TechCrunch creates a new blockchain series, Backpage.com’s CEO is arrested, and Antshares raises a lot of money. Want to catch up on your latest digital currency and tech news? Check out the stories below.
Also read: Industry Report: Lawyers Defending Digital Currency Users
TECHCRUNCH
The news publication will release a six-episode series called “Trust Disrupted.” The topic: cryptocurrencies and the blockchain. TechCrunch seems to believe that Bitcoin and related digital currencies are among the hottest inventions of the last ten years, and the series is aiming to educate the general public about their uses.
The series will feature New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper, as well as additional Bitcoin scholars and experts. The series begins on the platform’s YouTube channel on October 10.
BACKPAGE
Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer has been arrested on accusations of sex trafficking. Authorities are also working to shut the site down.
A majority of the human trafficking cases involve children, and bitcoin was allegedly a popular method of payment among users. While bitcoin itself has not been implicated, this will likely serve as another excuse to link digital currency with illicit activity yet again.
Backpage.com is one of the country’s leading adult/escort service platforms. Started in 2004, Ferrer became CEO in 2012. The arrest was a joint venture between Texas and California, two states that boast major “anti-pimping” laws. The site made approximately $50 million between January 2013 and May 2015.
ANTSHARES
Open-source, blockchain project Antshares has raised nearly $5 million to help fund its “Onchain universal blockchain” network. The company has also partnered with tech giant Microsoft.
Located in Shanghai, China, the purpose of the project is to “digitize, record, and track physical goods and assets.” Perhaps the network’s biggest claim to fame is that users will be able to perform transactions without the consent of a middleman, enabling further privacy and independence.
CEO and founder Da Hongfei explains:
“We believe that an inclusive and diversified development is what we are truly after: one world, many solutions. Those who are chanting for one universal panacea solution are simply trying to replace the old tyrant with a new one.”
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Image courtesy of TechCrunch.
