Ardian Launches Luxembourg Evergreen Infrastructure Fund With iCapital Partnership
Ardian has launched Ardian Access Infrastructure SICAV-RAIF, a Luxembourg-domiciled evergreen vehicle designed to give institutional and private wealthBYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
Facebook Messenger's desktop app is no more | TechCrunch
The app remains usable via the web, Facebook app, and through the mobile app for iOS and Android.Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)
RE: mastodon.social/@Sarahp/115724…
And yet they have time and resources to build an Instagram Reels app for Fire T.V.!?
As someone who likes desktop apps for messengers, it’s very frustrating to hear them mothball these apps. WhatsApp is now just a shell on Windows.
#instagram #meta #facebook #desktop #tech #news
Facebook Messenger’s desktop app is no more techcrunch.com/2025/12/15/face…Facebook Messenger's desktop app is no more | TechCrunch
The app remains usable via the web, Facebook app, and through the mobile app for iOS and Android.Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)
midwinter photoshoot - All For Gardening
seeing their pastel colors in December in England is therapeutic I thinkGardener (All For Gardening)
The heck is happening, both GitHub and Bitbucket will start charging for self-hosted runners
resources.github.com/actions/2…
atlassian.com/blog/bitbucket/a…
Announcing powerful upgrades & a new pricing model for self-hosted runners - Work Life by Atlassian
We’re excited to announce the release of Bitbucket Pipelines self-hosted runners v5.0. This release introduces powerful new capabilities, including the...Edmund Munday (Work Life by Atlassian)
The US labels another Latin American cartel a terrorist group as the anti-drug war escalates
https://apnews.com/article/colombia-state-department-trump-terrorist-designation-ff7d8f2027b080fa4d77daa5fc399820?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into Politics @politics-AssociatedPress
Today's hopeful thing:
- I am here,and others are too. It would be so easy for us to give up, but we don't; we carry on, we live, we *try*. We fail. And yet.
(I'm sorry, that's all I got today.)
In Turkmenistan, Government Offices Charge Citizens for Blank Sheets of Paper
2,800-Year-Old Gold-Plated Lances Unearthed In Denmark
Museum VestsjællandThe pair of ancient gold-plated lances recently unearthed near Boeslunde.BYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
"Thus Gaza becomes and is; the humanitarian tragedy worsens, the tents of the displaced are flooded due to the rains and the occupation's destruction of the infrastructure, no response and no action, neglect and disregard for the human soul."
Video on
xcancel.com/AnasAlSharif0/stat…
#Palestine #Gaza #Israel
@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@fedibird.com
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Boxnoggin continues to be A-OK (even got a treat after the household humans' lunchtime); however, my own nerves are sadly frayed.
More tea, and I swear I'm going to knock off a good chunk of these revisions today. (The best revenge is more work.)
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I fear that some day soon, every password will require 2FA and those will be successive CAPTCHA prompts requiring you to check "All AI-generated images of motorcycles."
I am currently hemorrhaging money.
Replace skid plate.
Replace four tires.
Replace one of the replacement tires.
Uhaul rental.
Gas for uhaul and my car for the 582 mile trip.
"The Civil Defense in Gaza warns of a humanitarian disaster due to the weather depression, amid the collapse of services and the occupation's destruction of mechanisms, a shortage of fuel and equipment. It confirmed that the rains and winds threaten tents and damaged buildings with collapse, calling for urgent international action to provide safe shelter."
Video on
xcancel.com/AnasAlSharif0/stat…
#Palestine #Gaza #Israel
@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@fedibird.com
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7018302?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Newsletter: Terra’s Do Kwon gets 15 years, crypto banks get the green light, and the Trump family’s crypto grift expands even as one of their treasury companies goes off the rails
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
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Following hundreds of victim impact statements from people describing how their lives were ruined in the $40 billion Terra implosion in 2022, Do Kwon has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison. He may also serve additional time if sentenced in his home country of South Korea.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #CitationNeededNewsletter
![In the courts
Do Kwon
Do Kwon, founder of the collapsed Terra/Luna project, has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison — three more than the twelve years sought by prosecutors1a and well above the five requested by his defense.2 Judge Paul Engelmayer said the upward variance reflected the scale of Kwon’s fraud — both monetarily and in its more than one million victims — and Kwon’s decision to flee [I4], remaining at large for months before he was caught in Montenegro attempting to travel to Dubai on a fake passport [I23]. The disparity from fellow crypto fraudster Sam Bankman‑Fried’s 25‑year term likely stems from Kwon’s decision to plead guilty to two wire‑fraud counts, securing a deal in which prosecutors dropped seven other charges, rather than take the case to trial.](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930505 "In the courts
Do Kwon
Do Kwon, founder of the collapsed Terra/Luna project, has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison — three more than the twelve years sought by prosecutors1a and well above the five requested by his defense.2 Judge Paul Engelmayer said the upward variance reflected the scale of Kwon’s fraud — both monetarily and in its more than one million victims — and Kwon’s decision to flee [I4], remaining at large for months before he was caught in Montenegro attempting to travel to Dubai on a fake passport [I23]. The disparity from fellow crypto fraudster Sam Bankman‑Fried’s 25‑year term likely stems from Kwon’s decision to plead guilty to two wire‑fraud counts, securing a deal in which prosecutors dropped seven other charges, rather than take the case to trial.")
