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The Deals: Channel Tres Signs With RCA; AmazeVR Raises $17M
Producer and signer Channel Tres signed with RCA Records in partnership with Godmode. The label, which just put out Tres’ new single “No Limit,” will release his album Real Cultural Shit this fall. The “Compton house” singer is currently touring North America. VR concert platform AmazeVR, which recently produced Megan Thee Stallion‘s VR concert tour, raised $17 million in new investments, with an opportunity for additional investors to join the current fundraising round. Including the $15 million bridge round the company raised in 2021, AmazeVR’s current Series B raise stands at $32 million. The company plans to use the new funds to expand partnerships with artists, artist management companies, labels, publishers and agencies, along with hiring more AI engineers, Unreal Engine engineers an...
DHS waives Jones Act for Puerto Rico to supply fuel after hurricane
The Department of Homeland Security’s choice to suspend the Jones Act — which typically allows only U.S.-flagged ships to transport maritime cargo between U.S. ports — will allow additional diesel into Puerto Rico, days after the territory was hit by Hurricane Fiona. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi thanked the Biden administration for the waiver in a tweet Wednesday. He was among several legislators, activists and others who previously pressured the administration to waive the Jones Act. The governor requested a waiver Monday for a private supplier waiting to unload fuel in Puerto Rico; a spokesman for BP confirmed the company submitted a waiver request for a vessel carrying diesel Sept. 20. “We are grateful to the Biden administration for taking this action and will deliver the barrels i...
As Ian batters Florida, Puerto Ricans fear being forgotten
Power is still out for 20 percent of Puerto Rican customers and unstable for those who have it. Water outages, partly due to the lack of electricity, continue to plague residents. Hospitals operating on backup generators because of unsteady power are running out of diesel. And the distress and frustration over the state of affairs on the island is weighing on residents. They also worry about the imbalance in political clout: Florida — a key presidential battleground state with a teeming congressional delegation and some of the nation’s wealthiest ZIP codes — has received major federal funding after previous storms. Puerto Rico, which has no electoral votes in presidential elections and no voting representation in Congress, is only now starting to see the billions in federal dollars set asi...
Institutional appetite continues to grow amid bear market — BitMEX CEO
In a recent interview, BitMEX chief executive Alexander Höptner shared his thoughts about institutional investors who, in his view, still have an appetite for crypto and Ethereum. Speaking at the Token2049 conference in Singapore on Sept. 28, the crypto executive told Cointelegraph that there has not been a “single slowdown of institutional push into crypto” during this bear market. He added that institutions and finance industry players typically use bear markets for innovation. There is a lot more pressure to deliver in a bull market, but bear markets offer the luxury of more time. Höptner also commented that adoption for the finance industry has a long horizon which is why institutions will be buying and holding crypto assets while the opposite can currently be said for the retail secto...
Nexo ‘surprised’ by state regulators’ actions, says co-founder
Kalin Metodiev, the co-founder and managing partner of crypto lender Nexo stated his firm was “surprised” by the way in which eight state regulators publicly took action against it for securities violations. Earlier this week the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation (DFPI) filed a desist and refrain order against Nexo’s Earn Interest Product, claiming the company was offering a security product that had not been cleared by the government for sale in the form of an investment contract. The DFPI also stated that it was joining regulators from seven other states in taking action against the company, including Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington and Vermont. Speaking with Cointelegraph at Token2049, Metodiev explained that Nexo was caugh...
WSJ: Terraform Labs claims case against Do Kwon is ‘highly politicized’
Terraform Labs, the company behind the development of the Terra (LUNA) blockchain said South Korea’s case against its co-founder Do Kwon has become political, alleging prosecutors expanded the definition of a security in response to public pressure. “We believe that this case has become highly politicized, and that the actions of the Korean prosecutors demonstrate unfairness and a failure to uphold basic rights guaranteed under Korean law,” a Terraform Labs spokesman said to The Wall Street Journal on Sept. 28. South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Kwon on Sept. 14 for violations of the countries capital markets laws, but Terraform Labs laid out a defense arguing Terra (now known as Terra Luna Classic (LUNC)) isn’t legally a security, meaning it isn’t covered by capital mar...
