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Bob McElrath, former blockchain architect at Fidelity Investments, has poured cold water on the idea of creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the U.S., describing it as a “hopium hallucination.”
“It’s a dumb idea. Don’t expect the US to pump your bags. Bitcoin is small fry compared to the US economy,” he said.
The possibility of the U.S. government creating a Bitcoin reserve has emerged as one of the main bullish catalysts.
As reported by U.Today, MicroStrategy cofounder Michael Saylor has urged the U.S. government to sell gold in favor of Bitcoin.
Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming originally introduced the idea of creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve in her bill that was filed earlier this year. The proposal has since gained signfincat traction, with many pundits debating whether or not this would be a prudent move for the U.S. government.
However, even some of the most prominent Bitcoin supporters are doubtful that the U.S. government will create such a reserve. As reported by U.Today, Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz predicted that a Bitcoin reserve would likely fail to be implemented. However, if it does happen, the crypto mogul expects to surge as high as $500,000.
The idea has also attracted very strong pushback from some pundits outside the cryptocurrency space.
“The main argument for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve seems to be that Bitcoin holders worry about an impending shortage of greater fools and need the US government to act as the greatest fool of last resort,” David Frum, a senior editor at “The Atlantic,” recently wrote on social media.
James Surowiecki, author of “The Wisdom of Crowds,” has opined that there is no strategic need for the U.S. to hold Bitcoin.
Alex Dovbnya (aka AlexMorris) is a cryptocurrency expert, trader and journalist with extensive experience of covering everything related to the burgeoning industry — from price analysis to Blockchain disruption. Alex authored more than 1,000 stories for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech media outlets. He’s particularly interested in regulatory trends around the globe that are shaping the future of digital assets, can be contacted at alex.dovbnya@u.today.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are not investment advice; they are provided for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. Every investment and all trading involves risk, so you should always perform your own research prior to making decisions. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. We do not recommend investing money you cannot afford to lose.
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Honey, a browser extension and coupon site owned by PayPal Holdings Inc. since 2019, is being accused of deceptive practices that potentially harm both consumers and content creators.
The accusations come from YouTube creator MegaLag, who claims in a recent 23-minute long YouTube video that the popular extension engages in unethical practices such as intercepting affiliate commissions intended for influencers and selectively promoting discount codes from its business partners over potentially better deals.
MegaLag’s investigation also alleges that the manipulation not only deprives content creators of fair earnings but also misleads consumers, undermining the platform’s promise of delivering the best discounts.
The first accusation involves Honey’s alleged interception of affiliate commission links shared by influencers and others. It’s accused of replacing affiliate tracking codes with its own during the checkout process, effectively redirecting the commission to itself. If true, Honey essentially is stealing the revenue streams of content creators who rely on affiliate marketing as a primary source of income.
The second accusation from MegaLag is that Honey prioritizes discount codes from its business partners over more substantial savings available elsewhere. MegaLag’s investigation claims that the extension’s algorithm is designed to promote codes that benefit Honey’s affiliates rather than presenting the best available deal to users and, in doing so, misleads consumers, as the platform markets itself as a tool to maximize savings during online shopping.
PayPal and Honey are yet to respond to the accusations directly, but a spokesperson for Honey told Fortune that “Honey is free to use and provides millions of shoppers with additional savings on their purchases whenever possible” and that “Honey follows industry rules and practices, including last-click attribution.”
Honey does make much of its money from affiliate commissions, which it inserts on web pages such as Amazon.com Inc. and other retailers. But intercepting existing affiliate links for its own profit is another matter. Though perhaps not illegal, there’s certainly a strong moral dimension.
But if Honey is truly not presenting the best deals in favor of business partners, that’s a much more serious accusation. If true, Honey could be breaching various U.S. laws such as the FTC Act Section 5, covering unfair or deceptive practices, the Consumer Review Fairness Act and the Lanham Act for false advertising.
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US officials launch investigation into China’s legacy chip sector
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Fair and equitable access to technology, a public good, is an inalienable right to development that should be enjoyed by all countries. However, despite the ongoing wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation, as well as the rapid rise of digital technologies, green innovations and artificial intelligence (AI), the digital and green technology gap between the Global North and the Global South is widening. AI is helping the strong get stronger, while the Global South tends to be confined to the lower rungs of global value chains.
After missing out on previous industrial revolutions, why are Global South countries still facing the risk of being sidelined amidst this ongoing technological leap? The answer may be that colonialism, which once severely constrained the development of these nations, has never truly disappeared. Instead, it has evolved into new forms, leveraging new technologies to exploit, suppress and even enslave Global South countries – a phenomenon now termed technological colonialism.
Technological colonialism is a new form of economic exploitation, through which a handful of nations try to maintain their technological dominance. They have leveraged their digital hegemony with an aim to collect more raw data, the most critical resource in the digital era. For example, the United States is home to 40 percent of the world’s data storage centers, while nearly half of African nations don’t have their own data centers, leaving them at a strategic disadvantage in the digital realm.
A select few countries have further strengthened their dominance by steering global technology governance, perpetuating exclusivity of advanced technologies. Statistics reveal that 95 percent of international tech standards are set by Western countries, and 80 percent of global technologies are transferred from Western countries. Currently, the patent fees collected by Western countries are nearly 100 times those collected by the Global South, with the United States alone accounting for nearly 40 percent of the global total.
As great power rivalry and geopolitical tensions intensify, the politicization and weaponization of technology become more serious, leading to fragmentation in some high-tech sectors. A few countries have established ideology-based exclusive frameworks such as the so-called “Democratic Technology Alliance” and the “Chip 4 Alliance”. Under the banner of “my own country first”, they promote protectionist policies such as “Securing the Clean Energy Supply Chain” and “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism”. They pay lip service when it comes to transferring green technologies to developing countries, but go all out to suppress China’s renewable energy technologies and products conducive to cutting carbon emissions.
Technological colonialism hinders the technological advancement of the Global South. What’s worse, it constrains their minds. Decades of technological underdevelopment and dependency have fostered a defeatist mentality in many nations. They have no confidence or motivation to pursue technological innovation, but are accustomed to relying on others for help. Such an attitude traps them in the pitfall of dependency.
Escaping from the grip of technological colonialism calls for proactive actions. The Global South shouldn’t put itself at the mercy of a few other countries. Instead, it must strengthen technological self-reliance and foster South-South cooperation, striving to become both drivers and beneficiaries of the ongoing technological revolution. On the one hand, Global South countries should increase investment in R&D, enhance technological innovation capacities, and improve policies and regulations to protect domestic enterprises, market and data. On the other hand, they should promote collaboration in areas such as digital infrastructure, digitalized industrial management and cross-border e-commerce to accelerate digital transformation. The Global Digital Compact recently adopted at the UN Summit of the Future and the UN General Assembly’s Resolution on Enhancing International Cooperation on Capacity-Building of Artificial Intelligence proposed by China has received extensive support from the Global South. These initiatives offer relevant countries an opportunity to make global technological governance more equitable, inclusive and open, an opportunity such countries should seize to make technology truly serve as a catalyst for sustainable development for the benefit of all peoples.
The author is a Beijing-based international affairs commentator.
The views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
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In May 2024, I interviewed Andrew Lowen who created Deliverance, one of the highest user-rated Christian games ever made with a rating of 8.7/10 on BoardGameGeek (not a Christian website).
In addition to that, the game earned a finalist spot in five different categories in the Golden Geek Award nominations in the categories of Best Cooperative Game, Best Solo Game, Best Thematic Game, Most Innovative Game, and Best Artwork & Presentation. Deliverance has received very positive public acclaim overall, despite some very vocal critics on both sides of the religious spectrum.
He is back with a reprint and expansion, titled ‘Deliverance: Council of the Fallen Expansion.’ The first game raised about $314k and this one is currently sitting at $326k with a few more days to go. I have watched a few playthroughs of the new characters and the comments are full of people stating they aren’t Christian but love the game. Believe it or not this game has led people to Christ so kudos to Andrew for making his passion his mission!
If you love good board games, Christian or not, check out Deliverance: Council of the Fallen before it closes in a few days on Kickstarter!
Christian Rap & Culture’s most visited destination has been Rapzilla.com, since 2003. The top source for new Christian Hip Hop music, news & more. With over 23,000 articles over the last 20 years, Rapzilla is happy to help tell the story of Christian Hip-Hop! Founded by Philip Rood, now owned by Chad Horton, and run by Justin Sarachik, 2023 was one of our biggest yet.
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Kennesaw, Georgia, has all the small-town fixings one might imagine in the American South.
There's the smell of baked biscuits wafting from Honeysuckle Biscuits & Bakery and the rumble of a nearby railroad train. It's the kind of place where newlyweds leave hand-written thank-you cards in coffee shops, praising the "cozy" atmosphere.
But there's another aspect of Kennesaw that some might find surprising – a city law from the 1980s that legally requires residents to own guns and ammo.
"It's not like you go around wearing it on your hip like the Wild Wild West," said Derek Easterling, the town's three-term mayor and self-described "retired Navy guy".
"We're not going to go knock on your door and say, 'Let me see your weapon.'"
Kennesaw's gun law plainly states: "In order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition."
Residents with mental or physical disabilities, felony convictions, or conflicting religious beliefs are exempt from the law.
