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☆ Donald Trump's superhero trading cards timed the market all wrong
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Jon Sarlin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Los Angeles CNN —Donald Trump’s entrance into the NFT world came at the worst possible moment. It bears noting, however, that despite the bad timing Trump’s NFT collection has shot to the top of NFT marketplace OpenSea’s ranking and has raked in more than $1.4 million since its launch. On the Trump Digital Trading Cards website, the Trump collection claims to be “sold out” and the floor price for a single card has risen to $177.99, according to analytics site CoinGecko. SPACs boomed in 2020 with celebrities and investors piling in, but rising interest rates and a troubled stock market has led to a dramatic fall in SPAC value. Trump’s entrance into the SPAC world came after the boom.

☆ Why Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Jimmy Fallon and other celebrities are getting sued over crypto
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Tom Brady, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and baseball Hall-of-Famer David Ortiz are just some of the big names facing lawsuits from investors as the crypto world crumbles in the wake of FTX’s fall from grace. The backlash started earlier this month, when a class-action suit was filed against celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber and Serena Williams for promoting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. None of the celebrities named in the lawsuits immediately responded to requests from CNN for comment. Investors in FTX are not expected to be able to recover their money, the company’s CEO testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday. And after the crypto market bust and a round of lawsuits, celebrities may think twice about what they endorse in the future, too.

☆ The company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs is being sued for using celebrities to promote their products
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The firm behind Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs is being sued for not disclosing celebrities' involvement. The lawsuit alleged that Yuga Labs manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions. The legal action against blockchain cryptocurrency startup Yuga Labs was filed on Friday in California District Court. The unique selling point of Yuga Labs' NFT collection, called the Bored Ape Yacht Club, is that NFT owners become members of an exclusive "club" that included these celebrities. Yuga Labs didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

In the early 2010s, Mr. Mellow set out for still more distant shores, traveling to many famous surf breaks in the South Pacific. Mr. Abdul-Rashed and Mr. Danian traveled to Hawaii to connect with Mr. Mellow, their spiritual guide and Pacific expedition leader. Mr. Mellow posted an ad on Facebook and Craigslist offering $10,000 for passage to the South Pacific. Mr. Schmidt was in sync with the young seekers when it came to fear of Big Brother and vaccines, but dreading port officials brandishing nasal swabs struck even Mr. Schmidt as a little unhinged. When asked if he was at all responsible for what had happened to Mr. Danian and Mr. Abdul-Rashed, Mr. Mellow looked genuinely confused.

☆ Justin Bieber bought a Bored Ape NFT in January for $1.3 million that's likely worth about $70,000 in the wake of the FTX collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Justin Bieber's bought a Bored Ape NFT for $1.3 million in January. It's now probably worth $70,000, according to NFT Price Floor. The 95% drop in valuation comes after Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX collapsed and caused crypto prices to crash. In addition to Bored Ape, some top ethereum NFT collections are also facing lower values this month. Talk show host Jimmy Fallon, model Paris Hilton, and rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem also own Bored Ape NFTs.

☆ Texas regulators have their eyes on one of the most powerful players in the crypto world
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jon Sarlin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN Business —The big news in crypto this week came via a court filing in Texas. FTX, the crypto giant that is led by arguably the most powerful person in the industry, is under investigation by Texas regulators for selling unregistered securities. FDIC, OCC, SEC, DOL, FBI, US Treasury and IRS have all stepped up their crypto enforcement efforts. The crypto lawyer I spoke with told me that those who prefer the CFTC over the SEC fall into two camps. I interviewed Saylor last year for CNN’s crypto interactive (“The Bitcoin Billionaire” is what we dubbed him).

☆ Grammy-nominated DJ Steve Aoki told us he's made more money from NFTs than royalties. Here's how he says he's profited $10 million — and how Web3 can disrupt the multi-billion-dollar music industry.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Aoki was "shocked and excited" when he realized he made more from NFT sales than music royalties. NFTs can disrupt the music industry by creating a new revenue stream for artists, Blau previously told Insider. "This could facilitate a change that I've been waiting to see for most of my career as an independent artist," Blau said of tokenized music royalties. NFT earnings vs music royaltiesThe 2X Grammy-nominated artist says he's made more from NFTs than a decade of music royalties, Decrypt first reported. Aoki touts Web3, or the metaverse, as a chance for artists to truly own their work via the blockchain.

