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Def Jam Names Mike Hamilton SVP of Streaming & Commerce
Def Jam has named Mike Hamilton as its new senior vp of streaming and commerce, the label announced Thursday (Sept. 15). The music executive, who was named a 2021 Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Player, has helped guide the streaming success of artists like Giveon, Future, DJ Khaled, Travis Scott, 21 Savage and Cardi B. “Mike boasts some of the best relationships in the industry, and brings a deep, nuanced understanding of the streaming ecosystem and a keen eye for strategy,” said Tunji Balogun, Def Jam chairman and CEO. “Our company and our artists will immediately benefit from Mike’s experience and expertise, and I’m beyond excited to finally work alongside him in breaking new artists together under the Def Jam banner.” Prior to his new role, Hamilton served for three years as senio...
Cinq Sues Create Music Group for ‘Falsely Claiming’ Copyright Infringement
Record label and distributor Cinq Music Group sued Create Music Group on Monday, accusing the company of preventing it from monetizing Swell’s 2016 song “I’m Sorry” on YouTube. Cinq’s complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, asks for “no less than $200,000” in damages, claiming intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic relations, and negligent interference with prospective economic relations. Billboard previously reported that more than 10 sources — including artist managers, lawyers and executives at other royalty collection companies — said they know of times when Create has claimed YouTube publishing royalties it has no right to receive. Create vehemently denied the allegations. Cinq’s lawsuit, in contrast, invol...
Weekslong boil water notice lifted in Mississippi capital
Emergency repairs are still underway after problems at Jackson’s main water treatment plant caused most customers to lose service for several days in late August and early September. Problems started days after torrential rain fell in central Mississippi, altering the quality of the raw water entering Jackson’s treatment plants. That slowed the treatment process, depleted supplies in water tanks and caused a precipitous drop in pressure. When water pressure drops, there’s a possibility that untreated groundwater can enter the water system through cracked pipes, so customers are told to boil water to kill potentially harmful bacteria. But even before the rainfall, officials said some water pumps had failed and a treatment plant was using backup pumps. Jackson had already been under a boil-w...
Bitcoin price loses $20K, ETH price drops 8% after ‘monumental’ Ethereum Merge
Bitcoin (BTC) spent a second day threatening $20,000 support on Sept. 15 as markets processed the Ethereum (ET Merge. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView BTC stuck between price magnets’ Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking below $20,000 again overnight to recover marginally above the boundary for a brief period. The largest cryptocurrency broadly failed to regain lost ground after surprise United States inflation data on Sep. 13 sent risk assets into a tailspin. Down 13.5% versus the week’s top at the time of writing, Bitcoin offered little inspiration to traders who were still eyeing further losses. Yes, we could pump from here. No, the bottom is not in. pic.twitter.com/dXYKngcQtR — Material Indicators (@MI_Algos) S...
The Ethereum Merge to proof-of-stake is complete — What’s next? | Interview with Dr. Julian Hosp
In this week’s episode of Market Talks, we welcome Julian Hosp, CEO and co-founder of Cake DeFi. Julian Hosp is the CEO and co-founder of Cake DeFi, a highly intuitive online platform dedicated to providing access to decentralized financial services. He is widely regarded as a leading influencer in the crypto and blockchain space with over one million followers across all of his channels globally. He is also a best-selling author and his vision is to bring blockchain awareness and understanding to a billion more people by 2025. The Merge has been all over the place recently, with different news outlets, influencers and YouTube channels covering the event as much as possible, but why does the Ethereum Merge actually matter, and why is it such a significant event in crypto? We ask...
Merge is ‘a step in the right direction’ to address crypto’s energy usage — Rostin Behnam
Rostin Behnam, chair of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, said the Ethereum blockchain’s transition to proof-of-stake may help reduce crypto’s energy usage, but hinted legislation would likely still be needed to address the problem. Speaking at a Thursday hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Behnam addressed a question from Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who brought up the environmental impact of the “significant energy” required of mining cryptocurrencies. Without mentioning the Merge by name, the CFTC chair said the crypto bill currently being considered by lawmakers would require a report on energy usage that could lead to future policy discussion and “incentives to move away from carbon-intensive energy sources.” “We’ve all heard the statist...
