Crypto exchange CoinFlex is locked in battle with once-VIP customer and Bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver, trying to recoup funds to make many of its other customers whole, Axios has learned. Only Ver denies he owes the firm any money.
Why it matters: CoinFlex suspended withdrawals last week, saying that a big-time customer owed them money and that the firm had to "resort" to such measures.
Monday morning, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, said on CNBC's Squawk Box that the only token he would lump in with commodities was bitcoin.
Why it matters: Gensler pointedly declined to name any cryptocurrency other than the original one, notable because the market has been operating under the assumption that there is a sort of wink-and-nod understanding that ether is also not a security.
When law enforcement authorities demand personal data belonging to those suspected of getting an abortion, tech firms will likely hand it over.
Why it matters: Companies like Google and Facebook collect enormous volumes of personal data, including information about where we've been, what we've bought, who we've talked to and what we've said. States that have made abortion a crime are making anyone who miscarries a potential target for a police data demand.
The U.S. is "far worse off than you think" when it comes to social media undermining its democracy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist Maria Ressa told Axios.
Why it matters: Ressa, a Filipino American co-founder of news organization Rappler, says the next wave of elections around the world, including the U.S. midterms in November, provides another opportunity for social media to spread disinformation, divide people against one another and incite violence.
Private equity firm Joffre Capital has agreed to acquire a majority stake in gaming company Playtika at $21 a per share from a Chinese investment group, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It's nearly a 46% premium to where Playtika stock ended trading on Monday.
Robinhood Markets' stock jumped 14% Monday on a Bloomberg report that crypto exchange FTX is considering an acquisition offer for the stock and crypto-trading app.
What to know: FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tells Axios that "there are no active conversations with Robinhood," although that statement obviously doesn't preclude FTX from beginning talks at any moment.
Google has asked the Federal Election Commission to green light a program that could keep campaign emails from ending up in spam folders, according to a filing obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: Google has come under fire that its algorithms unfairly target conservative content across its services, and that its Gmail service filters more Republican fundraising and campaign emails to spam.
Legendary video game company Atari turns 50 today, five decades after it was incorporated by co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California.
Why it matters: Atari popularized video games as we know them, first in public, then in the home.
In offering to pay for workers who need to travel out of state to get an abortion, tech companies are only tackling the first of many challenges they will have to navigate in a post-Roe world.
Why it matters: Tech companies have plenty of money to cover the costs of such travel, but will face much tougher decisions when it comes to expansion, locating conferences, which politicians to support as well as how to handle court orders for customer data by prosecutors.
A privacy group launched a campaign Monday aiming to show the human toll that cyberattacks have taken on activists, businesses and institutions.
Why it matters: Scams have been taking a huge financial and operational toll on institutions around the world, but they are often downplayed, limiting public awareness.
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