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Harry Styles Sues Over Fake Merch On the Internet, Says He Must Protect ‘Unknowing’ Fans
Harry Styles is on the legal offensive to combat fake merch on the internet. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chicago federal court, the pop star sued a number of online sellers for allegedly violating his intellectual property rights by selling counterfeit merchandise to unsuspecting Harry fans. Arguing that the counterfeiters use misleading tactics to make it “difficult for consumers to distinguish such stores from an authorized retailer,” attorneys for Styles want a judge to issue a sweeping court order that would, among other things, force big web platforms like Amazon and Etsy (who are not named as defendants) to immediately shut down the listings. “Plaintiff is forced to file this action to combat defendants’ counterfeiting of its registered trademarks, as well as to protect unknowing c...
Optimism and Arbitrum flip Ethereum in combined transaction volume
Ethereum layer-2 on-chain activity has been increasing to the extent that the leading two networks now process more transaction volume than mainnet Ethereum. Layer-2 networks Arbitrum and Optimism have seen an increase in transactions over the past three months. Comparatively, aside from a few spikes, transactions on the Ethereum network have declined by around 33% since late October, according to Etherscan. This has enabled the two L2s combined to flip Ethereum for this metric, according to Dune Analytics data. The chart shows Ethereum processed over 1.06 million transactions on Jan. 10, whereas Arbitrum and Optimism combined processed over 1.12 million transactions. Additionally, Optimism has now surpassed Arbitrum in terms of daily transactions following a steady uptrend in activity sin...
USDC transfer volume hit 5X USDT’s in fallout from FTX collapse
Stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) has grown in popularity since the collapse of FTX. It now frequently reaches daily transfer volumes four to five times that recorded by major competitor Tether (USDT) according to data from blockchain analytics firm Glassnode. That’s despite the market cap of USDT being $23 billion greater than USDC. As of Jan. 10, the difference was in USDC’s favor by a margin of four and a half times. Both stablecoins recorded surges in transfer volumes following an infamous tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Nov. 6 announcing Binance would liquidate its entire FTX Token (FTT) holdings. FTX went into bankruptcy soon after. Since then, USDC has been the preferred choice for crypto users, averaging over $12.5 billion more in transfer volume per day than USDT, according to G...
Bitcoin nodes data: Frankfurt houses the largest city-wide network
While the United States holds the biggest share of Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate contribution and ATM network, the city hosting the most reachable Bitcoin nodes — a crucial pillar of the Bitcoin network — is Frankfurt, Germany. Cast your vote now! Bitcoin nodes are a distributed network of computers that run the Bitcoin software and accept a set of proof-of-work (PoW) consensus rules to validate and broadcast transactions on the blockchain. Of the 43,706 nodes hosted across 134 countries, the U.S. hosts 9,999 (30.53%), while Germany ranks second with 4,529 (13.83%) nodes, according to data from Bitnodes. List of top 10 countries with most number of Bitcoin nodes. Source: Bitnodes However, when it comes to the contribution of individual cities, Frankfurt was found to host the largest nu...
Crypto exchange Zipmex probed by Thai SEC amid buyout
The cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex is the focus of a new probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand for a breach of local rules. A Bloomberg report revealed that local authorities are looking into activities that they believe may violate business rules for digital asset service providers. This includes its offerings of certain digital asset products. According to the Thai SEC, Zipmex has until Jan. 12 to clarify whether it has been functioning as a “digital asset fund manager without permission” in Thailand. If true, the firm would have needed to obtain a permit before conducting business in the country. Cast your vote now! Zipmex is currently in the process of being acquired by V Ventures, a subsidiary of Thoresen Thai Agencies PCL, for around $100 million.&nb...
Billboard’s Power Players’ Choice Award: Vote for Music’s Most Impactful Executive (Semifinalists)
The second round of voting is now open for Billboard‘s first-ever Power Players’ Choice Award, featuring the top 20 nominees voted by their peers. Voting is open to all Billboard Pro members, both existing and new, with one vote per member. Vote below. As previously announced, for the first time ever, Billboard is introducing a peer-voted award to its annual Power 100 ranking of the music industry’s most influential executives. This new Power Players’ Choice Award will honor the executive whose peers believe has the most impact across the music business over the past year, from recording and publishing to touring. The second round of voting featuring the top 20 nominees is now open and will end at 11:59 p.m. EST on Jan. 12. The top five vote-getters will proceed to the third round, beginni...
