Techmeme: EU lawmakers provisionally agree on anti-laundering rules for crypto, requiring verified customer identities for transfers between regulated digital wallets (Bloomberg)

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June 30, 2022, 10:05 AM

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CoinDesk:

Sources: digital asset trading firm Genesis is potentially facing “hundreds of millions” of dollars in losses, partly through exposure to 3AC and Babel Finance — The DCG-owned trading colossus is said to have suffered nine-figure losses partly through exposure to Three Arrows Capital and Babel Finance.

Yogita Khatri / The Block:

Source: FTX walked away from a deal with Celsius after finding the crypto lender has a $2B hole in its balance sheet — - FTX was interested in making a deal with Celsius but walked away because of the state of its finances, two sources told The Block. — Celsius had a $2 billion hole in its balance sheet, one source said.

Tweets: @tier10k, @tier10k, @twobitidiot, @murfski_, @frances_coppola, @silvermanjacob, @frances_coppola, @davidzmorris, @cryptokaleo, @cryptocronkite, @defiyst, @tier10k, and @bennetttomlin

Joyce Lee / Reuters:

Samsung becomes the first to mass produce 3nm chips, beating TSMC, touting 45% lower power usage compared to 5nm chips, a 16% smaller surface area, and more — Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) said on Thursday it has begun mass producing chips with advanced 3-nanometre technology …

More: Samsung Newsroom, AnandTech, Nikkei Asia, Bloomberg, PCMag, VideoCardz.com, Android Headlines, TechCrunch, Neowin, Total Telecom, ZDNet, CNET, Agence France-Presse, The Korea Herald, SamMobile, and Fossbytes

Rita Liao / TechCrunch:

OpenSea tells customers that an employee at email vendor Customer.io downloaded and sent email details to an external party, impacting almost all users — Opensea, the popular NFT marketplace that hit a colossal $13 billion valuation in January, is warning users of email phishing after a data breach.

Source: OpenSea Blog. More: Protocol, Tech Monitor, BetaNews, BleepingComputer, Cybernews.com, Graham Cluley, The Block, Cointelegraph, Cryptopolitan, Decrypt, Mashable, Coinmonks, Tech in Asia, Crypto Briefing, and Cryptonews

Tweets: @opensea, @gcluley, @cz_binance, @alexhern, @opensea, @opensea, @screentimes, @eclecticmethod, @punk6529, @opensea, @opensea, @officer_cia, @troyhunt, and @ryancarson

Ari Notis / Kotaku:

Unity lays off over 200 people, or 4% of its workforce, two weeks after the CEO said at an all-hands meeting that there would not be any layoffs — Management at the company behind the free game development engine has been a ‘shit show’ recently, sources say

More: Protocol, Bloomberg, Protocol, GamesIndustry.biz, Fossbytes, Game Developer, Engadget, PC Gamer, VentureBeat, Wccftech, TheGamer, PC Games Insider, and Slashdot

Tweets: @nickstatt, @marctech1996, @nickstatt, @tprstly, @protopop, @liasae, and @dj_link

Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg:

Bitcoin is on track for its worst quarter since Q3 2011, dropping 56%, after falling as much as 4.4% to just above $19K on Thursday — Bitcoin is on track for its worst quarter in more than a decade, as more hawkish central banks and a string of high-profile crypto blowups hammer sentiment.

