business
Argo Blockchain among most traded stocks by Fidelity customers
Financial services company Fidelity Investments’ U.K. arm reported that over the last 12 months, customers were most interested in trading shares of crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain. In a Thursday report, Fidelity said Argo Blockchain ranked third among the top five stocks most actively traded by its customers in 2021 — the others were Rolls-Royce, British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines, oil giant BP and Lloyds Banking Group. Argo, which Fidelity described as a “trending” stock, also ranked third among stocks traded by Self-Invested Personal Pension, or SIPP, investors. However, the financial services company hinted that Argo may not make the top five next year. According to Fidelity, “new arrivals” knocked the mining firm off the list of most actively traded sto...
Weverse Fandom Report 2021: BTS, BLACKPINK Dominate as Subscriber Count Passes 36M
On Thursday (Dec. 23), HYBE’s global fan community platform Weverse revealed its second annual 2021 “Weverse Fandom Trend,” which breaks down the year’s most popular topics, hashtags, keywords and posts among Weverse fandoms worldwide. The growth in Weverse subscribers was substantial this year, surpassing 36 million from 238 countries. That’s up a whopping 16.8 million from 2020, though that number does include duplicate subscribers, according to a press release announcing the 2021 report. The total number of posts on Weverse in 2021 approximately doubled from the number of posts last year, exceeding 240 million as of Dec. 14, while the total number of comments reached 460 million. The total number of moments, posts and comments written by artists themselves reached 120,000. Explore See l...
Bakkt president Adam White announces departure from digital asset platform
Adam White, the president and founding executive of digital assets company Bakkt, is leaving the firm after three years. In a Thursday post on Twitter, White said next week would mark his departure from Bakkt, where he has served as both chief operating officer and president. White joined Bakkt after leaving Coinbase in 2018, where he worked as a vice president and general manager. The Bakkt president did not reveal what his next move would be, or whether he would continue to work in the crypto space. “I’ve loved working at intersection of crypto + markets and good to see the industry finding the balance between innovation & regulation,” said White. “Lots of work still to do here but never been more optimistic about the future.” After a great 3+ years at bakkt, next week will be my las...
Nirvana Fires Back In ‘Nevermind’ Naked Baby Lawsuit, Says Case Was Filed Too Late
Nirvana is firing back at a recent lawsuit that claims the band violated child pornography laws with the iconic image of a nude baby on the cover of Nevermind, blasting the case as “not serious” and saying it was filed years too late. The lawsuit made headlines in August when it was filed by Spencer Elden, the now-30-year-old man who appeared in the image as a baby. He claims that the 1991 album cover — one of the most famous in rock and roll history — amounted to “commercial sexual exploitation” of a minor. In the band’s first formal response to the lawsuit, Nirvana said Wednesday that Elden’s case has a fatal-flaw: It was filed years after the statute of limitations had run out, by a man who had long embraced the image. “Elden has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the s...
NFT-collateralized loan platform Arcade raises $15M in funding round
Arcade, a platform that allows users to utilize nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as loan collateral, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round with participation from Pantera Capital. In a Wednesday announcement, Arcade said Pantera, Castle Island Ventures, Franklin Templeton Blockchain Fund, Golden Tree Asset Management, Eniac Ventures, Protofund, Probably Nothing Capital and Lemniscap in addition to angel investors BlockFi CEO Zac Prince and Quantstamp CEO Richard Ma were behind the investment in an effort to connect NFT-collateralized lending with the decentralized finance space. The platform is also coming out of a private release with $3.3 million in total loan volume secured on a total of $10 million in assets. Arcade co-founder Gabe Frank said NFTs account for a significant portio...
Eric Clapton ‘Does Not Intend’ to Collect Money from German Widow in Bootleg CD Case
A German woman has been ordered to pay nearly $4,000 for attempting to sell a bootleg Eric Clapton CD on eBay, according to a report on the German website DW. But after facing widespread condemnation online, Clapton’s management team now says the musician won’t be pursuing what he’s owed. The 55-year-old woman, identified in court documents as Gabriele P., claims she inherited the bootleg CD Eric Clapton – Live USA from the estate of her late husband, who purchased it at a department store in 1987. But after listing it for sale on eBay for €9.95 ($11.27), lawyers for Clapton issued an affidavit in Düsseldorf regional court stating the CD was illegal. The court eventually issued an injunction barring the woman from selling the CD online and ordering her to pay €3,400 ($3,852) in legal fees ...
