The media sharing and advertising platform Snapparazzi has announced a release of its minimum viable product (MVP) of a blockchain-based platform. The app aims to allow everyone with a smartphone “to become a reporter” or a content creator. The user takes footage or a photo of newsworthy events with their smartphone and shares it using the platform. The interested buyers — TV, newspapers, radio, etc. — pay for the content in fiat currency. The user will in turn be paid in SnapCoin, the platform’s token for their contribution. The platform also targets content creators and says they can get paid …

WeChat, the 1 billion-user Chinese social media platform developed by Tencent, has reportedly blocked a number of crypto and blockchain related accounts, local financial news outlet Lanjinger reported August 21. Lanjinger quotes a WeChat official as saying that some public accounts were suspected of publishing Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and crypto trading “hype” in violation of the service’s “Interim Provisions on the Development of Public Information Services for Instant Messaging Tools” terms. The official said that official orders had been given to block all content and permanently block the relevant accounts. The interim provisions cited by WeChat were notably only …

Television industry research firm Digital TV Research forecasted last year that the revenue loss of TV series and films due to online piracy would reach $52 billion by 2022. Since this figure doesn’t factor in the revenue that would be lost to the piracy of sport, games, pay TV and other forms of media content, the sense is that the cost of piracy to the media industry is much larger than $52 billion. The reality is that blockchain — as of today — isn’t ready to eradicate piracy. Moreover, any digital media created for human consumption can be captured and …

Starbucks has clarified that it will not be accepting Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies as payment, despite misleading reports from mainstream media, a spokesperson told Motherboard Friday, August 3. Earlier on Friday, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) operator the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced plans to create a new “global platform and ecosystem for digital assets,” dubbed “Bakkt,” alongside a group of big name enterprises including Starbucks, BCG and Microsoft. Following the major announcement, a number of mainstream media outlets, including Bloomberg and CNBC, ran misleading headlines –– such as CNBC’s “New Starbucks partnership with Microsoft allows customers to pay for …

Advertisers and brands are increasingly losing patience with ad agencies and other players over the lack of transparency in the digital advertising space. Digital ad revenue for the first half of 2017 came in at a record $40 billion, up from $31 billion for the previous year, and it was estimated to have reached $85 billion by the end of 2017. The fight for transparency intensified in 2017 after The Times of London published a report about how the ads of big brands were appearing alongside racist videos on the giant video platform YouTube. Several brands paused their spending on …

A blockchain-based company is launching a content rewards platform that compensates creators – and says its platform boasts compelling advantages over “exploitative” mainstream rivals, all the while addressing flaws in other crypto-driven sites which offer a similar concept. UUNIO wants its service to threaten the likes of YouTube, where it claims some content creators are barely given $500 even if they amass a million views. It is also railing against internet giants such as Facebook, which makes billions of dollars a year on the back of personal data and advertising – wealth which is never shared with its users. Copyright …

Former Denver Post reporters and editors plan to launch a new local media outlet in partnership with ConsenSys-backed blockchain startup Civil Media Company, The New York Times reports today, June 17. According to the Times, the group left The Denver Post to create a new local state online newspaper, The Colorado Sun, after newsroom layoffs and deteriorating morale following newspaper’s change in ownership. New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital took control of The Denver Post after acquiring its parent company, MediaNews Group, and manages it through a subsidiary, Digital First Media, the Times reports. The Colorado Sun will use …

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has “neither [confirmed] nor [denied] the existence” of information regarding the real identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Motherboard reported June 14. Motherboard’s Daniel Oberhaus, who mainly covers topics on physics, space, cryptocurrency, and the future of energy, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and to the CIA, requesting information regarding the identity of Satoshi. Oberhaus reported that while his request with the FBI is still open, he received a reply from the CIA that was a “Glomar response,” which refers to a response to …

Cryptocurrency users are venting frustration June 11 after mainstream media outlets reported the crypto market had fallen namely due to the hacking of a small South Korean exchange Coinrail. As both Bitcoin and altcoins fell June 10, sources including Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Reuters, the Guardian and others claimed that Coinrail’s hack – which local media reported as causing $37 mln in losses – had crashed markets. The exchange confirmed the “cyber intrusion” in a tweet Sunday, and in a post on its site, but has yet to specify the value of losses. “Enthusiasm for virtual currencies has …

In the US and around the world, quality journalism is going through difficult times. Against the backdrop of steadily declining trust in the mainstream press, systemic issues like the ever-intensifying political polarization of the media, proliferation of fake news, and asymmetric power relations between platforms and publishers, among others, stand in the way of the press striving to fulfill its crucial societal functions. The central role of the media in the society is, at least normatively, to provide the public with essential knowledge of the state of the world that would enable people to make informed choices. In a democracy, …

Facebook is reportedly “exploring” the creation of its own cryptocurrency, news media outlet Cheddar reported May 11. According to Cheddar’s anonymous sources, people “familiar with Facebook’s plans,” the social media giant is “very serious” about plans to launch an in-app virtual coin. The unconfirmed information comes the same week the platform announced that David Marcus, head of its Messenger app, would transfer to heading a dedicated blockchain research group. Marcus’ appointment to Blockchain operations was immediately conspicuous, the executive previously having worked in the finance sphere for PayPal and subsequently joining US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s board in December 2017. At …

Unofficial investigations into money laundering at defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox alleged that a UK “shell” company was involved in laundering 650,000 BTC (equal to about $6.9 bln at press time) March 7. According to an expose by File On 4, a program on the BBC’s news and current affairs radio station Radio 4, the Always Efficient LLP company participated in processing the funds hacked from the Tokyo exchange. Also the subject of the ongoing official FBI operation, Always Efficient LLP purports to be based in London, yet its address is “shared by several other companies” and is “likely to …