Brazil
The Jux: Harry Styles’ Tour Van Carjacked By Gunmen In Brazil
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Laurent KOFFEL / Getty Harry Styles is not above the jux. His tour van was carjacked in Brazil by armed thieves in a bizarre heist. As per The Mirror, the crooner’s vehicle was stolen as it was driving through the city of Curitba, Brazil at for his show at the Pedreira Paulo Leminski venue. According to G1, three unidentified men pulled along side of the van on BR-116 Road in São Paulo and “subdued” the driver. While it was originally reported that the automobile contained the singer’s personal belongings, it was actually storing the merchandise that was set to be sold at the show. Local police have yet to identify the culprits or find the stolen van. Related Stories This has been a harrowing few weeks for the former One Direction front man. Back in Novem...
Brazilian crypto industry gets regulatory clarity amid global uncertainty
As the global crypto community is still licking its wounds from the FTX collapse, a liquidity crisis continues to spread around centralized exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) alike. It is soon to be decided whether the coming regulation triggered by FTX’s bankruptcy will bring a silver lining to crypto. The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, the lower house of the country’s federal legislative body, has passed a regulatory framework that legalizes the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method within the country. It is estimated that 10 million Brazilians, or about 5% of the population, trade crypto assets. The largest centralized exchange in Brazil is a local business called Mercado Bitcoin, with roughly three million users. International players like Coinbase or Gemini do not ...
Spain for the win? Top 3 fan tokens to watch during the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup in Qatar is boosting the value of national soccer team fan tokens despite the cryptocurrency bear market. World Cup Qatar hype boosts fan token prices These digital fan tokens are currently rallying despite the cryptocurrency market downturn, securing up to 170% gains from the Nov. 10 lows. At the core of the massive uptrend is the World Cup, which will be held from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18 in Qatar. Fan tokens are cryptocurrencies that enable fans to engage with and participate in their favorite team’s decisions. Moreover, they create new sponsorship opportunities for sports clubs and national squads outside of traditional revenue sources. Here’s a brief overview of the top gainers in the fan token sector, alongside their technical outlook during th...
FTX collapse won’t impact everyday use of crypto in Brazil: Transfero CEO
The crumbling of the FTX crypto empire may have damaged Brazilian retail and institutional sentiment toward crypto. However, its impact won’t affect everyday citizens — who will still use crypto for cross-border transactions. Reflecting on the recent fall of FTX, Thiago César, the CEO of fiat on-ramp provider Transfero Group said that the exchange’s fall, like in many countries around the world, has hurt confidence around centralized crypto exchanges and crypto in general. Transfero Group is tied in closely with the Brazilian crypto ecosystem and FTX as it was the fiat on-and-off-ramp provider for the exchange and is also the issuer of Brazilian Stablecoin BRZ, which was listed on the now-defunct exchange. César told Cointelegraph that the collapse of the exchange had removed a...
What’s It Like Using TikTok’s Music-Streaming App?
After swiftly taking over social media in a matter of years, TikTok has its sights set on music streaming, too. In 2020, the company’s Chinese owner ByteDance, officially debuted a music-streaming app, Resso, in three countries — Brazil, India and Indonesia — with ambitions to soon expand into new territories, likely under a brand name associated with its most famous product. This past spring, the company registered the handles @TikTokMusic on both Twitter and Instagram; in May, it filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a service under that name. And in October, The Wall Street Journal reported, and Billboard has confirmed, that ByteDance is in conversations with all the major music rights holders to launch its music streaming service in additional coun...
$50B asset custody platform GK8 enters Brazil with license agreement
Digital asset custody platform GK8 has partnered with 2ND Market, a Brazilian crypto holding company, to expand cryptocurrency product offerings in Brazil — a move both companies say would support continued adoption in Latin America’s largest economy. Under the partnership agreement, GK8 will license its institutional-grade custody platform to 2ND Market to give Brazilian users access to a wider range of crypto products and services. In particular, 2ND Market will leverage GK8’s integration with MetaMask Institutional, a multi-custodial wallet, to provide users with access to decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 crypto assets. Founded in 2018, GK8 reportedly manages roughly $50 billion of digital assets — up from $1 billion two years ago — and utilizes an air-gapped Cold Vault to el...
