In a Sept. 4 filing in Fornite creator Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit against Google, the gaming firm has accused the omnipresent tech giant of violating its founding “don’t be evil” dictum and actively uses its market power to overcharge app developers. The core issue of the current case is that, earlier in August, Epic Games announced direct payments on mobile versions of Fortnite on Android and iOS. The payments would give customers a 20% discount on the app’s native V-Bucks — by circumventing the 30% fees that both Apple and Google charge for those payments. The next day, both Apple …

While the crypto space has seen tremendous growth over the past decade, the asset class still holds a tiny amount of value compared to mainstream markets, especially when pitted against giants such as Apple. Apple stock (AAPL) holds a staggering $2 trillion market cap, dwarfing all the speculative capital held within the entire crypto space, which, at press time, totals a mere $342.8 billion according to CoinMarketCap. The crypto industry has grown from simply a concept in 2008, with the inception of Bitcoin's white paper, to hosting billions of invested dollars. Bitcoin itself went from less than $1 per coin, …

Coinbase and Apple are still not getting along months after Coinbase warned customers it might remove an application from the Apple Store. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted on August 22 that Apple continues to block some functionalities for cryptocurrencies, including being able to earn money and unrestricted decentralized applications (dApp) browsers. He said: “Apple has been very restrictive and hostile to cryptocurrency over the years. They're still blocking some functionality right now, including the ability to earn money with cryptocurrency by completing tasks, and unrestricted dapp browsers.” In December, Coinbase warned its customers it might have to remove its dApp …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note The concept of monopoly will reign in today’s Law Decoded. As a fundamental principle, blockchain technology is about distributing both inputs and outputs of information securely. In its still very young lifecycle, the technology has proven to have boundless applications on the basis of this fairly simple principle. A secondary principle is decentralization, and in this way, blockchain technology seems inherently opposed to monopolies. The big challenge of Bitcoin’s white paper was finding a way to move value across …

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 27, Brave Software partners with Guardian to bring greater levels of security and privacy to the iPhone and iPad users. This partnership will combine the privacy stack of the two companies — Brave’s privacy focused browser with Guardian’s VPN and firewall service. The iOS users of Brave Browser will be able with one click to turn on Brave Firewall + VPN that will protect the entire device from privacy intruding trackers. A screenshot of Brave’s VPN+Firewall. Source: Brave. Guardian is good for Brave users Brave CEO Brendan Eich told Cointelegraph that he has been a long-time user of Guardian …

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 …

A new trojan attack using malware called GMERA is targeting cryptocurrency traders who use trading applications on Apple’s macOS. The internet security company ESET found that the malware comes integrated into legitimate-looking cryptocurrency trading applications and tries to steal users’ crypto funds from their wallets. Researchers at another cybersecurity firm Trend Micro first discovered GMERA malware in September 2019, when it was posing as the Mac-specific stock investment application Stockfolio. Copying the actual applications ESET found the malware operators have integrated GMERA to the original macOS cryptocurrency trading application Kattana. They have also copied the website of the company and …

A recent article by a Cointelegraph Markets contributor proclaimed that “Bitcoin is the ‘new’ Apple,” explaining just how Bitcoin’s (BTC) price could reach $60,000 by 2023: “Bitcoin hangs near the chasm of the adoption curve, and its price looks similar to Apple’s stock in 2008 before it broke out with a 520% rally.” The technology adoption curve referenced was Everett Rogers’ famous “diffusion of innovations” model, published in 1962, which described the five stages through which technology becomes “diffused” — i.e., goes mainstream: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. In 2008, manufacturer Apple’s United States smartphone penetration …

A new ransomware is targeting macOS users who download installers for popular apps via torrent files. Known as EvilQuest, the attack was first spotted by Dinesh Devadoss, a K7 Lab malware researcher. Findings show that EvilQuest has been quite active since the start of June 2020. Malware lab firms, like Malwarebytes, have found the ransomware attached to pirated macOS software distributed mainly through torrent sites and warez forums. Same BTC address used EvilQuest asks victims to pay a ransom through the same static Bitcoin (BTC) address in every documented attack. One of the first signs that EvilQuest has deployed an …

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 …

Civic Technologies, a San Francisco-based innovator in digital identity solutions, announced on June 16 that its Civic Wallet is now available in the App Store and Google Play. Civic Wallet has also formed a partnership with Circle Medical, a San Francisco hospital. Together, they will act as a Covid-19 vaccination-proofing tool for Circle Medical’s employees. Five hundred Circle Medical employees will be able to test for Covid-19 at a Circle Medical testing site located in the San Francisco Bay Area. They state that new locations will be added in the future. More than 100,000 people signed up for the app’s …