business
Canadian restaurant chain reports earning 300% gains on BTC investment to weather pandemic
More than a year after a Canada-based Middle Eastern restaurant chain converted its fiat cash reserves into Bitcoin, the owner reported the move helped save the business during the pandemic. According to a Tuesday report from Canadian news outlet Toronto Star, when Tahini’s restaurant owners Aly and Omar Hamam and their cousin Ahmed decided to convert the company’s savings into Bitcoin (BTC) in August 2020 because it offered “a much better alternative to saving cash,” the price of the crypto asset was roughly $12,000. Aly Hamam reported the business had benefited from the initial crypto investment. “We made the move to the corporate balance sheet on a Bitcoin-standard back in August of 2020, and since then, we’re up more than 300 percent on our initial investment,” said Hamam. “It’s really...
Jay-Z Urges New York to Limit the Use of Rap Lyrics in Criminal Cases
Jay-Z, Meek Mill and other major musical artists are pressing New York lawmakers to pass legislation that would restrict when prosecutors can cite rap lyrics as evidence during criminal cases, saying such reform is “urgently needed.” Also signed by Killer Mike, Fat Joe, Robin Thicke and a slew of others, the new letter urged lawmakers to support Senate Bill S7527, known as “Rap Music on Trial,” which would limit the admissibility of someone’s music as evidence against them in a criminal trial. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The bill, introduced in November, is part of a broader legal debate over when prosecutors can or should cite rap lyrics – a practice that critics say offers little insight into an actual crime and can unfairly sway juries, ...
BitMEX acquires a German bank in line with its Europe expansion plans
The agreement of purchase is subject to regulatory approval by Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) BMX Operations AG, an affiliate firm created by BitMEX Group execs yesterday, revealed plans to acquire a 268-year-old German bank, Bankhaus von der Heydt. Though financial details were not disclosed, the purchase is to be finalised by the end of Q2 this year. BMX Operations, owned by BitMEX Group CEO Alexander Höptner and CFO Stephan Lutz, said it had signed a purchase agreement with the current owner of the bank, Dietrich von Boetticher. The acquisition of the bank is, however, tentative at present as it hasn’t been given the green light by Germany’s financial regulatory authority BaFin. “Through combining the regulated digital assets expertise of Bankhaus von ...
Metaplex Foundation closes $46 million raise to expand Solana NFT use cases
The firm specifically sought investors in the sports and entertainment industries to stick with the current NFT curve Metaplex Foundation, the creator of Solana’s NFT protocol Metaplex, has today said it completed a funding round in which it raised $46 million. The round was co-led by Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital, with several other major brands, including Alameda research, Solana Ventures and Animoca Brands involved. Prominent public figures, including American rapper Snoop Dogg and several retired as well as active pro basketballers such as Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and Kevin Love took part. DJ production duo The Chainsmokers (via Mantis Venture Capital firm) and New York Knicks Executive Vice President also participated. In total, 90 investors pitched in the fundraising....
Judge Tosses Legal Malpractice Suit Filed By Ex-UMG Exec Charlie Walk
Prominent attorney Marc Kasowitz has defeated a legal malpractice lawsuit filed by former Universal Music Group executive Charlie Walk, who claimed the lawyer gave him terrible legal advice when Walk was hit with multiple accusations of sexual harassment. Walk, the former president of UMG’s Republic Records, claims that the attorney and his firm Kasowitz Benson Torres committed “catastrophic malpractice” by pressuring him to sign a “one-sided settlement” to exit the record label in 2018, but Justice Andrew Borrok dismissed those claims during a live hearing on Tuesday. As first reported by Law360, Borrok called Walk’s accusations against Kasowitz a “false narrative” and “absolutely outrageous.” Walk had argued that his attorney ignored key arguments in his favor, but Justice Borrok cited e...
Coinbase seals partnership deal with Mastercard to facilitate NFT purchases
The exchange announced its upcoming NFT marketplace last year, and its waiting list has already accumulated over 2.5 million users US-based cryptocurrency platform Coinbase, on Tuesday, announced it is working with multinational financial services firm Mastercard to allow users to buy NFTs using cards. Most of the existing NFT marketplaces currently only support crypto payments for the collectables and digital items they host. The Coinbase-Mastercard partnership aims to simplify things for users of the former’s upcoming NFT platform by allowing them to complete purchases using the latter’s cards. By making the experience of purchasing NFTs suitable for novice users, the pair hopes to reach a broad market. “As an important step in this mission, we’re excited to annou...
