If Facebook happened to be a human being, where would he/she/they currently be? Most likely in prison… for a very long time. The company’s transgressions are too numerous to list. But Facebook is not human; it’s a company, and a very profitable one, at that. In fact, it’s now one of the most profitable companies in the world. Facebook’s market capitalization has recently surpassed the $1 trillion mark. When we think of Facebook — more specifically, Facebook Inc. — we tend to think of a social media platform that is somewhat dated. However, it is important to remember that this …

Mumbai-based crypto exchange CoinDCX has raised $90 million in a Series C funding round, becoming the first crypto business in India to reach unicorn status. According to an announcement, the funding round was led by B Capital Group and saw participation from returning investors including Block.one, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain and Jump Capital. Following the investment round, CoinDCX reached a valuation of $1.1 billion, placing the company among crypto giants such as Binance and Ripple. CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta said the firm will use the new funds on business initiatives, adding: “We will be joining hands or enter into partnerships with …

The saying, “Everything in moderation, including moderation,” has taken on new meaning since Facebook outsourced responsibility for content moderation to its Oversight Board following the violent events that occurred at the United States Capitol back on Jan. 6, 2021. First conceived in November 2018 as Facebook’s “Supreme Court” for public appeals, the social media giant’s Oversight Board was officially enacted on Oct. 22, 2020. In its time since, the Oversight Board has overturned many of Facebook’s own decisions on what is and is not free speech. Some of the board’s rulings include overturning decisions meant to limit hate speech and …

The decentralized application aiming to connect Facebook’s Diem blockchain with public networks is partnering with node infrastructure provider Pinknode. In a Friday announcement, the Pontem Network said it would be working with Pinknode to provide node infrastructure through the Polkadot ecosystem. The network is aimed at allowing developers to use a Polkadot parachain as a testing ground for their ideas before submitting them to the Diem blockchain. According to Pontem founder Boris Povod, the partnership will help improve Polkadot’s current infrastructure as Pinknode provides “reliable and secure API endpoints.” The network added that Pinknode’s code would allow Polkadot developers to …

Market analysts are arguing that Tesla’s exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) may be the reason for its sharp decorrelation from Big Tech in recent weeks. As of Wednesday, July 14, the 20-day correlation between the company’s price and the Nasdaq 100 index has dropped from 0.83 on June 17 down to 0.14. Whereas Tesla has shed almost 4% this month, the Nasdaq 100 is up by over 2%. A weakened correlation between Tesla shares and the NYSE FANG+ index is also observable, as BNN Bloomberg reported. Amy Wu Silverman, a derivatives strategist at RBC Capital Markets, told reporters: “Tesla is highly …

Frank McCourt, a billionaire real estate mogul and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is backing a new effort for a decentralized social media project based on blockchain technology. McCourt is investing $100 million into an attempt to reinvent the foundations of social media by building a publicly accessible database of people’s social connections on a blockchain, Bloomberg reported Sunday. “Project Liberty” aims to allow users to move records of their interactions between social media services instead of being locked into a few dominant applications. The project would use blockchain technology to construct a new internet infrastructure called the …

The time has come to fight against the dominance of the internet giants. In Europe, various regulations have been announced that aim to force these giants to respect more healthy rules of the game and to be more protective of users' rights and of competition. Some even brandish the threat of dismantling some of the tech giants, a weapon of mass destruction rarely used in history. Is an alternative path of a truly decentralized internet possible? Hyperpower A handful of companies hold a virtual monopoly within the internet in critical areas of services (search engines, email, etc.), infrastructures (global transit, …

Pontem Network, a decentralized application that seeks to connect Facebook’s Diem to public blockchains like Ethereum, has raised $4.5 million in seed investments, setting the stage for continued development of the ambitious digital currency project. The Pontem Network is described as a Polkadot Substrate-based chain, which means it can serve as a testnet for Facebook’s Diem blockchain. By utilizing a Polkadot parachain, Pontem can introduce developers to Diem’s potential, allowing them to validate their ideas before submitting them to the Diem Association. Pontem co-founder Stas Oskin said his platform’s vision is to “allow developers to build for Diem and at …

Programmatic advertising is big business — bringing in billions of dollars in revenue every year. Now, a decentralized marketplace is connecting publishers and brands over the blockchain, enabling them to make direct deals. Adshares says that its platform offers crucial advantages over mainstream rivals such as Google Ads, and crypto-focused alternatives including Coinzilla and Cointraffic. As well as delivering lower fees, its servers are decentralized — and innovative systems help to minimize the possibility of ad blocking, something that starves websites of revenue. A simple onboarding process makes it easy for all parties to start using its service, and the …

Facebook-backed digital currency project the Diem Association has partnered with cryptocurrency-friendly bank Silvergate to launch a stablecoin pegged to the United States dollar. Diem announced Wednesday a new model of its upcoming stablecoin, relocating its main operations from Switzerland to the United States and withdrawing its application for a payment system license from the Swiss Financial Markets Authority. The association, which comprises 26 financial firms including Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, is now planning to move forward with its USD stablecoin plans through Silvergate Bank, which is set to be the issuer of the Diem USD and will manage the Diem …

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has riled excitement across the crypto community after taking to social media to announce two of his pet goats have been named “Bitcoin” and “Max.” Zuckerberg announced the curious names for his pet goats in a Tuesday Facebook post stating: “My Goats: Max and Bitcoin.” Crypto Twitter has been whipped into frenzied speculation in response to the goats’ names, with analyst LilMoonLambo tweeting to their 97,000 followers: “You have two weeks to accumulate as much $BTC as you can before Mark Zuckerberg announces that he and Facebook have purchased Bitcoin during their annual shareholders meeting... …

Stablecoins present peculiar challenges to regulators. Although there is no single, agreed-upon definition of a stablecoin, the common denominator of the commonly used definitions is that stablecoins are designed to maintain a stable value in relation to a specified currency, asset or pool of such currencies/assets. They are contrasted with regular cryptocurrencies, which have no such stability mechanism and whose values tend to fluctuate, sometimes even substantially. Related: All risk, no gain? The vague definition of stablecoins is causing problems Stablecoins do not denote a uniform category but represent a variety of crypto instruments that can vary significantly in legal, …