Category: Events

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Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook data: Whistleblower

Palantir worked on the Facebook data that was acquired by Cambridge Analytica, whistleblower Christopher Wylie tells members of U.K. Parliament.

Check this out. These are no fucking jokes.

Everyone remembers the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and how the mainstream media tried to show how the Trump campaign spied on Facebook users.

Beyond the fact that user profiling for targetted ads, on the Internet, is a legal activity that dates decades back, and that EVERYONE uses – that’s how you get your shoes ads, in exchange for all your activity records, this is what cookies are for, for those that still don’t get it – beyond all that, there are a lot of powerful pieces of information, that you can find if you research a little, and that the idiots thinking they get the truth from their TVs will never get.

Here they are.

* Palantir is a data mining company – just like Cambridge Analytica – based in Sillicon Valley – you know, the place where all the miracle, hundreds of billion dollars worth, “basement startups” like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Uber – another independent startup that spread up like a wild fire across the globe, in a few years, without any obvious competitional reason, promoted by the mainstream worldwide – just like all the rest of the independent miracles – and universal beneficiary of inexplicable operational and financial regulation exemptions in all jurisdictions, compared to all other, normal, private taxi companies. The only differences Uber presents to other cab companies are, across the board, competitional disadvantages – inability to use cash, the impossbility to use taxi stops, the absence of call centers, drivers without background checks or licenses, the absence of special, publci transportation insurance, and every single trip recorded, with the personal data of every user, along with the times, stops, etc.. within a personal car sharing system. We all know how the removal of cash, recording all personal data and activity, and car sharing/pooling, as opposed to car owning, are stated intended implements of the Leftist NWO, but I digress.

* Among Palantir’s clients were the NSA, and FBI. The company itself I’ve seen reported as being backed by the CIA.

* Palantir was co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, who owns Paypal – a chairman of which has been, until recently, Elon Musk (Tesla, Space X) – and also stakes in… Facebook. Facebook is the platform Cambridge Analytica worked on.

* Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix was introduced to Palantir by Sophie Schmidt, the daughter of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

* Eric Schmidt himself has established a company which carried on the exact same task for Hillary Clinton, after having done the same for Barraq Hussein. The had of Google himslef – the one that records all your searches, provides the results that you take as news, that own the operating systems of the vast majority of all smartphones in the the world – Android – and claims to be politically objective – but about all this, in a separate post.

* Before the 2016 US elections, these are all Obama’s FBI, NSA, and CIA. I seriously doubt it that they set out to help Trump win.

* Several people from Palantir moved to work at Cambridge Analytica, reportedly at Christopher Wylie’s behest (the whistleblower).

* Wylie, himself, who said that he dreamed of turning CA into “NSA’s wet dream”, is a gay, hair dyed, army uniform wearing, vegan guy, with a resentful, cynical attitude, that fits the Leftist “liberal” profile to a tee. We all know how fond Liberals are of Trump.

I find it very hard to believe that these people decided to go against their convictions, or job descriptions, to help Donald Trump win, against the establishment, and then, all of a sudden, had the revelation that they were working against their conscience, which they were unaware of, until then, and blew the whsitle.

* Another great coincidence – I told you how much I believe in coincidences – is that Donald Trump’s campaign declined using the data from CA, shortly after hiring them, which the mainstream media doesn’t say, preferring to use RNC data instead.

The whstile blowing happened soon after.

So, these are the facts. That you will never hear in the mainstream. You draw your own conclusions.

