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Gamers, this is our time: crypto miners are trying to make some money back by auctioning mountains of used (but cheap) graphics cards via live streams.
The cryptocurrency market has had a rough few weeks after the collapse of most of its more profitable coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, but as they say, the pain of one is the pleasure of the other. PC gamer (opens in new tab) reports that with so much value knocked off Ethereum, especially the largest currency that can still be viablely mined using a consumer desktop GPU, crypto miners and farms are trying to sell the used hardware to recover their losses.
GPU Flooding is here. Chinese miners and South Asian ecafes are now dismantling their mining rigs and putting cards up for auction on live streams.3060 Ti’s going for $300-$350 US…pic.twitter.com/kphmIt7vZwJune 21, 2022
This is because Ethereum mining still uses proof-of-work validation, although the currency will transition to proof-of-stake, making mining the currency hugely unprofitable using gaming GPUs, even if the market recovers. This is the same validation method used by Bitcoin today, which is why miners tend to focus more on application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners made specifically for mining rather than scrambling to get one of the best gaming graphics cards on the market. get hold of.
At its peak, a single Bitcoin was worth nearly $64,400, meaning if you bought $1,000 worth of Bitcoin on November 12, 2021, it would be worth about $326 today. Similarly, Ethereum price fell to $1,112 this week, down from $4,600 in November.
Bad news for crypto, good news for gamers
Chinese miners are dumping 3080 at a pretty crazy price on Xianyu (Taobao 2nd market smartphone app), starting at just 3500 yuan ($523). @CapFrameX @davideneco25320 @kopite7kimi @chunvn8888 pic.twitter.com/KMCPyXJDzIJune 21, 2022
China’s cheap electricity made it a haven for mining companies, which is probably why we’re seeing the most sales in this region, with piles of unwanted Ampere RTX 30 graphics cards being sold on the Xianyu marketplace website. Some of the lists for RTX 3080 graphics cards were posted on Twitter by I_Leak_VN (opens in new tab)showing that these used GPUs are advertised for just 3,500 Yuan (about $523 / £420 / AU$760).
The same GPU technically has a suggested retail price of $699 (£649, about AU$950) for the original Founders Edition model, so the savings here aren’t particularly huge, although it’s worth pointing out that while we’re looking at stock improvements and While prices are falling, some units are still priced above MSRP, albeit slightly.
Livestream auctions have also been held to help sell the tickets, with Tom’s Hardware Reporting (opens in new tab) on a Baidu (opens in new tab) post describing the masses of the cards advertised via live streams, some under the speculation that they come from gaming internet cafes. The post listed RTX 3060 Tis and sold between $300 (about £245 / AU$440) and $350 (about £290 / AU$510), which, while only just below the card’s original MSRP of $399 (around £299, AU$540), is a huge improvement over the prices we saw at the height of the GPU shortage.
Analysis: Wait, So Should You Buy These GPUs?
This sale isn’t just happening in China – eBay, Facebook Marketplace and more are also seeing an influx of used GPUs around the world, but there are a few things to consider before buying one.
The biggest problem for most people will be the concern about how this hardware is used, especially if it may come from a large scale farm rather than a hobbyist miner, but mining maps are actually not as bad as you might think. This video from LinusTechTips takes a closer look at how maps are used for mining and tests in the video revealed that months of constant use in a mining rig actually had a pretty negligible effect on performance.
This is because many miners are underclocking the cards to better preserve longevity and consume less power, so despite running 24/7, these GPUs haven’t been pushed to their limits.
However, there are other things to look out for that you may not see in an online listing. Our American computer editor John Loeffler wrote an informative article about the dangers of buying ex-mining cards, warning: “In many cases it is [run] in a dusty open warehouse alongside dozens of other similar burnt-out graphics cards, all of which generate heat and bake their own and their neighbors’ silicon transistors, plastic PCBs, and solder joints.”
It’s hard to judge the physical condition of a GPU from a listing image, but only you can decide whether buying a cheaper, used product is “worth it.” For those of you planning to buy a next-gen Nvidia Lovelace graphics card like the GeForce RTX 4090 when they come out later this year, a used GPU may be worth the risk of buying something brand new at the MSRP, as you can afford it. only need to leave you a few months behind.
Whatever your stance on ex-mining hardware, this is generally good news for PC gamers. With the tanking of the crypto market, there will be less competition against miners, which will not only result in mountains of used graphics cards hitting the market, but also more availability for new stock. It has been reported that Ethereum miners have spent $15 billion on GPUs in the past two years and that is no small rival to compete with.
As we near the launch of Nvidia Lovelace and AMD RDNA3, we can only hope the market stays low to give gamers a chance to get their hands on a new GPU after years of battling scalpers, bots and miners. Failing that, we may be reliant on pre-built desktop gaming PCs and gaming laptops again.


text: Photovoltaic panel installers are probably the heartbeat of the solar power industry. Solar panel produces have actually been taking market share away from developed energy suppliers for fairly time now and as competition continues to raise, prices are dropping. There has actually never been a far better time to invest in solar power either, considering that many state and city governments are supplying discounts on solar power as well as tax obligation incentives. Even major companies are getting involved in the game. Solar panel produces are just one more crucial element of this system, yet they’ve brought solar panel rates down by a tremendous amount, and also some even argue that today’s solar panel sector is a customer market. So what’s going on? Well there are a couple of different aspects at the office, but we’re going to discuss 2 of the most vital ones below. The first one is the truth that there is a lot more competition than in the past and consequently prices are boiling down. That incorporated with the fact that there’s a lot of government reward cash available must be actually encouraging clients to jump into the market. Yet what regarding the consumers? Exactly how are they mosting likely to gain from every one of this? Well the most significant advantage is the fact that there will certainly be an end to paying the increasing price of electrical power. When the expense of solar panel installments drops, you can efficiently eliminate your electrical expense completely. Since’s an advantage! Secondly, there will certainly be less dependence on nonrenewable fuel sources and that means cleaner air as well. While photovoltaic panels aren’t straight responsible for the climbing level of carbon dioxide or various other greenhouse gases in the environment, they do give a large part of it. Solar inverters do their component by minimizing the amount of electrical energy needed to create the very same quantity of power that is produced by coal power plants. So not only will solar panels have played a large function in ecological obligation, but they will also be creating a cleaner as well as much healthier earth for every person to stay in. As well as certainly, the major reason photovoltaic panel installers haven’t seen a decline in business is due to the fact that individuals are still going to spend the money on them. The reality is that there are still plenty of homes as well as companies that make use of photovoltaic panels as well as are creating electrical energy. What has actually altered is the fact that individuals are willing to pay more for those products. That desire has actually translated right into a considerable drop in costs over the last couple of years. Photovoltaic panel installments aren’t vanishing entirely. Rather, they are ending up being a much more prominent selection for home and entrepreneur. That appeal is something that solar panel makers can just hope will proceed. For now, nonetheless, it is an excellent idea for customers to do their research study before deciding to hire solar panel installers. With the competition between both types of business, it makes good sense to make the best choice for your house and also your organization.

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Samsung's newestallow other devices to charge off the back of the phones through the wireless Qi standard. That does mean, yes, even other phones. But it also allows Samsung new, wireless a To charge, too, turning the phone into a large charging pad. That's the part I love. And it may change the way I think about portable battery life from now on.
Call as a battery pack
The S10 charging technology is called Wireless PowerShare, and is similar in the same way asSubmitted last year. What Samsung does, however, feels much more exciting, because its entire product line has planned to charge off the back of the phones. It's a focal point that you own personalized Bluetooth things.
Samsung also introduces this feature into each of the five new phones, making it the biggest launch of this type of technology. And after that, there's a safe bet, there will also be other phone makers.
Charging standards need to be disposed of on wearbles
This also brings something incredible for most smart holidays and fitness tractors: they're hellong dongle. YIt has a special magnetized charger that is not the same as standard wireless hardware technology. He has a special dongle himself. It's crazy, and it prevents anyone from leaking any watch to charge on a regular wireless Qi car. I wake up every morning and make sure to see how my watch and life of an ear battery make. That's my associated life in 2019. Sooner or later, there's a charging time … and I do not carry a bunch of cargers because I like to be a normal human (and yes, I'm wearing a watch to the bed, to track sleep … other than the Apple Wylfa.)
The new Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Buds all rise in the same way, and work by raising 5W the phone. The Galaxy S10 can not charge more than one device at a time, but it's better than anything else there. And I would completely change the way I packed to travel, if I could raise everything else from the phone as needed.
Your move, Apple
The next iPhone will probably come when it's always done, in September (unless). New proprietary Apple and delays It is expected in 2019, which will allow multiple devices to charge wireless charges instantly. But that's not the same thing as being able to pick up everything through the phone itself. Can Apple include some kind of charging back, at least like what's now available on the through USB-C? Maybe. But I just want that. I want to be able to charge all the weaving stuff as well. That is Samsung's biggest power movement this year.


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Ritmo, a platform offering a growth capital and analytics suite of products directed at providing non-dilutive growth capital as well as insights to digital businesses, has closed its extension round bringing the total seed round to €13.8M, led by JME Ventures along with Inveready and Sabadell Venture Capital. Bynd Venture Capital and Wayra (Telefonica’s investment […]
Inveready invests €1M in Shapelets, the time-series data analysis platform in the Big Data landscape
Inveready invests €1M in Shapelets, one of the first time-series analysis platforms in the Big Data landscape. The solution has a multisectoral approach, providing value in any data-driven business environment such as the energy, healthcare, industry 4.0., IoT or financial sector. The product has been developed using novel AI algorithms, originating from academia and research, […]
The investment will be used to promote three strategic axes, including its expansion in Europe and internationalization.
ProntoPiso, the proptech property chain specialist that guarantees that homes will sell in 90 days, has announced the signature of the first real estate venture debt agreement in Spain, worth up to €4.5 million.


