business
Bain Capital launches a first crypto-dedicated fund worth $560 million
The BCV Fund I has already invested $100 million into some unnamed crypto projects The Fund aims for active participation in crypto start-ups The venture arm of Massachusetts-based investment firm Bain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), has announced the launch of a first dedicated crypto-focused fund, called the BCV Fund I. With a $560 million ‘armoury,’ BCV will aim to advance its crypto endeavours even further, as it has been a player in the crypto scene for seven years now. Notably, it holds investments in some prominent names in the space, including Grayscale’s parent company, the Digital Currency Group, Compound, and BlockFi. Since the Fund closed last November, Bain Capital Crypto, which runs it, has already invested $100 million into a slew of yet unrevealed cr...
Supreme Court Won’t Review Decision That Freed Bill Cosby
The U.S. Supreme Court quietly announced Monday that it would not review Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case, leaving him a free man and ending a two-decade legal drama that shifted the cultural landscape, destroyed the groundbreaking Black actor’s reputation, and sent him to prison for several years late in life. The high court, without comment, declined to review a stunning decision out of Pennsylvania that released Cosby from prison in June over the word of a former prosecutor who said he had made a secret promise to Cosby’s lawyers that he would never be charged. A Cosby spokesperson expressed “sincere gratitude to the justices” on behalf of Cosby and his family for the announcement and said he was the victim of “a reprehensible bait and switch” by the district attorney and judge in the c...
Binance unveils Bifinity and reintroduces EUR & GBP bank transfers
Through Bifinity’s intuitive APIs, businesses will gain crypto-readiness. Binance has also fully brought back Euro and Pound bank transfers via SEPA and FTP. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is increasingly smoothing the path towards crypto adoption by new users. The crypto exchange today announced the launch of its native fiat-to-crypto payments provider. Dubbed Bifinity, Binance said in a press release published today that the new tech pay firm would enable “mainstream and crypto merchants to scale their businesses” to become crypto ready. Bifinity would provide them with intuitive Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to enable them to accept payments in crypto easily. Binance added that Bifinity would provide support for crypto buy-sell ...
Geffen Records Names Tom March U.S. President
Tom March has been named the new president of Geffen Records in the United States, the company announced today (March 7). March, who spent the past six years as co-president of Polydor in the U.K., will take up his new post in July and report to Interscope Geffen A&M chairman/CEO John Janick. March joins at a period when Geffen is on an upswing it hasn’t experienced in some time, with Olivia Rodrigo having broken out into superstar status in the past year with her album SOUR and nominations in each of the Big Four categories coming up at the Grammys in April. Geffen, in addition to INgrooves and Universal Music Group, will also be the distribution home for BTS when they make their UMG debut after leaving Columbia Records last fall, while another signing, the rapper Yeat, saw his latest...
FTX exchange looking to start operations in the European market
The crypto exchange has disclosed it has established a European division The exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried has previously talked about expansion and acquisition plans Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX has today announced a major milestone in its venture to explore new markets. The cryptocurrency exchange revealed today it has set up a Switzerland unit befittingly named FTX Europe that will be focused on serving users from Europe and the Middle East. The new unit has an additional base in Cyprus where it is licensed by the local watchdog CySEC according to the exchange’s press release. An FTX.US equivalent operating in Europe FTX previously set up a unit, FTX.US, that solely operates in the United States – a market that is widely considered stricter. The Switzerland-based unit, which comes two...
Netflix, TikTok Block Services in Russia to Avoid Crackdown
Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in Russia on Sunday (March 6) as the government cracks down on what people and media outlets can say about Russia’s war in Ukraine. TikTok said Russian users of the popular social media app would no longer be able to post new videos or livestreams and they also wouldn’t be able to see videos shared from elsewhere in the world. Netflix said it was suspending its service in Russia but didn’t provide additional details. The actions are likely to further isolate the country and its people after a growing number of multinational businesses have cut off Russia from vital financial services and technology products in response to Western economic sanctions and global outrage over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday...
