Facing rising accusations of running monopolies, the CEOs of four of the world’s biggest tech firms are testifying before the Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee today, July 29. The hearing was originally scheduled for July 27 and was moved to 12PM EST today. It is seeing further delays today and as of 12:25 had not been called to order. Global monopolies The hearing is entitled “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.” It continues a lengthy series of investigations into the role these giant companies play. All of these firms except for …

July 15 will go down as an infamous day for Twitter, as an unknown attacker managed to take control of a number of accounts on the social media platform before duping unwary users into a Bitcoin giveaway hoax. The event grabbed media attention, as some of the world’s most notable companies, politicians and business leaders had their accounts compromised before sharing similar messages touting a Bitcoin (BTC) giveaway that required users to send coins to an address before receiving double that amount back. The likes of Tesla founder Elon Musk, former United States president Barack Obama, 2020 U.S. presidential candidate …

Jeff Bezos, CEO of online shopping giant Amazon, recently tapped record wealth levels, holding more personal wealth than all the speculative capital currently invested in crypto's largest asset — Bitcoin (BTC). “Amazon stock shares surged 4.4% to a record $2,878.70 Wednesday, boosting the founder’s world-leading fortune to $171.6 billion,” Bloomberg said in a July 1 article. “That tops his previous high of $167.7 billion, set on Sept. 4, 2018, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.” Bezos’ deep pockets compared to Bitcoin At press time, Bitcoin holds a market cap of approximately $166.4 billion, according to Coin360 data, showing the value …

On Thursday, Uphold announced that they will allow users in Latin America to use cryptocurrency to acquire fractional ownership of the world’s leading companies. Uphold supports dozens of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC). In theory, its users could acquire a stake in Amazon, Apple, Google or Tesla for as little as 10,000 Satoshis. Making U.S. equities affordable to Latin America According to the company’s press release, the new service makes equity investments affordable for millions of people in the region: “Uphold, the leading digital money platform, today launches a groundbreaking equities service that gives millions of people in Latin America easy …

World’s top ecommerce firm, Amazon, filed a patent for a blockchain system that tracks goods as they move on the supply chain. Amazon’s patent — dated May 26 — describes a “distributed ledger certification” system. The document explains that the tracking solution would ensure that consumer goods that are sold on its ecommerce site are authentic. The abstract reads: “Features are disclosed for an interface for verifiable tracking of an item through a supply chain using a distributed electronic ledger.” In the detailed description section of the patent, its author explains that the system at large aims to improve “trust …

Crypto trader and YouTuber, Tone Vays, explained that Amazon's $140 billion CEO couldn't buy every Bitcoin (BTC) in circulation. What would happen if Bezos tried? "He would drive up the price of Bitcoin to the point where he could no longer afford it," Vays told Cointelegraph in a message on April 23. Why couldn't Bezos buy all the BTC on the market? On the day of Vays' comments, all the speculative capital held within Bitcoin gave the asset a total market cap near $137 billion, with each coin priced at approximately $7,500, CoinMarketCap data showed. In the last 11 years, …

Having just recently announced plans to close shop, Bitcoin (BTC) payments facilitator Purse.io says it is now reconsidering due to “an incredible outpouring of support from the community.” The veteran business — which offered Amazon shoppers a handy workaround and discount for paying with Bitcoin — had initially said it would be deactivating its "shop and earn" feature today, April 23, and ultimately cease all operations by late June. In its recent update, Purse says that since announcing its intentions to shut down, the overwhelming response from the community has caused the team “to reconsider our decision”: “Several parties — …

Holding a net worth of about $140 billion, Jeff Bezos could theoretically afford to buy all the Bitcoin (BTC) in circulation. What would happen if he tried? Genesis Mining's head of mining operations, Philip Salter, weighed in on the matter. "Of course he could only buy the liquid BTC on exchanges, massively driving up prices in the process," Salter told Cointelegraph in an email. Bitcoin only has so many coins available for immediate purchase Bitcoin has a current circulating supply of 18,339,687, but over the years, industry participants estimate at least some of this supply has been lost by early …

Earlier today, March 10th, 2020, Brave announced a partnership with TAP Network which will allow its users to redeem their Basic Attention Tokens for “for real-world rewards” offered by 250,000 brands that are a part of the network. Access to rewards is limited to US users The announcement says that Brave users in the U.S. will be able to redeem their BATs for “tokens for gift cards from hundreds of top national brands”. These brands include Uber, Starbucks, Xbox, Playstation, Hulu, HBO, Amazon, Apple, Target, and Walmart. Cointelegraph reached out to Brave to clarify whether this new benefit will be …

Customers can now integrate smart contracts on Amazon Web Services’ Quantum Ledger Database, or QLDB, thanks to tech company Blockchain Technology Partners. Blockchain Technology Partners, or BTP, unveiled general availability for its DAML incorporation, accessible through its Sextant for DAML platform, allowing those working with Amazon’s QLDB to harness smart contracts on the platform, according to a Feb. 25 statement provided to Cointelegraph. Amazon’s QLDB is not the first to incorporate Sextant for DAML Prior to its Amazon QLDB launch, BTP’s Sextant for DAML boasted compatibility on Hyperledger Sawtooth, and AWS’ relational database service, Amazon Aurora. Amazon QLDB caters to …

Newly released Blockchain 50 list by major finance publication Forbes features some new entrants like major international association, the United Nations. Shortly after including six blockchain-focused firms into its Fintech 50 list last week, Forbes has released another compilation of 50 global enterprises actively embracing blockchain technology. Newcomers include the United Nations, China Construction Bank, Square and others Published on Feb. 19, the new Forbes’ Blockchain 50 list is the second release of its annual Blockchain 50, which was first introduced in April 2019. Similarly to last year’s edition, the new compilation includes industry giants like Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, Google, …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) risk-return is a “different beast” compared to even the darling of the stock market of the 2000s, Amazon. That was the conclusion drawn by one of the cryptocurrency industry’s best-known analysts and the creator of a uniquely accurate Bitcoin price model. PlanB: Amazon “normal” compared to BTC Uploading a chart showing BTC risk-return versus Amazon stocks, U.S. bonds, gold and the S&P 500 on Jan. 24, PlanB showed Bitcoin behaved completely differently as an investment. Amazon’s significant losses in the year 2000, combined with its revered recovery ever since still keeps it far below Bitcoin’s risk-reward ratio. “Bitcoin… …