Artificial intelligence (AI) systems that drive today’s technologies, from chatbots to search engines, predominantly rely on a single source: Wikipedia. With over 7 million articles in English and a policy for free use, this platform is a goldmine of high-quality training data.
But will online encyclopedias adopt AI technology? In the BBC Science Focusinstant genius podcast, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales expressed optimism about using AI for editing and error detection, though he remains uncertain about its role in drafting complete articles.
“What excites me about AI is its potential to aid the Wikipedia community,” Wales remarked.
Wales elaborated on various methods he’s exploring, mentioning a tool designed to analyze brief Wikipedia entries and their sources to pinpoint missing information and unsupported claims. “I’ve found that I’m quite adept at it,” he noted.
He also emphasized that this experimentation is not limited to his own efforts. The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, has a committed machine learning team working on developing valuable AI tools for the Wikipedia community.
“Many individuals are engaged in maintaining Wikipedia,” Wales stated. “[These tools] represent an exciting initiative that enhances quality.”
When queried about the prospect of AI drafting Wikipedia entries soon, Wales was skeptical.
“I’m not ruling it out completely, but it seems unlikely in the short term. From a Wikipedia perspective, the current models still fall short.”
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made the first edit on the site’s homepage on January 15, 2001. Today, the encyclopedia boasts over 7 million articles in English alone. – Credit: Getty
One area where Wikipedia’s founders see potential for AI is in mitigating bias within the encyclopedia itself. For instance, research indicates that 20 percent of biographies on Wikipedia feature women, and these entries often skimp on coverage by focusing more on family, relationships, or appearance.
In light of these statistics, Wales proposed, “It’s feasible to envision AI continuously scanning Wikipedia for certain types of bias and alerting us to areas we should focus on.”
However, he also raised concerns about biases present in the Large-Scale Language Model (LLM), as many are trained extensively on data from Wikipedia: “Model trainers must be vigilant about this issue, reflecting deeply on it.”
Wales contends that while Wikipedia may contribute to AI bias, AI could also assist in reducing bias within Wikipedia itself. – Credit: Getty
Despite these concerns, Wales insists that few online spaces rival Wikipedia for quality training data.
“Fortunately, we don’t have an AI model trained exclusively on Twitter. That would result in a rather peculiar and hostile model,” he remarked.
“It’s crucial to have training materials that are factual, well-considered, and thoughtful.”
He summed up, saying, “Broadly speaking, the more fact-driven and extensive the language models we have, the better it is.”
Jimmy Wales’ new book, 7 Rules of Trust, is now available for purchase.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has dismissed Elon Musk‘s assertions that the online encyclopedia possesses a left-wing bias, labeling the Tesla and X owner’s comments as “factually incorrect.”
In December 2024, Musk urged his over 200 million followers on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to cease donations to Wikipedia, referring to the site as “Walkpedia.
In September, he announced plans to launch his own version, Grokipedia, through his AI company xAI, claiming it would represent “a vast improvement on Wikipedia.”
Speaking on the BBC Science Focus podcast, Wales stated that Musk’s accusations “make absolutely no sense,” though he acknowledged that Wikipedia’s volunteer community is not entirely free of bias. “The notion that we’ve turned into some kind of crazy left-wing activist platform is simply incorrect,” he explained. “This doesn’t mean there aren’t areas where we can improve.”
Wales continued, “The right solution is to involve more people. I want kinder, more thoughtful individuals who notice bias in Wikipedia entries to realize it’s not the product of some overzealous activist who will block you for disagreeing. People are just relying on sources, which may not take all perspectives into account.”
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales welcomes “kind and thoughtful” conservatives into the Wikipedia community – Credit: Getty
Musk’s criticism of Wikipedia escalated in January following the circulation of a video from a rally celebrating President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Several users on X suggested that Musk’s gesture appeared akin to a Nazi salute. Musk rejected this interpretation and criticized a Wikipedia entry about the incident, which some claimed drew parallels to the gesture. He reposted an article from X, accusing Wikipedia of perpetuating “legacy media propaganda.”