— Citește pe www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/palantir-worked-with-cambridge-analytica-on-the-facebook-data-whistleblower.html

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Telegram ICO halted by SEC

Late friday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is suing two offshore entities, Telegram and its wholly owned subsidiary, TON Issuer, for holding an unregistered token sale.
According to the complaint filed in the federal district court in Manhattan on the same day, Telegram sold approximately 2.9 billion crypto tokens, called Grams (GRM) to 171 buyers for a total of $1.7 billion. Around a quarter of that sum, $424.5 million, allegedly belonged to 31 purchasers based in the U.S. 
As a result, the SEC has obtained a temporary restraining order against Telegram and TON, seeking “certain emergency relief,” as well as permanent injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest and civil penalties. Now, the official Telegram channel for TON investors is suggesting that the launch, scheduled for Oct. 31, could be postponed. So, what is happening with the largest private initial coin offering (ICO) in history?
Brief introduction to TON
GRM is a native currency of Telegram Open Network (TON), a blockchain platform aimed at facilitating payments and hosting decentralized applications (DApps) beyond Visa’s scalability levels. The project is developed by Telegram, an open-source encrypted messenger lead by two Russian entrepreneurial brothers, Pavel and Nikolai Durov, who fled their native country. TON will ostensibly be integrated into the app, which boasts over 200 million users worldwide and is widely popular within the blockchain and cryptocurrency community. 
According to third-party research, TON has the potential to serve as a gateway for crypto assets and related apps to “bank the unbanked” as well as become the first discovery platform for Web 3.0 applications — “akin to the App Store for Web 2.0.”
TON saw one of the most successful ICOs in the industry. In 2018, Telegram raised almost $1.7 billion in two private token sale rounds, held in February and March. According to the documents Pavel Durov filed with the SEC, only those investing a minimum of $1 million were allowed to partake in the TON sale. The offering was limited to accredited investors in order to minimize the scrutiny from U.S. regulators.
In early October, Telegram published the entire TON source code on Github and announced that the launch of its long-awaited blockchain project would be scheduled for the end of the month. Additionally, the company revealed that all investors had been provided with TON key generation software and were to receive their GRM tokens by Oct. 16. 
Additionally, on Oct. 8, Telegram released the terms of use for its native cryptocurrency wallet, Grams Wallet, which is designed to be paired with TON. The company simultaneously stressed that it has no control over the blockchain. Those terms also distanced the company from regulations, stating “we are not responsible for determining whether taxes apply to any transactions you make using the Services or for collecting, reporting, withholding or remitting any taxes arising from any virtual currency transactions

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Crypto News: about Goldman Sachs, Blockchain Capital, Shell, LG Electronics & more

  • Goldman Sachs officially launched a cryptocurrency unit and announced a new job of a cryptocurrency project manager. In the message of the organization it is noted that this time the bank is ready to “move further than ever” in the field of digital assets.
  • Anchorage, a crypto-custodian company serving institutional investors, completed a round of fundraising for Series B, raising $40 million. According to the company, this round was led by Blockchain Capital. Visa also took part.
  • One of the five largest oil and gas companies in the world, Shell has invested an unnamed amount in the US energy blockchain start-up LO3.
  • It is assumed that the South Korean corporation LG Electronics is developing its own cryptocurrency wallet. At the moment, the company is trying to register the appropriate patent. This is evidenced by the application on the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
  • Now users of Poloniex from the United States will be able to deposit and withdraw funds using bank accounts, as well as pay tokens with debit and credit cards.
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LIBRA Analysis or Facebook entry in Exchange Traded Fund business with massive potential consumer base

Overview

The structure of Libra is analogous to the popular Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) model, where unit holders are entitled to the financial returns of a basket of financial assets. The units are tradable on exchanges and a select group of authorised participants are able to create and redeem units using the underlying assets.

As we pointed out in our February 2019 piece, the ETF industry has enjoyed considerable growth in the last decade or so, in particular in the area of fixed income (See figure 1 below). In June 2019, in a bombshell moment for the ETF industry and challenge for the established players such as Blackrock and Vanguard, social media and internet conglomerate Facebook, entered the game. In a direct challenge to Blackrocks’s “iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF” (AGG), Facebook announced plans to launch a new ETF, the “Libra ETF”, also focused on fixed income and government bonds.