The OCC has approved the first five national trust bank applications by crypto firms Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. This gives them a stronger foothold in traditional finance, confers regulatory legitimacy, and preempts some state financial laws.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
![Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved the first spate of national bank trust charter applications from five crypto companies: Circle (using an entity called First National Digital Currency Bank), Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos [I88, 95].11 These licenses don’t permit the firms to accept cash deposits or make loans, but they will allow them to hold customer assets. The approvals prompted objections from several banking groups, including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which wrote that “Today’s OCC announcement sends a dangerous message to the financial industry: break the law, harm consumers, and facilitate fraud—and you will be rewarded with a bank charter. ... Granting these cryptocurrency charters creates a new and frightful category of banks-in-name-only ... It will further enrich insiders in the crypto industry at the expense of the rest of us.”12](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930547 "Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved the first spate of national bank trust charter applications from five crypto companies: Circle (using an entity called First National Digital Currency Bank), Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos [I88, 95].11 These licenses don’t permit the firms to accept cash deposits or make loans, but they will allow them to hold customer assets. The approvals prompted objections from several banking groups, including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which wrote that “Today’s OCC announcement sends a dangerous message to the financial industry: break the law, harm consumers, and facilitate fraud—and you will be rewarded with a bank charter. ... Granting these cryptocurrency charters creates a new and frightful category of banks-in-name-only ... It will further enrich insiders in the crypto industry at the expense of the rest of us.”12")
Ondo Finance has announced the SEC has ended a multi-year investigation into their activities. This follows Ondo’s $2 million+ in political contributions to President Trump, hiring of former Congressman Patrick McHenry, and partnership with Trump’s World Liberty Financial.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
![SEC
The SEC has reportedly ended a two-year-long investigation into Ondo Finance and its tokenization of US Treasuries. In December 2024 and February 2025, the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto business gave Ondo $720,000 to acquire almost 135,000 ONDO tokens for its treasury.1415 In January and February, Ondo Finance contributed $2.1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.16 In February, former House Financial Services chair Patrick McHenry joined Ondo as vice chairman of its advisory board [I78]. Also in February, Ondo announced a partnership with the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto business, which was reportedly looking to incorporate into its crypto platform the same Ondo products that drew SEC scrutiny.17 According to Ondo, the SEC closed its investigation with no charges.18](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930556 "SEC
The SEC has reportedly ended a two-year-long investigation into Ondo Finance and its tokenization of US Treasuries. In December 2024 and February 2025, the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto business gave Ondo $720,000 to acquire almost 135,000 ONDO tokens for its treasury.1415 In January and February, Ondo Finance contributed $2.1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.16 In February, former House Financial Services chair Patrick McHenry joined Ondo as vice chairman of its advisory board [I78]. Also in February, Ondo announced a partnership with the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto business, which was reportedly looking to incorporate into its crypto platform the same Ondo products that drew SEC scrutiny.17 According to Ondo, the SEC closed its investigation with no charges.18")
A Kalshi partnership with CNN and CNBC will place Kalshi prices alongside news stories — inviting readers to view these as probabilities and encouraging them to place their own wagers. Kalshi gets the imprimatur of journalistic legitimacy; CNN — fresh off layoffs — gets cash.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #Kalshi #PredictionMarkets #CitationNeededNewsletter
It’s not all good news for Kalshi, though: a federal judge in Nevada has decided their events contracts are not “swaps” under the CFTC and dissolved a preliminary injunction protecting them from civil and criminal action by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #Kalshi #PredictionMarkets #CitationNeededNewsletter
A huge list of labor unions and advocacy groups have signed letters to Congress urging them not to support the draft crypto market structure legislation due to the “many systemic failures and harms” of the crypto industry that they believe are going unaddressed in the draft.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
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Alt5 Sigma — the Nasdaq-listed company that became a WLFI treasury company in a deal with the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial in August — is in turmoil. The company was found criminally liable in Rwanda, removed a CEO for undisclosed reasons, and has just lost its replacement CEO.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
![Trump business interests
Alt5 Sigma, the WLFI treasury company established by Eric Trump and several other World Liberty Financial executives, seems to be in crisis. In August, World Liberty Financial announced that it would create a WLFI treasury company using the Nasdaq-listed fintech firm, Alt5 Sigma [I90]. Eric Trump and fellow World Liberty executives Zach Witkoff and Zak Folkman were slated to join Alt5 Sigma’s board, although the Nasdaq later prohibited Eric Trump from joining the board due to the blatant conflict of interest, relegating him to “board observer” [I92].