☆ I binge-listened to tech podcasts for a week, and what I learned about Silicon Valley is kind of scary
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

2: The hosts don't know what they don't knowThe problem is, VC podcasts don't stick to the core issues of venture capital. 3: The hosts want us to believe what they don't knowThere's a shocking amount of this kind of drivel on the tech podcasts. This is what a good tech podcast should do: Use access to the best and most successful investors and innovators to illuminate the way Silicon Valley works. But that's not what matters in the world of tech podcasts. But after 40 hours of listening to tech podcasts, I feel kind of bad about it.

☆ Crypto parties are still raging in the bear market. Here's what it's like at Mainnet, where tickets cost $2,100 and attendees network on yachts.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Crypto enthusiasts, Web3 founders, and investors convened at Messari Mainnet in New York City this week. The tone was firmly upbeat, despite bitcoin, ether, and other digital assets struggling through a bear market. "The bear market just means more building"Nathani, like a dozen other attendees I spoke to this week, is shrugging off the crypto winter and is increasingly upbeat about what comes next. "The bear market just means more building," Brandon Rochon, lead data scientist at Covalent told Insider. Those who have been in the crypto space for long enough, he said, understand the next wave of crypto adoption is still coming, whether the economy is choppy or not.

☆ A NYFW show that couldn't quite bridge the chasm between the 'insular, and male' world of web3 and fashion
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Caroline Haskins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

At New York Fashion Week, veteran designer Vivienne Tam showcased a metaverse-themed collection featuring various NFT characters. Kerry Chrapliwy — CEO of a marketing agency representing Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange platform that co-sponsored the show — said web3 world has a reputation for being geeky, insular, and male, which needs to change. A divide became clear, though, despite the overlap between the fashion world and the NFT world — like being environmentally disastrous and needing disposable income to participate — their communities do not easily merge, even in a space dedicated to facilitating just that. They didn't seem to know about the NFT element of Tam's collection, didn't care, or both. Their jobs involve a combination of working with the clothes, with models, and in the case of this collection, with people in the NFT world.

☆ Satellite phones, a safe house in the mountains, and cash reserves: How one Ukrainian tech company's extensive war-prep plan enabled it to grow amid the Russian invasion and even aid the fight
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-31 | by ( Sage Lazzaro | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Petruk said his prep enabled the company to continue growing amid the war and even aid the fight. Anticipating the invasion, Petruk had spent several months stocking resources and readying backup communication systems for his team. He also recommended employees start working from the western part of Ukraine, where the company stocked food and reserved cash. Some members of the WeSoftYou team pose with their new Starlink internet-service equipment. Some Ukrainian companies lost all their clients upon the invasion, Petruk said.

☆ 'Bad Summer People,' a salacious summer read, is causing chaos in a Fire Island town full of wealthy Manhattanites
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-15 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The source of the tension, whether real or perceived, was Rosenblum's forthcoming debut novel, "Bad Summer People." But it has already sent the tiny town, located off the coast of Long Island, New York, into a tizzy. But everyone DVR'd, everyone watched it, and everyone relished that their little summer town was somehow elevated to prominence." Rosenblum simply took events that punctuated the summer, like the town-wide Bay picnic and the summer tennis tournament, and used them as a backdrop for her fictional drama. "You'll see him on the tennis court, and you'll see her around town, and nothing's going to change," they said.

☆ Paris Hilton wants to be the ‘Queen of the Metaverse’
▼ + stars: | 2022-05-27 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Paris Hilton has arrived. On New Year’s Eve, she DJed a live set in the same virtual world, playing as her avatar. It also includes her production company Slivington Manor Entertainment – which is behind TV projects including “Cooking with Paris” and “Paris Hilton in Love” – and her podcast company London Audio. Paris Hilton attends the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in her "Queen of the Metaverse" dress Frazer Harrison/The Recording Academy/Getty ImagesOther celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Lindsay Lohan and Shawn Mendes have launched their own NFTs. Earlier this month, Hilton visited the White House to discuss new legislation aimed protecting children in such programs.

☆ I'm a 23-year-old who's saved more than $107,000 by waitressing and bartending in Nantucket and Aspen. Here's what it's like being a seasonal worker.
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-02 | by ( Lauryn Haas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Sam Madden, 23, has worked as a nanny, waitress, and bartender in Nantucket and Aspen for six years. I had some money saved to pay for rent because I'd worked at McDonald's and Olive Garden throughout high school. In the main house, there were a bunch of college guys and girls who all worked at the Nantucket Yacht Club, and I thought that their summer looked like so much fun. My manager saw that I had bartending on my résumé from the yacht club and asked if I wanted to start bartending. She lived with a manager of a restaurant called Cru, which is kind of the "It" restaurant on the island.

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