South Korean prosecutors apply to revoke Do Kwon and other Terra employees’ passports
According to local news outlet gynews.kr, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Joint Financial Securities Crime Investigation Team says it will be contacting the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to nullify the passports of Terra Luna co-founder Do Kwon and five other project developers. Prosecutors also plan to contact Interpol and escalate the South Korean arrest warrant issued the day prior into an international arrest warrant. All Terra Luna members named in the warrant reside in Singapore, a country that does not have an extradition treaty with South Korea. Targeted individuals on the warrant include Mo Han and Mo Yu, both of whom are Terra Luna employees staying with Do Kwon in Singapore. Another named individual is Greek national Nicholas Pla...
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin celebrates the Merge: ‘Dream for years’
As the clock counted down to the final moments of the big Ethereum (ETH) Merge, co-founder Vitalik Buterin joined the “Ethereum Mainnet Merge Viewing Party” livestream hosted by the Ethereum Foundation to share his final thoughts. When asked if he was excited about the Merge, Buterin responded that he is “absolutely excited about being exited from the proof-of-work era.” The co-founder went on to say that the historic transition of the network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) has been on the agenda for years. “[It] has obviously been a dream for the Ethereum ecosystem since pretty much the beginning. We started the proof-of-stake research with that blog post on Slosher back in January 2014.” The Merge can be seen as reinventing the laws of physi...
Community celebrates the Merge by dropping ETH-inspired art and music
As the Merge successfully shifted the Ethereum network to proof-of-stake (PoS), the ETH community seized the opportunity to celebrate by dropping artworks and music inspired by Ethereum. Nonfungible token (NFT) artist Beeple, the creator of one of the most expensive NFTs ever sold, celebrated the Ethereum Merge by publishing an illustration that shows a massive Ethereum logo that seemed to slowly form, assisted by what looks like scientists. Another community member who makes art influenced by street art and illustration dropped a moving artwork showing a static visual effect over a couple of Ether (ETH) logos. Adding a sense of celebration to the artwork, the creator wrote a description that said, “the time has come.” Meanwhile, an NFT collection dubbed I Survived the Merge fe...
How does tokenization help transform illiquid real estate ownership into a liquid one?
A few years back, the concept of owning and trading fragments of physical real estate might have seemed too far-fetched for many. But with the advent of blockchain technology, real estate tokenization is providing new opportunities for fractional ownership and investment. Blockchain technology’s long-overdue debut in real estate has made real-world asset tokenization a heavily-discussed topic in the industry. After all, tokenization ticks all those boxes that are often required to ruffle many a feather in a traditional industry — it’s digital, global, complex and future-oriented. But how exactly does real estate tokenization work, and how can it help transform illiquid real estate ownership into a liquid one? Let’s take a look. What does tokenization mean? Tokenization is the process of ta...
Norwegian town wants ‘noisy’ Bitcoin miners out, experts respond
There’s a new Bitcoin (BTC) energy FUD in town: noise. In Sortland, a Norwegian municipality, locals are waging war on Bitcoin miners to thwart further BTC mining developments. Their latest protest against proof-of-work (PoW) mining is that it’s loud. It’s not enough that Bitcoin miners in Sortland use 100% renewable energy sources, create jobs and even use waste heat from the PoW process to dry out timber and seaweed for local businesses; they must do so quietly. Sortland (red) in the extremes of Norway. Source: Google Kjetil Hove Pettersen, CEO at local KryptoVault, explained that it could be another case of media spin aiming at Bitcoin. He explained the situation to Cointelegraph: “It is usually the negative voices that get the most media attention; this does not refle...
Compound Treasury to let institutions use digital assets as collateral when borrowing USD or USDC
Compound Treasury, a cash management solution for institutions powered by the Compound Protocol, announced on Sept. 14 that accredited institutions can now borrow USD or USDC with fixed rates starting from 6% APR, using Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and supported ERC-20 assets as collateral. Starting today, to meet the growing demand for liquidity, institutions can now borrow from Compound Treasury, using digital assets as collateral.https://t.co/xgDIep18Qa — Compound Labs (@compoundfinance) September 14, 2022 The DeFi-backed company whose notable clients include crypto companies, fintech institutions and banks, shared that the decision was made in response to recent market volatility, which has created a more robust demand for liquidity. Reid Cuming, vice president of Compound Treasur...