More: Barron's Online, Bloomberg, CNBC, Cryptonews, Cointelegraph, Decrypt, Decrypt, and CryptoPotato

Bloomberg:

MarkSight: as crypto tumbles, the average price of Nvidia's GeForce 3080 on eBay dropped from $1,140 on April 30 to $710 on June 27

More: PC Gamer, Review Geek, and TechRadar

Stephen Alpher / CoinDesk:

MicroStrategy purchased 480 bitcoins at a $20,817 average price from May 3 to June 28, bringing its holdings to 129,699, acquired for ~$3.98B or $30,664 each

Source: @saylor. More: CoinGape, Washington …, Coinspeaker, TheStreet, ZyCrypto, Decrypt, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoSlate, Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing, The Block, and CoinQuora

Tweets: @cz_binance, @ercwl, @grady_booch, @cryptontez, @cz_binance, @juthica, @udiwertheimer, @hasufl, @fomocapdao, @bigcheds, @ftx_access, @digitalassetbuy, @bitcoinbirch, @stephanlivera, and @followtheh

Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:

Apple says South Korean app developers can now use external payment methods from KCP, Inicis, Toss, and NICE by submitting a new version, reducing fees by 4% — Earlier this year, Apple announced that it would comply with a new law in South Korea that required the company to allow third-party payment providers in App Store apps.

Source: Apple Developer. More: AppleInsider, Protocol, Engadget, The Verge, PhoneArena, The Korea Herald, iMore, TechCrunch, MacRumors, BGR, iMore, MacStories, and Cult of Mac

Tweets: @vladsavov, @johnvoorhees, and @bzamayo

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:

Grayscale Investments sues the US SEC after the agency rejected its application on Wednesday to convert its flagship Grayscale Bitcoin Trust product to an ETF — The SEC rejected Grayscale's application to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to an exchange-traded fund earlier Wednesday.

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:

Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, lays off 8% of its staff, around 85 to 90 people, and cancels four projects; Niantic was valued at $9B in November 2021 — Gaming company Niantic Inc., which has struggled to find another big hit following its 2016 game Pokémon Go …

Karen Weise / New York Times:

Amazon documents show it will restrict items and search results related to LGBTQ people and issues in the UAE, after the Emirati government threatened penalties — Sales of items including flags and books were blocked in the country, where homosexuality is criminalized. — Give this article- - - Read in app

More: The Guardian, The Verge, Engadget, ExchangeWire.com, Insider, and BBC

Tweets: @kyweise, @jldastin, and @rgay

Bloomberg:

EU lawmakers provisionally agree on anti-laundering rules for crypto, requiring verified customer identities for transfers between regulated digital wallets — The European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement to force crypto providers to provide identifying information …

More: CoinDesk, PYMNTS.com, Silicon Republic, Coinspeaker, The Block, Reuters, CryptoSlate, Blockworks, Decrypt, and CoinDesk

Tweets: @okovarikmep, @ernesturtasun, @gladstein, @mhiesboeck, @ernesturtasun, @samrusani, @theguyswann, @mhiesboeck, and @paultang

Margi Murphy / Bloomberg:

Elliptic: North Korea-backed hacking group Lazarus might be behind Harmony's $100M altcoin theft; the hack bore similarities to the $600M Ronin bridge attack — Suspected North Korean hackers known as the Lazarus Group are believed to be behind the recent $100 million heist on California blockchain Harmony …

Source: Elliptic Connect. More: Metacurity, TechCrunch, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, CryptoPotato, CryptoSlate, Ethereum World News, Crypto Briefing, The Hacker News, The Korea Herald, Cybernews.com, Decrypt, and Forkast. Tweets: @alexhern

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Researchers detail sophisticated malware targeting various routers and taking over Windows, macOS, and Linux devices, in North America and Europe for ~2 years — Router-stalking ZuoRAT is likely the work of a sophisticated nation-state, researchers say. — An unusually advanced hacking group …

Source: Lumen. More: Infosecurity, BleepingComputer, Security Affairs, SiliconANGLE, iTnews, Dark Reading, TechSpot, Telecompetitor, The Hacker News, and ZDNet

Tweets: @radioms, @adam_k_levin, @dangoodin001, @campuscodi, and @virusbtn

Wall Street Journal:

Researchers say some businesses are exaggerating AI's capabilities, brewing misunderstanding and distorting policymakers' views of AI's power and fallibility — Google, Meta and OpenAI are investing heavily in the technology, which is increasingly capturing the public imagination