5 Seconds of Summer Hit with $2.5M Breach of Contract Suit by Former Management Firm
5 Seconds of Summer’s former management company, YM&U Group, is suing the Australian pop-rock band for breach of contract, according to court documents reviewed by Billboard. Filed in California Superior Court on Dec. 17 by YM&U attorneys Howard King and Stephen Rothschild of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, the complaint alleges that 5SOS – with the encouragement of their current manager, Benjamin Evans – has refused to pay YM&U commissions the firm is owed for multiple lucrative deals it negotiated on behalf of the group, including a $10 million single-album recording contract with BMG and a $1.5 million merchandising extension with Bravado International Group. Evans is named as a defendant in the lawsuit alongside 5 Seconds of Summer members Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, As...
Hive Blockchain on track to mine more Bitcoin, less Ether this quarter
Publicly traded crypto mining firm Hive Blockchain is expecting to produce 6,900 Ether (ETH) and 670 Bitcoin (BTC) for the fiscal quarter ending on Dec. 31, marking a respective drop and increase over that of the previous quarter. In a Wednesday notice to shareholders, Hive said it had mined 6,280 Ether from Oct. 1 to Dec. 21 and was on track to mine more than 65 ETH daily for the remainder of 2021. This projected total — 6,900 ETH — would represent a decrease of more than 20% from the 8,688 ETH the company mined from July 1 to Sept. 30. However, Hive is expecting its Bitcoin production to increase by 2% quarterly, from roughly 656 BTC to 670 BTC. “This increase [in Bitcoin] has been driven by the previously announced investments that have been made into new generation miner...
Disney Taps Spotify Exec Horacio Gutierrez as General Counsel
Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek has found the successor to longtime Disney executive and general counsel Alan Braverman. Disney has named Horacio Gutierrez senior executive vp, general counsel and secretary for the company, succeeding Braverman, who is retiring at the end of the year. Guttierez joins from streaming audio giant Spotify, where he was head of global affairs and chief legal officer. The executive, who starts at Disney Feb. 1, previously served as general counsel at Microsoft. “Horacio is an incredibly skilled attorney and dynamic leader who comes to Disney with 35 years of legal experience in markets around the globe. Having spent more than two decades working for premier technology companies, he has an extensive understanding of the complex legal questions that come with techn...
Ubisoft Hit By “Great Exodus” of Developers and Employees
New reports have surfaced suggesting that Ubisoft has been hit with a “great exodus” of developers and other employees over the past 18 months. According to Axios, the French video game company has seen a significant loss in talent in recent times, with as much as 12% of its workforce leaving since mid-2020. Across its Montreal and Toronto branches, at least 60 staff members have departed within the last six months, including low and mid-level employees as well as those higher up in the hierarchy. Five of the top 20 developers credited for Far Cry 6 have left, and another 12 of the top 50 working on Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla are also gone. While former employees said having better, competing offers from new studios have been one of the key reasons for the large exodus of workers...
Crypto.com partners with Los Angeles’ Angel City Football Club
Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has inked another deal to expand its brand recognition in the United States with the professional women’s sports team Angel City Football Club. In a Tuesday announcement, Crypto.com said it had partnered with the Los Angeles soccer team in an effort to increase the awareness of and access to crypto, blockchain and Web 3.0 among Angelenos, soccer fans and the athletes themselves. The exchange said it plans to continue looking for “unique and impactful ways” to invest in L.A., with the partnership aimed at encouraging “financial education, independence and financial empowerment” for women. “Given the speed with which Web 3.0 and cryptocurrency is changing our world, we want to ensure that women are being brought along on the journey as investors and creator...
Crypto exchange Kraken acquires non-custodial staking platform Staked
Major cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced that it purchased blockchain infrastructure company and investment manager Staked for an undisclosed amount. In a Tuesday announcement, Kraken — the crypto exchange aiming for a $10 billion valuation — said it had added Staked to its portfolio of yield products following the acquisition. The company described the Staked deal as “one of the largest crypto industry acquisitions to date” but did not disclose the amount. According to Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, Staked users will have access to Kraken’s portfolio of yield products. Staked CEO Tim Ogilvie cited the exchange’s “commitment to supporting proof-of-stake networks” as well its track record on customer experience and security in its decision to move forward with the deal. As we gear up fo...
