News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

How Venezuela Tried — and Failed — to Run a Crypto Scam

The Maduro regime unceremoniously killed its scam cryptocurrency, the “Petro,” in January.

The “Petro” was one of the many failed “brilliant” ideas that the regime imposed on the country for the supposed benefit of the people, only to allegedly use it to steal more from the country’s dwindling state coffers.

The socialist regime praised the Petro as this novelty, futuristic currency that would, somehow (don’t ask me how), solve all of our economic woes – all of which were caused by the socialist regime itself. Most Petro transactions took place within the regime’s Chinese-inspired Fatherland platform, which effectively functions as our Social Credit System. The platform disabled all Petro-related operations on January 15, killing this scam for good.

Cryptocurrencies, by now, are a tried and tested financial instrument for those tech-savvy enough to engage in its complexities. Latin America now has the cases of El Salvador, which adopted Bitcoin as a legal currency, and Argentina, which recently hosted its first rental lease contract in Bitcoin, thanks to President Javier Milei’s executive decree that wiped away hundreds of socialist regulations.

For Venezuelans, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were one of the few ways that some were able to stay afloat amidst the collapse of socialism and infernal hyperinflation that consumed the country in the late 2010s. That much I can personally attest to, as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether have all saved me quite a few times in recent years.
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The “salvation” part of the Petro, and the one that would allegedly translate to benefits for Venezuelan citizens, was Maduro’s claim that the country’s minimum wage would always be worth “half a Petro,” namely, $30 per month. This, just like so many other things, was a complete lie, to the surprise of no one.

There's a footnote in this article that sounds very interesting.

A “math” equation the Venezuelan socialist government published as an explanation of how the “Petro” scam cryptocurrency was allegedly backed by the existence of natural resources on Venezuelan soil. The regime admitted shortly thereafter that they fixed the price of the Petro to $60 a unit randomly. (Government of Venezuela White Paper)

Tom Cotton: ‘Hell of a Coincidence’ Shou Zi Chew Became TikTok CEO Day After Inking Deal with China

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Wednesday said there was a “hell of a coincidence” in how Shou Zi Chew became the CEO of TikTok the day after he brokered a deal with China.

Cotton spoke during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation, which included big tech companies such as Facebook, Snapchat, Discord, X, and TikTok.

During the hearing, Cotton noted the strong ties between TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party.

Cotton said that Shou Zi Chew used to be the chief financial officer (CFO) of Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok. He then noted that in 2021, while the [current head of] TikTok was the CFO of Bytedance, the China Internet Investment Fund, a Chinese government investment fund, took a “one percent stake” in the ByteDance technology company.

“In return for that one percent golden share, the party took one of three board seats at that subsidiary company, is that correct,” Cotton asked.

“It’s for the Chinese business, yes,” the TikTok CEO responded.

“That deal was finalized on April 30, 2021. Isn’t it true that you were appointed the CEO of TikTok the very next day on May 1, 2021?”

“It’s a coincidence,” the TikTok CEO said.

Marsha Blackburn Tells TikTok CEO His Chinese Psyop Company Is Not Welcome in Tennessee

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told China’s TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a senate hearing on Wednesday that Tennessee is not going to be rolling out “the welcome mat” for a proposed company HQ in Memphis.

“I know some of you had to be subpoenaed to get here,” Sen. Blackburn began during her opening statements at Wednesday’s Senate Hearing on Online Child Safety.

“Mr. Chew, I want to come to you first,” she continued. “We’ve heard that you’re looking at putting a headquarters in Nashville — what you’re going to find is that the welcome mat is not going to be rolled out for you in Nashville.”

“There are a lot of people in Tennessee that are very concerned about the way TikTok is basically building dossiers on our kids,” Sen. Blackburn said.

Elsewhere in her statement to the TikTok CEO, the senator asserted, “Children are not your priority. Children are your product.”

Executives from TikTok, Meta, X/Twitter, Snap, and Discord testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the exploitation of children online on Wednesday.

