Crypto.com buys naming rights to Staples Center in Los Angeles - Staples Center in Los Angeles is soon to be rechristened Crypto.com Arena, in a 20-year deal worth more than $700m, according to a person familiar with the agreement. The new name becomes official on Christmas Day, when the venue plays host to the L.A. Lakers-Brooklyn Nets NBA contest. Read more
Payment Technology on the menu for Covid-hit restaurants - A good read from the FT on how the hospitality sector turned to QR code payment and employment apps to lower costs and fill gaps in staffing. Before the pandemic, the term “QR code” would have been anathema to many restaurateurs. But, “the pandemic makes all transitions easier”. Read more
What Went Wrong With Zillow? A Real-Estate Algorithm Derailed Its Big Bet - Zillow had staked its future growth on its digital home-flipping business, but getting the algorithm right proved difficult. The WSJ digs in and explores what forced it to backpedal. Read more
Taproot, bitcoin’s long-anticipated upgrade, has activated - At 00:15 EST on Sunday, Nov. 14, Taproot, the long-anticipated Bitcoin upgrade, activated at block 709,632, opening the door for developers to integrate new features that will improve privacy, scalability and security on the network. The upgrade locked in back in June, when over 90% of miners chose to “signal” their support. Read more
JPMorgan sues Tesla in $162m warrant dispute - JPM bought the warrants from Tesla in 2014 to help the automaker mitigate risk that its stock would be diluted by issuance of convertible notes, and to make certain federal income tax deductions. The bank claims it had the discretion to adjust the strike price based on factors including the volatility of Tesla’s stock -- and made two modifications in August 2018 -- one after Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take Tesla private, and another when the chief executive officer abandoned the effort weeks later. Read more
The CEO of a $1.45b fintech company bought an 11-employee small-town bank with a pig mascot - Randy Peterson knew a sale was in the cards for the First National Bank of Buhl. Having worked at the Minnesota bank for nearly two decades, he'd seen other small community banks consolidate. And while Peterson expected another bank would be the eventual landing spot for Buhl, an unexpected buyer came along in January 2021: Brian Barnes, founder and CEO of fintech unicorn M1 Finance. Read more
Fintech N26 pulls out of US as it abandons global ambitions - Online bank N26 is pulling out of the US, an abrupt reversal of strategy for the once high-flying fintech now under fire from German regulators. The Berlin-based bank, which was valued at €7.8b last month, said the decision would allow it to “sharpen its focus on its European business”. Read more
Buffett-backed Indian fintech giant Paytm stumbles in market debut - Listing of payment platform’s parent, One97, is part of a wave of Indian tech IPOs. Read more
Global investment money is flooding into Africa’s fintechs - Fintech startups drew more than 60 percent of all venture funding that flowed into Africa last quarter. Read more
Crypto bid to buy US constitution print raises over $40m - A crowd-funded effort to buy a rare 1787 copy of the US constitution at auction claims to have received more than $40m (£29.6m) worth of cryptocurrency donations. Read more
Twitter partners with S&P 500 on stock index that crowdsources public opinion - The S&P 500 Twitter Sentiment Index launched this week to measure public opinion of companies in the S&P 500 stock market index. Through the Twitter API, S&P analyzes both bearish and bullish tweets in real time to score the level of positive sentiment surrounding each company. Read more
Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto could be unmasked at Florida trial - A seemingly run-of-the-mill trial is playing out in Florida: The family of a deceased man is suing his former business partner over control of their partnership’s assets. In this case, the assets in question are a cache of about one million bitcoins, equivalent to around $64b today, belonging to bitcoin’s creator, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. The family of the dead man says he and his business partner together were Nakamoto, and thus the family is entitled to half of the fortune. Read more |
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