Techmeme: A look at digital pets site Neopets, which had 25M users in the mid-2000s, as owner JumpStart Games says 30%-40% of former users returned since March 2020 (Madeleine Morley/New York Times)

Top News

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:

The US infrastructure bill amends tax code section 6050I to require certain recipients of digital assets worth $10K+ to report sender details to the IRS — The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill that contains a controversial cryptocurrency tax reporting requirement.

More: DeCential, Decrypt, Crowdfund Insider, Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing, and Notebookcheck.net

Tweets: @brian_armstrong, @jakesherman, @ecombryan, @dalperovitch, and @dalperovitch

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:

House passes $1T+ bipartisan infrastructure bill, with a controversial crypto tax provision and $65B in broadband funding; Biden could sign the bill within days — - The House passed a more than $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

More: The Record, CNET, NPR, Benzinga, Politico, Associated Press, The Hill, and NBC News. Tweets: @m_f_rose

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

How a scarcity of secondhand chip manufacturing machines, which use older fabrication techniques, has exacerbated the global chip shortage — The world is hungry for semiconductors, and not all of them need to be made with cutting-edge technology. The race is on to find older machines that can still crank out chips.

Tweets: @mims, @adityapolsani99, and @mparekh

Madeleine Morley / New York Times:

A look at digital pets site Neopets, which had 25M users in the mid-2000s, as owner JumpStart Games says 30%-40% of former users returned since March 2020 — CHOOSE THEME:tilleri833jhdh — alli_draggy, by El MetlerBlack7Pearl, by El MetlerBunnyCutie2004, by Steph SkrotDisgrace …

Tweets: @gretakaul, @abbyhamblin, @nytimesarts, @_rossandrea, @dodaistewart, @kirstenmorry, @wearenew_public, @shannon_liao, @caitlinsgilbert, @emersongreg, @cindypepper, @nthnashma, and @tiffmoustakas

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

DeFi platform bZx says a hacker stole an estimated $55M worth of cryptocurrency assets after spear-phishing one of its employees and swiping two private keys — A hacker has stolen an estimated $55 million worth of cryptocurrency assets from bZx, a decentralized finance (DeFi) …

More: bZx network, Security Affairs, Crypto Briefing, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Decrypt, CoinDesk, and The Block

Tweets: @dcuthbert, @arekfurt, and @campuscodi

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:

FOIA records show US Treasury bought location and other app data from controversial company Babel Street in recent months to hunt for tax and sanctions dodgers — The Treasury Department has in recent months expanded its digital surveillance powers, contracts provided to The Intercept reveal …

More: Engadget. Tweets: @samfbiddle, @carnage4life, and @_jack_poulson

Christine Hall / TechCrunch:

Neuro-ID, whose real-time behavioral analytics tool helps companies reduce fraud and customer friction, raises a $35M Series B led by Canapi Ventures — Much of our days are built around digital experiences, and companies are increasingly looking for ways to unlock conversion and optimize fraud screening.

More: Business Wire and PYMNTS.com

Tweets: @walkerforehand, @haley_codes, and @jeffreyreitman

Antoine Gara / Financial Times:

Sources: McAfee is in advanced talks to go private in a deal worth over $14B, including $4B in debt, led by private equity firm Advent International — Buyout would be one of largest this year and mark end of company's brief stint on public markets — Antivirus software company McAfee …

More: Wall Street Journal, PCMag, The Economic Times, Bloomberg, The Motley Fool, Insider, MarketWatch, CRN, Silicon Valley Business …, and Reuters

PYMNTS.com:

Abound, an online wholesale marketplace connecting retailers and brands, raises a $36.7M Series B led by D. E. Shaw, bringing its total funding to $59.6M — Wholesale marketplace Abound raised $36.7 million in a Series B funding round led by D. E. Shaw group, with additional support from PointState Capital …

Source: PR Newswire. More: AlleyWatch

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Report: Apple and TSMC plan to produce 3nm chips for Macs as soon as 2023, with as many as four dies and up to 40 CPU cores per chip — Apple is taking the PC world by storm with its first debut of Apple Silicon chips inside of Macs, taking what it learned from developing the iPhone and iPad …

Source: The Information. More: Tom's Guide, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, AppleInsider, Ubergizmo, BGR, PhoneArena, Ars Technica, TechRadar, Tom's Hardware, iThinkDifferent, MacRumors, Macworld, iPhone Hacks, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, Slashdot, and MacDailyNews

Tweets: @carniphage, @tedjgould, @brianroemmele, @vadimyuryev, @waynema, and @markdistef

Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:

Bitcoin Cash briefly spiked 4.6% on Friday after a fake PR Newswire press release, which also appeared on Kroger.com, claimed Kroger will begin accepting it — The cryptocurrency rose over 4.6% from $602.63 at around 11:30 UTC to $630.70 in less than 15 minutes after the publication of a fraudulent announcement.

More: Reuters, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, Crypto Briefing, The Verge, CoinDesk, The Daily Hodl, Bitcoinist.com, Techaeris, The Block, Cointelegraph, and Mashable

Tweets: @reuters, @crypto, and @thestalwart

FinSMEs:

Gather, which builds metaverse-like environments for offices, events, and conferences, raises a $50M Series B led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures — Gather, a US provider of a metaverse platform, raised $50M in Series B funding. — The round was led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures …

Source: Gather. More: Fast Company

Tweets: @flippnflops, @jowyang, and @joshelman

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