Wales responded on X, stating that the article accurately reflected verifiable facts: “It’s true that you made that gesture (twice), it’s true that people compared it to a Nazi salute (many), and it’s true that you denied any intention behind it. That’s a fact—all elements of it.”
Musk later tweeted:
Legacy media propaganda is considered a “valid” source by Wikipedia, so of course it is simply an extension of legacy media propaganda. https://t.co/lwQlM51FRX
Wikipedia’s editing guidelines mandate that all entries are written from a neutral perspective, meaning that “all significant views published by reliable sources on a topic must be represented fairly and without editorial bias.” Wales emphasized in the BBC interview that Wikipedia welcomes contributors from all political perspectives as long as they adhere to neutrality rules. “If someone is a kind, thoughtful conservative intellectual, we would love for them to join Wikipedia,” he remarked. “But if someone is a zealous activist with an agenda, I would consider them ‘boring and annoying.’
“Don’t assume just because Elon calls us Walkpedia that we’ve found a new home in Woke,” he added.
Grokipedia was initially slated for launch on October 20, but Musk claimed it was delayed “to clear out propaganda.” He asserted that the site would be live by the end of the week; however, it remains offline as of this writing.
BBC Science Focus reports that Musk’s team did not respond to requests for comment.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump granted a pardon to the founder of the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally.
The White House issued a statement saying, “President Trump utilized his constitutional powers by pardoning Mr. Zhao, who faced prosecution from the Biden administration concerning the virtual currency conflict. The conflict against virtual currencies is concluded.”
Qiao Changpeng stepped down as CEO of Binance in late 2023 after admitting to one count of failing to uphold an anti-money laundering program, alongside a payment of $4.3 billion to resolve associated accusations. He received a four-month prison sentence.
Chao, commonly known as CZ, ranks among the wealthiest individuals globally and is a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency industry. He established Binance as the largest cryptocurrency exchange; however, operations in the United States are prohibited following his guilty plea in 2023.
The pardon from President Trump marks a significant triumph for Chao and Binance after a period of lobbying and speculation. It also signifies a shift towards reduced scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sector by the Trump administration, even as the president and his family develop their own crypto business empire worth billions.
A spokesperson from Binance commented, “Today brings remarkable news regarding CZ’s pardon. We express our gratitude to President Trump for his guidance and dedication to making the United States the leading hub for cryptocurrency.”
During a press interaction on Thursday, President Trump addressed the pardon, minimizing Zhao’s offenses and asserting that he had no previous relationship with the cryptocurrency mogul.
In response to a query from a reporter about the decision, President Trump remarked, “Are you referring to the crypto individual? Many assert that he did nothing wrong. They claim his actions weren’t even criminal. It was persecution from the Biden administration, leading me to pardon him upon request from a number of esteemed individuals.”
Representatives from the Trump family’s crypto venture have discussed acquiring a stake in The Wall Street Journal, which is Binance’s U.S. arm. This was reported earlier this year. Mr. Zhao claimed that he was negotiating an agreement in return for clemency.
“Fact: I have never discussed my arrangement with Binance US with…well, anyone,” Zhao stated in a post on X in March. “Serious criminals wouldn’t be concerned about pardons,” he added.
However, Binance has significantly contributed to the growth of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency enterprise. Earlier this year, when Binance entered into a $2 billion agreement with a UAE investment fund, the payment was made using a cryptocurrency developed by World Liberty Financial. This enhanced the legitimacy of the Trump family’s digital currency and proved to be a highly profitable move for Binance.
In May, Zach Witkoff, the founder of the Trump family’s cryptocurrency entity, expressed at a press conference in Dubai to unveil the deal: “We appreciate the confidence that MGX and Binance have placed in us.”
A group of Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; issued a statement after the May agreement, expressing concerns that Binance and the Trump administration may be seeking a deal that enriches the president.
“As the administration eases oversight of industries violating money laundering and sanctions regulations, it is not surprising that Binance, which has acknowledged prioritizing its growth and profits over compliance with U.S. law, would seek to eliminate the supervision mandated by the settlement,” the senators remarked.
The lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice against Binance alleges that the company neglected to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions to law enforcement, including those involving U.S.-designated terrorist entities such as Al Qaeda and Hamas. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against the company in 2023, but dropped the case shortly after President Trump assumed office.
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On Tuesday, Spotify announced that its founder, Daniel Ek, will be stepping down from his role as CEO to take on the position of executive chair.
The streaming giant based in Stockholm revealed that Ek will be succeeded by two executives who will serve as co-CEOs. These two, currently recognized for their shared vision, will assume their new roles starting January 1st.
In a press release, Spotify explained that this transition “formalizes” the operational dynamics that have been in place since 2023, with Söderström and Norström leading the company’s strategic development and operational execution.
Ek mentioned that he has already “taken charge of a significant portion of daily management and strategic direction.”
“This change aligns our titles with our existing operational structure,” he noted. Ek further stated that he would focus on Spotify’s “Long Arc” in his capacity as executive chair.
During an online Q&A following the announcement, Ek clarified that his new role is not the ceremonial position that investors with a “US perspective” might expect.
In Europe, executive chairs typically take on “very active roles in business” and represent “specific stakeholders,” including government entities.
Ek emphasized that there are still growth opportunities ahead, pointing to “significant portions of the global market yet to embrace streaming,” spanning from Asia to Africa, as well as advancements in technologies like artificial intelligence.
“We are committed to pushing ourselves to move forward and maintaining focus on long-term goals,” he stated.
Since Ek founded Spotify nearly 20 years ago, the platform’s rise has fundamentally changed the music industry, ushering in the era of modern streaming. Currently, Spotify boasts a library of over 700 million subscribers, more than 100 million songs, 7 million podcast titles, and 350,000 audiobooks.
Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder and CEO, has returned to Dubai after receiving permission to leave France, where he is currently under investigation.
Durov was arrested at an airport near Paris last August, and he was later barred from leaving France due to a formal investigation into criminal activities related to the messaging app he created.
He stated that he spent several months in France cooperating with investigations regarding criminal activities on Telegram. The investigation is ongoing, but he expressed relief at being back home.
He expressed gratitude to the investigative judge for allowing him to leave France and praised his legal team for demonstrating Telegram’s commitment to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime.
Durov’s arrest at Le Bourgette airport marked the first time the founder of a social media platform was detained for content on the platform. With over 900 million active users, Telegram is among the world’s top messaging apps.
After his arrest, he was charged with failing to control extremist and terrorist content and released on 5 million euros bail.
Sources revealed that he left France with official permission, granted by an investigative judge, within a few weeks of his arrest.
Durov, who holds passports for Russia, France, and the United Arab Emirates, has received French nationality, defended by President Emmanuel Macron.
Elon Musk, CEO of X, expressed support for Durov under the hashtag Freepavel, warning of potential political persecution by the Kremlin.
Despite initially criticizing the French authorities, Durov acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations during his custody, where he was confronted with numerous criminal accusations.
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Terranos, had her conviction upheld by a US court. She defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars through a failed blood test startup that was once valued at $9 billion. Despite refusing to appeal for several years, Holmes was convicted. The court also upheld the conviction of Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, Holmes’ former romantic partner and president of Theranos.
A three-judge panel at San Francisco’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed claims of legal error in separate trials conducted in 2022.
Holmes, who started Terranos as a university student and became its public face, was indicted in 2018 alongside Balwani. They were tried separately and received sentences of 11 years and 3 months and 12 years and 11 months in 2022. Holmes was ordered to compensate investors $452 million, but the penalty was waived due to limited financial resources.
Holmes’ sentence was reduced by over two years for good behavior in prison, leading to her release in 2032 after serving nine years.
Holmes’ attorney filed an appeal in April 2023, claiming that her trial was marred by improper procedures and evidence presentation.
