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Microsoft Bets on Video Games: Buys Activision Blizzard for $70 billion

January 18, 2022

New York Times | Shira Ovide | Jan 18, 2022 Microsoft is making a big bet on video games, and even if you’re like me and don’t really play them, it’s worth taking notice. Microsoft said on Tuesday that it would buy Activision Blizzard, which makes video games including Candy Crush and Call of Duty. Microsoft will pay close to $70 billion for the game maker, a lot of money even for such a rich company. Activision slots into Microsoft’s other video game businesses, including the Xbox game console and video game makers like Halo and Minecraft. See:  Inside the metaverse economy, jobs and infrastructure projects are becoming real But Microsoft’s acquisition also shows that video games are not merely entertainment anymore. They have become weapons that today’s technology titans wield to try to shape our future in their preferred direction. I’m talking about the “metaverse,” the terrible shorthand that technologists have adopted for a broad vision of a future internet that will further blur the lines between online life and real life, and between people and computers. The metaverse is hard to define. (We could just call it the next phase of the internet, but I guess that’s too ...
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Rep. Emmer introduced legislation to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC for use by individuals

January 18, 2022

Cato Institute | Norbert Michel | Jan 14, 2022 Emmer introduced legislation to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for use by individuals. This week Rep. Tom Emmer (MN–R) introduced legislation to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for use by individuals. A CBDC of this nature goes by several names, but it is just a private account for individual customers at the central bank, an institution that historically serves commercial banks. In his press release, Emmer noted that “to maintain the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency in a digital age, it is important that the United States lead with a posture that prioritizes innovation and does not aim to compete with the private sector.” Emmer deserves high praise for taking such a principled stand for the private sector over further government centralization and control. See:  ‘Ready to Go’: Powell Says Fed Report on Crypto and CBDCs will drop in the coming weeks He clearly understands what’s at stake with a CBDC, and Americans can only hope that many other members of Congress share his sympathies. With any luck, the Federal Reserve researchers working on the Fed’s upcoming CBDC report — one that could be released ...
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UK Equity Crowdfunding Platform Seedrs Achieved Record Funding Levels in 2021

January 17, 2022

Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Jan 12, 2022 Seedrs, a leading UK-based securities crowdfunding platform that is merging with Republic, has provided a retrospective of 2021 performance. According to Seedrs, 2021 was a year that delivered record-level funding. The top-line numbers are as follows: £696 million invested into securities offerings 310 funded deals 102 securities offerings of over £1 million A 90% funding success rate 12 portfolio companies delivered profitable company-level exits in 2021. See:  $100M Crowdfunding Deal: Republic acquires the UK’s Seedrs for European expansion The largest private offerings listed on Seedrs include: Lick – £15 million – most funded Ziglu – £7.326 million or 724% as the highest percentage funded Chapel Down – £6.95 million involving 4172 investors – the most investors of any securities offering Seedrs not only facilitates capital formation in the UK but is active in continental Europe having funded 33 EU businesses during 2021. Investors harken from 74 different countries. A key feature of the Seedrs platform is its successful secondary market – a service that has been years in the making as private securities trading is a challenging task. Seedrs reports that during 2021 trading increased by 60% versus 2020 with £8 ...
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US government to address the ramifications of cryptocurrencies on Jan 20th -> Tune in here

January 17, 2022

FinBold | Jordan Major  | Jan 16, 2022 The Bitcoin mining sector has piqued the interest of several countries over the last year, and it appears that the United States government is starting to become interested in this market. As a result, a hearing has been scheduled in the US to explore the ramifications of the energy consumption incurred by cryptocurrency mining operations. Indeed the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will conduct a public hearing on the subject next Thursday, January 20, according to the House Committee. “The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hybrid hearing that includes both in-person and remote attendance on Thursday, January 20, 2022, at 10:30 a.m.” See:  Landmark Jury Verdict Finds Digital-Asset Products Linked to Cryptocurrency Mining Are Not Securities The investigation is titled “Clearing Cryptocurrency: The Energy Implications of Blockchains,” and in particular, the Subcommittee is interested in learning about the energy consumption of blockchains, with the premise that they may create environmental concerns in the future. On the scheduled day, the hybrid hearing will also live stream on YouTube. Congress’ energy subcommittee to discuss cryptocurrency Bitcoin has ...
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Quantum computing use cases are getting real—what you need to know

January 17, 2022

McKinsey Digital | Matteo Biondi, Anna Heid, Nicolaus Henke, Niko Mohr, Lorenzo Pautasso, Ivan Ostojic, Linde Wester, and Rodney Zemmel | Dec 14, 2021 A burgeoning quantum-computing ecosystem and emerging business use cases promise to create significant value for industries—if executives prepare now. Accelerating advances in quantum computing are serving as powerful reminders that the technology is rapidly advancing toward commercial viability. In just the past few months, for example, a research center in Japan announced a breakthrough in entangling qubits (the basic unit of information in quantum, akin to bits in conventional computers) that could improve error correction in quantum systems and potentially make large-scale quantum computers possible. And one company in Australia has developed software that has shown in experiments to improve the performance of any quantum-computing hardware. As breakthroughs accelerate, investment dollars are pouring in, and quantum-computing start-ups are proliferating. Major technology companies continue to develop their quantum capabilities as well: companies such as Alibaba, Amazon, IBM, Google, and Microsoft have already launched commercial quantum-computing cloud services. Of course, all this activity does not necessarily translate into commercial results. While quantum computing promises to help businesses solve problems that are beyond the reach and speed of conventional ...
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Moxie’s impressions of web3 (from making some distributed apps)

