Author: Pymnts.com
The U.S. and most allied governments have long accused Iran of using bitcoin to get around sanctions imposed to punish Iran for its nuclear program. Now the Central Bank of Iran is getting in on the action, formally creating a system to allow businesses to make payments in cryptocurrencies. Along with dark market drugs and ransomware, sanctions-busting by Iran, North Korea and other sanctioned regimes has been one of the big arguments by crypto opponents that bitcoin is a tool designed for illicit activities. On Jan. 10, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported that Alireza Peyman Pak, head of Iran’s Trade Development Organization,…
Samsung is integrating a nonfungible token (NFT) platform to its 2022 smart TV lineup that includes the Micro LED, Neo QLED and The Frame, according to a press release Monday (Jan. 3). The NFT app can be used “for discovering, purchasing and trading digital artwork.” The company will unveil its new smart TV lineup, which embraces the “Screens Everywhere, Screens for All” mantra with immersive sound and more personalized experiences, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022 in Las Vegas this week. Art Mode on the Micro LED lineup allows consumers to turn any room into an art gallery by selecting and displaying artwork…
The FinTech MetaMap has raised $70 million in Series B funding as it plans to expand its operations in India. The company, a digital trust and reputation management platform, announced the funding Tuesday (Dec. 28), saying it brings its total capital raised to a little over $84 million. The funding round was led by Tribe Capital, with participation from Craft Ventures, Alameda Research and Titan Capital, as well as angel investors including Jerry Murdock of Insight Partners. MetaMap, formerly known as Mati, says it plans to put its flagship tech hub in India, boosting its staffing in that country from 30 to 150. The…
Short videos about cryptocurrency are now banned as part of China’s updated blacklist of taboo subjects that include topics like showing sexual content, ridiculing the government, provoking dogmatism, discussing fascism, and anything that questions the country’s ideology, Bitcoin.com reported. The blacklist of 100 banned topics of short online videos was handed down by the China Netcasting Services Association (CNSA), according to the report. Updated rules also point to bans on videos that depict drug use, gambling, violence, gangs, criminal activity, mental abuse and “non-mainstream views of marriage and love,” the report stated. Many of the banned topics were part of…
If you ask crypto insiders, many of the bad investment decisions inexperienced cryptocurrency buyers make can be attributed to two different types of fear. One is FOMO — fear of missing out — which leads people to buy high, after a rally is well underway. The other is FUD — fear, uncertainty and doubt — which is why overcautious investors opt to not buy (or, worse, to sell) when prices are low. That’s a pretty fair explanation for why banks and other traditional financial institutions (FI) are so far behind their corporate customers in adopting cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, according…