Albright Capital drops lawsuit against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon
Albright Capital has dropped its lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon, according to a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal filed in U.S. District Court on January 9. Before its dismissal, the lawsuit had alleged that the company had violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) by operating the stablecoin, UST, as a “Ponzi scheme.” Three Arrows Capital (3AC) co-founder Su Zhu posted the dismissal to Twitter, saying: Curious how long it will take cryptonative media to report on this sudden voluntary dismissal of class action against Luna foundation and Luna investors pic.twitter.com/8SyMhB4u4g — Zhu Su (@zhusu) January 10, 2023 Zhu had previously claimed that the bankruptcy of 3AC was partially caused by UST’s collapse. The lawsuit was dismissed “w...
Blockchain privacy groups urge new US Congress to protect privacy rights
Digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future has posted an open letter on its website encouraging the new members of the U.S. Congress to protect privacy. The letter has attracted dozens of companies and organizations as cosigners. “Increasingly, the incredible creative power of U.S. software developers is being chilled by clumsy, misguided legislative and regulatory actions,” the authors of the letter wrote. This is in spite of the fact that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects code as speech, the letter added, and that was why many technologies to protect privacy were created in the United States. As “an illustration of the robust digital future you [new legislators] should foster,” the letter mentioned Filecoin, ZCash, MobileCoin and several communications pr...
Death and self-custody: How to pass on your crypto when you die
The average crypto investor probably isn’t planning on dying of old age anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a plan in place to pass on their crypto in the event they meet an unlikely demise, lawyers warn. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Dubai-based crypto lawyer Irina Heaver believes that “billions” worth of Bitcoin (BTC) has been lost due to a lack of proper death-related planning by hodlers. She noted that many families have been unable to access their loved one’s crypto assets due to private keys being taken to the grave, and emphasized the importance of discussing crypto assets with family and including them in their will. Heaver said that the typical crypto investor is a “male millennial” between the ages of 27 to 42, which is the age range where arranging one’s financi...
Initial approval given for Voyager and Binance.US deal amid national security probe
Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital received initial court approval for its proposal to sell its assets to Binance.US for $1.02 billion amid a national security probe Voyager is seeking to speed up. On Jan. 10, United States Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles allowed Voyager to enter into the asset purchase agreement and seek creditor approval, but the sale will not become final until a future court hearing, according to a Jan. 11 Reuters report. It comes as Voyager wants to expedite a review of its proposal to sell assets to Binance.US which could result in the deal being blocked or delayed. Voyager’s attorney Joshua Sussberg noted during the court hearing that Voyager has been responding to questions from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and will address an...
Cointelegraph has launched an Accelerator program for innovative Web3 startups
New York, United States, 10th January, 2023, Chainwire The program aims to help Web3’s rising stars boost their media presence, community growth and brand awareness in exchange for project tokens. The Web3 space is growing rapidly and new startups are emerging daily, with investment into Web3 projects skyrocketing to $30 billion in 2021 and around $36 billion in 2022. While many Web3 founders have great ideas and a strong value proposition to bring to the space, this is a challenging field riddled with competition and a lack of trust from the broader audience. Founded in 2013, Cointelegraph has grown to become a world leader in the digital assets, metaverse and emerging technologies media space, with over 20 million readers worldwide. The company is now looking to help other rising stars r...
Yellen to stay on as Biden’s Treasury chief as debt fight looms
An official close to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that while she weighed returning to private life, she has remained energized about the implementation of policies enacted during President Joe Biden’s first two years. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo By Ben White 01/10/2023 02:58 PM EST Updated: 01/10/2023 05:21 PM EST Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told President Joe Biden she will remain in her post for the next two years as the White House faces growing challenges including the need to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, people familiar with the matter said. Yellen, whose decision has been the subject of internal chatter for months, agreed to a request from Biden to stay on in the administration’s top economic policymaking post during a recent one-on-one meeting, said two senior W...