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VimpelCom has entered into a software partnership with Swedish vendor Ericsson worth more than USD1 billion that the Amsterdam-based telecoms group says will radically transform its global IT infrastructure. The partnership encompasses a complete overhaul of VimpelCom’s IT infrastructure across eleven countries and twelve time zones, enabling VimpelCom to ‘digitalise and globalise’ its Business Support Systems (BSS) infrastructure using Ericsson’s new software and cloud technologies. Ericsson’s new ‘Digital Stack’ system will accelerate product and service development, while ‘near real-time analytics’ will allow greater personalisation of services for customers, in addition to the adoption of a simpler user interface to ‘enhance the customer experience on all levels’, a press release announced.
Jean-Yves Charlier, CEO of VimpelCom, said: ‘The new Digital Stack will help us better respond to our customers while also centralising and simplifying our business, creating lean and agile operations that will result in a more efficient cost structure across our global footprint.’ In addition to a significant reduction in operating costs, the improved technology structure is aimed at enabling VimpelCom to fast-track its digital innovation strategy, particularly in the areas of mobile entertainment, communication, the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile financial services (MFS). Ericsson will enable an end-to-end digital transformation, which includes the management and operation of the new Digital BSS environment using a cloud-based digital support system architecture, with Ericsson’s Revenue Manager at its core. VimpelCom currently operates in Russia, Italy, Algeria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Laos and Zimbabwe.


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Amazon has released a list of the most well-read cities in America, based on the data they have compiled from book, magazine, newspaper, and e-book sales. And it only seems appropriate that my e-book empire is headquartered in the number one well-read city: Cambridge, MA! Here is a preview of the list:
- Cambridge, Mass.
- Alexandria, Va.
- Berkeley, Calif.
- Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Boulder, Colo.
Here is some of the other data and fun facts that they shared:
- Not only do they like to read, but they like to know the facts: Cambridge, Mass.–home to the prestigious Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology–also topped the list of cities that ordered the most nonfiction books.
- Boulder, Colo., lives up to its reputation as a healthy city by topping the list of cities that order the most books in the Cooking, Food & Wine category.
- Alexandria, Va., residents must be reading a lot of bedtime stories – they topped the list of the city that orders the most children’s books.
- Summer reading weather all year long? Florida was the state with the most cities in the Top 20, with Miami, Gainesville and Orlando making the list.


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Read Mobile Marketing Magazine article here
One of the most prominent features of iOS 11 is a blue status bar that appears on the user's screen when one of their apps is tracking background data., This has prompted some concern in the Location Marketing industry, who fear that this level of transparency will cause users to withdraw consent.
Doug Chisholm believes it unlikely to affect all apps as users will understand the trade off, but there may be implications for some, “I think for a fitness app, the user is going to accept the blue bar, but if a new user were to install Foursquare or a similar app and choose in-app only, that could be bad news for them,” he says.
“It probably won’t affect the ad community, as 90 per cent of location data used in ad tech is from app opens and bidstream requests, rather than background data,” he says. “Everyone wants to talk a good game, but no one has high levels of background data; it’s typically about one per cent.”
“The fact is though that most of the advertising SDKs don’t offer such app functionality and just sniff location data constantly,” says Chisholm. “These will show a blue bar, which is exactly what Apple is trying to achieve here. They don’t like you sniffing location every two minutes.”
Read more abut the implications of i)S 11's Blue Bar for Location Targeting in David Murphy's article: http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/what-are-the-implications-of-ios-11s-blue-bar-for-location-targeting


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HYPEBEAST 100: The innovators from all realms of creativity in the spotlight.
With in-depth interviews, focused features and fashion-forward editorials, our print publication features long-form coverage of the topics valued by readers.
Explore and be inspired by the latest women's fashion news and trends.
Watch it here.
Gorillaz racing team?
Is a new album coming soon?
“the CONSTRUCTOR” will hit the ambassador’s residence for two nights only.
Snoop Dogg, Vic Mensa, Jean Michel-Jarre and Liam Bailey are reportedly set to feature on the long-awaited LP.
Japan. Denim. Obviously.
Japanese multi-brand store BILLY’S has teamed up with fellow retailer ZOZOTOWN to release yet
ZOZOTOWN joins Japanese sake brewery Ohmine Shuzou to produce the 10th Anniversary “Ohmine Junmai”
This season sees A Bathing Ape linking up with Japan’s ZOZOTOWN to craft an exclusive collection of
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By the end of this year, Goodwill of South Central Ohio plans to open new offices and an Activities and Training Center next to the soon-to-open new store on Western Avenue in Chillicothe.
The 10,000 square-foot facility will be home to the workforce development department and administrative functions while the center will serve our participants with developmental disabilities in our center located in our Shawnee Square store.
“We are excited about this project as it gives us more opportunities to serve not only this community, but also support operations in our seven other counties,” said CEO Marvin Jones. “Our workforce department continues to grow and these new offices will have meeting and conference rooms that also will be available to other organizations in the community. The activities center will be a major upgrade for our participants with disabilities, complete with kitchen and laundry areas.”
The new building will be located between the new Goodwill store and Knisley Pharmacy. The offices will be about 6,450 square feet and the activities center about 3,600 square feet. A&T Property LLC of Jackson is the main contractor for the $1.8 million project. A&T Property LLC also built and leased new stores to Goodwill in Jackson and Athens in 2018 and is building and will lease the new store on Western Avenue.
Kingston National Bank is providing financing to Goodwill for the project. Combined, about 60 employees and participants will move into the new building from the current offices in the Foulke Block and the Shawnee Square center. Completion is expected by the end of November.
For more information on Goodwill, go online to www.GWISCO.org and follow us on Facebook.
Media contact: Jona Ison, firstname.lastname@example.org, 740-702-4000 ext. 135


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Movano Health, a leading innovator in health technology, is set to reveal their financial and operational results for the final quarter of 2023 on Thursday, April 4, 2024. The management team will be hosting a conference call and live webcast to discuss these results and provide an update on the company’s business at 2:00 pm PT/5:00 pm ET.
The announcement comes after Movano Health has been focused on developing healthcare solutions that bring high-quality medical data to consumer health devices. Their innovative devices capture a comprehensive view of vital health information and translate it into personalized insights to empower consumers to take charge of their health journey. Movano Health’s solutions aim to allow consumers and healthcare professionals to use medical-grade data to proactively monitor and manage health outcomes.
Attendees can access the live webcast on the Movano Health website or by dialing into the conference call using the provided phone numbers. An archived webcast will be available on the company’s website one hour after the event for two years.
For more information about Movano Health and their upcoming financial results report, visit their website.


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WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy continued to expand across most regions and sectors from early January through mid-February, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, with auto sales and consumer spending rising in most Fed districts.
In its Beige Book report of anecdotal information on business activity collected from contacts across the nation, the central bank said wage pressures were moderate across most districts.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Why you shouldn’t fear Fed rate hikes
Once the Fed drops ‘patient,’ rate hikes could come at any time, Yellen tells markets
But the report said that some contacts reported increased wages to attract skilled workers for difficult-to-fill positions. The Fed is watching wage pressure closely for signs that stubbornly low inflation is beginning to tick higher.
Oil and gas producers in certain districts anticipate cuts in capital expenditures this year, in a sign of low energy prices biting the industry.
© Thomson Reuters 2015


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The luxury home market in Asia will remain resilient over the next year despite some headwinds
The luxury home market in Asia will remain resilient over the next year despite some headwinds, such as rising interest rates and inflation.
Here are some of the critical factors that support the outlook:
Strong economic growth: Many Asian economies are expected to grow healthy in the coming year, supporting demand for luxury homes.
Rising number of high-net-worth individuals: The number of high-net-worth individuals in Asia is growing rapidly, and these individuals are increasingly looking to invest in luxury real estate.
Limited supply of high-quality properties: There is a limited supply of high-quality luxury homes in many Asian cities, another factor supporting prices.
Of course, there are also some risks to the luxury home market in Asia. These include:
Rising interest rates: Rising interest rates could make it more expensive for buyers to finance their purchases, dampening demand.
Inflation: Inflation could erode buyers' purchasing power, which could also weigh on demand.
Geopolitical risks: Geopolitical risks, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine, could also disrupt economic growth and dampen demand for luxury homes.
Overall, the data shows that the luxury home market in Asia will remain resilient over the next year, but there are some risks to watch out for.
Here are some specific markets in Asia that I would be interested in investing in:
Thailand: Thailand is a popular tourist destination with a growing middle class. The luxury home market there has the potential to grow in the coming years.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong is a popular destination for wealthy investors worldwide, and the luxury home market there will remain strong in the coming year.
Singapore: Singapore is a well-established luxury market with a limited supply of high-quality properties. The market there will remain resilient in the coming year.
Of course, investors should always do their research before investing in any market.