To Mayor Easterling's knowledge, and that of multiple local officials, there have been no prosecutions or arrests made for violating Article II, Sec 34-21, which came into law in 1982.
And no one that the BBC spoke to could say what the penalty would be for being found in violation.
Still, the mayor insisted: "It's not a symbolic law. I'm not into things just for show."
For some, the law is a source of pride, a nod to the city's embrace of gun culture.
For others, it's a source of embarrassment, a page in a chapter of history they wish to move beyond.
But the main belief amongst the townsfolk about the gun law is that it keeps Kennesaw safe.
Patrons eating pepperoni slices at the local pizza parlour will propose: "If anything, criminals need to be concerned, because if they break into your home, and you're there, they don't know what you got."
There were no murders in 2023, according to Kennesaw Police Department data, but there were two gun-involved suicides.
Blake Weatherby, a groundskeeper at the Kennesaw First Baptist Church, has different thoughts on why violent crime might be low.
"It's the attitude behind the guns here in Kennesaw that keep the gun crimes down, not the guns," Mr Weatherby said.
"It doesn't matter if it's a gun or a fork or a fist or a high heel shoe. We protect ourselves and our neighbours."
Pat Ferris, who joined Kennesaw's city council in 1984, two years after the law was passed, said the law was created to be "more of a political statement than anything".
After Morton Grove, Illinois, became the first US city to ban gun ownership, Kennesaw became the first city to require it, triggering national news headlines.
A 1982 opinion piece by the New York Times described Kennesaw officials as "jovial" over the law's passage but noted that "Yankee criminologists" were not.
Penthouse Magazine ran the story on its cover page with the words Gun Town USA: An American Town Where It's Illegal Not to Own a Gun printed over an image of a bikini-clad blonde woman.
Similar gun laws have been passed in at least five cities, including Gun Barrel City, Texas and Virgin, Utah.
In the 40 years since Kennesaw's gun law was passed, Mr Ferris said, its existence has mostly faded from consciousness.
"I don't know how many people even know that the ordinance exists," he said.
The same year the gun law took effect, Mr Weatherby, the church groundskeeper, was born.
He recalled a childhood where his dad would half-jokingly tell him: "I don't care if you don't like guns, it's the law."
"I was taught that if you're a man, you've got to own a gun," he said.
Now 42, he was 12 years old the first time he fired a weapon.
"I almost dropped it because it scared me so bad," he said.
Mr Weatherby owned over 20 guns at one point but said now he doesn't own any. He sold them over the years – including the one his dad left him when he died in 2005 – to overcome hard times.
"I needed gas more than guns," he said.
One place he could've gone to sell his firearms is the Deercreek Gun Shop located on Kennesaw's Main Street.
James Rabun, 36, has been working at the gun store ever since he graduated high school.
It's the family business, he said, opened by his dad and grandad, both of whom can still be found there today; his dad in the back restoring firearms, his grandad in the front relaxing in a rocking chair.
For obvious reasons, Mr Rabun is a fan of Kennesaw's gun law. It's good for business.
"The cool thing about firearms", he said with earnest enthusiasm, "is that people buy them for self-defence, but a lot of people like them like artwork or like bitcoin – things of scarcity."
Among the dozens and dozens of weapons hanging on the wall for sale are double barrel black powder shotguns – akin to a musket – and a few "they-don't-make-these-anymore" Winchester rifles from the 1800s.
In Kennesaw, gun fandom has a broad reach that extends beyond gun shop owners and middle-aged men.
Cris Welsh, a mother of two teenaged daughters, is unabashed about her gun ownership. She hunts, is a member at a gun club, and shoots at the local gun range with her two girls.
"I'm a gun owner", she admitted, listing off her inventory which includes "a Ruger carry pistol, a Beretta, a Glock, and about half a dozen shotguns".
However, Ms Welsh is not fond of Kennesaw's gun law.
"I'm embarrassed when I hear people talk about the gun law," Ms Welsh said. "It's just an old Kennesaw thing to hang onto."
She wished that when outsiders thought of the city, they called to mind the parks and schools and community values – not the gun law "that makes people uncomfortable".
"There's so much more to Kennesaw," she said.
City council member Madelyn Orochena agrees that the law is "something that people would prefer not to advertise".
"It's just a weird little factoid about our community," she said.
"Residents will either roll their eyes in a bit of shame or laugh along about it."
Justin Baldoni was accused by Blake Lively of sexual harassment and a campaign to wreck her reputation.
No injuries were reported from the fire but two homes were destroyed in the blaze, firefighters say.
Fabio Ochoa Vasquez completed his prison sentence in the US and returned home a free man.
The report gives fresh details about the former Florida congressman's alleged payments for sex and drugs.
Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 death row inmates, derailing Trump's plan to ramp up executions.
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