The US prosecutor countered, stating during the initial appeal hearing in 2024, “It’s undisputed that the device didn’t function,” and highlighting the shortcomings of Theranos’ Edison blood test machine. Holmes asserted that the Edison could draw a single drop of blood from a patient and conduct a variety of medical tests, but her inventions never delivered on their promises.
Before the appeal ruling, Holmes featured on the cover of People magazine for her first interview since being imprisoned earlier that month. She described federal prisons as “hell and torture” and expressed how being incarcerated had changed her.
“The person I used to be must now step aside as I stand here, a prisoner, and face my reality,” she said, reflecting on her two young children and husband.
Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, currently under investigation in France, criticized French authorities for not addressing their concerns with the company directly and described his arrest as “misguided.”
In his first comments since being detained last month, Durov refuted claims that the app was an “anarchist haven.”
The billionaire, originally from Russia, expressed surprise over the investigation as French authorities had access to a hotline he helped establish and could contact Telegram’s EU representative anytime.
“Countries typically address grievances with internet services by filing a lawsuit against the service directly,” he stated.
“Resorting to outdated laws to prosecute a CEO for actions carried out by third parties on a platform he oversees is an ineffective approach.”
While acknowledging that Telegram is not without flaws, Durov denied any misuse associated with the app.
“Claims that Telegram serves as an anarchist stronghold are baseless,” he noted. “We eliminate numerous harmful posts and channels on a daily basis.”
Durov, now a citizen of France, was detained in the country last month as part of an investigation into criminal charges related to child sexual abuse images, drug trafficking, and fraudulent activities associated with the app.
He was accused by French judicial authorities of facilitating criminal conduct through the messaging app but was released on a €5 million bail under the conditions of reporting to the police twice a week and remaining in France.
The allegations against Durov include collusion in disseminating inappropriate images of children and multiple other offenses on messaging platforms.
His sudden arrest has raised concerns about legal accountability for Telegram, a widely used app with approximately a billion users, and sparked discussions on freedom of speech and governmental restrictions.
vinegarWe've reached a point where the CEO of a major social network is being arrested and detained. This is a big change, and it happened in a way that nobody expected. From Jennifer Rankin in Brussels:
French judicial authorities on Sunday extended the detention of Telegram's Russian-born founder. Pavel DurovHe was arrested at Paris airport on suspicion of misconduct related to the messaging app.
Once this detention phase is over, the judge can decide whether to release the defendant or to charge him or her and detain him further.
French investigators had issued a warrant for Durov's arrest as part of an investigation into charges of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promoting terrorism and cyberbullying.
Durov, who holds French citizenship in addition to the United Arab Emirates, St. Kitts and Nevis and his native Russia, was arrested as he disembarked from a private jet after returning from the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, on Sunday evening. Telegram released a statement::
⚖️ Telegram complies with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, and its moderation is within industry standards and is constantly being improved.
✈️ Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently to Europe.
😵💫 It is absurd to claim that the platform or its owners are responsible for misuse of their platform.
French authorities said on Monday that Durov's arrest was part of a cybercrime investigation.
Paris prosecutor Laure Vecuot said the investigation concerns crimes related to illegal trading, child sexual abuse, fraud and refusal to provide information to authorities.
On the surface, the arrests seem decidedly different from previous years. Governments have had tough talk with messaging platform providers in the past, but arrests have been few and far between. Often, when platform operators are arrested, as in the cases of Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht and Megaupload's Kim Dotcom, authorities can argue that the platforms would not have existed without the crimes.
Telegram has long operated as a lightly moderated service, partly because of its roots as a chat app rather than a social network, partly because of Durov's own experience dealing with Russian censors, and partly (as many argue) because it is simply cheaper to have fewer moderators and less direct control over the platform.
But even if a company's moderation team's weaknesses can expose it to fines under laws such as the UK's Online Safety Act or the EU's Digital Services Act, they rarely lead to personal charges, and even less to executives being jailed.
Encryption
But Telegram has one feature that makes it slightly different from its peers, such as WhatsApp and Signal: the service is not end-to-end encrypted.