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New figures on the OS composition of Android devices accessing the Android Market gathered by Android Developers shows that devices running Android 2.1 now make up 55.5% of all devices. The rise in Android 2.1 adoption is no doubt due to the updates that are being pushed out to devices, and the release of so many new handsets running Android 2.1.
AndroidGuys observes after looking at the whole chart that "we still have fragmentation(or legacy as they call it), but Android 2.1 is shaping up to be the platform starting point for developers and hopefully that will lead to much better apps.
Gizmodo notes that "Android 1.5 is still going strong, too, thanks to the slow pace of updates around the world and a few phones left in permanent limbo by their uncaring makers."
I think that most of those figures will be Nexus One handsets, but some of those are probably people running custom ROMs because the can't wait for their carrier to push out the Android 2.2 update.
Image from Android Developers
Source: Android Developers


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According to leaked documents, Google has been working on its own system on chip (SoC) and it will debut on its new flagship Google Pixel 6 this year. The chipset has been codenamed Whitechapel and will power all variants of the Pixel 6 expected to launch in October 2021.
Google has been working with Samsung to develop the new processors, one of the main mobile processor providers alongside TSMC. It has been said that Google will eventually use these chipsets in new Chromebooks as well, optimising the laptop software to work best with their own processors.
This is by no means an odd move in the mobile industry, of course. The likes of Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi have all made the shift to their own chipsets. Google’s investment in the future of its mobile devices (phones and Chromebooks) makes the prospect of its own SoC an obvious choice.
The latest reports highlight a connection to Samsung’s Exynos chipsets, claiming that Whitechapel “is being developed with Samsung Semiconductor’s system large-scale integration (SLSI) division.”
The new Google chipset might be called the GS101, as it is the moniker used internally. Another codename reportedly used is Slider, which is believed to be a “shared platform for the first Whitechapel SoC.” Slider is also linked to other projects in the company, including Raven and Oriole. These two bird names have reportedly been chosen for the two versions of the Pixel 6 expected to launch this year.
Mobile ARM-based chips are improving in performance much quicker than its traditional computer counterparts, as has been proven with Apple’s M1 chip Macbooks. The architecture is proving extremely profitable for mobile manufacturers. Google will hope that the creation of its own chipsets will see its products become the dominating force in Android.


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• 7.4 % of sales in nine sectors are lost due to the presence of fakes in the market.
• Clothes, toys, sports goods, jewellery, handbags and music among the sectors affected.
• Government revenue lost as a result of counterfeiting and piracy estimated at £12.2 billion.
With the festive season approaching, millions of shoppers across the EU-28 are buying Christmas presents for family and friends. But the negative economic effect of counterfeit and pirated goods lasts all year round.
A series of studies carried out by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) through the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, estimates that over £40 billion — or 7.4 % of all sales — is lost every year in nine sectors, due to the presence of fake goods in the marketplace. Every year, an additional £ 30 billion is also lost across the EU economy due to the indirect effects of counterfeiting and piracy in these sectors, as manufacturers buy fewer goods and services from suppliers, causing knock-on effects in other areas.
The nine affected sectors are: cosmetics and personal care; clothing, footwear and accessories; sports goods; toys and games; jewellery and watches; handbags; recorded music; spirits and wine; and pharmaceuticals.
Those lost sales translate into close to 500,000 jobs directly lost or not created across these sectors in the EU, as legitimate manufacturers and in some case distributors of corresponding products employ fewer people than they would have done in the absence of counterfeiting and piracy.
When the knock-on effect of counterfeits on other sectors is taken into account, an additional 290,000 jobs are lost elsewhere in the EU economy.
The studies were carried out between March 2015 and September 2016 by the EUIPO, to build up a fuller picture of the economic cost of counterfeiting and piracy in the EU.
The study series also tracks the effect of fakes on public finances. In total, the yearly loss of government revenue arising from counterfeiting and piracy in these nine sectors is estimated at £12.2 billion, in terms of lost income tax, VAT and excise duties.
The Executive Director of the EUIPO, António Campinos said:
We hope that the results of our study series will help consumers make more informed choices. This is all the more important at this time of the year, when consumers and citizens are doing their Christmas shopping and choosing gifts for their dear ones.
Through our reporting and analysis, we can see the economic effects that counterfeiting and piracy have on sales and jobs. The situation varies from Member State to Member State, but the overall picture from our study series is very clear — counterfeiting and piracy have a negative effect on the EU economy and on job creation.
The study series will continue throughout 2017, with reports on the economic effects of counterfeiting and piracy in the smartphone and pesticide sectors, as well as in other economic sectors thought to be vulnerable to intellectual property rights infringements.
United Kingdom: it is estimated that over £6.4 billion, is lost annually as a result of counterfeiting, with over £4.6 billion directly lost in the sectors identified, amounting to 6.7% of their sales. This translates into 80,500 jobs lost, with 50,800 jobs directly lost in these sectors.
UK is the 4th country most affected by jobs lost due to counterfeiting and the 5th by lost sales in absolute terms considering all sectors. UK is the country most affected by music piracy, notably because of the size of the music market and the size of the digital market, the 2nd one by lost sales in games and 3rd one in clothing and footwear sector.


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Bitcoin and Crypto Mining Firms Seek Reverse Business Mergers to Secure IPO Listing Hopes
While the recent bitcoin price slump has affected every aspect of the industry, one particular group has felt the effects of it more than others: mining firms. Many prominent ones such as Bitmain have filed for bankruptcy and are closing down.
Earlier this week, Charles Li Xiaojia, chief executive of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, was asked about the statuses of the IPO applications of some firms involved in the crypto industry. The firms in question are Bitmain Technologies, Canaan Creative, and Ebang International Holdings. Xiaojia responded by saying that firms who wish to get approval need to show consistency in their business practices.
Bypassing The Process
There is, however, a new way that firms have resorted to as a means of ensuring IPO approval- reverse mergers. A reverse merger refers to a situation where a private company buys a controlling stake in a publicly traded company in order to access IPO- approved status without going through the application process.
On the same day, the Chief Excitive made his comments, Leap Holdings Group, a publicly traded construction firm in Hong Kong, announced that it had sold the controlling stake in its firm to OKC Holdings Corp, the parent company of OKCoin, a Cryptocurrency exchange.
OKC Holdings bought a 60 percent stake in the firm for US$62 million and the deal was completed on January 14, 2019.
This isn’t the first in recent times that this is taking place. In August 2018, Huobi Group purchased a 66 percent stake in Pantronics Holdings, a publicly traded Hong Kong firm.
This method is becoming more and more popular among crypto firms looking to bypass the often lengthy and tiring process of getting IPO approval and it is apparently easier in some places than others.
“Hong Kong is one of the easiest markets for reverse IPOs because there are many small-cap stocks,”
Beijing-based crypto analyst Xiao Le said,
“It did not go well for hardware manufacturers like Bitmain to go public, what more for companies directly dealing with cryptocurrency trades.”
Bitmain, for example, is attempting to buy out a publicly traded firm in the United States and a similar approach was attempted by Mike Novogratz attempted to buy out publicly traded Bradmer Pharmaceuticals in Canada.


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Can United Airlines make the skies friendly again?
United Airlines is going back to the future in a new global ad campaign from McGarryBowen/New York that breaks Sunday. A potentially risky effort, the $30-million United campaign reintroduces the iconic United Airlines (NYSE: UAL) tagline "Fly the Friendly Skies," first coined by Leo Burnett/Chicago nearly 50 years ago.
United dumped the hugely popular tagline (and Leo Burnett) in the mid-1990s, as the business of airline travel began to change and the Chicago-based airline entered a chaotic phase in its history that saw several CEOs and marketing officers cycle through the carrier's executive suite.
United eventually would plunge into bankruptcy before finally orchestrating a merger with Continental Airlines in 2010.
Though United would go on to use several other, less satisfying ad taglines during the intervening years, many of United's longtime employees and regular customers never forgot the "friendly skies" line that became so much a part of United's brand image. Pilots could frequently be heard thanking passengers for flying the friendly skies long after the line disappeared from United's marketing arsenal.
But now — three years after United announced its merger with Continental and just a little more than year after UA angered tens of thousands of passengers because of service disruptions caused by computer reservation system glitches and other issues — United CEO Jeff Smisek and his marketing team apparently feel comfortable enough about the carrier and the service it is now offering to dare to reintroduce the friendly skies tagline.
Noted Tom O'Toole, United's senior vice president of marketing and loyalty and president of MileagePlus: "Our new brand campaign expresses the customer focus of all of United's investments."
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New research shows that “Americans are ready to travel for the holidays” as concerns about health risks diminish among consumers.
According to the annual holiday travel survey by Deloitte, an international business consultancy, the number of Americans deterred from traveling because of health concerns dropped from one in five to one in 10.
In a statement, Mike Daher, Deloitte’s vice chair for transportation, hospitality, and services in the U.S., described the travel industry as “reaching its cruising altitude this holiday season.”
Of the 5,281 surveyed for the report, 48% said they plan on traveling between Thanksgiving and mid-July. Plus, 56% of those travelers said they plan on staying at a hotel during their trip, and 37% said they plan on taking at least one flight.
The data also shows that the travelers cover a range of income and age groups. It breaks down to one-third of Boomers planning to travel as well as one in four Zoomers and one in five Millennials.
One caveat mentioned in the report is that travelers are planning to take fewer trips and stay at their destination for a shorter amount of time. However, they are planning to spend more this year as the average holiday budget is $2,725.
Of those who say they’re not going to travel this season, 38% said their primary reason was financial, and the percentage of those who cited health concerns dropped by seven percentage points (from 18% in 2022 to 11% in 2023).


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The Iranian Modern Business Company (IMBCO) was established 6 years ago which is considered one of the main e-commerce players in Iran’s startup scene having NetBarg, Chilivery and Tik8 in its portfolio.
Iran’s first private cloud data center gets launched in Tehran during a ceremony attended by the Minister of Communication and Information Technology. The construction for this data center took 3 years and 12 million dollars.
An Iranian online marketplace for fashion goods is organizing local events to showcase the works of Iranian designers and international brands. With these events, this startup aims to overcome the challenge with offline to online conversion and building trust and credibility for their customers.