Figure 1 – Size of the Top Bond ETFs Targeting US Investors – US$ Billion

(Source: BitMEX Research, Bloomberg)

(Note: The chart represents the sum of the market capitalisations of the following bond ETFs: iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF, Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF, iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF, Vanguard Total International Bond ETF, iShares MBS Bond ETF, iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Strategy Fund, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF, iShares Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF, SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF, iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF)

Comparing the new ETF structure with the traditional space

In figure 2 below, we have analysed and compared the new innovative Libra ETF to a traditional ETF, Blackrock’s iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG). Our analysis shows that, although the Libra product is new, much of the relevant information, such as transparency of the holdings and frequency of the  publication of the NAV, has not yet been disclosed.

The analysis also highlights that Libra may suffer from unnecessary complexity with respect to portfolio management. The fund appears to be managed by the Libra Association, which consists of many entities in multiple industries across the globe. These same entities are responsible for issuing the ETF and the list of companies is set to expand further. At the same time, the investment mandate is unclear. In contrast Blackrock’s fixed income ETF product has a clear investment mandate, to track the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which is managed independently of the ETF issuer.

Perhaps the most significant disadvantage of the Libra product, is that unit holders do not appear to be entitled to receive the investment income. This contrasts unfavourably with Blackrock’s product, which focuses on an almost identical asset class and has an investment yield of around 2.6%. Defenders of Libra could point out that the expenses need to be covered from somewhere and that the Libra’s expense fee is not yet disclosed. However, the ETF industry is already highly competitive, with Blackrock charging an expense fee of just 0.05%. This expense fee is far lower than the expected investment yield of the product, at around 2.6% and therefore the Libra ETF may not be price competitive, a key potential disadvantage for potential investors.

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NYT Reporter: Facebook Seeking $1 Bln in Venture Capital for Crypto Project

Facebook is reportedly seeking support from various venture capital (VC) firms to develop its supposed digital token, New York Times (NYT) tech reporter Nathaniel Popper tweeted on April 8.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Popper states that Facebook is seeking a $1 billion sum to develop its cryptocurrency project. He states that seeking outside investment could keep the project more in line with the crypto community’s decentralized ethos:
“Given that one of the big allures of blockchain projects is the decentralization, getting outside investors could help Facebook present the project as more decentralized and less controlled by Facebook.”
Popper added that the reported project is a stablecoin that would be pegged to a basket of foreign currencies held in bank accounts.
Rumors of a “Facebook Coin” surfaced last December in a report from Bloomberg. The publication then reported that the token would be used for money transfers made within the WhatsApp messenger service, and would focus on the remittances market in India.
In February 2019, NYT reported that the token would be usable across the Facebook Messenger App, WhatsApp and Instagram, which would give it exposure to some 2.7 billion users each month. Anonymous sources told NYT that Facebook employed over 50 engineers to develop its cryptocurrency. Additionally, Facebook has reportedly started shopping the “Facebook Coin” around to unnamed crypto exchanges.

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The Western Union Company – Coins.ph Wallet Holders to Receive Western Union Money Transfers

one of the Philippines’ leading e-wallet providers, and The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement, today announced a collaboration to enable more than five million customers to receive international and domestic money transfers directly into their Coins.ph wallets in the Philippines.

The unique integration of the Coins.ph blockchain-enabled platform and Western Union’s cross-border platform allows Filipinos to receive and hold international money transfers initiated from Western Union’s digital network in more than 60 countries and retail network in more 200 countries and territories.

“There are many overseas Filipino workers who send money back home regularly and are always looking for additional remittance options that will make it most convenient for their loved ones to receive money,” said Ron Hose, Coins.ph co-founder and CEO. “By pairing Coins.ph’s payments technology with Western Union’s expansive global network, we are giving Filipinos a seamless choice to receive money digitally, on the go.”

“There are an estimated 10 million1 Filipinos working or residing overseas. With this collaboration, we are proud to serve their families back home with even easier access to our suite of services and maximize positive impact on communities in the country,” added Hose.