According to an SEC filing,31 on August 27 — only two weeks after Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Witkoff, and Folkman rang the Nasdaq opening bell to celebrate the deal — the Alt5 board learned that the company and its former president and CEO André Beauchesne had been found criminally liable for money laundering in Rwanda in May and ordered to surrender $3.5 million. The filing claims that the existence of the Rwandan court decision “and other matters” had not previously been disclosed to the board, and were unknown at the time of the World Liberty Financial deal. Two former employees said that World Liberty had been provided with details of the Rwandan court proceedings, though a World Liberty Financial spokesperson refutes this.32](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930670 "Trump business interests
Alt5 Sigma, the WLFI treasury company established by Eric Trump and several other World Liberty Financial executives, seems to be in crisis. In August, World Liberty Financial announced that it would create a WLFI treasury company using the Nasdaq-listed fintech firm, Alt5 Sigma [I90]. Eric Trump and fellow World Liberty executives Zach Witkoff and Zak Folkman were slated to join Alt5 Sigma’s board, although the Nasdaq later prohibited Eric Trump from joining the board due to the blatant conflict of interest, relegating him to “board observer” [I92].
According to an SEC filing,31 on August 27 — only two weeks after Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Witkoff, and Folkman rang the Nasdaq opening bell to celebrate the deal — the Alt5 board learned that the company and its former president and CEO André Beauchesne had been found criminally liable for money laundering in Rwanda in May and ordered to surrender $3.5 million. The filing claims that the existence of the Rwandan court decision “and other matters” had not previously been disclosed to the board, and were unknown at the time of the World Liberty Financial deal. Two former employees said that World Liberty had been provided with details of the Rwandan court proceedings, though a World Liberty Financial spokesperson refutes this.32")
Trump’s crypto mobile game is apparently launching in December. Spokespeople denied it would be anything like Monopoly Go! — which explains the real estate theme and Monopoly-like game board.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
![The Trump-themed crypto mobile game rumored in April to be under development by $TRUMP memecoin creator Bill Zanker [Empire] is now slated for a December release with the name Trump Billionaires Club. In April, a Zanker spokesperson denied the project was similar to Monopoly Go!, a microtransaction-infested mobile version of Monopoly,36 but the recent announcement by the $TRUMP memecoin social media account nevertheless shows a real estate-themed game played on a Monopoly-style gameboard.](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930703 "The Trump-themed crypto mobile game rumored in April to be under development by $TRUMP memecoin creator Bill Zanker [Empire] is now slated for a December release with the name Trump Billionaires Club. In April, a Zanker spokesperson denied the project was similar to Monopoly Go!, a microtransaction-infested mobile version of Monopoly,36 but the recent announcement by the $TRUMP memecoin social media account nevertheless shows a real estate-themed game played on a Monopoly-style gameboard.")
