Techmeme: Kraken acquires non-custodial staking platform Staked and claims it's “one of the largest crypto industry acquisitions to date”, but doesn't disclose a price (Jamie Crawley/CoinDesk)

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December 22, 2021, 1:30 AM

Top News

Vlad Savov / Bloomberg:

Jack Dorsey sparks uproar by tweeting “You don't own ‘web3.’ ...VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It's ultimately a centralized entity” — Fresh off relinquishing the chief executive reins of Twitter Inc., Bitcoin enthusiast Jack Dorsey …

Source: @jack. More: Slate, The Verge, Cointelegraph, CoinDesk, Decrypt, TNW, PYMNTS.com, Bankless Times, CryptoSlate, Engadget, Livemint, KnowTechie, BGR India, Crypto Briefing, and India Today

Tweets: @elonmusk, @jack, @jack, @joemccann, @balajis, @jack, @balajis, @antoniogm, @pt, @kelseyhightower, @jack, @mdudas, @balajis, @packym, @erikvoorhees, @jack, @cdixon, @kevinsekniqi, @mdudas, @karlbode, @adamscochran, @howardlindzon, @gaberivera, @slightlylate, @lopp, @antoniogm, @jack, @ourielohayon, @thestalwart, @cdharrison, @pitdesi, @getongab, @nadertheory, @nikitabier, @samecwilliams, @thestalwart, @mutedialog, @pierce, @backlon, @jason, @grady_booch, @kelseyhightower, @terenceleejx, @joemccann, @jakeudell, @thestalwart, @thestalwart, @balajis, @iamdcinvestor, @trungtphan, @shonaghosh, @taha_zafar12, @liamspradlin, @cdixon, @punk6529, @asvanevik, @olivierjanss, @olivierjanss, @bigblackjacobin, @ashleevance, @arthurb, @jacklipstone, @levie, @vladsavov, @silvermanjacob, @cdixon, @anildash, @mdudas, and @kelseyhightower

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Amid COVID-19 concerns, Meta, Amazon, Ring, and Twitter cancel in-person CES plans, while T-Mobile and AMD plan a limited presence, as others monitor conditions — - Google, HTC, Samsung and Sony still currently plan to go — Host of CES conference remains steadfast in moving forward

More: T-Mobile, The Verge, CNET, Reuters, New York Post, BGR India, Ad Age, Adweek, Samsung Newsroom, TmoNews, and Light Reading

Tweets: @mikesievert, @epro, @markgurman, @bdsams, and @caro_milanesi

Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:

Kraken acquires non-custodial staking platform Staked and claims it's “one of the largest crypto industry acquisitions to date”, but doesn't disclose a price — The crypto exchange referred to the deal as “one of the largest crypto industry acquisitions to date” but did not disclose the amount paid.

More: Business Wire, Kraken Blog, Crypto Briefing, City A.M., Bankless Times, SiliconANGLE, Blockworks, Cointelegraph, The Block, and CryptoNinjas

Tweets: @jespow, @cointelegraph, @asvanevik, @mayazi, @brianchoffman, and @krakenfx

Mehul Srivastava / Financial Times:

Sources describe how a 2019 NSO deal to sell Pegasus services to Uganda, followed by US diplomats being hacked in Uganda using Pegasus, led to NSO's decline — For years, the Israeli spyware maker thrived through scandal. Then, US diplomats in Uganda got hacked by Pegasus

More: iThinkDifferent, BGR, The Electronic Intifada, and Daring Fireball

Tweets: @leshaque, @qataharraymond, and @kizzabesigye1

The Cloudflare Blog:

TikTok.com was the most popular domain globally between August and December 2021, after passing Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon this year — Loading... Sofia Cardita — The years come and go, Internet traffic continues to grow (at least so far and with some ‘help’ from the pandemic) …

More: First Futurist, CNET, TechRadar, The Register, Gizmodo, Android Headlines, and Slashdot

Tweets: @b_fung, @flyfazfly, @epro, @evelyndouek, @rsbutner, @carnage4life, @ericxtang, and @cloudflare

Todd Spangler / Variety:

AT&T plans to sell its Xandr programmatic advertising marketplace to Microsoft; the deal would not include the ad sales business supporting DirecTV — Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews.

