Techno-politics

This past week, I had the pleasure of spending time with several bankers, financial professionals, and business leaders. While everyone agreed that it's too early to make predictions about how the world of crypto, Web3, and DeFi are going to go, there was one common thread: to a banker, crypto looks like money. I'm not sure that's a good thing. Continue Reading →

The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act was introduced Thursday by a group of key senators on the Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust: the ranking member and chair, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as well as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. If passed, the bipartisan bill would force Google to break up its ad business. Continue Reading →

Yesterday, in an SEC filing regarding Elon Musk's bid for the company, Twitter said it is "committed to completing the transaction on the agreed price and terms as promptly as practicable." Continue Reading →

HB 20, a new Texas law, prohibits social media platforms with more than 50 million users in the U.S. from moderating content on the basis of “viewpoint.” It creates a catastrophic new liability for tech platforms serving Texas, which the law says cannot be excluded from service. This is headed for SCOTUS. Continue Reading →

This past week, DFL (Deutsche Fußball Liga) invited me to keynote at SportsInnovation 2022. With the football (soccer) pitch at Düsseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena as the backdrop, rival teams played live games as various technologies were demonstrated in real time. Here’s a look at some of my favorite tech from the event. Continue Reading →

This is a tale of two letters addressed to Michael S. Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Continue Reading →

Elon Musk's desire to buy Twitter has dominated tech headlines for weeks. The deal at first seemed impossible (or at least improbable), but now it’s official: Twitter has accepted Musk’s offer of $44 billion to buy the company. Continue Reading →

On the morning of January 23, 2022, I saw a tweet about purchasing a Bored Ape NFT for 135 ETH that I assumed was completely fake. It turned out to be fake. But the transaction was absolutely real. How do I know? The Ethereum blockchain is a public ledger. Transactions are viewable by anyone (including you and me), so let's do a little exploring and see who spent $337,500 (1 ETH = $2,500 at the time) to get their Bored Ape. Continue Reading →

The White House would like to get to the bottom of this whole "is cryptocurrency going to destroy the climate or not" thing. The Office of Science and Technology Policy announced it's putting together a report that assesses whether digital assets “impede or advance efforts to tackle climate change” and makes moves toward a “clean and reliable electricity grid.” Continue Reading →

According to Reuters, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree that combines all national TV channels into one platform, citing the importance of a "unified information policy" under martial law. Continue Reading →