House Judiciary Committee Democrats have published a 27-page staff report on how “Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation”.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
![Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have published a 27-page staff report titled “Trump, Crypto, and a New Age of Corruption”. According to the report, Trump has amassed billions of dollars from crypto ventures “from the Oval Office by steering investment to his family firm, shielding his investors from federal fraud and securities investigations and prosecutions, bilking his political base, and degrading the federal agencies ordinarily responsible for investigating bribery and tracking known bad actors online.” Among other things, the report cites Trump’s pardon of Changpeng Zhao, which it links to Zhao’s and Binance’s help in promoting Trump’s World Liberty Financial project [I95]; political donations to Trump from companies who later saw cases and investigations from the SEC and DOJ dropped [QPQ]; and the tangled mess of apparent quid pro quo surrounding MGX, Binance, the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin, and the Emirati AI chips deal [I93, 94].](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930723 "Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have published a 27-page staff report titled “Trump, Crypto, and a New Age of Corruption”. According to the report, Trump has amassed billions of dollars from crypto ventures “from the Oval Office by steering investment to his family firm, shielding his investors from federal fraud and securities investigations and prosecutions, bilking his political base, and degrading the federal agencies ordinarily responsible for investigating bribery and tracking known bad actors online.” Among other things, the report cites Trump’s pardon of Changpeng Zhao, which it links to Zhao’s and Binance’s help in promoting Trump’s World Liberty Financial project [I95]; political donations to Trump from companies who later saw cases and investigations from the SEC and DOJ dropped [QPQ]; and the tangled mess of apparent quid pro quo surrounding MGX, Binance, the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin, and the Emirati AI chips deal [I93, 94].")
![The report concludes, “[T]he information we do have clearly demonstrates that foreign actors and corporate interests are buying access to and favors from the President and members of his Administration by investing in his family’s cryptocurrency ventures and making large, and plainly politically motivated donations.”37 House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) issued a statement alongside the report:
“Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation, minting staggering personal fortunes for him and his family in less than a year. ... America has never seen corruption on this scale take place inside the White House.”](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930727 "The report concludes, “[T]he information we do have clearly demonstrates that foreign actors and corporate interests are buying access to and favors from the President and members of his Administration by investing in his family’s cryptocurrency ventures and making large, and plainly politically motivated donations.”37 House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) issued a statement alongside the report:
“Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation, minting staggering personal fortunes for him and his family in less than a year. ... America has never seen corruption on this scale take place inside the White House.”")
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Meanwhile, Binance is all‑in on Trump’s USD1 — and just made Zhao’s partner Yi He co‑CEO. Zhao is banned from managing the company, but Binance and Zhao seems keen to honor only the most technical reading of that rule.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
![Since Zhao’s pardon, Binance has ramped up its support for the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin. The exchange announced a set of new no-fee trading pairs for USD1, meaning that people can now exchange their bitcoin, ether, or various other tokens for USD1 without paying fees for the privilege. Binance has also announced it will convert all assets backing its BUSD stablecoin into USD1. According to BUSD’s latest attestation, that’s more than $55 million that will be converted to USD138 — generating millions of dollars in interest for World Liberty between now and the end of Trump’s term if they maintain those USD1 holdings for that duration.c
As for Zhao’s role at Binance, Trump’s pardon doesn’t nullify the stipulation in Binance’s plea agreement that Zhao be prohibited from “any present or future involvement in operating or managing [Binance]”.39d But since Zhao’s release from prison, it’s been clear he remains closely involved with Binance’s operations. Now his influence is even harder to dispute, as his partner in life, parenthood, and business, Yi He, has been named co‑CEO of the exchange.40 She is also the co-founder and namesake of Zhao’s family office, YZi Labs.](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930759 "Since Zhao’s pardon, Binance has ramped up its support for the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin. The exchange announced a set of new no-fee trading pairs for USD1, meaning that people can now exchange their bitcoin, ether, or various other tokens for USD1 without paying fees for the privilege. Binance has also announced it will convert all assets backing its BUSD stablecoin into USD1. According to BUSD’s latest attestation, that’s more than $55 million that will be converted to USD138 — generating millions of dollars in interest for World Liberty between now and the end of Trump’s term if they maintain those USD1 holdings for that duration.c
As for Zhao’s role at Binance, Trump’s pardon doesn’t nullify the stipulation in Binance’s plea agreement that Zhao be prohibited from “any present or future involvement in operating or managing [Binance]”.39d But since Zhao’s release from prison, it’s been clear he remains closely involved with Binance’s operations. Now his influence is even harder to dispute, as his partner in life, parenthood, and business, Yi He, has been named co‑CEO of the exchange.40 She is also the co-founder and namesake of Zhao’s family office, YZi Labs.")
