubbed “Zuck Bucks” to its apps — Meta has drawn up plans to introduce virtual coins, tokens and lending services to its apps …
More:
The Verge, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, New York Post, PYMNTS.com, Protocol, Input, Fortune, Decrypt, Engadget, PC Gamer, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Guardian, CryptoPotato, Reuters, CoinGape, U-Studio's Newsletter, Mashable, Cryptonews, Insider, Ethereum World News, Winvesta Crisps, ExchangeWire.com, City A.M., Crypto Briefing, TechCircle, The Context, Coinspeaker, KnowTechie, TechRadar, Silicon Republic, Cryptopolitan, Finextra, Micky, MSPoweruser, and Cointelegraph
Tweets: @damienics, @mikeisaac, @karlbode, @hunterwalk, @mshannahmurphy, @mayazi, @mshannahmurphy, @_seandavid, @harrymccracken, @fienixtaranova, @silvermanjacob, @pierce, @hypervisible, @westcoastbill, @bigblackjacobin, @rmac18, @katienotopoulos, @mshannahmurphy, @lhm1, @sfiegerman, @marcbain_, and @jeffjohnroberts
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Tata rolls out Tata Neu, a super app merging nearly a dozen services the Indian conglomerate owns or invests in, to take on Flipkart, Jio Platforms, and Amazon — The 154-year-old Indian giant, valued at $103 billion, operates 29 listed companies across nearly a dozen sectors including retail, travel to automobiles
More:
The Economic Times, The Economic Times, Livemint, and Business Standard
| Song Jung-a / Financial Times: |
Samsung projects Q1 operating profit up 50% YoY to ~$11.6B, the highest since 2018, and revenue up 18% YoY to a record ~$63B on strong smartphone and chip sales — South Korean group's strong sales undercut by performance concerns against rivals Apple and TSMC
More:
Samsung Newsroom, ZDNet, Reuters, Android Headlines, Telecoms.com, Coinspeaker, TechCrunch, SamMobile, PhoneArena, TheStreet, Bloomberg, and Nikkei Asia
| Christine Hall / TechCrunch: |
Mexico City-based online-only supermarket Jüsto raises a $152M Series B led by General Atlantic, after raising a $65M Series A in February 2021 — Jüsto, the Mexico City-based online grocer, continues to run on all cylinders with a goal of saturating the Latin American market.
Tweets: @christinemhall
| Anushree Dave / The Block: |
Robinhood expands its crypto wallet to 2M+ users on a waitlist and says it will support transacting on the Bitcoin Lightning Network in the coming months — Quick Take — Eligible Robinhood customers can now send and receive crypto, the company announced Thursday at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami.
More:
CoinDesk, Bloomberg, and Bitcoin Magazine
| Krystal Hu / Reuters: |
Fetch Rewards, which offers rewards to customers who submit receipts of purchases from 600+ partners, raises $240M led by Hamilton Lane at a $2.5B valuation — Fetch Rewards, a shopping rewards app backed by SoftBank Group Group's (9984.T) Vision Fund 2, has raised $240 million in a funding round …
| Audrey An / The Keyword: |
Google will roll out Privacy Guide in Chrome, a guided tour of privacy and security settings, to all desktop users on version 100 or above “in the coming weeks” — Product Manager, Chrome at Google Safety Engineering Center Munich — Your browser plays a big role in your online experience … | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Berlin-based consumer electronics rental service Grover raises a $110M Series C in equity led by Energy Impact Partners and $220M in debt at a $1B+ valuation — A growing number of people are looking for ways to live more sustainably amid increasing concerns over the environment and what we humans keep doing to pollute it.
More:
Bloomberg, Crunchbase News, Silicon Canals, Forbes, Tech.eu, Sifted, AltFi, PYMNTS.com, and EU-Startups
| The Economic Times: |
Sources: Indian online learning startup Unacademy laid off around 1,000 employees to cut costs; Unacademy last raised $440M in August 2021 at a $3.4B valuation — Bengaluru: Edtech startup Unacademy has laid off around 1,000 employees, including on-roll and contractual staff, in the past few weeks … | Joseph Menn / Washington Post: |
Mandiant and CrowdStrike partner to help customers detect, investigate, and respond to threats; Mandiant will begin deploying CrowdStrike's protection tools — Two of the most prominent U.S. cybersecurity companies have struck a deal to work more closely together, extending a trend … | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Google plans to hide and block Play Store apps that don't target an Android API within two years of the latest major Android release, starting on November 1 — Google is preparing to clear its Play Store of outdated apps. The company warned Android app developers that starting on November 1 …
More:
Android Developers Blog, Ars Technica, PCMag, GamesIndustry.biz, HotHardware.com News, iPhone in Canada Blog, Android Police, Thurrott, Developer Tech News, Android Central, TechCircle, The Register, Pocketnow, The Verge, Android Headlines, MediaNama, Engadget, MSPoweruser, The Economic Times, International Business Times, and SlashGear
Tweets: @mishaalrahman, @campuscodi, @googleplaybiz, @tychotithonus, @artemr, @alexhern, @mishaalrahman, and @mishaalrahman
| Matt Burgess / Wired: |
New data-sharing proposals in Europe push for expanding retrospective facial recognition and letting police forces across the EU link their photo databases — Lawmakers advance proposals to let police forces across the EU link their photo databases—which include millions of pictures of people's faces.
More:
TechRadar and Newslit Daily
Tweets: @wiredscience, @mattburgess1, @ellajakubowska1, @cttargeted, @nixxin, and @sakripol
| Hannah Miller / Bloomberg: |
Blockchain gaming startup Improbable raises $150M to expand M², which aims to help virtual worlds connect, led by a16z and Vision Fund 2 at a $1B valuation — One of the most lavishly funded European video game startups of recent years, Improbable Worlds Ltd., said it can bridge … Sponsor Posts
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