business
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...
Australian Football League scores a mega-deal with Crypto.com
The Football League has become the latest sports entity to partner with the exchange, which is looking to reach a bigger audience via the sports industry Crypto.com has reached an agreement to become the official exchange platform of the Australian Football League (AFL). The women’s league (AFLW) is also featured in this latest partnership deal aimed towards mainstream acceptance. The exchange will secure exclusive naming rights for the ‘Crypto.com AFL Score Review’ for all premier and final series games as part of the agreement. According to the press release shared with FXEMPIRE, Crypto.com will join Toyota and the National Australia Bank (NAB) in sponsoring the two leagues in a deal valued at $25 million through the next five years. This mega-deal is a significant jump...
Crypto.com users report suspicious wallet activity, exchange pauses withdrawals
The exchange has not clarified the nature of the suspicious activity, but users are claiming mysterious loss of money Earlier today, Crypto.com said it was temporarily pausing withdrawals as it confirmed receiving reports from some users claiming suspicious activity in their wallets. The exchange noted that it was looking into the matter and assured users of their holdings’ safety. “We have a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts. We will be pausing withdrawals shortly, as our team is investigating. All funds are safe,” a tweet from the exchange’s Twitter account read. Some users responding to the tweet claim to have messaged the exchange about the issue hours before the announcement. For instance, Entrepreneur and jeweller Ben B...
Crypto-focused software firm Lukka raises $110M, reaches $1.3B valuation
Cryptocurrency accounting and data company Lukka said it had raised $110 million in a new funding round led by hedge fund giant Marshall Wace. In a Friday announcement, Lukka said it had completed a $110 million Series E funding round led by Marshall Wace, with participation from Soros Fund Management — a fund created by billionaire investor George Soros, Liberty City Ventures, S&P Global, and accounting advisor CPA.com. Lukka said it planned to use the funds for “aggressive growth and global expansion strategy” with its current customer base dealing in derivatives, decentralized finance and other products related to the crypto space. Lukka CEO Robert Materazzi said the crypto ecosystem had entered a “new phase of maturity,” with the firm aiming to address challenges from innovati...
COVID-19, Supply Issues Delay Opening of Enmarket Arena in Savannah
The planned mid-January opening of Savannah’s new 9,500-seat sports and concert arena has been pushed back, with city officials blaming the coronavirus and supply chain problems. The $140 million Enmarket Arena had been scheduled to open in the past week with concerts by Earth, Wind and Fire on Thursday and Riley Green on Friday. But the venue remains unfinished, and both shows have been postponed until early February. Explore See latest videos, charts and news “It is disappointing to have to take a step back and hit the pause button,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson told reporters at a news conference. He added: “However, that disappointment does not eclipse the necessity of being sure we have a complete, safe facility, with all the necessary inspections in-hand.” Construction crews broke grou...
Astroworld Attendees Asked to Upload Photos and Videos to FBI Website
The Houston Police Department is asking attendees of last year’s Astroworld festival to upload their photos and videos from the Nov. 5 event to a new FBI website. Concertgoers are invited to upload a maximum of four files and share their name and contact information. The Houston P.D. is specifically looking for photos and videos taken between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the festival’s “main venue area.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news “Houston Police Detectives have already viewed countless hours of video evidence as part of our ongoing investigation into the Astroworld event,” said the Houston Police Department in a statement Friday (Jan. 14). “To ensure that we have captured all possible evidence for a complete investigation, we have partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigatio...
