As technology advances, personal data becomes an increasingly relevant topic. Many in the crypto industry hold sovereign finance and data privacy in high regard. Participants' best efforts may be undermined by centralized businesses and regulating bodies, however, according to Cindy Cohn. Cohn is the executive director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, a nonprofit entity focused on digital rights. Cohn joined a Web Summit panel on Thursday labeled “Internet: Who owns our data?” Pointing toward the title, she explained: “I actually think that’s the wrong question, I think the question is who controls your data.” She continued: “You already …

As Cointelegraph reported two weeks ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission put out a rare no-action letter in defense of IMVU’s new blockchain-based VCOIN. VCOIN is only the third digital token to get such legal protection from the U.S. securities regulator, which makes it an exciting development. The SEC has been extremely active in punishing initial coin offerings that it views as unregistered securities offerings, but it has been more reluctant to define what does not count as a security — a problem that Commissioner Hester Peirce noted just last night. A no-action letter is, however, not the same as …

As cryptocurrencies continue gaining mainstream attention, some of the industry’s native companies have also joined the spotlight. Bitcoin payment processing company BitPay joined the ranks of 499 other important technology companies today. Big Four accounting firm Deloitte sees BitPay as one of North America’s top 500 leading-edge technology outfits, as shown by its Technology Fast 500 list, BitPay announced in a public statement on Wednesday. BitPay sits in 341st position, beating social media powerhouse Pinterest, which holds the 348th spot. “The ranking is compiled based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on percentage fiscal-year …

Over the past 15 years or so, social media has gained tremendous traction. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have reached soaring heights as companies. Social media has its benefits, such as global connectivity and low barrier to entry. It also gives people a platform for expression. The sector has taken a dark turn in recent years, however, igniting aggression and spreading false information, while, at the same time, raising questions of censorship. Eric Yang, founder and executive director of Junto — a nonprofit decentralized social media startup — sees three main issues with the current landscape. The first of the three …

Twitter CEO and major Bitcoin (BTC) bull Jack Dorsey will keep his role at the company, according to a recent decision by a Twitter board committee. As Bloomberg reported on Nov. 2, the committee officially reviewed Twitter’s leadership as part of a March 2020 agreement with activist investor Elliott Management and private equity firm Silver Lake. Both companies gained seats on Twitter’s board of directors through investments earlier this year. Citing a company filing on Nov. 2, Bloomberg reports that the independent board panel concluded that the existing management structure is sufficient. The filing reportedly reads: “The committee expressed its …

Alternative social media platform Minds is now letting users permanently save their content on the Arweave platform, which ensures that nobody can ever delete it once published. Minds users can choose to publish their content on the “permaweb” with no payment or additional setup required. After several minutes, the content can be viewed on the Arweave block explorer and it is expected to remain there forever — or at least for as long as Arweave exists, Minds CEO Bill Ottman told Cointelegraph. This marks the first major integration of blockchain — or a "blockweave," in Arweave terminology — in the …

A 21-year-old social media star famous for his TikTok videos is entering the crypto space, guided by Bitcoin bull Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano. Bryce Hall has launched a finance podcast with Pompliano called “Capital University”. Unlike Pomp’s regular podcast, which is focused on business, investing, and promoting Bitcoin (BTC), the joint venture will cross the generational divide, as the 32-year-old Pomp learns how social media influencers are making money, while Hall learns tips about building generational wealth through investment strategies. “I just want to highlight the power and importance of diversification,” Hall told Cointelegraph. “I do believe crypto is its own …

Mask Network has launched a trading widget allowing Twitter users to access market data and trade Ethereum-based crypto assets without leaving the platform. Powered by Uniswap and CoinMarketCap, the new Mask widget brings up a window featuring market data and an interface for trading on Uniswap when users hover the mouse pointer over crypto asset tickers in posts. In a Tweet thread announcing the new widget on September 24, Mask Network (formerly known as Maskbook) said it hopes to expand the service to other popular social media sites such as Facebook as well as other protocols in the decentralized finance …

Reddit-inspired social aggregation platform Discussions.app announced its expansion to the Telos network on Sept. 3. The first project to come out of the new collaboration will be a decentralized identity system, allowing users to record their accounts and contacts from Twitter and other social networks to the blockchain in the event of a block or ban. In the social-media age, users spend years growing networks and followers on various platforms, although this work can be destroyed by the sometimes arbitrary-seeming decisions of the networks. Discussions.app addresses this by allowing users to migrate across platforms without losing their valuable identities and …

The Colombian police have issued a warning about fraudsters promoting a Bitcoin scam website to social media users. The “announcement” about the launch of a fake Bitcoin-related investment system was purportedly “approved” by Ivan Duque, President of Colombia. According to Colombia Check, quoting a statement by the Cybernetic Police Center, the site promotes a Bitcoin investment opportunity (BTC) that Duque is quoted as saying will offer “relief to the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.” The post claims that the president signed “the biggest deal of the century” to create a platform named Bitcoin Era, and citizens could start …

Following his recent educational foray into the world of Blockchain, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy now appears to be promoting crypto pump and dump schemes by shilling low-cap altcoins. Posting a number of videos on Twitter, Portnoy stated that he had found a new altcoin “that I’m interested in,” but wouldn’t disclose which crypto it was yet. He reasoned that he didn’t want people to buy it before he did. He later tweeted that he had diversified some of his crypto holdings into the altcoin Orchid, which he referred to as “the shitcoin OXT,” adding that Orchids “never die.” Portnoy …

Barstool Sports founder, Dave Portnoy, posted a video of his meeting with Gemini exchange founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, on Twitter. Portnoy, also known as Davey Day Trader on Twitter for his stock trading antics, recently invited the Winklevoss twins over to his house to teach him about Bitcoin, via an Aug. 4 tweet. After briefing Portnoy on the basics, the twins guided the Twitter trader through a few purchases on Gemini, using the $250,000 he statedly sent to the exchange before their arrival. The trio even discussed Chainlink (LINK) after Portnoy inquired about the asset. Following his fresh crypto …