Weekly Report: BitDAO makes bold bet with $633 million allocation
Here are some of the interesting headlines you might have missed in the cryptocurrency sector this week: Rarify gets a $10 million boost in a funding round led by Pantera Capital Rarify, an infrastructure firm that provides businesses and institutions with a platform to natively incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has completed a $10 million funding round. The raise, which now puts the firm’s valuation at $100 million, was led by asset management company Pantera Capital, with the involvement of other investors including Slow Ventures, Greycroft, Protocol Labs, Hyper, and Eniac Ventures. By providing infrastructure to support enterprise-scale NFT integration, Rarify helps companies jump into the NFT scene with ease. According to the firm’s co-founder Revas Tsivtsivadz, the firm aims to ...
‘Do The Right Thing Here’: Primary Wave Supports Morris Day in Prince Estate Feud
Days after the Prince estate sparked outrage by moving to block longtime collaborator Morris Day from using his band name “The Time,” the people who will soon take over control of the estate say they fully support Day’s right to keep using his name. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The controversial move, which prompted Day to complain on social media that the estate was “taking my name away from me,” was instigated by Comerica — a bank that has been serving as the court-appointed administrator of Prince’s assets during a years-long legal battle. But those proceedings are nearly complete and set to wrap up later this year, and the groups of heirs that will soon take control of the estate are now speaking out in Day’s favor. Primary Wave, a promi...
Hipgnosis Buys Leonard Cohen Song Catalog
Hipgnosis Song Management has acquired rights to the entire song catalog of Songwriter Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Leonard Cohen. The deal gives the company 100% ownership of Cohen’s songwriter’s share of all 278 songs and derivatives written over the course of his life. A renowned songwriter, poet, novelist and performer, Cohen is best known for penning one of the most frequently covered songs of all time: “Hallelujah,” which is included in the Hipgnosis deal. Among its over 300 estimated renditions, some of the most famous cuts of the track include those by the likes of Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright and Pentatonix. Cohen’s catalog is often characterized in two distinct groupings: Stranger Music (known as all Cohen releases up to the year 2000) and Old Ideas (rel...
Joe Hadley Exits CAA, Joins Spotify as Global Head of Artist and Audience Partnerships
Joe Hadley is leaving his position as one of the most powerful booking agents in hip-hop to join Spotify, the streaming company confirmed to Billboard. In his new role, Hadley will serve as Spotify’s global head of artist and audience partnerships. Based in Los Angeles, Hadley joined CAA in 2016 after five years at Windish Agency and was promoted to serve as global co-head of hip-hop and R&B at the agency along with Mark Cheatem in February 2021. The 34-year-old’s clients at CAA include Beyonce, A$AP Rocky, Zayn, Anuel AA, Koffee and Jorja Smith. Hadley is also reported to have led CAA’s diversity and inclusion efforts. A graduate of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Hadley got his start in music by promoting concerts in Germany before relocating to Chicago, wher...
Executive Turntable: CMG Names Digital Marketing SVP, Atlantic Taps Viral Marketing Head
Rebecca “Dimplez” Ijeoma was named senior vp, digital marketing & content development at Capitol Music Group (CMG). Ijeoma will co-lead the company’s digital department alongside CMG senior vp, digital strategy, business development & operations Nicholas Osborne out of CMG’s Hollywood headquarters. In the role, Dimplez will be tasked with strengthening marketing collaborations with digital and social media partners through campaigns and projects, while focusing on direct-to-fan engagement and commerce on a marketing campaign level. Dimplez’s hire marks a return for the executive at CMG, where she previously served as director, digital marketing from early 2017 through more than half of 2018. In that role, she was a key force in launching R&B singer Queen Naija, among other proj...
With ‘Donda 2’ Stem Player Release, Kanye West Skips Streamers — And the Charts
After releasing 16 tracks from Donda 2 to his Stem Player last week, Kanye West is so far staying true to his promise to hold back the album from streaming services. The artist and entrepreneur, who now goes by Ye, reported $1.3 million in Stem sales via Instagram in the 24 hours after announcing Donda 2 would be released exclusively on his $200 proprietary hockey-puck-sized streaming devices, which allow users to remix songs as they listen. While new Stem purchases appear to come preloaded with 2019’s Jesus Is King, last year’s Donda and Donda 2, anyone who purchased the device when it was released last year can also upload the Donda 2 songs — or others — using their computer and a USB-C cable. Ye said at time of his Feb. 18 Instagram post that he had sold 39,500 Stem Players to date — fo...