WhatsApp, Signal and Apple's iMessage are built from the ground up to ensure that content shared on the services cannot be read by anyone other than the intended recipient, including not only the companies that run the platforms but also law enforcement agencies that may be called upon to cooperate.
This has caused endless friction between the world's largest tech companies and the governments that regulate them, but for now, it seems the tech companies have won the main battle: No one is seriously calling for end-to-end encryption to be banned anymore, and regulators and critics are instead calling for messaging services to be monitored differently, with approaches such as “client-side scanning.”
Telegram is different. The service offers end-to-end encryption through a little-used opt-in feature called “Secret Chats,” but by default, conversations are encrypted only enough to be unreadable by anyone connected to your Wi-Fi network. To Telegram itself, messages sent outside of “Secret Chats” (including all group chats, and all messages and comments in one of the service's broadcast “channels”) are effectively unencrypted.
This product decision sets Telegram apart from the pack, yet oddly enough, the company's marketing suggests that the difference is almost the exact opposite. Cryptography expert Matthew Green:
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov continues to aggressively promote the app as a “secure messenger.” issued a scathing criticism He blocked Signal and WhatsApp in his personal Telegram channel, suggesting that these systems were rigged with US government backdoors and that only Telegram's independent encryption protocol could truly be trusted.
Watching Telegram urge people to forego using a messenger that's encrypted by default while refusing to implement a key feature that would broadly encrypt messages for its own users is no longer amusing. In fact, it's starting to feel a bit sinister.
I can't v won't
Paper planes are placed outside near the French Embassy in Moscow in support of Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France. Photo: Yulia Morozova/Reuters
The result of Telegram's mismatch between technology and marketing is a disappointing one: The company, and Durov personally, are selling the app to people who worry that even the gold standards of secure messengers — WhatsApp and Signal — aren't secure enough for their needs, especially from the U.S. government.
At the same time, if the government were to knock on Telegram's door and ask for information about actual or suspected criminals, Telegram would not have the same security as other services. End-to-end encrypted services could honestly tell law enforcement that they could not cooperate. In the long run, this could easily create a rather hostile atmosphere, but the conversation could also become a general conversation about privacy and policing principles.
Telegram, by contrast, is faced with a choice: cooperate with law enforcement, ignore it, or declare that it will not actively cooperate. This is no different from the choice facing the vast majority of online companies, from Amazon to Zoopla, except that Telegram's user base is the only one that demands security from law enforcement.
Every time Telegram says “yes” to police, it infuriates its user base; every time it says “no,” it plays a game of chicken with law enforcement.
The contours of the differences between France and Telegram will inevitably be swamped in conversations about “content moderation” and supporters will rally around it accordingly (Elon Musk has already weighed in, saying, “#FreePavel“) But the conversations are usually about publicly available material and what X or Facebook should or shouldn't do to moderate the discussion on their sites. Private messaging services and group messaging services are fundamentally different services, which is why mainstream end-to-end encrypted services exist. But by trying to straddle both markets, Telegram may have lost both defenses.
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THoused inside a glass box in the chapel on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, the “Quantum Chandelier” is the symbolic centerpiece of an ambitious effort to transform upstate New York into a tech hub — something like Silicon Valley for social media or Cambridge, Massachusetts, for biotechnology.
The silvery sci-fi object, named for the internal gold lattice that mounts, cools and isolates the processors, will be the heart of a “quantum computing system” that will herald a new era of computing. It’s the heart of Curtis Prime’s dream, co-founder of Nvidia, a $2.8 trillion artificial intelligence hardware and software company, to transform Rensselaer (RPI) into an advanced computing hub, remaking this part of upstate New York into a new Silicon Valley.
Priem has invested a significant amount of his wealth into building the Curtis Priem Quantum Constellation, a workshop where RPI students can envision the future of quantum computing. Just as his partners at Nvidia, where he served as the company’s first chief technology officer, allowed him to freely imagine the graphics chip architecture that will power the AI revolution, he hopes his investment will spark a new era of computational innovation in the region.