Hipgnosis Buys Stake in Kenny Chesney Recording Royalties
Hipgnosis Song Management has acquired 80% of country superstar Kenny Chesney’s recorded music royalties. The deal is the first acquisition made by Hipgnosis since its new $1 billion partnership with Blackstone, announced in October, to acquire music rights and manage catalogs and is also Hipgnosis’s first deal with a country superstar. The pact covers Chesney’s recorded music royalties over a 23-year period, from 1994’s In My Wildest Dreams, his debut on Capricorn Records, through 2017’s Live in No Shoes Nation. Chesney recorded for Sony Music Nashville imprints from 1995 to 2017. The deal also includes future greatest hits, live and acoustic albums. Chesney switched to Warner Music Nashville in 2018 and the deal does not include any of his recorded music royalties for 2018’s Songs for th...
Microsoft Announces $68.7 Billion USD Acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, taking control of the company in a $68.7 billion USD deal. According to the terms of the deal, Miicrosoft is paying $95 USD per share for Activision Blizzard best known as the company behind Call of Duty and Overwatch. This represents a 45% premium on Activision’s Friday close price. The deal now means that Microsoft is the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. Additionally, Activision’s library will bolster Xbox’s gaming platform and Microsoft’s Game Pass portfolio with exclusive games and releases. Announcing the record-breaking deal, Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft said: “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play ...
Binance partners with Gulf Energy to set up a digital asset exchange in Thailand
Last year, Binance received a criminal complaint from the Thailand SEC over unlicensed operation Thailand-based Gulf Energy Development Public Company has reached an agreement with crypto exchange Binance to explore avenues leading to the development of a digital asset trading platform and related business in the country. A letter sent to The Stock Exchange of Thailand on Monday revealed an MoU reached between the two parties that would see Binance help advance blockchain technology and scale the development of digital assets in the country. Gulf Energy is said to have banked its decision to complete the agreement with Binance in the hopes that the infrastructure around Thailand’s digital economy would proliferate in the coming years. The firm explained that with a combination ...
Microsoft to Buy Activision Blizzard in $68.7B Video Game Mega-Deal
Tech giant Microsoft will buy the video game publisher Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal that would reshape the gaming landscape. The deal, if completed, would bring together Microsoft, which owns the Xbox game platform and Xbox Game Studios (which owns Bethesda Softworks and 343 Industries, among other game publishers) and Activision, owner of the Call of Duty, Warcraft and Tony Hawk franchises, among others. Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony, when and if the deal closes. The deal is the largest in Microsoft’s history, with the companies targeting a close in 2023. “We need more innovation and investment in content creation, and fewer constraints on distribution,” Microsoft CE...
Daniel Ek, Defense Tech and Why Some Artists Have Joined a Call to ‘Boycott Spotify’
With his 2,141 SoundCloud followers, veteran U.K. psychedelic-music producer Darren Sangita didn’t exactly wound Spotify when he pulled his music from the streaming service last month. “I’m a zed-list music celebrity,” he says. But he couldn’t support a company whose founder, Daniel Ek, invested more than $114 million in Helsing, a European security startup that manufactures artificial-intelligence software to “keep liberal democracies from harm.” “The circumstantial evidence points to a massive investment in military/AI tech,” says Sangita, who runs indie label Sangita Sounds. “I was just enormously disappointed. Are there not any other alternatives that Mr. Ek could have possibly thought about investing in to make the world...
FTX secures naming rights sponsorship of Australian Blockchain Week
FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried is among the guests expected to present during the flagship blockchain event Bahamian-based crypto derivatives exchange FTX will be the naming rights sponsor of this year’s edition of the Australian Blockchain Week. The festival is scheduled to run from March 21st to 25th and will cover 75 online, in-person, and hybrid events. The major topics that will be covered include taxation, the Metaverse revolution, sovereign digital currencies, venture capital, Web3 & its privacy implications, and regulations. More than 200 speakers are set to attend, including blockchain entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried. No specifics on the partnership terms have been revealed as of press time. However, in his LinkedIn post announcing the arrangement, Steve Vallas, th...
