Diem team members raise $200M to launch blockchain derived from it
Former Meta employees and key players behind the firm’s defunc stablecoin project Diem have raised $200 million to expand a new project dubbed “Aptos.” Aptos was cofounded by former Novi — Meta’s crypto unit — strategic partnerships lead Mo Shaikh and tech lead Avery Ching. The duo arenow serving as the CEO and CTO for the new firm. Both left the company in December, prior to Diem being sold to Silvergate Capital in February this year. The team is building a decentralized Layer 1 blockchain that is partly based on Move, the coding language initially developed for Diem. The company is now in the process of growing its developer ecosystem and attracting projects to the blockchain, which it touts will be a cheap, secure and scalable network. According to a March 16 announcement, Aptos’ $200 m...
6 Common Cybersecurity Mistakes Made by Startup Companies
Image sourced from Pixabay Some of the most successful companies today began their journey as startups. They usually start with a brilliant idea or a new technology that promises to solve a problem to rethink the way we do business. The African region is no stranger to startups, where reports suggest that African startups raised near $5 billion in total estimated funding from 740 deals last year, predominantly in tech startups. This is more than a 250% increase from the $1.3-billion estimated total funding raised in 2020. Startup owners often draw attention to issues of business planning, marketing strategy, and attracting additional investment, but do not address the need to build a solid cybersecurity system. The lack of a clear understanding of threats can cost a startup a potentially s...
Instagram to Start Demoting Content from Russian State-Owned Media
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Russia Blocks Access to Facebook
Russia plans to ban Facebook within the country, according to a statement by Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzo. Facebook had refused to comply with Russia’s demand that it stop fact-checking state media. Roskomnadzo’s statement (translated via The Verge) cites 26 cases of “discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook” since October 2020. It also accused the social media platform of violating federal law by restricting access to state media outlets. This news arrives on the heels of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Since the war broke out last week, fleets of Russians have gathered in the streets to protest the invasion, and thousands have been arrested. While President Vladimir Putin has denied plans to institute martial law, the regi...
Sharing These Messages on Social Media in SA Could Land You In Jail
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Do South Africans Know How Facebook Collects Their Data?
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‘Off the charts’: Zynga blockchain exec praises P2E gaming talent
Hot off the news that the FarmVille and Words With Friends developer Zynga will release the first nonfungible token game this year, Zynga’s blockchain gaming aspirations are taking shape. Matt Wolf, marketing veteran with experience at Electronic Arts and Sega, is the new vice president of blockchain gaming for Zynga. He’s setting up a new team, bringing a wealth of “traditional gaming” experience to play-to-earn (P2E). In an interview with Cointelegraph, he said the talent pool in P2E gaming is: “Off the charts in terms of economics and traditional finance firepower — incredible people. Also, on the innovation side and on the technology side, it’s off the charts.” However, he surmised many gamers’ thoughts when commenting on the gamification elements of nonfungible tokens (NFT)...
Foo Fighters’ World Domination Expands to Metaverse with Super Bowl Sunday VR Concert
For those not particularly invested in sports, Dave Grohl has a different idea for Super Bowl Sunday. Following February 13th’s big game, Foo Fighters, somehow still finding new ways to infiltrate every aspect of society, will play a virtual reality concert in Meta’s Horizon Venues app. “Foo Fighters love a challenge — from playing the biggest stages in the world to the tiniest clubs to making movies and miniseries… We’ve pretty much done it all,” Dave Grohl said in a statement. “But we’ve never collaborated with Mark Romanek on a conceptual set of songs (including one being played live for the first time ever) for a worldwide audience, where everyone has the best seats in the house thanks to the most badass VR tech… until now. Join us when we cross that one off the FF bucket list!” Foo Fi...
Majority of US consumers say no to Meta owning metaverse data: Survey
A survey of 1,000 United States consumers around growing interest in the metaverse has revealed some interesting results. In a survey commissioned by nonfungible token and metaverse infrastructure provider Advokate Group, 87% of respondents preferred a decentralized metaverse on a blockchain over some of the mega projects planned by tech giants. This became more evident when 77% of the respondents shared concerns over Facebook’s entry into the metaverse, especially since it owns users’ metaverse data. Facebook’s tainted past with mismanagement of private user data has already dismantled its early plans of launching a stablecoin called Diem. The stablecoin project faced heavy scrutiny from the U.S. Congress, and the project eventually came to a crashing end. A similar concern ha...
Bitcoin bounces at $36.6K as Meta adds 20% losses to US tech stock rout
Bitcoin (BTC) recovered above $37,000 on Feb. 3 after a stocks rout took the wind out of bulls’ latest attempt to crack $40,000 resistance. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView “Extraordinary moves” for stocks Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD staying lower after briefly hitting $36,650 on Bitstamp Wednesday. The weakness followed shock losses for U.S. equities at the Wall Street open on Wednesday, with major names such as PayPal shedding huge portions of their value after underwhelming performance reports. Major stocks have been experiencing extraordinary moves post earnings after hours this season Netflix -22%Apple +7%Google +11%Paypal -20%Facebook -22%Spotify -23% Liquidity and the Fed’s put are both go...
Aussie billionaire sues Facebook over crypto scams with AG’s consent
Australian billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is taking Facebook to court over scammy cryptocurrency ads that he alleges used his name to defraud victims. The Fortescue Metals chairman is accusing Facebook of breaching Australia’s money-laundering laws, claiming that it “knowingly profits from this cycle of illegal ads” that it failed to remove. An initial court hearing in the Western Australian Magistrates court is scheduled for Mar. 28, with a committal hearing expected later in 2022. Forrest is bringing forward the charges under Part 10 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, with the consent of the Attorney-General Michaelia Cash. According to the filings, one Australian victim lost $952,000 AUD after falling for the scam. The court documents stated that the scam “defrauded victims out of ...
Diem stablecoin co-founder praises Bitcoin for censorship resistance
Shortly after Meta, formerly Facebook, officially gave up on its stablecoin Diem, some of the key people in the project have become increasingly vocal about the uncensorable nature of Bitcoin (BTC). David Marcus, a co-founder of Diem — originally known as Libra — took to Twitter on Tuesday to predict that Bitcoin will be the No. 1 asset in the next two decades. It’s become clear to me that #Bitcoin will be the one asset and L1 still around in 20+ years with increased compounding relevance over time. The #2 slot (for a different use case) is still tbd. #Ethereum is in the lead for now, but #Solana and others nipping at their heels. 1/2 — David Marcus – dmarcus.eth (@davidmarcus) February 1, 2022 “It’s become clear to me that Bitcoin will be the one asset and L1 still around in 20+ yea...
