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DatPiff Owner MediaLab Buys Genius for $80M
The company has had a series of high-profile partnerships with major music streams — from a lyric deal with Spotify to display context behind songs, to a built-in Apple Music player on the Genius website — and even launched its own livestreaming platform last year called Genius Live. But none of its initiatives were enough to move its valuation up in the past few years. The result is a sale that will come with job cuts. “We are restructuring the way in which original content is produced at Genius and as part of that some very talented individuals on the content and production teams were let go,” MediaLab said in a statement to Bloomberg. MediaLab says it will invest in the “community platform” as it focuses on emerging artists for the platform. MediaLab owns a small group of co...
Bitcoin ledger as a secret weapon in war against ransomware
Ransomware, malicious software that encrypts computers and keeps them “locked” until a ransom is paid, is the world’s fastest-growing cyber threat, according to Coinfirm. Recent attacks on critical national infrastructure, like the Colonial Pipeline incursion that crippled oil and gas deliveries for a week along the U.S. East Coast, have set off alarms. Ransom payments are almost always made in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. But while many were shaken by May’s Colonial Pipeline attack — the Biden administration issued new pipeline regulations in its aftermath — relatively few are aware of that drama’s final act: Using blockchain analysis, the FBI was was able to follow the ransom payments fund flow and recover about 85% of the Bitcoin paid to ransomware group DarkSide. In f...
SushiSwap leads DEX token gains as SUSHI price rises by 23% in 24 hours
SushiSwap (SUSHI) prices crept higher on Sept. 16 following another day of gains for decentralized exchange (DEX) tokens. The SUSHI/USD exchange rate rose by 7.54%, or $1.14, to reach $16.31 for the first time since May 21. The pair’s upside move pushed its 24-hour adjusted timeframe profits up to 23%, making SUSHI the best-performing DEX token in the given period. For instance, UNI, the token representing the leading DEX Uniswap by market cap, jumped 6.23% against the U.S. dollar in the previous 24 hours. Meanwhile, PancakeSwap (CAKE) rose 2.5%, THORChain (RUNE) climbed circa 13%, and Curve (CRV) inched higher by over 4.5%. The performance of top DEX tokens in the previous 24 hours. Source: Messari Why is SushiSwap leading the DEX pack? Decentralized finance sector analyst Kris Kay ...
Alt winds of change? What an altcoin season would mean for crypto
A new alt season is here — at least, according to some crypto industry commentators. Over the last month, altcoins — aka cryptocurrencies that aren’t Bitcoin (BTC) — have surged in price, with projects such as Solana, Cardano and Polkadot seeing their tokens triple in value. However, though people are screaming “alt season” with an air of familiarity, the industry is still very much exploring uncharted territory. The Cointelegraph Markets Pro alt season indicator states that the industry is in the midst of an alt season, showing a 32% inclination. While The Altseason Index, which defines the alt season as a period of 90 days where 75% of the top 50 altcoins outperform Bitcoin, says it isn’t an alt season just yet. But if the last few weeks are anything to go by, the altcoin market is ...
Cuba’s cryptocurrency regulations take effect
Resolution 215 of 2021 issued by the Banco Central de Cuba (BCC) — the country’s central bank — recognizing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) is now in effect. According to Cuba’s official state news agency Prensa Latina, the order became official on Wednesday. With crypto legally recognized by the BCC, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can now be used for commercial transactions and investments in Cuba. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the central bank first announced plans to recognize and regulate crypto back in late August. Indeed, Resolution 215 of 2021 contains provisions for a licensing regime for crypto exchanges and other virtual asset service providers operating in Cuba. Despite legalizing the use of crypto assets in Cuba, the BCC has warned of the risks asso...
Helene Fischer Renews Deal With Universal Music Germany
Fischer has sold 16.3 million albums, counting equivalent streams and downloads, many of them as CDs, which still sell well in Germany. As of 2018, she had scored the top-selling album in the market for five of the previous six years. To get a better sense of how popular she is, though, remember that Germany has a population of 83 million – about a quarter that of the U.S. – and the German-speaking market is roughly 100 million. Fischer also hosts in “Die Helene Fischer Show,” an annual Christmas program on the German public television network ZDF. Fischer’s new album, Rausch, is due out Oct. 15, and the first single, “Vamos a Marte” – Spanish for “let’s go to Mars” – is a duet with the Puerto Rican star Luis Fonsi, who is signed to Universal...
