The “blue chip” PFP project has refreshed its branding and dropped gamified NFTs to holders, with full-body avatars due later this year ..read more

The Biden administration is calling out Apple and Google’s app stores for stifling competition. A new report, issued on Wednesday by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), said it had investigated the competitive conditions in the mobile app ecosystem and found that it’s “not a level playing field, which is harmful to developers and consumers.” The report also made several policy suggestions that could improve the ecosystem and open up competition. The investigation had been initiated as part of a 2021 Executive Order on competition and inv ..read more

The NFT market shows signs of life amid rising crypto prices, with the Bored Ape Yacht Club leading the charge ..read more

The Fed has raised rates by 25 basis points, meeting market expectations ..read more

On January 1, a technologist who goes by the nickname regexer received an email saying he had successfully reset his account at the crypto exchange Coinbase. Unfortunately — and worryingly — he had actually not requested a password reset. Regexer, who asked to be referred to by his online moniker for fear of being targeted by hackers again, quickly realized he was being hacked, and his attempts to log into his Coinbase to regain control were unsuccessful. Soon after, he noticed he had no cell phone service. Then, his two-factor app, Authy, notified him that a new device was added to his accoun ..read more

The judge’s decision follows Bankman-Fried’s attempt to “vet things out” with a potential witness ..read more

Solend is a DeFi lending and borrowing protocol on Solana, noted for its high scalability and composability. Solend is a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol built on Solana. It is lauded for expanding the methods available for Solana users to boost financial gains. Filling a large gap in the Solana ecosystem, Solend drew a staggering $100 million in deposits in just over a month post-launch. Related: DeFi lending and borrowing, explained Solend rode the high scalability of the Solana blockchain, which had built its reputation for being fast and with low transaction fees. The arrival ..read more

Grocery retailer Pick n Pay is expanding its Bitcoin coverage to all stores in the country following a three-month pilot testing phase. The South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay is expanding its Bitcoin (BTC) coverage to all 1,628 stores across the country following a three-month pilot testing phase in 39 locations.  As part of its nationwide rollout, store customers will be able to pay for items using cryptocurrency via smartphone apps or by scanning a QR code and accepting the South African rand’s conversion rate at the time of payment. Good news, everyone! CryptoQR is now active ..read more

It’s been a good week for Red Hat, and by extension IBM, the company that owns it. That’s because Red Hat signed two partnership agreements this week, one with Oracle and the other with SAP. Those are some big players, and if it results in more deployments for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), it could be a big win for IBM. Let’s start with Oracle, which frankly is a bit of a case of strange bedfellows. But the customer wants, what the customer wants. Oracle might have been giving into customer demand, says Holger Mueller, an analyst at Constellation Research, who says the deal is a win for bot ..read more

Significantly, the assets being referred to are those that were not put away to BlockFi’s greatest advantage-bearing records. Bankrupt crypto loan specialist BlockFi has requested the U.S. Chapter 11 Court to permit clients to pull out digital currencies that are held in their BlockFi Wallet Records. This solicitation doesn’t affect withdrawals or moves from BlockFi Premium Records, which are set to remain stopped as of now, as indicated by the proclamation. The lender, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late November, citing FTX contagion, called the move an “import ..read more