Prime believes the area along the Hudson Valley, from Yorktown Heights, home to IBM’s Quantum Research Institute, to Troy, home to the RPI/SUNY nanotech complex, to Syracuse, where Micron is building a massive $100 billion fab complex, will be the future home of U.S. computer technology.
To that end, he’s thinking beyond concerns about artificial intelligence and the success of Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing unit (GPU), which powers 90% of generative AI systems.
There are two RPI students on campus. Photo: Gregory Sherin
Wall Street has become skeptical of technology. AI has caused billions of dollars of losses, and Wall Street is disheartened by the idea that new technology is going to change the world. But the same thing happened with the internet overbuild of the 1990s, which went through booms and busts before eventually paying off.
In theory, quantum technology could solve in seconds problems that take today’s supercomputers decades to solve, unlocking secrets about the behavior of molecules, the genetic code, weather forecasting and, of more recent concern, cracking the encryption systems that underpin the internet.
TRussian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov founded wildly popular social networks and cryptocurrencies, amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune, and found himself at odds with authorities in Russia and around the world.
The man, who is just a few months away from his 40th birthday and has been nicknamed “Russia’s Zuckerberg” after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, has now been arrested in France after being detained at a Paris airport this weekend.
The St. Petersburg native rose to fame in Russia in his 20s when he founded VKontakte (VK), a social network that catered to the needs of Russian-speaking users and surpassed Facebook across the former Soviet Union.
After disputes with Russian authorities and an ownership battle, he sold VKontakte and founded a new messaging service called Telegram, which quickly became popular but also became controversial after being criticized for its lack of control over extremist content.
As this drama raged, Durov remained a mercurial and at times enigmatic figure, rarely giving interviews and limiting himself to the occasional cryptic statement on Telegram.
A self-described libertarian, Durov has promoted internet secrecy and message encryption.
He has steadfastly refused to allow moderation of messages on Telegram, where users can post videos, photos, and comments to “channels” that anyone can follow.
Durov, 39, had an arrest warrant out for him in France for allegedly conducting a wide range of criminal activities on Telegram, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and organized crime, including promoting terrorism and fraud.
The investigation has been entrusted to the French national police’s cyber unit and the national anti-fraud office. The suspect was still in police custody on Sunday, according to two sources familiar with the case. He has not been charged with any crime.
In 2006, Durov, a graduate of St. Petersburg University, founded VK, which captivated users despite its mysterious founder.
In an act that epitomized his unpredictable behavior, Durov in 2012 hurled large banknotes at passersby from VK’s headquarters on the roof of a historic bookstore on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg.
The recent approval of a spot Ethereum ETF has sparked debate within the crypto community, raising concerns about Ethereum becoming increasingly centralised.
Mona El Isa, founder of the avant-gardeis a pioneer in the blockchain industry and sheds light on the potential risks associated with this development. In recent comments, El Issa highlighted the challenges posed by the concentration of power in the Ethereum staking ecosystem and the impact of the Spot Ethereum ETF on the decentralization of the network.
Ethereum Staking Trends: El Isa expresses concern about the current state of the Ethereum staking ecosystem, revealing a disconcerting trend where the top three staking pools control over 50% of the staking power. did. Furthermore, an astonishing 91% of this power is granted or centralized, leaving only 9% with decentralized alternatives. Lido’s dominance in holding 85% of the on-chain Liquid Staking token dynamics further highlights the concentration of power within the network.
Challenges and Urgent Need for Alternatives: With Spot Ethereum ETF approval on the horizon, El Issa says there is an urgent need for new on-chain alternatives to address growing centralization issues We emphasize that. She highlights that the current scenario calls for a break away from existing monopolies, prompting the emergence of solutions like Divastaking. El Isa revealed that Diva Saking offers her Enzyme-powered key sharing approach and secured commitments of up to 100,000 ETH through Octant for Public Goods Funding. This approach is in line with the fundamental principles of cryptocurrencies and aims to promote decentralization and community participation.