UAE Ministry of Economy opens up new headquarters in the Metaverse
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Economy has announced a new headquarters located where anyone in the world can visit — the Metaverse. According to Gulf News, the announcement was made on Sept. 28 by UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri during the Dubai Metaverse Assembly, with the minister stating “this is not a proof of concept, this is our third address” before giving a live tour of the virtual headquarters. The headquarters will feature a multiple story building, each serving a different purpose. Visitors will be able to take a ticket, which will prompt a “customer happiness center employee” to join the Metaverse and interact with the visitor. [embedded content]Footage from the Dubai Metaverse Assembly. Source: Gulf NewsThe new headquarters will comple...
US lawmakers propose amending cybersecurity bill to include crypto firms reporting potential threats
United States Senators Marsha Blackburn and Cynthia Lummis have introduced proposed changes to a 2015 bill that would allow “voluntary information sharing of cyber threat indicators among cryptocurrency companies.” According to a draft bill on amending the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, Blackburn and Lummis suggested U.S. lawmakers allow companies involved with distributed ledger technology or digital assets to report network damage, data breaches, ransomware attacks, and related cybersecurity threats to government officials for possible assistance. Should the bill be signed into law, agencies including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would issue policies and procedures for crypto firms facing potential cyber...
Genesis director to step down and move into advisory role
On Wednesday, Matthew Ballensweig, managing director of cryptocurrency broker Genesis, announced via Linkedin that he was formally leaving his post after over five years of tenure. Ballensweig is also the co-head of sales and trading. As told by Ballensweig, he has been transitioning his core responsibilities to a handful of trusted colleagues who will be taking the front-line role. “I am forever thankful to both Digital Currency Group [Genesis’ parent company] and Genesis for giving me the opportunity to build a capital markets business from the ground up. We built an eight-person company huddled in a small office in New York City back in 2017 to a sell-side trading behemoth doing billions in volumes in multiple countries today.” Ballensweig will stay with the firm...
JPMorgan’s CEO feels threatened by disruption in payment systems: Kevin O’Leary
JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon feels threatened by how the crypto space is disrupting the payment systems, stated the Shark Tank host and multi-millionaire venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary speaking at a Converge22 panel on Sept 28. O’Leary made his remarks after Dimon declared himself as a “major skeptic” on “crypto tokens, which you call currency, like Bitcoin,” referring to them as “decentralized Ponzi schemes” in his testimony to the United States Congress last week. Still on the panel, O’Leary explained that friction is one of the major problems in the traditional financial system and, plus, it’s how banks profit on transaction fees, adding that stablecoins could lead to a reduction in fees throughout the world. He stated: “...
Biden’s cryptocurrency framework is a step in the right direction
The White House released its first comprehensive framework this month for the Responsible Development of Digital Assets following President Joe Biden’s March 9 executive order. The order called for regulators to assess the industry and develop recommendations to safeguard investors while simultaneously promoting innovation. While more work is needed, the framework is a step in the right direction as it shows the willingness of regulators to provide the industry with the much-needed regulatory clarity it seeks. The framework’s recommendations addressed six key areas to protect market participants, offer access to financial services, and promote innovation. While Biden’s administration has focused more on just the protection of consumers in the industry in the past, it is encouraging t...
‘Everything is pointing to Russia’: U.S., EU officials on edge over pipeline explosions
In a statement Wednesday, the Council of the European Union promised a “robust and united response” to the incidents, adding that “all available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act.” The EU statement did not name a suspected culprit, but some others in Europe were less reticent in blaming Russia as the most likely cause of the pipeline ruptures, which created a massive methane leak under the Baltic Sea after being detected Monday. “An unnoticed, conspiratorial damage to pipelines at a depth of 80 meters in the Baltic Sea requires sophisticated technical and organizational capabilities that clearly point to a state actor,” Gerhard Schindler, former president of the German Federal Intelligence Service, told the German media outlet Welt. “Only Russia can reall...