More: Fossbytes. Tweets: @dlauer, @dlauer, @_karenhao, @dlauer, @dlauer, @dlauer, @mmitchell_ai, @dlauer, @timnitgebru, @dmonett, and @timnitgebru

Wired:

Section 230 is the last line of defense for online abortion speech, without which platforms could face legal liability for distributing abortion information — Dobbs should be a wake-up call for anyone seeking to undercut the immunity protections afforded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

More: Fight for the Future and Vanity Fair

Tweets: @jkosseff, @carnage4life, @culturejedi, @evan_greer, @wexler, @chrisdavislens, @evan_greer, @mx_annelise, @rightsdissent, @evan_greer, @adamkovac, @evan_greer, @ronwyden, and @kendraserra

Stephen Nellis / Reuters:

Apple's CarPlay update, demoed at WWDC, lets users navigate to a pump and buy gas from its dashboard — Apple Inc (AAPL.O) wants you to start buying gas directly from your car dashboard as early as this fall, when the newest version of its CarPlay software rolls out, accelerating …

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, and iMore

Tweets: @hoodieonveshti and @carlquintanilla

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:

Documents: Coinbase is selling its intelligence-gathering tool Coinbase Tracer to ICE, letting the agency track crypto transactions, including bitcoin and ether — Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, is selling Immigrations and Customs Enforcement a suite …

More: Finbold, Fortune, and Web3 is going just great

Tweets: @aaschapiro, @byronkaye, @tante, @bigendiansmalls, @seldo, @malteengeler, @blockenthusiast, @derekmross, @jathansadowski, and @nicoleperlroth

Reuters:

An investigation details an Indian hacking-for-hire scheme to obtain documents in legal cases, starting in 2013 and targeting 75+ US and European organizations — A trove of thousands of email records uncovered by Reuters reveals Indian cyber mercenaries hacking parties involved in lawsuits around …

More: BleepingComputer and The Keyword

Tweets: @razhael, @iblametom, @razhael, @shashj, @reuters, @razhael, and @howelloneill

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Tencent, ByteDance, and others plan layoffs impacting thousands, after Chinese internet companies cut tens of thousands during regulatory crackdowns — Latest round of job cuts at Chinese tech giants comes even as Beijing signals easing of its regulatory campaign against the sector

Financial Times:

An investigation details an operation by Chinese hacking group APT40 to lure graduates into spying and translating stolen documents using a front company — FT investigation reveals student translators were targeted by front company for Beijing-backed hacking group APT40

More: Bob's Newsletter. Tweets: @howelloneill, @lehtior2, @maxseddon, @razhael, @jchengwsj, @lukolejnik, @greenmiranda, and @mattgarrahan

Zeke Faux / Bloomberg:

An in-depth look at the 2016 Bitfinex hack and US government's case against Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, aka Razzlekhan, over alleged money laundering — The hackers had been inside the Bitfinex servers for weeks before attempting the heist. They'd watched users on the cryptocurrency exchange buy and sell Bitcoins.

Tweets: @cfarivar, @oliviasolon, @oliviasolon, @zekefaux, @crypto, and @latseema

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:05 AM ET, June 30, 2022.

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

Athena Stavrou / The Independent:

More than 230 media industry professionals, including anonymous BBC staff, sign a letter accusing the BBC of bias favoring Israel in coverage of Gaza

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt quits as a contributing columnist at WaPo, after abruptly leaving a Post live video event hosted by Jonathan Capehart

Devin Gordon / New York Times:

AI in Hollywood is a tech leap with a vast impact but remains a tool, not a replacement, for creatives; its speed, quality, and cost allow for VFX breakthroughs

More News

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Modular, which aims to simplify building AI systems by using “composable” common components, raised a $30M seed led by GV

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:

Snowplow Analytics, which helps companies collect and analyze customer data, raised a $40M Series B led by NEA, bringing its total funding to $55M