January 17, 2022

Moxie Marlinspike blog | Jan 7, 2022 Despite considering myself a cryptographer, I have not found myself particularly drawn to “crypto.” I don’t think I’ve ever actually said the words “get off my lawn,” but I’m much more likely to click on Pepperidge Farm Remembers flavored memes about how “crypto” used to mean “cryptography” than I am the latest NFT drop. Also – cards on the table here – I don’t share the same generational excitement for moving all aspects of life into an instrumented economy. Even strictly on the technological level, though, I haven’t yet managed to become a believer. So given all of the recent attention into what is now being called web3, I decided to explore some of what has been happening in that space more thoroughly to see what I may be missing. How I think about 1 and 2 web3 is a somewhat ambiguous term, which makes it difficult to rigorously evaluate what the ambitions for web3 should be, but the general thesis seems to be that web1 was decentralized, web2 centralized everything into platforms, and that web3 will decentralize everything again. web3 should give us the richness of web2, but decentralized. See:  Inside the ...
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Inside the metaverse economy, jobs and infrastructure projects are becoming real

January 17, 2022

CNBC | Cameron Costa | Jan 15, 2022 If 2021's word of the year was "NFT," Avery Akkineni says 2022's will be "Web 3.0." This year, digital assets built on the blockchain will likely continue to expand well beyond the music and art industries. Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has already teamed up with Fortnite to deliver to users designer "skins" to wear inside the game. Gucci has done the same with Roblox, and Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren have launched their own Roblox experiences. Brian Trunzo, metaverse Lead at Polygon Studios, which focuses on gaming, NFTs and Web3 efforts linked to the polygon digital currency and ethereum blockchain network, says nimble, smart streetwear brands are already in the space as well. "The players have finally taken the field, and the game is about to truly start," Trunzo said. More direct commercialization strategies could be coming. Cathy Hackl, CEO and chief metaverse officer for the Futures Intelligence Group, a metaverse consultant, points out that for luxury brands in particular, the metaverse could be an access point for a secondary market. See:  Bracing For Change In The Era Of The Augmented Workforce "When someone sells their Birkin bag on The RealReal, Hermes ...
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Binance CEO’s net worth make him (at least) the world’s 11th richest person currently

January 14, 2022

Fortune | Grady McGregor | Jan 10, 2022 New estimates claim the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, is the world’s richest crypto billionaire, with a net worth rivaling the sums amassed by tech billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. On Monday, Bloomberg calculated that Zhao’s net worth is $96 billion, which would make him the 11th richest person in the world. On the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zhao, known as “CZ” in crypto circles, is now sandwiched between No. 12, Mukesh Ambani, CEO of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, and No. 10, Larry Ellison, cofounder of Oracle, who’s worth an estimated $107 billion. See:  Binance hires ex-regulators and incorporates in Alberta to charter compliance course in Canada OSC to Binance Investors ‘Not So Fast’: Binance Canada Receives License to Operate as Money Service Business Bloomberg says its estimate is based on Zhao’s stake in Binance, reporting that the exchange generated upwards of $20 billion in revenue in 2021 and that Zhao owns 90% of Binance’s shares, according to a review of the firm’s regulatory filings. Zhao’s net worth may be even higher than $96 billion since Bloomberg did not account for Zhao’s personal holdings of Bitcoin ...
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Alternative forms of capital will be key to develop sustainable economic systems

January 13, 2022

Fintech Confidential Issue 4 | Éliane Ubalijoro, PhD | Jan 13, 2022 A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy is looking cautiously at recovery. According to the World Bank, growth will be very uneven given surges of virus variants, patchy vaccination rates, and withdrawal of government support measures, so global GDP in 2021 is still expected to be 3.2% below pre-pandemic projections. To support a more equitable and sustainable recovery, it is imperative that our economic systems recognize how they need to be underpinned by "flourishing communities, strong and resilient social institutions, thriving natural ecosystems and a stable climate” as the Capitals Coalition  articulates. As a member of their supervisory board, I truly believe that we must empower organizations to understand that their success and the success of the global economy more broadly is fundamentally dependent on natural, social, and human capital, in addition to produced capital. We must work to curb greenhouse gas emissions in all the ways we produce goods and services, whether it is how we impact, air quality, energy management, water quality, how we reduce waste streams and maximize circular economies to minimize our ecological footprint. We must ask ourselves how ...
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L2s are the path to mass adoption says QuickSwap founder Sameep Singhania

January 13, 2022

Cointelegraph Magazine | Elias Ahonen  | Jan 12, 202 As Ethereum gas prices rise, the chain that inspired Web3 is becoming gentrified, with high transaction costs pushing less wealthy users onto competing blockchains or scaling solutions. This means that many use cases are becoming unfeasible in the proverbial layer-one downtown, and suburban neighborhoods are being developed to allow for a cost-effective layer-two blockchain experience. Since getting acquainted with Polygon around the time of its launch in late 2019, Sameep Singhania has been an avid supporter of projects built on the protocol. In 2021, he created QuickSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) serving the needs of the budding Polygon ecosystem. A DEX for Polygon After working on perhaps dozens of projects on Polygon from 2019 onward, Singhania “realized that to grow the Polygon ecosystem, we need a DEX.” See:  Single largest Ethereum contract worth $33.5 billion ‘trapped’ This was because while “99% of blockchain projects have a token,” listings on popular exchanges are not easy to arrange, and many users are not willing to create an account at an obscure exchange just to trade a particular token that is not listed elsewhere. A DEX can function as the central market square of ...
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