Spot Ethereum ETF: A blessing in the mix: El Isa acknowledges the positive aspects of ETFs that provide a regulated entry point for institutional investors seeking exposure to cryptocurrencies. However, she has raised concerns about the centralized nature of these funds, which contradicts the ethos in which the cryptocurrency asset class was built. El Isa said that while ETFs may attract institutional investors, she argues that they pose a risk of centralization and remove some of the key characteristics that initially drove the crypto movement. .
Maintaining the essence of cryptocurrencies: In her comments, Mona El Issa warns against losing sight of the core principles that underpin the cryptocurrency movement. The move to centralized structures, whether through staking or ETFs, challenges the decentralized nature that initially attracted many to the crypto space. El Issa urged the community to consider the potential impact of these developments on the nature of cryptocurrencies, stressing the importance of maintaining a balance between institutional adoption and decentralization. There is.
As Ethereum navigates centralization challenges, Mona El Issa’s insights provide valuable perspective on the potential risks associated with the recent approval of Spot Ethereum ETFs. The call for new on-chain alternatives reflects a collective effort to preserve the decentralized spirit of cryptocurrencies and build a more inclusive, community-driven ecosystem. As the cryptocurrency industry continues to evolve, finding a balance between institutional adoption and decentralization remains a key consideration for the future of Ethereum and the broader blockchain space.
Bitcoin’s mysterious founder Satoshi Nakamoto dismissed early concerns about the cryptocurrency’s potential to consume large amounts of electricity and contribute to carbon emissions, according to newly released emails.
The true identity of Bitcoin’s creator was never revealed, but after Bitcoin’s creation in January 2009, Nakamoto (a pseudonym) remained active in online forums and emails until late 2010, after which he was removed from the project and stopped communicating with him. .
Trevor Milton, the disgraced founder and former CEO of electric truck startup Nikola, has been sentenced to four years in prison for securities fraud. The ruling by Judge Edgardo Ramos of U.S. District Court in Manhattan brings an end to a years-long saga in which Nikola’s stock soared 83% at one point, only to plummet months later amid fraud charges and contract cancellations.
The sentencing hearing was postponed four times, during which time Milton remained free on $100 million bail.
In his sentencing, Ramos said each charge carries a sentence of 48 months in prison, concurrent terms, and a $1 million fine. Milton is expected to appeal the ruling, which Ramos confirmed.
Milton sobbed before sentencing, pleading with Judge Ramos for leniency in a lengthy and often confusing statement. At one point, Milton said he had stepped down as Nikola’s CEO not because of the fraud allegations, but to support his wife.
“I resigned because my wife was suffering from a life-threatening illness,” he said. in his statement, shared by Inner City Press reporter Matthew Russell Lee in a social media post X. She suffered from medical malpractice, someone else’s plasma. So I resigned because of that – not because I was a fraud. Truth matters. I chose my wife over money and power. ”
Milton, 41, was found guilty by a jury in October 2022 of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud after being found guilty of lying to investors about the development of electric trucks to inflate Nikola’s stock price. received the verdict.
At the sentencing hearing, defense attorneys said Milton never intended to defraud investors or harm anyone. Rather, he claimed he just wanted to be loved and admired like Elon Musk. Prosecutors pushed back, arguing that he repeatedly lied and targeted individual investors.
Milton faced up to 60 years in prison, although federal prosecutors recommended an 11-year sentence. The government also sought a $5 million fine, the forfeiture of the Utah ranch, and unspecified restitution to investors. The amount of restitution will be determined after Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors in the case say Milton has been defrauding investors since 2019 by making improper statements, including that Nikola built trucks “from scratch” and developed batteries that were actually purchased elsewhere. He is accusing them of having been. There’s also the infamous Nikola marketing video where the truck appears to be driving under its own power. In reality, it was rolling down the hill.
The video sparked an independent investigation, and Milton resigned in September 2020 after a Hindenburg Research report labeled the company a fraud. The company ultimately paid a $125 million penalty in a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nikola’s stock price plummeted, causing significant losses not only to the company but also to investors.
In the end, Mr. Nikola sought a settlement with the SEC and reimbursement of the fine, and in October a New York arbitration panel ordered Mr. Milton to pay the company $165 million.