More: VentureBeat and Snowplow

Cheng Leng / Financial Times:

Chinese AI startup SenseTime's shares dropped over 50% to HK$2.90 ($0.37), their lowest-ever level and well below IPO price, after a lock-up period expired

More: Bloomberg

Andrew Deck / Rest of World:

Report: Iranian #MeToo activists on Instagram are being targeted by 1M+ bots in a coordinated harassment campaign using social media marketing firms in Pakistan

Source: Qurium Media Foundation. More: Front Line Defenders

Tweets: @decka227, @qur1um, @frontlinehrd, and @decka227

Kendra Albert:

Experts say using period tracker apps does not necessarily put women at additional risk of prosecutions in the wake of SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade

More: New York Times, ZDNet, Pluralistic, NBC News, VICE, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @emilygorcenski, @eff, and @torproject

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

India-based GetVantage, which uses AI to offer $10K to $500K in revenue-based capital to startups, has raised $36M, bringing its total funding to $40M

More: The Economic Times, PYMNTS.com, Inc42 Media, Business Today, Entrackr, Tech in Asia, and YourStory.com

Jeanne Whalen / Washington Post:

A Taiwanese minister and TSMC board member urges US Congress to pass the Chips Act, saying the pace of building TSMC's Arizona chip factory depends on subsidies

More: Axios and Fortune

Tweets: @dnystedt, @russellsieg, and @pstasiatech

Christine Hall / TechCrunch:

London-based Shop Circle, which offers merchants a marketplace for e-commerce software, emerges from stealth with $65M led by NFX and QED Investors

More: NFX, PR Newswire, FinSMEs, and Never Fully Read. Tweets: @nfx

Earlier Picks

Financial Times:

Officials in Zhengzhou, China, used a location-based health code system to prevent protests by forcing 1,000+ depositors of failing rural banks to quarantine

Tweets: @chinabeigebook, @ftchina, @mmaunder, @wessiedutoit, @dr_ulrichsen, @1br0wn, @financialtimes, @empo11on, and @alexisak

Sam Kim / Bloomberg:

South Korea's chip stockpile has jumped 53.4% YoY in May, the most in more than four years, suggesting a slowdown in demand for memory chips

Meir Orbach / CTech:

Tel Aviv-based Cyolo, maker of zero trust security tech enabling secure connection to workplaces, has raised a $60M Series B, bringing its total raised to $85M

More: GlobeNewswire News Room, VentureBeat, and Cyolo

Aisha Counts / Protocol:

Google Workspace head Javier Soltero, who managed Google's productivity and collaboration tools including Gmail and Meet, is leaving the company on July 15

More: DCD and 9to5Google

Tweets: @jsoltero, @jsoltero, @protocol, @killedbygoogle, and @jsoltero

Moneycontrol:

Sources: Byju's laid off 1,500+ staff from Toppr and WhiteHat Jr, companies it acquired over the past two years, and nearly 1,000 from its core operations teams

More: Tech in Asia, The Signal, The Economic Times, Inc42 Media, Barron's Online, and The Economic Times

Tweets: @moneycontrolcom, @keithdsouza, @keithdsouza, @chandrarsrikant, @chandrarsrikant, and @saritharai

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:

Firefox now offers a feature to strip some web trackers of Meta, HubSpot, and Marketo from URLs, following similar functionality in Brave

More: Mozilla, Android Headlines, Development & Analytics, PCWorld, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, 9to5Mac, TechRadar, Digital Trends, Neowin, Engadget, and SecurityWeek

Tweets: @pbannist, @spoulton, @rakeshlobster, @gaberivera, and @firefoxsupport

Adlan Jackson / New York Times:

A look at YouTube “media critics”, who use humor to dissect the output of more popular YouTubers, discuss the absurdities of influencers, and more

Tweets: @jeffjarvis and @munecatmusic