David Bowie Estate and Warner Music Partner to Bring Icon’s Entire Catalog to Label
Among the artist’s later works covered by this new pact are 2002’s Mercury Prize-nominated Heathen; 2003’s Reality; 2013’s The Next Day; and his final studio album, 2016’s Blackstar, also shortlisted for the annual Mercury Prize. Blackstar dropped just two days before Bowie’s death, on Jan. 10, 2016. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving Bowie a posthumous, first leader. The following year, during the 59th Grammy Awards, Blackstar swept all five awards it was nominated for. Warner Music Group has controlled the lion’s share of Bowie’s recordings since 2013, when the company acquired the Parlophone Label Group, following the split-up and sale of EMI. In the intervening years, WMG has pulled the trigger of several releases showcasing Bowie’s...
Bank of Russia’s new crypto crackdown won’t affect BitRiver: CEO
The Russian central bank announced that it will work with local banks to slow down payments to crypto exchanges In a statement to CoinTelegraph, Igor Runets, the founder and CEO of Russia’s largest crypto mining colocation services provider BitRiver, asserted that the Russian central bank’s new regulatory crackdown is unlikely to affect the firm. Runets explained that BitRiver acts as a data centre provider for foreign digital assets companies and does not own or operate crypto mining facilities. “We don’t send crypto to exchanges, we have none of our own equipment and this bank’s move will not affect our clients because they operate in foreign jurisdictions,” Runets assured users. The Bank of Russia announced earlier today that it will be working with local banks to curb...
Bitcoin price analysis: BTC is heading towards $50k
The cryptocurrency market has been slowly recovering since starting the week in a negative fashion and is primed to record more gains in the coming hours The cryptocurrency market has performed excellently in the past 24 hours, with most of the leading coins all up by more than 2% during that period. Bitcoin has continued its slow recovery towards $50,000 again after crossing the $48,000 resistance level. Ether is perhaps the biggest winner amongst the leading cryptocurrencies after rising by nearly 7% in 24 hours. ETH has surpassed the crucial $3,500 level and is now trading above $3,600 per coin. The cryptocurrency topped the $3,800 mark last week before the crash and could be set to rally towards that level once again. Cardano (ADA), Binance Coin (BNB), XRP and Dogecoin are some of the ...
Major bank Morgan Stanley sets up a crypto research team
Morgan Stanley started granting its wealthy clients exposure to Bitcoin, and it is now diving deeper into the cryptocurrency space Morgan Stanley, one of the top investment banks in the United States, is increasing its exposure to the cryptocurrency space. The multinational bank has reportedly set up a cryptocurrency research division to allow it to explore the opportunities in the sector. According to a recent report by Bloomberg, the banking giant has chosen Sheena Shah to serve as the lead cryptocurrency analyst for the team. Shah has been a key part of Morgan Stanley’s move into the cryptocurrency space and served as its lead currency strategist covering G10 currencies for nearly a decade. Shah has been appointed to focus on analysing the impact of cryptos on stocks and fixed-income in...
There’s a Bitcoin boom among Baby Boomers reports BTC Markets
Australian cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has observed a significant uptick in older clients using its platform over the past financial year. More older Australians are viewing crypto assets as viable investments according to the data provided by one of the country’s oldest and largest exchanges. In its annual Investor Report, BTC Markets — which started in 2013 — reported a 15% increase in the number of investors over 65. Thed they are also the group making the largest deposits. Baby Boomers, which are classified as those born between 1946 and 1964, now comprise 5% of the platform’s estimated 325,000 customer base. BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler proclaimed that “young male traders have relinquished their monopoly on crypto,” as the boomer growth figure was the second-highest after t...
Fidenza artist slams knock-off NFT project from ‘honest pirates’ on Solana
Tyler Hobbs, the artist behind the popular generative NFT series Fidenza has slammed a Solana-based project for utilizing his code to produce knock-off artworks without his approval. The Fidenza series is a curated drop of 999 NFTs on Art Blocks — an Ethereum-based platform that creates and hosts tokenized computer generated artworks. Hobbs wrote code that generates unique art pieces using the randomized transaction hash of the buyer’s transaction as input. Fidenza #313 Hobbs sold the 999 works originally for $400,000 and has since made more than $4 million in commissions as they were sold on. Now his code has been used without permission to generate art for an NFT project called “SolBlocks.” Hobbs fired a salvo at the team after it announced a tokenized art drop using his code on Se...