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The House of Burberry decided to really dive into technology and launch their new campaign in a unique and intriguing … More
Photographer Mario Testino captures Karlie Kloss in a lavish editorial for Vogue US September 2014,styled by fashion editor Tonne Goodman.
Mario Testino and his inspiring work need no introduction.Still,amongst his uber glamorous projects, Testino has also embraced social … More
The third Vogue Festival will take place on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March 2014, this year in partnership with … More
Mario Testino,taking literally the recent trend of art and fashion fusion lenses Liu Wen for Vogue China December 2013, in an … More
Mario Testino shoots all models-that-matter-today for the Spring 2013 edition of V Magazine # 81.All of today’s hottest models feature … More
“I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful … More


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Southfield (WJBK) - Three... two... one... and doors closing.
Astronauts could be finding a new way of leaving the atmosphere. A patent for a space elevator has been awarded to a Canadian company. Officials say it's a much cheaper alternative to launching rockets.
The elevator would go about 12 miles into the air and use less fuel. Thoth Technology, the Ontario-based company, estimates the $5 billion project could have a full version within five years.
The average cost to launch a space shuttle, as listed in NASA's FAQ, averages at $450 million per mission.
Over time, it's believed the elevator would prove to be a much more cost-effective way of transporting supplies and people.
And maybe, if we're lucky, be the next vacation destination.


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14 September 2022 - Events
McDonald’s Germany will not renew it partnership with the German Football Association (DFB), which is German’s governing body for soccer. Rather than sponsor DFB, McDonald’s in January of this year, announced that it would be the official partner for the ESL Meisterschaft, the company responsible for holding the national championship in Germany for Counter-Strike, League of Legends, and FIFA. McDonald’s had been partners with DFB since 2004. A spokesman for McDonald’s Germany emphasized that the decision to no longer sponsor German soccer is not reflective of the company’s commitment to German soccer, but rather part of the brand’s greater strategy to closer connect with teenagers and young people. With their move into Esports sponsorship, McDonald’s joins other major brands such as Intel and Mercedes-Benz as sponsors of the ESL.
This article was written with contributions from Tim Piscatelli.


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Yuengling Ice Cream Back on the Shelves
Hold your flagons; we don’t have beer-flavored ice cream yet. But now, Yuengling beer fans can enjoy a pint of their favorite beer alongside a pint of their chosen flavor of ice cream, because Yuengling ice cream — owned by the same family — is back on the shelves after a hiatus of more than 20 years.
Yuengling Dairy was started by the Yuengling family in 1920 to help support the family during prohibition’s beer drought. The Pennsylvania-based ice cream company was wildly popular and grew quickly throughout the 20th century. But the legacy came to an end in 1985 because President David Yuengling was not in a position to take over the company from his father. Now — depending on your age and location — you can re-live your childhood and scream for the return of Yuengling ice cream, which will hit Mid-Atlantic stores next week.
“I’d always been asked why we stopped making ice cream and whether or not we’d ever start again,” Yuengling told The Daily Meal. “Reintroducing the ice cream was always a thought in the back of my head, something I’d wanted to do, but never seemed to take shape.”
These days, the two companies operate separately, and the owners of the brewery and Yuengling Dairy Products are second cousins. Although you won’t find frozen frothy brews in the ice cream aisle, there will be chocolate, mint chocolate chip, vanilla, and “black and tan” — a subtle nod to the popular Yuengling beer variety — which is a Belgian chocolate and salted caramel swirl.


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With Brazil currently in the global spotlight due to the World Cup, scientists at the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro are kicking the traditional view of coffee as bad for your teeth into touch. It seems black coffee could in fact help you to avoid the dentist’s drill.
The team’s research has just been published in a journal by international scientific institute the Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM). It suggests that an extract of Coffea canephora, a coffee bean grown in Brazil and Vietnam, could potentially break down harmful bacteria on teeth. This would in turn inhibit the growth of plaque – the substance which causes most gum disease, and also leads to cavities in teeth.
Andréa Antonio and his team carried out the research by working with children’s milk teeth, donated to the project. Professor Antonio said they were always searching for “natural compounds” which could help to keep teeth healthy. The society suggested the coffee extract could eventually be a key ingredient in a new mouthwash or toothpaste.
The scientists put bacteria biofilms onto the donated teeth, then applied coffee extract, which was shown to break down the films. The active ingredients working to combat plaque growth are believed to be polyphenol chemicals present in coffee.
However, the researchers warned that if you add milk or cream to your cup, you could completely cancel out the positive effects of these chemicals… so you are best to choose a strong black coffee.
This latest research finding comes in the wake of a series of other health claims for coffee, including suggestions that drinking regular cups could help to combat diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Before we all rush to the office espresso machine or other commercial coffee machine however, the researchers are sounding a note of caution. They say that, while this is an “exciting result”, excessive coffee drinking can cause health problems, including teeth staining. All the same, the findings are yet another reason to continue enjoying our daily coffee in moderation!


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Startup Hammerhead Systems Inc. today announced its HSX 6000 edge switch, a box designed to make it easier for telecom service providers to move their customers from legacy systems like ATM and Frame Relay to more advanced networks.
Hammerhead, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company, said its expected product is specifically designed to allow service providers to migrate customers from older frame relay and ATM networks to MPLS backbones with minimal disruptions. New design technology in the HSX 6000 allows service providers to pool bandwidth across the switch, as well as provide simultaneous connections over ATM and MPLS, features which both assist in service migration, said Houman Modarres, director of product management for Hammerhead.
According to Modarres, service cutovers can cause serious fear and loathing between service providers and customers, especially large corporate customers who can't afford any network downtime. "Our mission is to help service providers migrate their customers and their revenue from ATM backbones to MPLS," Modarres said. "Some service providers don't even like to send messages to their customers telling them about what a [service] cutover involves. It's very important to smooth out that transition."
A dual control plane implementation allows the HSX 6000 to simultaneously interconnect with ATM and MPLS networks, Modarres said, allowing providers to support legacy enterprise networks -- and their revenue -- while consolidating their own costs by moving to a converged IP/MPLS core. When the customer is ready to switch to MPLS or other IP services, the HSX will let service providers deliver an instantaneous cutover, Modarres said.
The bandwidth pooling technology in the switch allows the HSX 6000 to virtually map the interface line cards, allowing for more-efficient use of the total switch throughput, Hammerhead said. Hammerhead also introduced an integrated management system and a provisioning gateway for the switch, with all products available now.