Latin America is ready for crypto — just integrate it with their payment systems
Thriving on exploiting users’ data, Web2 monopolies like Facebook and Google have ushered in an era of massive internet centralization in recent years. This concentration of power has enabled huge shares of communication and commerce closed platforms, giving users little control over how their data is collected. An emerging concept, Web3, will provide a means to pivot from centralization to an open-source internet. A recent report from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) found that this new digital economy could reach an astounding 1 billion users by 2031. If executed correctly, the decentralized internet will allow users to take control of their data and content. While Web3 promises to radically change the internet and its ability to provide value to users worldwide, key hurdles must be overcome b...
Brazilian SEC seeks to change its role in cryptocurrency regulation
The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly pursuing changes in the country’s legal framework with regard to its regulation of cryptocurrencies. According to local media, one major concern is that the bill in question does not appear to consider tokens as digital assets or securities — and they therefore wouldn’t fall under SEC regulation. The updated position of the nation’s SEC follows the appointment of a new board and the increased relevance of the crypto sector in the country’s financial services. Brazilian lawmakers have been working on regulations for cryptocurrencies since 2015, but the Senate only approved the final version of a bill in April 2022. Once Brazil’s Congress finishes its final revisions, the bill will be sent to t...
Deezer Lost Subscribers, Added Revenue in First Half of 2022
With a newfound focus on a small number of lucrative, established markets, music streaming company Deezer reported revenue of 219 million euros ($218 million) in the first half of 2022, up 12.1% as reported (+9.9% at constant currency) versus the prior-year period. The Paris-based company received 132.4 million euros ($131.9 million), or 60.3% of its revenue, in its home country of France, up 11.1% year-over-year. Revenue from the rest of the world improved to 87 million euros ($86.7 million), up 13.6% from the prior-year period, and accounted for 39.7% of revenue, up from 39.1% a year ago. In Brazil, Deezer’s second-largest market, revenues improved 25% at constant currency. Other revenue — advertising and ancillary revenue — grew 58.3% (50.3% at constant currency) to 6.8 million euros ($...
Brazilian payment app PicPay launches crypto exchange with Paxos
Major Brazilian payment application PicPay is moving into cryptocurrencies by integrating a crypto exchange service allowing users to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The firm officially announced on Wednesday that PicPay clients can now buy, sell and store two major cryptocurrencies, BTC or ETH, directly on its app. PicPay pointed out that its choice was due to the real use cases provided by these digital assets, including security and many other benefits. The firm stated: “Blockchain technology, which is behind coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is already used in the real estate sector, the insurance industry and even the art market, through non-fungible tokens.” The new crypto feature is enabled through a partnership with the major crypto company Paxos and allows customers to use Paxos...
Argentinean soccer club welcomes first crypto signing amid economic downturn
Argentina’s economic restrictions have reached the sports industry, with the first signing of a local football player with cryptocurrencies hitting national headlines. The transfer of midfielder Giuliano Galoppo from Banfield’s Athletic Club to Sao Paulo Futebol Clube was made in USD Coin (USDC), exceeding $6 million and up to $8 million depending on the volatile exchange rate of the Argentine peso, according to local sources. The transfer was made possible through a collaboration with the Mexican crypto exchange Bitso. “We are very proud to work with these two clubs for this historical signing of Sao Paulo with all the safety, transparency and flexibility that the crypto economy has to offer,” said Thales Freitas, Bitso’s director in Brazil. The transfer happened amid a difficult ec...
Anitta Takes a Stand on Brazil’s Presidential Election – And Her Influence Could Help Sway Voters
With fewer than three months to go before the next presidential elections in her country, megastar Anitta has officially declared her support for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a left-wing former Brazilian president who is leading in the polls against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Anitta stated her position on Twitter on Monday (July 11), two days after a leftist official supporting da Silva, the Workers’ Party candidate who is better known as Lula, was brutally murdered at his own birthday party by a Bolsonaro supporter in the state of Paraná in the country’s south. “If there had been no murder involved … I’d say that the stupidity of these people is almost funny. But it’s not. It’s frightening,” Anitta tweeted, referencing Bolsonaro supporters. “I’m not a Worker’s Party supporter, and ...
