Techmeme: Analysis: in 2022 through July, crypto transaction volumes are lagging behind 2021; illicit volumes are down 15% YoY and legitimate volumes are down 36% YoY (Eric Jardine/Chainalysis)

Top News

Brayden Lindrea / Cointelegraph:

Report: Alphabet invested ~$1.5B in blockchain companies between September 2021 and June 2022, the most by any public company, followed by BlackRock with $1.17B — Other notable corporate investors include BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, Samsung, and Goldman Sachs, according to a report from Blockdata.

Source: Blockdata. More: CryptoGlobe, Micky, Tradesgiving News, Forkast, and Finbold

Eric Jardine / Chainalysis:

Analysis: in 2022 through July, crypto transaction volumes are lagging behind 2021; illicit volumes are down 15% YoY and legitimate volumes are down 36% YoY — 2022 has been a tumultuous year for cryptocurrency markets, with significant price declines across all currencies in May and June.

More: Reuters, TechCrunch, Cryptonews, Watcher Guru, CryptoPotato, CNN, Cointelegraph, CoinGape, Decrypt, PYMNTS.com, Crypto Daily, Dark Reading, Finbold, Bloomberg, DeCential, and Fortune

Tweets: @chainalysis, @chainalysis, @ron_miller, @wublockchain, and @chainalysis

Jessica Bursztynsky / Fast Company:

Airbnb introduces “anti-party technology” in the US and Canada to automatically block reservations at a high risk of leading to unauthorized parties — Airbnb is piloting new anti-party technology in the U.S. and Canada in its ongoing efforts to fend off users who are looking …

Source: Airbnb Newsroom. More: TechCrunch, Insider, Associated Press, Mashable, and Digital Trends

Tweets: @jasonabbruzzese, @larakiara, @aaschapiro, @newsynick, @sarahnemerson, @jmbooyah, and @carnage4life

Sam Kim / Bloomberg:

TrendForce: DRAM bit growth, a key barometer for chip market demand that measures memory produced, will rise 8.3% in 2023, the weakest on record — Mounting concern over semiconductor demand is sending shudders through North Asia's high-tech exporters, which historically serve as a bellwether for the international economy.

More: Financial Times, Tech Xplore, and Financial Times

Tweets: @thestalwart, @samkimasia, @mayazi, @investor1927, @jessefelder, @bloombergasia, @trengriffin, @shiraovide, @pelstrom, and @muradahmed

Will Knight / Wired:

Google says it is using its most powerful large language model PaLM to help robots from Alphabet X spinout Everyday Robots understand complex human commands — The machine learning technique that taught notorious text generator GPT-3 to write can also help robots make sense of spoken commands.

More: Washington Post, CNET, iTnews, Reuters, The Keyword, TechCrunch, Android Central, Google AI Blog, Fast Company, The Verge, Slashdot, and YouTube

Tweets: @wired, @stshank, @gadgetlab, and @willknight

Nikkei Asia:

Sources: Apple is in talks with its suppliers to mass produce Apple Watch and MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time — Country benefits as tech giant looks to build more products outside of China — TAIPEI — Apple is in talks to make Apple Watches and MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time …

More: MacRumors, iThinkDifferent, and The Economic Times

Tweets: @birdyword, @sino_market, and @birdyword

Nicole Wetsman / The Verge:

Mozilla report flags 18 of the top 25 period and pregnancy tracking apps and wearables, including Clue and Eve, for poor privacy and data management practices — It's concerning in a post-Dobbs landscape — Period and pregnancy tracking apps collect data that could theoretically be used …

Source: Mozilla Foundation. More: Gizmodo, NBC News, and The Register

David Pan / Bloomberg:

Publicly-traded US bitcoin miners Core Scientific, Marathon Digital, and Riot Blockchain lost $862M, $192M, and $366M, respectively, in Q2 after impairments — The three-largest US publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies lost over $1 billion in the second quarter after taking a series …

Tweets: @smdiehl, @davidpan_1, and @braun_ally

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:

Tencent misses with Q2 revenue down 3% YoY to ~$19.78B, its first-ever quarterly decline, due to China's COVID-19 lockdowns and strict gaming regulations — - Tencent posted its first ever quarterly year-on-year revenue decline as stricter regulations around gaming in China and a resurgence …

More: Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Nikkei Asia, Reuters, Reuters, and CNBC

Alex Barker / Financial Times:

Ofcom: in the UK, those aged 15-24 spent 57 minutes/day on TikTok in 2021, compared to 53 minutes/day watching TV; those 65 or over spent six hours watching TV — Ofcom survey points to challenges for traditional broadcasters in keeping pace with digital and streaming trends

More: The i Paper, Deadline, Ofcom, and BBC

Tweets: @jimwaterson, @aservais1, @risj_oxford, @timgatt, @benedictevans, @benedictevans, and @stokel

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