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Automation, robotics, AI, ransomware
Think Again: Applying automation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) may be easier than you think. Preventing a ransomware attack may be more difficult, as explained at the A3 Business Forum in February. See upcoming conferences.
Automation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and ransomware were among topics at the A3 Business Forum, Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. (For advice from other Association for Advancing Automation (A3) conference speakers, see “Robotics, motion control, machine vision, AI.”)
Integrate automation, use robotics to help humans, make AI scalable, and don’t think for a minute cybersecurity or physical security doesn’t need attention. Also, below, see upcoming conferences and training opportunities.
Applying robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) in manufacturing
Oli Qirko, senior vice president and general manager, North America, Cambridge Consultants, said clients seek help installing automation to get fast solutions to help with severe labor shortages. Applications need to be scalable and work with current systems and minimize disruptions, she said. Interoperability and communication are key. Many people want to work with robots, given the chance, said Qirko. It’s an exciting time for robotics with a lot of investments and many startups.
Shane Dittrich, co-founder of the House of Design robotics, began as a system integrator. He discussed challenges applying automation to truss building, difficult because of the wide variability of wood quality. When working with customers, ensure they’re ready for the level of automation sought, Dittrich suggested, letting humans do what humans can and allow automation to do the rest. Automation providers need to provide more open-source, easier to integrate and communicate with devices and systems, he added.
Deep learning applications, resolving worker shortages
Deba Sen, president, abrasive systems division, 3M, said the company is bringing in partners to help with deep-learning application expertise. COVID-19 brought 15 years of technology investments in 5 months, she said. It’s also important to look at what medium and small manufacturers need since they are the majority of U.S. manufacturing output.
Greg Smith, president, Industrial Automation Group, Teradyne (includes Universal Robots, Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), AutoGuide Mobile Robots and Energid), continues to see a worker shortage. Smith hoped to help resolve worker shortages with safe and easy-to-use collaborative robotics and AI to solve customer problems.
The era of finding cheap labor is gone, Smith said, adding automation and AI can provide more sustainable results. “People make lousy robots, and robots make lousy people.” Use of AI with automation “doesn’t make hard things easy, but it makes impossible things possible.”
Enabling technologies to help with automation applications include ROS (an open-source robotic operating system from SwRI) and digital twins to provide realistic emulation of what’s going on. About AI, Smith observed that once AI starts working, then people stop calling it AI.
Don’t reject AI because of the hype
Andrew Ng, CEO, Landing AI, said artificial intelligence has been overhyped in the last 10 years. A recipe that would serve a billion users doesn’t work in industrial automation. Custom AI needs to be applied in each factory, Ng said, resolving complex issues with ingenuity. He warned about buying into the idea that one company has all data and answers. Data centric AI development works on developing carefully curated data sets to get cutting-edge performances.
People often apply the wrong set of rules to capture defects. Deep learning can use a different approach by showing the system a set of images what you’re trying to detect. AI is automation on steroids.
Rashmi Misra, general manager AI, mixed reality and silicon platforms, business development, Microsoft, said Microsoft is looking at how it can work with partners to create an ecosystem to help with abstraction layers, hardware, management and application inputs. Software tools help training to enhance learning on the job with remote experts, using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) to overlay the physical world with digital assets. This helps customers monitor, analyze and fix something while the expert is elsewhere.
It is a challenge, Misra said, to optimize objectives and move from a ton of data to something usable, making tools open to all players to democratize every level of capability.
Cybersecurity, ransomware for manufacturers
Aiming to demystify ransomware attacks for manufacturers, Jeremy Dodson, CISO, chief information security officer, (left in photo) and Jay Korpi, a principal cybersecurity advisor, both with NextLink Labs, offered advice. Ransomware is malware that uses encryption to hold data ransom.
Dodson said he hears many incorrect things about ransomware, including that paying once will restore everything. Crooks may or may not restore, may or may not seek only one ransom and likely will not remove the malware. Assets also may be locked up again after paying once, he warned.
Dodson said the six typical phases of a ransomware attack are:
- The initial access campaign.
- The actual infection, where systems are breached, often undetected.
- Staging, which is where the hacker ensures access remains after a system reboot.
- Internal system scanning for high-value targets (HVTs).
- Data encryption.
- Payday, when you’re informed of the breach, systems are locked and initial ransom demanded.
Korpi said his goal is to help customers go from that worst possible day to better days. He often warns customers about how easy it is for social engineering professional to gain physical access to systems to plant ransomware, adding, “I have never come across a room I couldn’t talk my way into.”
Dodson gave examples about how they attacked (with permission) and accessed secured areas to plant ransomware. Dodson detailed how they gained physical access into a customer’s ultra-secured area twice before they were convinced they needed training.
Flexible manufacturing to meet individual customer needs
Christoph Schell, chief commercial officer, HP, talked about how the automation revolution in digital manufacturing enables customers to easily find professional uses for customized consumer products. As president of HP’s 3D printing and digital manufacturing efforts, he noted a huge acceleration of technologies during the last two years, citing some estimate of 5 years of digital adoption in 8 weeks. Must if the investment is expected to stick past COVID-19. The blur of professional and personal lives has created huge opportunities for businesses: “All of us has become supply chain, Schell said, outlining opportunities including:
- Flexibility and performance at the right price point. This included ability to use a credit card from home to design, test, and print better robotic parts, shortening the supply chain from 8 to 10 weeks to 6 days.
- Hyper-customization can disrupt production as the digital twin becomes the physical output of a manufacturer.
- Sustainable supply chain enables technology built with the future in mind: 60% of global consumers are interested in sustainability when the buy. Digital manufacturing ships designs, not products. Globally, 1 in 3 list sustainability as most important when buying. Digital manufacturing enables flexibility, speed, affordability and responsiveness to customer sustainability requirements, Schell said. “Digital twins are our metaverse,” Schell observed. “They’re already here for manufacturing.”
Condition monitoring may require more sensors
In a discussion with Control Engineering after the conference, Will Healy III, marketing manager, Americas for Balluff, said he sees more digitalization attention being given to condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. Sensors used to monitor critical assets make that an increasingly approachable entry point, he said, checking critical measurements of pumps, motors, fans and HVAC systems, especially as there are fewer maintenance people available. Systems can get data and notify as needed to protect critical systems first, because if those break, no one can work, such as when pumps fail in a painting facility, and production stops.
Retrofit solutions can bolt onto existing systems, measuring electrical use, vibration, heat, and other parameters. Healy said adding technology adds value to companies, making it easier to justify more technology applications.
Paper shortage, paper stock
It seems few industries are impervious to supply chain disruptions, but Control Engineering offers apologies, anyhow. Some reading this print edition may find a lower-grade paper stock in their hand, which was the best we could do given a paper mill strike in Finland and continuing supply chain turmoil.
In person, digital learning: Which way do I go?
Control Engineering plans to cover two of three industry events scheduled (or rescheduled) week of June 5. If any of you are attending the Pittsburgh conference and want us to consider publishing some of your notes, let me know.
Automate, June 6-9, Detroit, A3 www.automate.org
ARC Forum, June 6-9, Orlando, ARC Advisory Group, www.arcweb.com/events/arc-industry-forum-orlando
Smart Manufacturing Experience, June 7-9, Pittsburgh, SME, CESMII, AMT, www.smartmanufacturingexperience.com.
CSIA Executive Conference, Denver, June 27-30, www.controlsys.org/events/conference2022
IMTS 2022 (AMT) www.imts.com and Hannover Messe USA (Hannover Fairs USA), https://hannovermesseusa.com, Sept. 12-17,
Vision Show, Oct. 11-13, Boston, A3, www.visionshow.org, co-located with Autonomous Mobile Robots & Logistics Week 2022, A3, Oct. 10-13.
Pack Expo Chicago, Oct. 23-26, PMMI, www.packexpointernational.com.
Think again about digital education with CFE Media and Technology education.
Are you making and helping others make automation investments now?


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SELF-SERVICE machines have transformed the way groceries are checked out at stores across the nation.
The technology has improved customers' in-store experiences as shoppers do not have to stand in line waiting for a cashier.
But, not all shoppers have seen a benefit as some have faced accusations of stealing – even if they didn't intend to shoplift.
Criminal defense attorney Justin Sparks has offered a series of tips that will help self-checkout users avoid a potentially humiliating situation in the store.
He warned that the way a customer positions their body could see them in hot water.
Sparks told The U.S. Sun: “Don’t huddle up over the machine, try to cover camera angles, or do quick scans.
read more on self checkouts
“Shoppers should take a step back and realize that eyeballs are looking at them."
He urged customers not to rush while scanning items and said they should be focused and slow.
Meanwhile, Dod Ghassemkhani, who has been practicing law for more than 15 years, urged customers to put away their cell phones when using the kiosks.
He said: “I’ve been working in this [field] for almost 20 years and I’ve received so many cases where my clients have been at the self-checkout line with their child and they’ve been distracted and don’t scan everything.
Most read in The US Sun
“And, the next thing you know, a loss prevention officer has taken them into an office, and they’re being given a citation for a misdemeanor theft.”
Ghassemkhani warned that shoppers should make sure that every item has been scanned.
He said: “Customers should make sure they watch the screen before putting the item down."
He also recommended that customers look at their receipts after scanning their goods.
Self-checkout usage across the US has risen sharply over the past five years.
Research conducted by Catalina revealed that the number of self-checkout machines has increased by 10 percent in that time frame.
The firm estimated that the kiosks make up around 38 percent of all checkout lanes in the country.
And as the technology has become more popular, reports of self-checkout-related theft are more widespread.
Shoppers who accidentally fail to scan an item have faced legal consequences.
Lawyer Serge J. Hovhanessian, from Florida, recalled that his client was arrested after she failed to scan a small item in her $200 order.
He said in a video: "She's scanning her stuff [at the self-checkout].
"The machine has a little malfunction. They send a store agent out to the self-checkout. He fixes it.
"She scans the rest of her items. Puts her credit card in."
Hovhanessian claimed that the shopper was stopped and arrested before she left the store.
The U.S. Sun previously reported how Melissa Bartlett was accused of stealing when she used the self-checkout.
A worker re-scanned the items that she had previously checked out.
Punishments vary state-by-state but legal experts have warned about the potential consequences.
Sparks, who practices law in Texas, previously warned that shoppers may be arrested on theft allegations when cops are conducting a traffic stop.
In Louisiana, if a shopper is accused of stealing less than $1,000 worth of items, the offense is classified as a misdemeanor.
It may result in jail time, but it likely will be very short.
But, anything above $1,000 is considered a felony charge, and cases that involve amounts above $25,000 could result in up to 20 years behind bars.
Shoppers accused of stealing may not just face criminal charges.
Read More on The US Sun
The U.S. Sun previously reported how suspected shoplifters may receive letters from a law firm instructing them to pay a hefty fine.
The document is known as a civil demand letter.


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The COVID-19 pandemic and lock-down regulations have had an extensive impact on economic activity. Stats SA reported that manufacturing production decreased by 16.3 per cent in June 2020, compared with June 2019. Annabel Bishop, Chief Economist at Investec joins CNBC Africa to give insight into the contributors, and the utilisation of manufacturing capacity in South Africa.
Get the best of CNBC Africa sent straight to your inbox with breaking business news, insights and updates from experts across the continent. Sign up here.