With over five million Coins.ph wallet holders in the Philippines, the agreement signals the continued efforts of both companies to offer millions of Filipinos quick and convenient access to remittances, in urban and remote underserved areas.

“Over the years, Western Union has fueled innovation centered around the needs of customers, giving them their choice of channels, currencies, access and opportunities to connect with family and friends around the globe,” said Molly Shea, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Global Money Transfer, Asia Pacific, Western Union. “With this collaboration with Coins.ph, we are delighted to offer customers in the Philippines with an unmatched depth of services and capabilities, and convenience right at their fingertips.”

Remittances are crucial for millions of Filipinos. According to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Brief 302, the Philippines is one of the top remittance receiving countries in the world. Western Union has been providing money transfer services in the Philippines since 1990 and has more than 12,000 Agent locations3 in the country.
— ir.westernunion.com/news/archived-press-releases/press-release-details/2019/Coinsph-Wallet-Holders-to-Receive-Western-Union-Money-Transfers/default.aspx

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PayPal Backs Digital Identity Startup Cambridge Blockchain – Coinjournal

PayPal has joined Cambridge Blockchain’s Series A funding round, marking the US payment giant’s first blockchain investment.

Cambridge Blockchain, a startup developing digital identity management software for financial institutions, initially closed its Series A in May 2018 after raising US$7 million from Foxconn’s HCM Capital, Partech Partners, Future\Perfect Ventures and Digital Currency Group, but according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the startup has raised a further US$3.5 million from a number of other investors including Omidyar Network and Flourish over the last nine months.

With the investment, PayPal and Cambridge Blockchain said they will “explore potential collaboration to leverage blockchain.”

Cambridge Blockchain provides financial institutions with blockchain-based digital identities solutions geared towards both protecting identities and streamlining know-your-customer (KYC) compliance, all the while allowing them to be compliant with rules such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and PSD2, a European payments directive.

The startup plans to use the new capital on new hires as well as research and development.

A spokesperson for PayPal told CoinDesk in an email:

“We made an investment in Cambridge Blockchain because it is applying blockchain for digital identity in a way that we believe could benefit financial services companies including PayPal. Our investment will allow us to explore potential collaborations to leverage blockchain technology.”

Matthew Commons, CEO of Cambridge Blockchain, said PayPal has been involved with the startup for the past year or so.
— coinjournal.net/paypal-backs-digital-identity-startup-cambridge-blockchain/

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Eyes On Banks: Swedbank Fires CEO in $151 Billion Money Laundering Scandal

In recent years, government agencies across the world have vamped up their efforts to crackdown on money laundering involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Yet, money laundering scandals involving some of the largest banks in the world dwarf any cryptocurrency-related incidents.

SWEDBANK CHIEF FIRED, WHAT ABOUT BITCOIN RELATED CASES?

On Thursday, the board of Swedbank fired Birgitte Bonnesen from her position as the CEO at the bank, recognizing the seriousness of its $151 billion money laundering case and the pressure it placed on the company.

“The developments during the past days have created an enormous pressure for the bank. Therefore, the board has decided to dismiss Birgitte Bonnesen from her position,” Swedbank chairman Lars Idermark said.

The problem with the Swedbank money laundering scandal is that it is the second multi-billion dollar case to be unraveled in the Nordic region, following Danske Bank’s $224 billion money laundering incident in November.

It is the second case of a scandal in the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars to emerge within a span of five months in the same region, raising questions on the complacency of financial regulators in dealing with major banks.

In November 2018, Reuters reported that the European Union’s banking supervisor criticized Denmark’s financial watchdog for trusting the bank too much.

“Denmark’s financial watchdog faces an inquiry by the European Union’s banking supervisor, and the Danish business minister has criticized the regulator for not being critical enough toward the bank and for trusting it too much,” a Reuters report read.

