Techmeme
May 12, 2022, 5:15 PM

Top News

Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg:
After UST's collapse, most rival algorithmic stablecoins are below their dollar peg; the biggest non-algorithmic stablecoins USDT and USDC are mostly holding  —  Stablecoins besides TerraUSD are failing to live up to their billing as the collapse of the algorithmic token has investors pondering …
Tim Copeland / The Block:
Terraform Labs resumes Terra block production, with staking disabled, after halting the blockchain “to prevent governance attacks” following LUNA's collapse  —  Quick Take  — Terraform Labs has said the Terra blockchain has been halted.  — This is due to concerns …
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk:
Terra's LUNA drops to $0.01, a 99%+ decline in 24 hours, down from $60 earlier this week and $120 in mid-April, after Terra's UST stablecoin lost its dollar peg  —  LUNA tokens lost 96% in the past 24 hours alone, prompting more to be minted in a mechanism that helped lift the UST price.
Financial Times:
Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino declines to reveal details about the company's $40B US government bond holdings, for fear of revealing its “secret sauce”  —  Token's tech chief declines to provide details on Treasury holdings on fear of revealing ‘secret sauce’
@kayvz:
[Thread] Twitter product chief Kayvon Beykpour says he is leaving at the request of CEO Parag Agrawal, who wants to “take the team in a different direction”  —  Interrupting my paternity leave to share some final @twitter-related news: I'm leaving the company after over 7 years.
Bloomberg:
In a memo, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announces a hiring freeze and other cost-cutting efforts; VP of product Jay Sullivan will take over as head of product  —  Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal announced a hiring freeze and other cost-cutting efforts on Thursday …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times:
Scott Stein / CNET:
Mark Zuckerberg demoes mixed reality on Meta's Project Cambria headset; Meta will enable MR app development for Quest 2 and Cambria via its Presence Platform  —  A demo of Meta Cambria demonstrates how it blends AR and VR, while Quest 2 headsets could be used to develop apps in the meantime.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Ex-Facebook crypto chief David Marcus launches Lightspark, a payments startup building on Bitcoin's Lightning network, backed by a16z, Paradigm, and others  —  After his departure from Facebook in November, many crypto industry insiders speculated where long-time executive David Marcus would land.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
After mocking Apple for removing the iPhone's headphone jack in an August 2021 ad for the Pixel 5a, Google quietly drops the headphone jack with the Pixel 6a  —  The Pixel 6A offers a lot of good features, but not a headphone jack  —  Google just revealed the Pixel 6A at Google I/O on Wednesday …
Veronica Irwin / Protocol:
Masayoshi Son says SoftBank will be cutting its startup investments by 50-75% through March 2023, after its Vision Fund unit reported a full-year loss of $20B+  —  Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is severely cutting its planned startup investments through next March, Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said in a Thursday earnings call.
Sam Nussey / Reuters:
Thomas Stackpole / HBR.org:
A Q&A with crypto skeptic Molly White, who runs Web3 Is Going Just Great, on Web3's problems, cultural draw, privacy and potential harassment issues, and more  —  Welcome to Web3  —  What Is Web3?  —  Why Blockchain's Ethical Stakes Are So High Web3 Will Run on Cryptocurrency What a DAO Can — and Can't — Do
Washington Post:
Interviews with 17 Hollywood insiders reveal that celebrities view Twitter as a high-risk, low-reward platform, and why Musk's ownership might make it worse  —  Elon Musk was right that Twitter's most popular accounts have gone quieter over the years.  Hollywood insiders explain what happened …
Financial Times:
Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:
Leaked memo: Apple is sending anti-union talking points to US retail store leaders, including that workers could lose “flexibility” and merit-based promotions  —  Apple is instructing managers to tell retail workers that they could lose benefits and career opportunities if they unionize.
Reuters:
Foxconn reports Q1 net profit rose 5% YoY to ~$985M but warns Q2 revenue could slip due to rising inflation, cooling demand, and escalating supply chain issues  —  Shovel and FoxConn logo are seen before the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump for the Foxconn Technology Group groundbreaking ceremony …
Yueqi Yang / Bloomberg:
Coinbase's market cap is down to ~$12.5B from a $75B+ peak in 2021; its share price now is ~$58, far below its first-day closing price of $328.28 last April  —  Coinbase Global Inc. has declined precipitously this year, largely mimicking the drop in Bitcoin prices and taking its market value …

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Aaron Gordon / VICE:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Adi Robertson / The Verge: