This week, the tech industry continued to watch the Elon Musk-Twitter saga unfold. In its latest development, the platform’s new CEO organized an online auction to sell surplus furniture from the Twitter headquarters.
On the crypto side, Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested and charged with eight criminal violations, including but not limited to wire fraud and money laundering. Amid the FTX fiasco, Binance experienced $8.7 billion USD in crypto withdrawals as worried traders pulled their funds. Apps, meanwhile, got a slew of updates. Instagram rolled out a message feature called Notes and TikTok began testing full-screen videos.
Below, HYPEBEAST has rounded up the top tech stories of the week so you can stay up to date on trends in the industry.
TikTok Tried Out Horizontal Full-Screen Videos
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TikTok may look a lot more like YouTube in the near future. The video app is testing out videos that appear on your screen horizontally and at full-size, TechCrunch reported. A few users in a beta group already have access to the feature, which shows up as a “Full Size” button, allowing them to expand the video size.
Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX Faces Up to 115 Years in Prison
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Infamous FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on December 12. Appearing in court a few days later, SBF was hit with eight criminal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and illegal political campaign contributions.
Prosecutors allege that the founder hid information from investors while using their funds to purchase luxury properties in the Bahamas. If found guilty, SBF faces up to 115 years in prison, according to Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for U.S. prosecutors.
Binance Had $8.7 Billion USD in Crypto Withdrawals This Past Week
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Following the FTX fiasco, crypto trading platform Binance was hit with a massive uptick in withdrawals. Between December 6 and December 13, approximately $8.7 billion USD was withdrawn from the platform, with $3 billion USD of that number taken out in just a 24-hour period. Despite that, Binance received $5.1 billion USD in inflows and reported on Twitter that the outflow numbers simply represented “business as usual.”
Elon Musk is Selling Furniture From Twitter’s Headquarters
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Elon Musk has organized an online auction to sell “surplus corporate office assets,” essentially, furniture from the Twitter headquarters. It appears that after the company’s wave of layoffs, Twitter HQ has been left with an abundance of unneeded chairs and desks. In addition to sculptures of the iconic Twitter bird logo, the auction will comprise Eames-designed chairs, desks, espresso machines and fridges. Heritage Global Partners will host the sale, which is set to begin on January 17. Potential buyers should note that they’ll have to head to the Twitter HQ in San Francisco in-person to pick up their goods.
Instagram Rolled Out Short Text Posts Called ‘Notes’
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Instagram has a new tool called Notes, a handy way for users to leave messages for their friends without having to send individual DMs. Similar to an Instagram Story, a Note will appear for 24 hours at a time, showing up at the top of users’ inbox. Users can curate the list of who has access to their notes from either followers that follow them back or people on their Close Friends list.
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