The size of money laundering scandals involving banks and bitcoin businesses is vastly different and the scale is on an unprecedented level
— www.ccn.com/bitcoin-swedbank-151-billion-money-laundering-scandal

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You Can Now Purchase Bitcoin With Cash in over 1,300 Stores in Australia

The crypto exchange Binance has launched a new platform that makes it possible to buy bitcoin with cash in over 1300 stores.

Binance Lite Australia – 1300 supported stores

The new service became known Tuesday this week and is called Binance Lite Australia. Simply explained, this is an exchange service set up by the crypto exchange, which offers Australians to buy bitcoin for Australian dollars.

Users register online via a verification process; after this, they can place purchase orders for bitcoin. Then this is paid in cash in one of the listed stores, and the bitcoin is received within minutes. Binance charges a 5% fee for the service.

Will open for more cryptocurrencies and new countries

Wei Zhou, CFO of Binance, says the new platform will provide for increased adoption of cryptocurrency by simplifying the buying process. The cryptic exchange will in future expand the offer to several common currencies and cryptocurrencies. The service will also be introduced in several places around the world.

More global services

Over the past year, Binance has taken several measures to spread cryptocurrency globally. In January, they opened a “fiat-to-crypto” exchange, which made it possible to trade bitcoin and ethereum through pounds and euros. A similar stock exchange was opened in Uganda in June last year.

The Crypto Exchange and its official Crypto Wallet, Trust Wallet, recently opened for a service that enables the purchase of cryptocurrency by credit card. This through a collaboration with the Israeli payment service Simplex.
— Citește pe icoshock.com/binance-lite-australia/

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2019 the year of blockchain

On the first day of this year’s DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, D.C., concern that a heavy-handed approach from the federal government may stifle blockchain innovation within the u. s. was lessened by the regulators themselves, who told attendees that they often support permitting the technology to flourish.

That message was bolstered on day 2 of the conference, when U.S. Representative Tom emmer (R-Minnesota), a lawmaker who has taken on blockchain as a difficulty on capitol hill. Emmer, who co-chairs the legislative assembly Blockchain Caucus, expected that 2019 “stands to be the year of blockchain, the year we separate hype from reality, and begin harnessing blockchain in the right-use cases to lower costs and increase efficiency,” he told attendees on March seven.
But he conjointly stressed the requirement for coordinated government oversight. “Congress has a clear role: we must insure that regulation is simple and precise,” Emmer said. “If a patchwork of regulations emerges, the industry will suffer, and prove government to be ineffective. This confusion will beyond question result in a lot of regulation, which is able to solely stifle the innovation and potential application of the technology.”

The financial stakes were highlighted throughout the conference once it absolutely was noted that there’s $130 billion in price presently being keep in public blockchain networks, and that ten percent of the world’s gross domestic product is predicted to be stored by 2025.

Emmer counseled the Chamber of Digital Commerce for releasing its National Action plan for Blockchain, that necessitate a pro-growth restrictive approach to developing blockchain technology within the U.S. The document specifically mentions however the technology is already being applied in supply chain networks for following food safety.

“The National Action plan also provides a required need clear regulation before enforcement. although regulators of blockchain and cryptocurrency have been considerably restrained and have allowed innovation during this area to flourish, we’re presently operating beneath ‘regulation by enforcement.’ Regulators should offer clear rules of the road to make sure that even the tiniest start-up with a superb plan will become a serious enterprise.”

Emmer said he’s doing his half to hurry the expansion of blockchain within the U.S. through his Blockchain regulatory Certainty Act, a bill he introduced in January. The legislation ensures that blockchain developers that never take charge of client funds don’t have to register as a cash transmitter within the states in which they operate.

“Money transmitter laws were enacted to ensure the protection of the buyer entrusting another entity with their funds so as to transmit them. If no funds are being entrusted to a different, it ought to make sure that these rules don’t apply,” he said