FTX Abandons Plans to Relaunch Crypto Exchange, Commits to Full Repayment of Customers and Creditors

Bloomberg reports that FTX, once a major player in the cryptocurrency exchange market, has made a major announcement in the wake of its bankruptcy proceedings. During a court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, the company has committed to fully reimbursing its customers and creditors and abandoned plans to relaunch the exchange.

FTX’s lawyer, Andrew Dietderich, commented: “I would like the court and stakeholders to understand this not as a guarantee, but as an objective. There is still a great amount of work, and risk, between us and that result. But we believe the objective is within reach and we have a strategy to achieve it.”

In addition to this repayment plan, FTX has also decided to discontinue efforts to restart or sell its crypto exchange. This decision was based on the realization that the costs involved in reviving the platform were prohibitively high. The team overseeing FTX’s restructuring conducted an exhaustive search for potential investors to restart FTX.com, but the financial requirements for a revival proved too steep.

Since declaring bankruptcy, FTX has been actively working to locate assets and untangle a complex web of debts. This includes obligations to various creditors and customers who had invested cash and cryptocurrency on the trading platform. By the end of 2023, FTX’s four largest affiliates had nearly doubled the group’s cash reserves, reaching $4.4 billion, up from approximately $2.3 billion in late October.

Elon Musk Proposes Tesla Reincorporates in Texas After Delaware Judge Voids Pay Package

CNBC reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced a proposal to move Tesla’s incorporation from Delaware to Texas. The proposed change comes after a Delaware judge nullified Musk’s $56 billion pay package from 2018, raising questions about the fairness and negotiation process of such compensation plans.

Tesla, currently incorporated in Delaware, has faced scrutiny over its governance and compensation practices. Delaware, known for its business-friendly laws and courts that specialize in corporate law, has been a preferred state for incorporation for many major U.S. companies, however, the recent court ruling against Tesla’s compensation package for Musk has prompted the billionaire to reconsider the company’s state of incorporation.

In an informal poll posted on X/Twitter by Musk, over 80 percent of participants supported the idea of moving Tesla’s incorporation to Texas, where the company’s physical headquarters are already located.

The potential shift to Texas could have far-reaching implications for Tesla. Texas offers a more relaxed regulatory environment, particularly regarding executive compensation. This could allow Tesla greater flexibility in structuring pay packages and other corporate governance matters, potentially without the stringent fiduciary standards imposed by Delaware law.

However, legal experts — such as Columbia Law School professor Eric Talley — have highlighted potential challenges, including the possibility of shareholder lawsuits alleging that the move might be driven by Musk’s personal interests rather than the company’s best interest.

Elon Musk Announces Neuralink Has Implanted Its Brain Chip into a Human

BBC News reports that Neuralink, a neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk in 2016, has developed a brain-machine interface consisting of thousands of electrodes attached to flexible threads that can be implanted in the brain. The goal is to create a wireless device capable of recording and stimulating brain activity as a way to potentially treat neurological conditions.

According to Musk, the first human implant of Neuralink’s brain chip has been completed and is showing positive results so far.

Musk stated on X (formerly Twitter) that the first Neuralink product will be called “Telepathy” and will allow users to control devices like phones or computers simply by thinking. While the technology is still in the early research stages, Musk envisions it could eventually help paralyzed patients communicate faster than typing or even allow for “symbiosis with artificial intelligence.”

Neuralink faces competition from other brain-machine interface companies such as Blackrock Neurotech and Precision Neuroscience. However, the high profile of Musk and Neuralink has brought more public attention to the concept of connecting the human brain to computers.
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A detailed investigation brought to light the unsettling circumstances surrounding the deaths of monkeys used in Neuralink’s preliminary experiments. Elon Musk has staunchly denied that the deaths were a direct consequence of the implants, maintaining that the chosen test subjects were “close to death already.” However, these assertions are contradicted by accounts revealing severe complications, including chronic infections, paralysis, and brain swelling, experienced by the test subjects, necessitating euthanasia.