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Coronavirus impact: Nissan implements free anti-microbial sanitisation campaign
Nissan Motor India announced an anti-microbial sanitization campaign for the safety and wellbeing of all its customers. The campaign ensures that all Nissan dealers will perform a free of cost anti-microbial sanitization of all interior and exterior areas of the car that are frequently accessed or touched, including door handles, steering wheel, gear knobs, etc.
Customers will also be offered full sanitization of the vehicle using an interior fogging treatment, which ensures disinfection of the AC duct system, carpets etc., followed by exterior sanitization by spraying, at an affordable cost. The campaign will start from 15th May to June 30th and customers will receive invites via phone calls, e-mails and SMS from the nearest dealership and you can redeem the special anti-microbial sanitization service as well.
This will further help the customers to be at ease regarding their safety and also curb the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. The initiative is a positive step for car owners and the company gets to show its concern for their valuable customers. We will soon be seeing similar campaigns by other manufacturers as well.
Many manufacturers have already launched online portals to reduce visits to the dealership after the nationwide lockdown is lifted. A relapse of the Coronavirus spread will be the last thing we need and such measures by companies would be much appreciated by the customers.
Rakesh Srivastava, Managing Director at Nissan Motor India said, "At Nissan India, our utmost priority is the well-being of all customers, employees and dealer partners. In these challenging times, it is important that we step up all types of sanitization services as a precautionary measure to collectively overcome the challenges in the society. The anti-microbial sanitization package is the continuation of our endeavour to provide best services to all the owners of Nissan & Datsun vehicles."
- 2021 Force Gurkha deliveries begin across India
- Comparison review: Jeep Compass vs Citroen C5 Aircross
- Near-production Skoda Slavia spied ahead of early 2022 launch
- 2021 Toyota Innova Crysta Limited Edition launched with added tech features, prices unchanged
- Top 10 best selling cars in India 2021 - Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai dominate


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Molson Coors suffered a cyber security incident on March 11 that severely disrupted production and that the company is still struggling to get under control.
An announcement gave little detail about the cyberattack, other than to say that Molson Coors has made “substantial progress” in restoring normal operations and that “all breweries are currently producing and shipping products, and are ramping up to near normal operating levels.”
However, the attack, coupled with the disruption brought about by the February winter storm that shut down the Texas power grid, caused short-term disruption in production. As a result, Molson Coors will shift up to 2.0 million hectoliters of production and up to $140 million in revenue from the first quarter of 2021 to the balance of its 2021 fiscal year. Its guidance for the full fiscal year remains unchanged.
“While these obstacles will have a negative impact on our first quarter shipments and financial results, we believe the fundamentals of our revitalization plan are strong and our future remains bright,” CEO Gavin Hattersley said in a statement.


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Nokia, now lightened of its handset load thanks to Microsoft, has made an acquisition to expand its HERE mapping business, one of the assets that has remained with the Finnish company. It has bought Desti, a mapping startup and app maker that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to help people find what they are looking for. Desti is a spin-out from SRI International, the same group that produced Siri, now part of Apple.
As part of the deal, the existing Desti app will be shut down. Don Zereski, VP of search and discovery at HERE, says it will be wound down “within the next 90 days.” The iOS app has already been pulled from the App Store.
Instead, the company will be incorporating Desti’s technology into its HERE platform as it looks to add more personalised search to the product “over the balance of this year,” he said in an interview.
And, as Nokia makes its APIs available to third parties, it will be interesting if it uses the Desti technology for its own services, or chooses to open that up to developers as well.
Zereski says that while initially the technology will be used in HERE’s own, branded apps, it will also play into the company’s wider API effort. “The Desti backend will beocme a part of the platform over time,” he says.
The deal is an interesting one because it gives Nokia another way to build out its mapping business and add an intelligent layer on top of it — in this case not just to facilitate more hands-free and mobile-friendly interaction, but also a way of searching Nokia’s location data.
This will take Nokia into areas beyond mapping and more into services that use location. “Desti technology goes way beyond maps,” Zereski says. He says that the fact that its data trove is organised around natural language will make it easier to search and discover. “Desti has done a terrific job mining the web to collect data about places. It allows users to discover them using the way we speak about them. It lets users discover information in a more intuitive way.”
Adding more firepower to its mapping business is essential right now for Nokia because the company, now without its core handset business, will need to prove that what is has left can be a sustainable business on its own — or at least be an attractive acquisition for another company interested owning one of the handful of companies that controls primary mapping data.
Currently HERE is a fairly small part of Nokia operation. In the first quarter of this year, reported at the end of April, HERE had net sales of €209 million ($284 million), down 3% on a year ago and down 18% on the previous quarter. HERE represented less than 10% of Nokia’s overall net sales of €2.7 billion ($3.7 billion).
One of Nokia’s biggest customers for HERE, at the least for the short/medium term, will be Microsoft, which has signed a four-year licensing deal for the mapping technology for its mobile devices the operating systems that run on them.
In that regard Nokia is tasked with another challenge: it needs to start laying the groundwork now for how and where it will generate revenue after those four years are up, either from continued business from Microsoft or from other customers — and ideally both.
Desti could help on that front with its functionality and for how it might be commercialised itself.
“I don’t expect consumers to pay for services but Desti provides ways to create more commerce models around the product,” Zereski notes. “It will allow consumers to book hotels and restaurants from our products.” He was cut off from saying more on this by one of the PR people sitting in on the call, who cut in to emphasise that this is all theoretical at this point.
This would of course put Nokia into closer competition with the likes of Google, Yelp and Foursquare — the latter being a partner at the moment.
Analyst Neil Shah points out, there are a number of places, more immediately, where Desti may get integrated:
- It beefs up HERE platform as a much more smarter contextual search engine
- Into HERE’s LiveSight service for richer search experiences
- In HERE’s in-vehicle services
- Location-based search results
- Location-based services for specific verticals
Nokia says it is not disclosing the terms of the deal. We are still trying to find out.
You can read more about Desti in our profile of the startup when it launched in 2012. The company had raised $2 million from SRI International, Horizons Ventures and Carmel Ventures.


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On the occasion of the Indian Independence Day, these are some of the Indian Discoveries and Inventions that you must know: Plastic Surgery, Cataract Surgery: Cataract
Three weeks ago a high quality leak of the The Expendables 3 film appeared online. The movie is supposed to release on Friday, August 14th.
Oculus Rift is an upcoming head-mounting virtual reality display and is being developed by the company Oculus (Founder : Palmer Luckey). It is expected to
The much talked IBM-Apple deal has been received with mixed reactions from the industry. Some have called the deal a win-win situation for both, receiving
Want to sell your phone and want to buy a new one too? This news may cheer you up a bit!! Indian E-Commerce giants Flipkart
In the past we have seen that Facebook is very much concerned about better protection of its own servers and customers and is even more
As expected Microsoft is now rolling out the first update for Windows Phone 8.1 now for developers. If you have a developer account or you
Couple of week ago when Joss Whedon hosted Marvel’s panel for stage of Hall H at San Diego Comicon, he knew the anticipation of what
Short Bytes: NASA tests have suggested that a new ‘Impossible engine’ that apparently violates the laws of physics may actually work. In the test, little thrust
That could be a significant compensation on your iPhone purchase.


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First Ever Solar Utility Sets up Shop in Australia
Ever wonder how the power companies like Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG&E) began?
Way back in the early days of the fossil energy industry, gas and coal was dug out of the ground and then fed via long pipelines or railroads to power stations to produce electricity. That’s where the “gas” in PG&E got its name — with gas. The gas was also fed directly in pipes into people’s homes – and fracked from under them too!
So isn’t it time there was, for example – Pacific Wind & Solar?
Now that the power of the future is renewable energy like solar wind and solar, shouldn’t electric utilities be allowed to sell just solar? But how would that happen? You can’t just set up shop to sell your solar to your neighbors!
Electricity generation has always been heavily regulated as a “public good” – so becoming a solar electricity seller would take changes by pubic utility commissions to allow a completely new kind of power company, one that buys and sells renewable energy.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) approved the first such licence in October 2015 – for Enova.
Now the first solar electric utility has just been licensed to sell solar electricity to consumers in Australia.
Enova is a community renewable energy firm based in the northern rivers region of NSW, and it is permitted to ship its solar-powered electricity anywhere on the eastern seaboard of Australia.
Alison Crook, the chair of Enova’s board, described it as an “historic” event. noting that Enova Energy is the first community-owned organisation to get the right to sell electricity back to the community.
They use the main electricity grid to transport energy because in Australia, unlike the USA, the grids are not owned by the retailers who sell the electricity.
The utilities that did own grids in Australia have decided to separate the retail from the networks and sell of the retail base to other retailers. This results in no barriers to new entrants that want to sell power, like Enova.
“Lots of other communities are saying that they want us to succeed, so that they can follow,”said Crook.
The new license allows Enova to buy electricity generated by community solar gardens like COREM (Community Owned Renewable Energy Mullumbimby) as well as homes and businesses, and then sell it back to the community.
Just like any utility, the license allows Enova to enter into agreement with the local grid operator Essential Energy, to transport that energy onto the grid and get paid by the customers who want to buy it.
As with any electric utility, you can be a shareholder in this first-ever pure solar electric utility in Australia.
You can check online for the Enova prospectus as a potential shareholder.
Because solar is sold in 25 year contracts at a set price – unlike gas or coal for example, with ever-changing fuel prices – this sort of solar utility would be a very safe investment, almost like a green bond or a solar yieldco.
“Because it is local, Enova will be able to focus completely on its local customers, providing a personal level of service unique in the energy supply sector,” said Enova CEO Steve Harris.
Image Credit: Enova Energy


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News hotlines: 08111813019, 08025868561
Email: firstname.lastname@example.org, email@example.com
The truth of the century on the future of banking was recently made clear to the Nigerian money deposit banks (MDBs), by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the just concluded 2017 annual retreat of the Committee of E-Business Industry Heads in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Deputy Governor of Operations at the apex bank, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu told Nigerian banks to collaborate with financial technology (FinTechs) companies and not to attempt to stifle their operations out of fears of becoming irrelevant.
He cautioned banks not to nurse any form of fears working with FinTechs as only healthy collaboration will deepen the need for banking services side by side with FinTechs, saying the deal will further boost the level of financial inclusion in the country.
Speaking on the theme of the retreat, ‘Repositioning digital payments to achieve the financial inclusion goals of the financial system strategy,’ he called on CeBIH and banks to be innovative in evolving options to meet the demand of the unbanked at reasonable price to them.
According to a communiqué released by CeBIH after the retreat, the CBN deputy governor made it clear saying “As you are aware, the payments services are the channel for extending other financial services to users. The scale of transactions that we can drive through digital channels is therefore a compelling business case for you to increase investment in this segment of banking business.
“This business case, as you may have observed, is driving the interest of fintechs into your terrain and failure to be agile in responding, not necessarily by stifling the space but by collaborating with the new entrants will impact you negatively. I therefore urge you to take this challenge and respond appropriately as other financial services providers outside the banking industry are waiting on the payments system to enable the extension of their services to the un-served and underserved.”
Business Hilights recalls that during the recent seminar organized by the Nigeria information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), in Lagos, founder of CWG Plc., Austin Okere hinted that the growing innovations of the FinTech companies may in future render traditional banking practice irrelevant unless banks embrace the technologies and partner with FinTechs.
He went ahead to reveal that in some climes already, the telecoms regulators are beginning to control more cash flows than the central banks.
It would be recalled that Business Hilights had reported the position of the chief executive and managing director of the most innovative and digital bank in Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Segun Agbaje when he revealed that banks no longer have all the time in the world to delay in innovative thinking and technological restructuring to remain lead in financial business since the advent of Financial technologies companies.
Addressing participants in March this year, at the Social Media Week in Lagos on the topic; ‘The Future of Banking in The Age of Social’, he said Guaranty Trust Bank is building a reputation for innovation and engagement, traits that have helped them become a favorite among young people in Nigeria, and around Africa.
Agbaje who anchored his robust presentation on the GTBank story, stemming from its beginnings as a wholesale bank through transitions into what it has become now, made it clear that “Banks have had to be innovative and proactive to keep up with technology and advancements including social media”.
Continuing, he said “In the past, banks were linear companies with their businesses restricted to providing simple financial solutions”.
“However, with the advent of mobile money and wallets, companies outside of the traditional financial circle have begun to deal with money in a way similar to banks.
He revealed further that “fintech companies and even brands like Starbucks and Uber are now in the same competitive space as banks adding that to keep up with the times, GTBank has evolved a number of initiatives to provide far-reaching solutions to its customers beyond the regular services”.
Business Hilights is an online news channel conceptualized and structured to report and track on a daily basis; latest developments in critical business sectors to serve as a one stop news gateway for governments, foreign and indigenous investors.


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When former financial services executive Mark Hayes needed to transfer money to pay bills while on the road late last year, he noticed his Vanguard Group Inc. mobile app had suddenly changed.
Some of the functionality on the company’s Beacon app, like the ability to analyze portfolio performance, was gone, and he couldn’t access half of his funded accounts. When he reached out for help, a representative said the company was aware of the problem, but there was no timeline available for a fix.
“It looked like it had not been quality tested, because there were numbers overlapping other numbers, and it wasn’t perfectly clear what I was seeing,” Hayes said.
“It’s just frustrating because it’s my money. You have my money. You’re supposed to give me my money,” the former executive vice president at U.S. Bancorp said.
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Hayes is not alone. Thousands of other disgruntled Vanguard customers are wondering what happened to the useful tools available on the Beacon app and why the issues still haven’t been resolved months after the reported update.
“Shakes my confidence in Vanguard services that they can’t fix this and treat it as a priority,” commented online reviewer and app user Tim Correia. “What other infrastructure technology are they having issues with?”
The unexpected update removed many features that customers used daily, according to online reviews. Two notable omissions were the ability to research investments as well as to review detailed performance information. The Beacon app, which helps customers with account balances, makes trades online and directly deposits checks, now has an average two-star rating out of more than 7,000 reviews in the Google app store.
“It’s actually the worst financial app I’ve ever used, and I’ve told reps that and written a letter to the CEO,” one disgruntled user tweeted.
Hayes said his email to CEO Tim Buckley did not receive a response.
According to the company, the update helped streamline all navigation and transaction flows to make it easier to review portfolio performance, place trades and manage accounts.
“As a part of our multi-phase, comprehensive strategy, we introduced a new mobile application and improved our online resources to assist clients who overwhelmingly prefer to transact online,” a Vanguard spokesperson said in an email. “Our new mobile application launched last year with a refreshed user experience that made the most-used features even easier for clients to use.”
There are additional features on the way. One notable example is the coming introduction of additional research capabilities, including holdings tables, cost-basis data and account details.
“Our team is continuously gathering feedback from clients and making enhancements to evolve along with client needs and preferences,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve come a long way, but we recognize we still have room for improvement.”
The Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company will be pushing through fixes to restore some functionality, according to a customer email from a representative shared with InvestmentNews. “I just spoke with the Web Technical Support Team and they let me know the app is going through weekly rollouts to improve the functionality,” according to the email.
While customers were still seeking answers about their mobile app, another glitch, this time on the website, blocked users from accessing important documents just weeks later. Right as investors were looking for year-end reports, some weren’t able to download PDFs or tax forms online for roughly six days.
For Vanguard, the hiccup couldn’t have come at a worse time.
After learning about the malfunction, some customers questioned whether they can trust their investments to a company that’s subject to major tech failures. “I’ve been a Vanguard client for 25+ years. On hold for an hour and 40+ minutes. Worst customer service experience EVER. Why would anyone trust their money to this infrastructure?” investor Rob Kaufmann posted on Twitter.
It’s feedback that’s likely not lost on the $8 trillion mutual fund giant.
The leading ethos in Malvern is, of course, low costs. Unnecessary expenses and high fees can eat into investment returns over the long term, and it’s a mantra that has catapulted founder John Bogle into the pantheon of investing giants.
It’s why Vanguard uses all of its own exchange-traded funds in its robo-advisers, precisely because they are some of the cheapest available on the market. It’s also why its robo-adviser Digital Advisor is one of the least expensive investment services available at only 20 basis points, or an annual cost of just $6 on the minimum investment of $3,000.
Digital Advisor, with its human-hybrid option Personal Advisor Services, outpaces competitors in terms of sheer assets under management at more than $200 billion, and besides the mobile app, generally fares well in overall customer satisfaction surveys by consulting firm J.D. Power.
The company also touts an impeccable reputation with some of the most loyal customers in financial services. Those are all impressive accomplishments for any financial services firm.
But it might be time to loosen the purse strings and invest in technology that can stand up to the demand of modern investing — even if that means raising costs.
“This is not an isolated incident,” said Michael Foy, head of wealth management at J.D. Power. “Our research supports what we’ve heard anecdotally with the mobile app. The new Beacon app has gotten a lot of bad press, but we saw even before the launch that Vanguard’s mobile app experience was below average for the industry.”
BOTTOM OF THE HEAP
According to the J.D. Power study, the mobile app ranked second to last out of the 16 companies reviewed and well below the industry average.
“Vanguard has a very strong brand and customer loyalty,” Foy said. “But with the explosion of new investors on mobile apps, keeping new clients might become a challenge.”
Technical glitches were cited as one of the most important indicators in determining customer satisfaction, Foy said. Of investors who experienced issues in the past year, 15% said they would probably or definitely switch providers, compared to only 4% who did not, according to the data.
“We appreciate the thoughtful feedback we’ve received to date, and encourage clients to share feedback with us directly,” the Vanguard spokesperson said.
Hayes, who had considered himself a Vanguard lifer, is now currently considering competing products from Fidelity Investments Inc. and Charles Schwab & Co. “I don’t want to change, I just want to go back to having a useful tool,” he said. “The company has done well with me and my family. This is the last thing I want.”
The good news is the number of customers using wealth apps every day has increased four percentage points year over year, according to a report by Bloomberg last year. Overall, hours spent on finance apps were up 90% year over year in 2021, while downloads of online apps jumped 20%, which means there is plenty of room for improvement.
Vanguard is coming into its own in terms of technology and likely realizing the importance and the power that mobile apps and online tools will have with investors moving forward. The industry overall will need to come to grips with growing client expectations for mobile technology, and provide experiences that are easy and useful.
With a stalwart reputation and track record, once resolved, these tech glitches will likely become just a minor speed bump in its technology journey. Vanguard’s story could even serve as a case study someday.
“Over time, this could turn into a risk,” Foy said. “But they’ve got a lot of goodwill with investors.”
Andrew is half-human, half-gamer. He’s also a science fiction author writing for BleeBot.


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X owner, Elon Musk has announced that the App will very soon, have video and audio call features very soon.
Musk made this announcement via an official post on his X handle.
According to him, users won’t require any phone number to make calls on the App.
“Video & audio calls coming to X:
– Works on iOS, Android, Mac & PC
– No phone number needed
– X is the effective global address book
That set of factors is unique.”, he tweeted.
This will come as a very solid competition to Mark Zuckerberg’s WhatsApp which is arguably the leading App when it comes to video and audio calls across the globe.


