• Aug 15, 2024

Deepfake AI ‘Undress’ Porn Sites Sued in California Court

The city of San Francisco has filed a sweeping lawsuit against 18 websites and apps that generate unauthorized, deepfake nudes of unsuspecting victims on Thursday. The complaint—published with the plaintiffs’ service names redacted—targets the “proliferation of websites and apps that offer to ‘undress’ or ‘nudify’ women and girls.” It asserts that collectively, the sites have been visited over 200 million times in the first six months of 2024. “This investigation has taken us to the darkest corn...

• Aug 15, 2024

Franklin Templeton Files for New ‘EZPZ’ Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF

Top asset manager Franklin Templeton has filed to offer a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) that, if approved, would give investors exposure to a basket of crypto funds. The Franklin Crypto Index ETF, under the ticker EZPZ, would give exposure to digital assets included in the CF Institutional Digital Asset Index—an index from CF Benchmarks, which provides data to firms on cryptocurrencies.  It would initially hold Bitcoin and Ethereum, a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (S...

• Aug 15, 2024

Google Unleashes Imagen 3, Heating Up the AI Image Generator Race

Google is putting the icing on the cake for a busy week in the generative AI space with the launch of Imagen 3, its brand-new text-to-image model. This release builds upon the success of Imagen 2, introduced in December 2023, which already rivaled industry heavyweights like Dall-E 3 and MidJourney v5. Imagen 3, originally announced in May, boasts enhanced capabilities in understanding and executing complex prompts, generating images with improved details, and better prompt adherence compared to...

• Aug 15, 2024

Ethereum Gaming Arcade BSMNT Launches on Base Network B3.Fun

Web-based crypto arcade BSMNT (aka "Basement") debuted on Thursday alongside the launch of a new gaming network called B3.fun—and both are built on top of Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network Base as the chain starts to welcome more gaming activity. With crypto-fied riffs on massively popular Web2 games like brick-breaker Breakout and Crossy Road, as well as established Web3 games like Nifty Island and Mighty Action Heroes, BSMNT players are invited to connect their wallet before “minting” the ga...

• Aug 15, 2024

Mastercard Is Betting on Crypto—But Not Stablecoins

Mastercard is all-in on blockchain. Earlier this week, the payments giant launched a debit card with MetaMask that allows holders to spend self-custodied tokens at any store or site where Mastercard is accepted (see: almost everywhere).   “We’re opening up this crypto purchase power to our 100 million-plus acceptance locations,” Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard's head of crypto and blockchain, told Decrypt. “If consumers want to buy into it, if they want to be able to use it, we want to enable that—i...

• Aug 15, 2024

Trump Taps Bitcoin, Tether Bull Howard Lutnick for Transition Team

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has named Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as co-chair of his transition team ahead of the presidential election in November—and Lutnick is a big Bitcoin bull. Trump's campaign made the announcement Friday, also noting that Linda McMahon—the former administrator of the Small Business Administration—would serve as co-chair alongside Lutnick. Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance will serve as an honorary chair alongside Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr. Tran...

• Aug 15, 2024

$5.1 Billion in Illicit Crypto Transactions Linked to UK Every Year: NCA

A new report from the UK's National Crime Agency has found that as much as $5.1 billion worth of illicit crypto transactions are linked to the country every year, with both digital and crypto related crime on the rise. The agency's findings were published in its annual National Strategic Assessment, which draws on data from law enforcement, government, and private intelligence. “As the popularity of cryptocurrency grows, so too does the frequency of cryptocurrency crime,” the report stated. The...

• Aug 15, 2024

Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Ramps Up Indirect Exposure to Bitcoin

The average Norwegian “owns” $27 worth of Bitcoin indirectly as of the first half 2024, thanks to investments made by the country’s sovereign wealth fund. According to K33Research, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund (NBIM) now has indirect exposure to 2,446 BTC through investments in tech firms with exposure to the cryptocurrency. Its “holdings,” worth just over $143 million, have increased by 938 BTC since December 31, 2023. The $1.7 trillion Norges Bank Investment Management fund invests the...

• Aug 15, 2024

Donald Trump Owns Millions of Dollars in Ethereum, Filing Reveals

Former president Donald Trump holds over a million dollars worth of Ethereum, according to a financial disclosure obtained by watchdog Citizens for Ethics. Per his disclosure, the Republican presidential nominee holds anywhere from $1 million to $5 million in his “cryptocurrency wallet virtual ethereum key,” in a hardware wallet. Trump has also brought in over $7.15 million from an NFT license agreement.  According to Arkham Intelligence, Trump holds $3.6 million worth of cryptocurrency in hi...

• Aug 15, 2024

Nasdaq, NYSE Withdraw Bitcoin ETF Options Applications

Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have withdrawn their applications to list and trade options based on two U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Per an August 14 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the NYSE has withdrawn the proposed rule change that would enable it to list and trade options on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The proposal was originally published for public comment in February, with the SEC extending its review period in April a...