Milton has since pleaded not guilty to the charges, but his lawyers argue there is no evidence the former CEO intended to defraud investors. Any misstatements were a result of optimism and confidence in the company, they said. last month, Milton’s lawyer said: He must be placed on probation, in part to care for his sick wife.
Milton’s decision is one of the few high-profile cases involving a technology founder. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is serving an 11-year sentence after being convicted of defrauding investors in her blood testing startup. Sam Bankman Fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and cryptocurrency trading company Alameda Research, was found guilty in November on seven counts of fraud and money laundering.
Mastodon founder Eugen Roszko praised Threads’ entry into the decentralized social media space, saying: say the movement I plan to make mastodon — Open source Twitter/X rival — “It’s a much more attractive option.” Mastodon’s app, powered by decentralized social networking protocol ActivityPub, has gained more attention in the wake of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Ta. The network has since been renamed X, reflecting Musk’s ambitions to turn the microblogging platform into an all-encompassing app for creators. , payments, video, live audio, shopping.
People dissatisfied with Twitter’s changes are seeking challengers from other platforms, including the open source alternative Mastodon, and other startups such as Spill, Spoutible, Post, and Bluesky. However, things have changed again with Instagram’s entry into the “Twitter clone” field. There are now Twitter alternatives backed by Meta’s vast resources, which helped him grow his monthly active users to nearly 100 million in just three months.Today’s Mastodon Only 1.5 million monthly activesfor comparison.
More importantly for Mastodon, Meta has promised to integrate Threads and ActivityPub. This means users can find and follow both Mastodon users and Threads users across both services. Many expected that the integration wouldn’t happen until early 2024, but Meta surprised everyone yesterday by announcing that he would begin testing the ActivityPub integration.
“Making threads interoperable gives people more choice in how they interact and allows content to reach more people. I’m pretty optimistic about this.” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: In a post on the thread.
Zuckerberg did not explain how the integration would work, but Roshko cleared up the confusion in a post on Mastodon, explaining that a federation (a thread connecting to a broader group of servers running decentralized social apps) “It’s one way at the moment,” he said. ” That means Mastodon users can follow a “selected few” threads on her profile. Like Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram — In Mastodon, however, the reverse is still not true.
Threaded users’ profiles on Mastodon were not backfilled with old posts before the integration began. Instead, your profile will display posts from this point on, but with the message “Old posts from other servers are not displayed.” Clicking on the “See more of the original profile” link will take the user to the thread instead.
Rochko is generally positive about getting tech giants to embrace ActivityPub and decentralized social media. said before“The fact that large platforms are adopting ActivityPub not only validates the movement towards decentralized social media, but also provides a path forward for people locked into these platforms to switch to better providers. There is also.”
The Mastodon founder also said that the entry of the meta “Status of “acceptance, extension, extinguishment” The ActivityPub protocol is a reference to how large companies can enter the market using an existing standard and extend that standard with unique features to beat the competition.
“…even if Threads ultimately abandons ActivityPub, where we end up is exactly where we are now,” Rochko pointed out. Blog posts this summer.
Image credits: Mastodon Eugen Roshko
As the merger gets underway, Rochko touted the move as “exciting” and “a huge deal for Mastodon.” Posts on the platform This is “a step towards the interoperable social web that we have been advocating for.”
In addition, he points out Having access to all thread users from your Mastodon account means the app becomes even more appealing when you consider other perks.
The same claim has been made by Mammoth, a third-party client of Mastodon that is backed by Mozilla. Mammoth believes its app offers a viable alternative to Threads with a competitive user interface that is more approachable for newcomers to decentralized social media. This includes users who do not want to create an account on Meta. While Threads distances itself from news, saying it doesn’t “amplify” news on its platform, Mammoth is open to news partnerships and curation, which could lead to people switching from Twitter/X to other apps. I hope that it will appeal to people.
With Threads integrated into the Mastodon ecosystem, users have more options for how they want to engage with Threads users and content, including accessing their accounts from their apps of choice.
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