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UPDATE Oct. 25, 2013: Sam's Club has extended this offer until Oct. 31, even though the shutdown has been over for more than a week. From Sam's Officials:
“On behalf of every associate that engaged our military communities this month, Sam’s Club says “thank you” to the thousands of patrons who visited our clubs during the shutdown. We know these military families are relieved that shutdown restrictions have been lifted and they can resume a normal routine. To help support our communities through the transition, Sam’s Club has extended our Military Membership waiver program through October 31.”
If you live near a Sam's Club and are in the market for bulk groceries, this could be your lucky day. According to Sam's Club officials all military members will be allowed to shop in the members-only warehouse store for free until the government shutdown ends and the commissaries reopen.
"In appreciation for the service that military personnel provide our members and communities, Sam’s Club locations near military bases will waive membership requirements for military personnel, retirees and their families so they may continue saving on everyday goods and groceries," club officials said in a statement.
Edit 4:45 p.m. ET, Oct 3: According to a corporate spokesperson ALL Sam's Club locations are now participating in the military waiver program. Please be patient with your local store as they pass word down to the employees answering the phones and your questions.
The way it works is this: military ID card holders -- Active Duty, Retirees and anyone else with commissary privileges -- can show their military IDs to Sam's Club employees at the door where they would usually have to show their Sam's Club membership. They will then be directed to the membership counter where employees will get them squared with free entrance. They may also be able to skip the membership desk and just show their military ID at checkout.
Edit 3:45 p.m. ET: Sam's Club officials confirm that this is different than the shopping program which allows you to go without a membership but pay a 10 percent service fee at check out. During the waiver program no military member will be charged a fee, Sam's officials said.
"Any proof of past or present service can be shown at Member Services desks or at checkout to waive membership requirements," Carrie Moore, a Sam's Club spokesperson told us. "Greeter associates are happy to help anyone with questions as they enter the club."
It's possible, of course, that this will work a little differently at each club. Just be willing to roll with the punches and you should have no problem.
The free entrance program will continue until the government reopens and with it the commissaries.
Don't know whether or not you have a Sam's Club near you? Use this handy locator on their website to see where your closest one is.


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Round 1: Taylor Swift’s label Big Machine pulled her catalog from Spotify on Nov. 3. “I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment I don’t feel fairly compensates [creators],” the singer explained.
Round 2: The streaming service didn’t duck the defection. “We love Taylor Swift,” the company wrote in a blog post, reminding readers it pays out “nearly 70 percent” of its revenue to rights holder.
Round 3: U2‘s Bono defended Spotify at a Nov. 6 tech conference, but said transparency is a problem. If artists can monitor their activity and “get paid [by] direct debit,” the music business can thrive.
Round 4: “If a fan purchased the record, and their friends go, ‘Why did you pay? It’s free on Spotify,’ we’re being completely disrespectful to that superfan,” said Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta on Nov. 7.
Round 5: In an 1,800-word blog post published Nov. 11, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek argued piracy is the real threat to artists. He believes the “freemium” model works, and notes a 25 percent conversion rate.
Round 6: Countering claims by Ek that domestic streaming of Swift’s catalog earned $2 million in 12 months, Borchetta said in a Nov.12 interview with Time that the number was $496,044.


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Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group, has resigned as an independent director of Tesco after the supermarket group issued a writ for libel against the Guardian and its editor, Alan Rusbridger.
In a statement to the stock exchange Tesco said McCall had stepped down as a non-executive director "because of a conflict of interest" that has arisen as a result of the legal proceedings.
Tesco started legal action against the Guardian and Rusbridger last week, for libel and malicious falsehood, over allegations made by the Guardian concerning Tesco's tax affairs.
McCall, who this week was named Veuve Clicquot businesswoman of the year, joined the Tesco board in March 2005. She was a member of the grocer's audit committee and was paid £62,000 for her boardroom input last year.
McCall said: "It is with regret that I have decided to resign from the Tesco board, but given the clear conflict of interest it would be inappropriate for me to continue in the role."
It is understood that McCall told Tesco on Monday that she intended to resign as it was inappropriate for her to remain in her post. The GMG chief executive and Tesco's executive directors are said to have parted on good terms.
Tesco's chairman, David Reid, said: "It is with regret that I accept Carolyn's resignation from the board. She has been a very good non-executive director at Tesco and has made a strong contribution to the success of the business."


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EA and Respawn have just announced (via EA Play Live 2020) that Apex Legends on Xbox One is getting cross-play support with all platforms including PC, PS4 and even Nintendo Switch later this fall.
It was also revealed that a new limited-time event for the game called Lost Treasures is arriving next week on June 23, which will include mobile respawn beacons, an "Armed And Dangerous Evolved" LTM mode, and more.
Take on the “Armed and Dangerous Evolved” limited-time mode, discover the new Crypto Town Takeover, and unlock up to 24 exclusive items!
Pleased Apex Legends is getting cross-play? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.


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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that regulators are starting to pay close attention to cryptocurrencies this year. For instance, as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) continues to soar, it’s predicted that regulators will start taking direct action – possibly even banning Bitcoin completely.
While the ban may sound extreme, regulators have recently honed in on the use of privacy coins like Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Dash. For example, in September this year, the United States Internal Revenue Service offered a bounty of up to $625,000 for intelligence firms that could break the untraceable privacy coin Monero.
Moreover, on Oct. 8, William Barr, the attorney general for the U.S., announced the release of a document entitled, “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework.” Produced by the attorney general’s Cyber-Digital Task Force, the publication discusses a framework to combat the “emerging threats and enforcement challenges associated with the increasing prevalence and use of cryptocurrency.”
Although the document discusses cryptocurrencies in general, the report specifically addresses issues involving “anonymity enhanced cryptocurrencies,” also known as AECs or privacy coins. The document notes examples of these privacy coins to include Monero, Zcash and Dash, stating that they undermine the Anti-Money Laundering measures:
“The acceptance of anonymity enhanced cryptocurrencies or ‘AECs’ — such as Monero, Dash, and Zcash — by MSBs and darknet marketplaces has increased the use of this type of virtual currency. As discussed above, because AECs use non-public or private blockchains, use of these cryptocurrencies may undermine the AML/CFT controls used to detect suspicious activity by MSBs and other financial institutions.”
Regulatory concerns and further challenges
Following the release of the cryptocurrency enforcement framework, ShapeShift, a Swiss cryptocurrency exchange platform that runs operations out of Denver, Colorado, has delisted the very same three privacy coins mentioned.
While ShapeShift declined to comment on the matter, Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core Group, told Cointelegraph that the Dash network was labeled as a privacy coin in 2014. According to Taylor, the assumptions behind this label — or even more fundamentally what the label of privacy itself even means – has never been revisited. “We aim to correct this inaccurate categorization,” he remarked.
Taylor further explained that there has been no further developments made since the delisting of Dash on ShapeShift. However, he remains optimistic about partnering with the non-custodial exchange to get Dash relisted. He elaborated:
“We have had success in getting relisted on a number of exchanges in various jurisdictions. These exchanges include eToroX in the EU, Kraken and CoinSpot in Australia, and OKEx in Korea.”
Yet due to the recent regulations around privacy coins, getting relisted may be more difficult than before. Miko Matsumura, a co-founder of Evercoin — a mobile wallet and exchange — told Cointelegraph that the recent U.S. cryptocurrency enforcement framework focuses so much on privacy coins due to the notion that they enable users to evade sanctions set by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. “ShapeShift was a bit slow to adopt Know Your Customer measures in the first place, so regulatory pressure must be high,” he said.
Aside from the challenges of getting relisted, other cryptocurrency exchanges may follow suit and start delisting privacy coins. Nathan Catania, a partner at XReg Consulting — a crypto-asset regulatory firm — told Cointelegraph that it’s likely many crypto exchanges will start delisting privacy coins. “This could be due to outright bans, or greater regulatory pressures for virtual asset service providers to treat privacy coins as higher risk for Anti-Money Laundering purposes,” he said.
Asia’s two largest cryptocurrency exchange markets — Japan and South Korea — are already taking action to delist privacy coins. Catania further remarked that even if privacy coins are not banned, a lot more work and scrutiny would be required moving forward for crypto exchanges to interact with clients who wish to use privacy coins. Yet Catania believes that for some exchanges, the risks and costs would not outweigh the benefits of supporting privacy coins, so more exchanges are likely to delist privacy coins in the future.
Widely used privacy coins predicted to remain on exchanges
However, some experts beg to differ. Bill Barhydt, the CEO of Abra — a peer-to-peer payments platform that supports over 70 cryptocurrencies including Dash — told Cointelegraph that Abra works closely with third-party custody partners. He mentioned that, to his knowledge, these partners have no plans to delist any cryptocurrencies that are widely used in the marketplace today. Dash would fall into this category, as its current market cap rank is number 31 on CoinGecko, with 9.8 Million coins in circulation.
In addition, many compliant crypto exchanges in the United States continue to support privacy coins. Justin Ehrenhofer, a compliance analyst at DV Chain — an affiliate of Chicago-based proprietary trading firm DV Trading — told Cointelegprah that exchanges, such as Kraken, which has a Special Purpose Depository Institution banking charter in the state of Wyoming, support many common privacy coins. He further noted that Gemini supports shielded Zcash deposits and withdrawals, pointing out that the risk-based approach Gemini takes for Zcash should apply to shielded deposits and withdrawals of other assets like Monero, too.
Is Dash even a privacy coin, and does this matter?
Speculations aside, Dash Core’s Taylor ultimately believes that Dash is no more of a privacy coin than Bitcoin: “Most people would say that Bitcoin is clearly not a privacy coin, so it’s informative to evaluate where Dash would fall on this privacy spectrum compared to Bitcoin.” He went on to add: “Bitcoin is absolutely higher risk than Dash from a regulatory perspective for many reasons, both technical and in terms of its real-world use.”
This notion was also specifically stated in an AML regulation report released by international law firm Perkins Coie. Taylor further expressed that the label of a privacy coin is meaningless, as different technologies provide differing degrees of privacy to different participants. According to Taylor, what is relevant for this specific case is how exchanges and other money services businesses can address the AML compliance risks for transactions for the cryptocurrencies they support.
It’s also important to point out that Bitcoin continues to be the most widely used cryptocurrency on darknet markets. John Jefferies, the chief financial analyst at CipherTrace — a blockchain intelligence firm — further told Cointelegraph that the line between privacy coins and Bitcoin is not binary since privacy enhancements like CoinJoin and layer-two networks can also enhance the privacy of Bitcoin transactions.