Crypto firms are lobbying Trump for tax carveouts. Meanwhile, a new 501(c)(3) they back hosted a private dinner with tax lawmakers — despite rules against “substantial” lobbying. Purely educational, of course.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter
![In elections and political influence
As the market structure bill plods along, the crypto industry is already eyeing its next punchlist item: tax policy. The Solana Policy Institute penned a letter to President Trump on November 20 urging him to “promote tax clarity for the digital asset economy and American people”, including by creating a de minimis exemption for crypto transactions below $600, making blockchain development eligible for the research and development tax credit, and delaying rules that would require digital asset transactions be reported to the IRS and FinCEN in the same way as cash. The letter also included other requests that the president could achieve with the “stroke of a pen”41 — that is, without needing to go through Congress — including creating defi “safe harbors and sandboxes”, pressuring the SEC and CFTC to create exemptions for crypto, directing FinCEN to carve out non-custodial crypto projects from the Bank Secrecy Act,e and pushing the Justice Department to dismiss the two remaining charges against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm [I90]. The letter was signed by 62 crypto groups, including Paradigm, various Solana entities, Uniswap, and others.42](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930793 "In elections and political influence
As the market structure bill plods along, the crypto industry is already eyeing its next punchlist item: tax policy. The Solana Policy Institute penned a letter to President Trump on November 20 urging him to “promote tax clarity for the digital asset economy and American people”, including by creating a de minimis exemption for crypto transactions below $600, making blockchain development eligible for the research and development tax credit, and delaying rules that would require digital asset transactions be reported to the IRS and FinCEN in the same way as cash. The letter also included other requests that the president could achieve with the “stroke of a pen”41 — that is, without needing to go through Congress — including creating defi “safe harbors and sandboxes”, pressuring the SEC and CFTC to create exemptions for crypto, directing FinCEN to carve out non-custodial crypto projects from the Bank Secrecy Act,e and pushing the Justice Department to dismiss the two remaining charges against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm [I90]. The letter was signed by 62 crypto groups, including Paradigm, various Solana entities, Uniswap, and others.42")
![Days earlier, the American Innovation Project, an “educational nonprofit” launched in August with backing from the Solana Policy Institute, Paradigm, Kraken, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, DCG, Uniswap, and the Cedar Innovation Foundation pro-crypto dark money group [I91] hosted a private dinner with members of the House Ways and Means Committee and various other pro-crypto Congresspeople to discuss crypto tax policy. As a 501(c)(3), the AIP is prohibited from making a “substantial part of its activities ... attempting to influence legislation”.43 But while many of the AIP’s same backers have directly lobbied President Trump, and the Solana Policy Institute, Paradigm, and Kraken have spent a combined $5.25 million on lobbying around crypto tax issues since 2024,44 the AIP insists that the dinner was purely educational.41](https://social.trom.tf/photo/preview/640/37930796 "Days earlier, the American Innovation Project, an “educational nonprofit” launched in August with backing from the Solana Policy Institute, Paradigm, Kraken, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, DCG, Uniswap, and the Cedar Innovation Foundation pro-crypto dark money group [I91] hosted a private dinner with members of the House Ways and Means Committee and various other pro-crypto Congresspeople to discuss crypto tax policy. As a 501(c)(3), the AIP is prohibited from making a “substantial part of its activities ... attempting to influence legislation”.43 But while many of the AIP’s same backers have directly lobbied President Trump, and the Solana Policy Institute, Paradigm, and Kraken have spent a combined $5.25 million on lobbying around crypto tax issues since 2024,44 the AIP insists that the dinner was purely educational.41")
All that and much more in this issue of Citation Needed! Please consider signing up for a pay-what-you-want subscription — my work is entirely reader-supported.
The Trump gang is presiding over its own realm of Corruptistan, not over America, no matter the damage to the United States.
That's Donald's corrupt court's business of betrayal of America.
Trump's "business" as usual.
Telling it all about those irresponsibly & subversively keeping him & his cabaret accomplices in public office, contrary to their duty to impeach, convict, remove & disqualify from holding public offices under the United States forever.
Pandas, pingpong and ancient canals: President Xi’s hosting style says a lot about Chinese diplomacy
During a recent visit to China, French President Emmanuel Macron was given the diplomatic works.The Conversation
unusual_whales
in reply to unusual_whales • • •The firm’s leadership has discussed the need to cut about 10 per cent of headcount
Read more: t.co/3MY2RokDoP
#news #finance #economics #stocks #options
McKinsey Lays Off Thousands Amid Consulting Slowdown — Market Implications
Unusual Whales