More: PR Newswire, Wall Street Journal, AdExchanger, Microsoft Advertising, Digiday, The Information, Bloomberg, Marketing Dive, SiliconANGLE, GeekWire, Tech Xplore, MSPoweruser, Axios, Deadline, and TechRadar

Tweets: @aripap, @aaronwall, @aexm, @sarafischer, @msftadvertising, @xandr, @msftnews, @epro, and @ericjackson

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:30 AM ET, December 22, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Source: Bari Weiss is planning to create a masthead for CBS News as part of a broader overhaul of standards and procedures

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Trump says Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic trainwreck” and “CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW”; earlier CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Trump

Lorcan Lovett / Nieman Reports:

A look at the state of independent media in Myanmar, which lost US and Swedish funding this year and where subscriptions aren't a dependable source of revenue

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More News

Chris Welch / The Verge:

TCL resumes selling its Google TVs after recently pulling the entire lineup from Best Buy and rolling out software updates to fix performance issues

More: 9to5Google. Tweets: @chriswelch

The Information:

Sources: Bolt, which offers a one-click checkout service, is seeking to raise ~$400M at a $14B valuation, after raising $393M at an $11B valuation in October

Kimberly Chin / Wall Street Journal:

McDonald's is selling Dynamic Yield, a startup it acquired for $300M+ in 2019 that helps retailers offer personalized digital promotions, to Mastercard

More: PYMNTS.com, CNBC, Business Wire, Benzinga, The Times of Israel, Marketing Dive, PYMNTS.com, QSR magazine, Barron's Online, Globes Online, Restaurant Business, Finextra, CTech, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @mastercardnews, @jerrycap, and @martyswant

Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:

Render Network, a P2P network that offers remote rendering power for 3D visuals, raises $30M led by Multicoin Capital, bringing its total funding to $50M

More: The Block

Obey Manayiti / Financial Times:

Walmart, Target, and others deploy tools to track and block bots from snapping up products before Christmas amid a 73% rise in bot traffic between Oct. and Nov.

More: Insider, TechSpot, PYMNTS.com, and Wired

Tweets: @lindayueh and @financialtimes

Politico:

Sources detail Amazon's increasingly close relationship with the DOJ and FBI, as it tips off the agencies to investigate its employees and third-party sellers

Tweets: @birnbaum_e, @_jack_poulson, @realjunsonchan, @amy_k_nelson, @dlippman, @dlippman, @amy_k_nelson, @ali_lev, @dlippman, and @amy_k_nelson

Juro Osawa / The Information:

Sources: despite resigning as CEO and chair, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming remains as active as ever, focusing on long-term business opportunities and strategy

Tweets: @alexeheath, @sam_l_shead, @theinformation, and @juroosawa

Kyle Alspach / VentureBeat:

PlainID, which offers enterprise identity and access management tools, raises a $75M Series C led by Insight Partners, bringing its total funding to $100M

More: Globes Online, CTech, SiliconANGLE, Geektime, and SecurityWeek

Earlier Picks

Anna Heim / TechCrunch:

Tackle, which helps companies sell software on AWS, GCP, Azure, and Red Hat marketplaces, raises a $100M Series C led by Coatue and a16z at a $1.25B valuation

More: PR Newswire, Tackle, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, and Buffalo Business Journal. Tweets: @rseroter

Stephanie Chan / Sensor Tower Blog:

In 2021, 906 developers are projected to pass $1M annual revenue for the first time on Apple's App Store and Google Play, vs. 475 in 2016 and 1,003 in 2020

More: The Mac Observer, iMore, iThinkDifferent, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, VentureBeat, and iPhone in Canada Blog. Tweets: @sensortower

Christine Hall / TechCrunch:

Next-day package delivery startup Veho raises a $125M Series A led by General Catalyst at a $1B valuation to grow from 14 to 50 US markets by the end of 2022

More: Series A, Crunchbase News, KFXP-TV, and Retail Technology …

Tweets: @techstars and @generalcatalyst

P.R. Venkat / Wall Street Journal:

China Mobile plans to raise up to nearly $8.8B in its Shanghai IPO, selling shares for around $9, about a year after being delisted from the NYSE

More: SiliconANGLE, Reuters, and Bloomberg

Sahar Massachi / MIT Technology Review:

A framework for fixing social media: apply lessons from physical cities, prevent fake accounts, improve corporate behavior, and listen to integrity workers

More: Yenta. Tweets: @roughtype, @bengoldsmith, @marklittlenews, @kara_dunford, @etbrooking, @samidh, @sayhar, @sayhar, @sayhar, @sayhar, @sayhar, @sayhar, @sayhar, and @sayhar

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

The US DOJ charges five Russian nationals with hacking two SEC Filing Agents between January 2018 and September 2020, and using the stolen info for stock trades

More: Metacurity, U.S. Department of Justice, Security Affairs, BleepingComputer, CNN, Gizmodo, Dark Reading, Wall Street Journal, CyberScoop, and iTnews

Tweets: @fbi and @campuscodi

Brian Sozzi / Yahoo Finance:

Rocket Companies, a consumer finance-focused holding company, will pay $1.275B in cash to acquire personal finance app Truebill, which has 2.5M members

More: TechCrunch, Reuters, MarketWatch, Crain's Detroit Business, Technical.ly DC, Detroit Free Press, PYMNTS.com, FinLedger, Protocol, PR Newswire, and Crowdfund Insider

Tweets: @davidmarcus, @ekp, @yoda, @sarthakgh, and @gokulr

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:

Oracle will acquire electronic medical records company Cerner for $28.3B, or $95 per share, in an all-cash deal, its biggest acquisition yet