Monthly Archives: July 2015

For U.S. firms, the Iran deal means pistachios, airline parts and carpets

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“For Iran, the nuclear deal — once it is fully implemented — would have sweeping benefits, giving it access to foreign investment, trade with oil-thirsty markets in Europe and Asia, and escrow accounts currently holding more than $100 billion from oil sales out of Tehran’s reach.  The Obama administration said Tuesday that the restrictions on U.S. trade and investment would remain in effect with the exception of imports of food and carpets and the export of airplane parts for Iran’s airline, which administration officials said had one of the world’s worst safety records.  The restrictions will leave U.S. oil and gas companies on the sidelines while European and Asian firms invest in exploring in Iran.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/for-us-firms-the-iran-deal-means-pistachios-airline-parts-and-carpets/2015/07/14/cea43524-2a2c-11e5-a5ea-cf74396e59ec_story.html

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Paypal Shuts Down in Greece; Bitcoin Still Operates

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“Capital controls imposed by the Greek government mean that Greek citizens can only withdraw 60 euros (effectively 50 euros after ATMs have run out of 20 euro notes) and online payment service, PayPal, has been left crippled, as a result. PayPal relies on the traditional banking sector and credit card industry for all its transactions to flow.   Fact is, there is an old-style bank that underpins nearly every finance tech start-up that purports to threaten and disrupt the old guard.  Examples are peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Prosper and Lending Club.  Neither company holds the loans they award on their own balance sheets, but, instead, acquire the funds from WebBank, Salt Lake City, Utah.”

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/paypal-shuts-greece-bitcoin-still-operates/

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Brazil Builds Internet Cable To Portugal To Avoid NSA Surveillance [2014]

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“Brazil is building a cable across the Atlantic to escape the reach of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The move is one of many ways the Brazilian government is breaking ties with American technology companies — but it won’t come cheap.  The 3,500-mile fiber-optic cable will stretch from Fortaleza to Portugal, with an estimated cost of $185 million, Bloomberg reported.  Of course, none of this will go to American vendors.  Last year, Edward Snowden leaked documents that showed the NSA was accessing personal information of Brazilian citizens, including listening to phone calls of President Dilma Rousseff, its embassies and the state-owned oil company Petrobras.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/brazil-builds-internet-cable-portugal-avoid-nsa-surveillance-1717417

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How to offshore your credit card with China’s Unionpay

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“China created Unionpay 13 years ago to serve as its own interbank for payments.  The unique benefit of Unionpay is that is controlled by the People’s Bank of China and has no relation to the western banking system.  In fact, the Russian government is using the system while they build their own payment system to get away from western systems. One Russian billionaire commented that he got a Unionpay-backed card to protect himself after US sanctions were imposed on Russia.  You can get a Unionpay card by opening a bank account in Mainland China.  Interestingly enough, wealthy Chinese are even using Unionpay for capital flight out of Mainland China.”

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2015/03/02/offshore-credit-card-china-unionpay/

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Visa CEO Charlie Scharf: Moving at the speed of money

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“West Coast venture capitalists see Visa as an oligopolistic dinosaur and are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into rivals that use bitcoin. Meanwhile, banks, which collect the bulk of the fees from merchants, are warily eyeing Visa’s efforts to bypass them and forge direct relationships with retailers by offering one-click internet transactions and providing data on consumer behaviour that only Visa possesses.  None of which seems to faze Visa’s chief executive, Charlie Scharf. In time, he says, would-be Visa disruptors all discover—just as internet upstarts PayPal, Square and Uber did—that it is simply easier and more economical to work with his leviathan than fight it.”

http://india.forbes.com/article/forbes-global-2000/visa-ceo-charlie-scharf-moving-at-the-speed-of-money/40423/0

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Why China Just Spent $2.3 Billion On America’s Hottest Startups

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“Alibaba and its two giant Chinese Internet rivals – search engine Baidu and gaming / messaging firm Tencent – a trio known as BAT, are pouring money into all manner of firms at every stage from seed to late rounds. Since 2012 we count more than 50 investments totaling $2.3 billion. In the past 18 months alone Alibaba has plowed more than $1 billion into just ten U.S. firms.  Many of the investments are bizarre on the surface, smacking of dumb money rushing in late in the cycle and driving up valuations for everyone. Why would an e-commerce giant spend tens of millions of dollars on a startup that’s outside of its core business, and country?  In a word: smartphones.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/05/27/why-china-just-spent-2-3-billion-on-americas-hottest-startups/

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Ex-Reddit Engineer Is Building a Decentralized Reddit

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“Days after the proposal of billionaire venture capitalist Fred Wilson to create a decentralized social media platform, Ryan X. Charles, ex-Reddit cryptocurrency engineer, has announced in a blog post that he wants to collaborate with others to create a decentralized Reddit.  Charles and the Reddit development team planned to get rid of third-party services and institutions like banks and payment processors by integrating bitcoin as the only payment option for the platform. However, after taking US$50 million in funding, Reddit replaced their management, and Yishan resigned ‘due to exhaustion.’ Reddit shelved Charles’ project and fired him soon after.”

http://cointelegraph.com/news/114785/ryan-x-charles-is-building-a-decentralized-reddit-and-would-love-collaborators

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The Turing Phone Is Built to Be Unhackable and Unbreakable

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“The Turing Phone is a 5.5-inch smartphone, running Android 5.1, but it’s like nothing you’ve seen before. The phone is designed with security very much in mind. End-to-end encryption is built into most of the core apps on the phone. It even has a ‘Turing coin’ inside, a cryptocurrency Chao hopes will catch on—if he does, he laughs, your phone could literally appreciate in value after you buy it. It’s all activated through a fingerprint reader on the side of the phone, and is made to keep servers and third parties out of your business as much as possible. In short: The Turing Phone is meant to be completely and utterly unhackable.  Unbreakable, too. It’s made of a material called liquidmorphium.”

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/turing-robotics-phone/

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FBI Director Comey is a Maniac

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“When the successor to the chair of J. Edgar Hoover feels he must reassure the nation that he is not a maniac, we have strong evidence that he is probably a maniac. FBI Director James Comey may be a fine family man but he also wishes to ‘keep people safe’ in ways that are inconsistent with their personal liberty. Director Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates went to Capitol Hill this week to tell senators about the horrible danger posed by encrypted communications.  But the federal government has already proven it can’t protect the private information of its own employees and the topmost secrets of the National Security Agency.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/36405/FBI-Director-Comey-is-a-Maniac/

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Court Nixes California’s License Revocations For Tax-Debtors

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“A California federal judge ordered the state to reinstate a couple’s professional and driver’s licenses Thursday, saying their due process rights were violated when the licenses were revoked over an approximately $450,000 tax debt.  Judge Dean D. Pregerson granted summary judgment to Enna and Vicken Berjikian, agreeing that neither of them was afforded due process because at the time of the suspension they were not provided the opportunity to challenge the delinquent tax liability or resulting license suspensions.”

http://www.law360.com/articles/631401/calif-debtors-still-eligible-for-licenses-court-says

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