Tezos Rebuffs Rumors of SEC Probe Into $232 Million Crypto ICOThe founders of the blockchain startup Tezos moved to quell rumors of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, stating on Friday that the agency has not contacted them. The denial, which came in response to an inquiry from Fortune, could tamp down some of the recent drama around Tezos, which raised $232 million this July in a high-profile “initial coin offering,” or ICO. [ Fortune ] The United States Of Fintech: The Most Well-Funded Fintech Startup In Each StateWe mapped the most well-funded fintech startup in each US state. California, New York, Illinois, Georgia, and North Carolina's most well-funded fintech startups are all valued above $1B. [ CB Insights ] Michael Barbaro explains why you love the New York Times’ podcast, ‘The Daily’For many decades, people read the New York Times because they wanted an authoritative, definitive take of the news that was “fit to print.” But what people want is changing, so the NYT is changing too, as reflected in its hit podcast “The Daily.” “Your relationship with the New York Times was, for the most part, predicated on tablets being handed down to you every morning,” said the host of “The Daily,” Michael Barbaro, on the latest episode of Recode Media with Peter Kafka. “All of our relationships with journalism are changing. The idea of omniscience itself is kind of held in doubt, and it may not have ever really existed, it was more of a conceit.” [ Recode ] Living, Breathing, & Betting on Bitcoin | Outliers Ep. 2Odds are that you’ve been hearing more and more about cryptocurrency as digital tokens like bitcoin and ethereum have become valuable commodities. Converts (and investors) say that cryptocurrencies built on blockchain technology represent the future of money, finance, and commerce. But skeptics say that digital currencies represent crowd-sourced pyramid schemes or are fuel for another tech bubble. We met with Olaf Carlson-Wee, who was the first employee at the cryptocurrency broker Coinbase, where he famously took his entire salary in bitcoin. Now, Carlson-Wee runs a hedge fund that deals exclusively in crypto-assets. We talked with Carlson-Wee in San Francisco about money, trust, and how he made his friends rich. [ Vice Media ] Virtual Reality Gets NaughtyIn early 2014 Ela Darling, 31, a pornographic actress, recorded her first virtual reality sex scene. She was in a college dorm room at the University of Maryland dressed in an R2-D2 swimsuit and high athletic socks. She sat on a twin bed, next to a wooden desk, and spoke to the camera as if it were a real person. There was no story line and no other actors. “It was a solo masturbation scene,” she said. “I was coy and flirty and then a little bit dirty. I felt sexy as hell.” [ NY Times ] People are 'underestimating' the 'great potential' of bitcoin, billionaire Peter Thiel says
People are "underestimating" bitcoin and it has "great potential left," billionaire investor Peter Thiel said on Thursday. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thiel compared the cryptocurrency bitcoin to gold. "I'm skeptical of most of them (cryptocurrencies), I do think people are a little bit … underestimating bitcoin especially because ... it's like a reserve form of money, it's like gold, and it's just a store of value. You don't need to use it to make payments," Thiel said. [ CNBC ] Legendary Angel investor has eye on the PryzePryze an automated sweepstakes protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain, is the latest venture that serial entrepreneur and prolific angel investor Gil Penchina has his eye on. $1,000 tea infuser startup Teforia shuts downIn what the company is calling “a very difficult time for hardware companies in the smart kitchen space,” Tea infusion device startup Teforia is saying it is ceasing operations today, according to its website. [ Tech Crunch ] AllBright is launching a private members club for female founders after it scrapped its crowdfunding platform and lost a bunch of staff
AllBright, a company created to finance and support female founders, has made a limited number of small investments after struggling to find the tens of millions it wanted to raise. The London-based company has also lost several key members of staff and shut down its crowdfunding website. [ Business Insider ] IVP principal on the firm's $1.5B VC fund, Coinbase and cryptocurrencyTwitter. Snap. Dropbox. Slack. Late-stage VC firm IVP has already made a slew of notable investments. And with a fresh $1.5 billion in the firm's 16th flagship fund—its largest vehicle to date—IVP is set to add even more companies to its portfolio. |