Bitcoin spot ETF volume rose, Coinbase went to court, Solana Mobile announces new device and Google cuts crypto apps in IndiaWelcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction.
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Prior to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the spot bitcoin ETFs, some experts told me they expected trading volumes to hit $10 billion in a year, not a week.
Monica has spent the last 10 years at Ripple, working her way up from the director of communications to now, president.
What else we’re writingWant to branch out from the world of web3?
Google researchers say they have evidence that a notorious Russian-linked hacking group — tracked as “Cold River” — is evolving its tactics beyond phishing to target victims with data-stealing malware.
Cold River, also known as “Callisto Group” and “Star Blizzard,” is known for conducting long-running espionage campaigns against NATO countries, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom.
Researchers believe the group’s activities, which typically target high-profile individuals and organizations involved in international affairs and defense, suggest close ties to the Russian state.
Google says that on discovery of the Cold River malware campaign, the technology giant added all of the identified websites, domains, and files to its Safe Browsing service to block the campaign from further targeting Google users.
Google researchers previously linked the Cold River group to a hack-and-leak operation that saw a trove of emails and documents stolen and leaked from high-level Brexit proponents, including Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of the U.K. foreign intelligence service MI6.
After laying off over 1,000 workers across divisions last week and cutting 100 jobs at YouTube, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a memo to its staff warning more layoffs are expected this year.
Pichai’s memo said the company will have to make “tough choices” to meet its ambitious goals, as reported by The Verge.
But I know it’s very difficult to see colleagues and teams impacted,” he said in an email to staffers.
At the time, the company also confirmed to TechCrunch that Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman were leaving the organisation.
On Wednesday, Google laid off 100 YouTube staffers as part of reorganisation.
Yet another series of layoffs has hit Google, this time at its video-sharing platform, YouTube.
The company will eliminate 100 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.
Last week, Google laid off more than 1,000 workers across several divisions, including engineering, services and voice-activated product Google Assistant.
“As we’ve said, we’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead,” a Google spokesperson said in a provided statement.
“We’re continuing to support any impacted employees as they look for new roles here at Google and beyond,” the spokesperson added.
Gemini, Google’s cutting-edge generative AI model family, is coming to Samsung’s new flagship smartphone — the Galaxy S24.
Google and Samsung made the announcement to coincide with the Galaxy S24’s unveiling this afternoon.
Beyond Gemini, the Galaxy S24 will benefit from Google’s Imagen 2 text-to-image model, which will underpin photo editing features in the Galaxy S24 Gallery app.
Neither company said exactly how Ultra might be used on the Galaxy S24, however — or any other Samsung devices for that matter.
Mum’s the word on whether Galaxy S24 users can expect the same Assistant and Bard upgrades; hopefully we’ll learn more during today’s Galaxy S24 press conference.
In addition to a new gesture-powered search feature for Android devices, Google today also introduced an AI-powered addition to its visual search capabilities in Google Lens.
However, Google clarified that while the Lens multisearch feature is offering generative AI insights, it’s not the same product as Google’s experimental genAI search SGE (Search Generative Experience), which remains opt-in only.
The AI-powered overviews for multisearch in Lens are launching for everyone in the U.S. in English, starting today.
Google notes that its genAI products — like its Google Search Generative Experience, for example, will cite their sources, to allow users to fact-check its answers.
The AI overviews for multisearch in Lens arrive today, while the gesture-based Circle to Search arrives on Jan. 31.
Alongside Samsung’s launch event today, Google announced a new way to search on Android phones dubbed “Circle to Search.” The feature will allow users to search from anywhere on their phone by using gestures like circling, highlighting, scribbling, or tapping.
The search results users will see will differ based on their query and the Google Labs products they opt into.
For a simple text search, you may see traditional search results while a query that combines an image and text — or “multisearch” as Google calls it — uses generative AI.
The feature was one of several Google AI announcements across Gemini, Google Messages, and Android Auto announced at today’s event.
Over time, more Android smartphones will support the feature, Google says.
Google has pulled many crypto exchanges, including Binance and Kraken, from its Play Store in India, the latest blow to already dwindling India’s crypto exchange already dwindling India’s crypto exchange.
Apple pulled the apps earlier this week pulled the apps earlier this week and on Thursday evening ISPs in India began blocking the URLs of the crypto exchange websites.
This only impacts users who attempt to access the Indian iOS app store or the Binance website from India,” Binance said earlier Friday.
On Tuesday, CoinDCX announced that it would provide rewards to customers who transfer their crypto assets from global exchanges to its India-based platform.
Coinbase, another popular global crypto exchange, stopped onboarding new customers in India last year.
Google announced today that the company plans to support more real-money games (RMG) on the Play Store this year by allowing more types of games in the category following local laws.
Google started working on including real money gaming apps on the Play Store in 2021.
Last year, it started a pilot in India to allow fantasy sports and Rummy apps on the local Play Store.
In 2020, Google pulled Paytm’s app from the Play Store because the app included newly introduced fantasy sports elements.
After that developers will be able to publish their real-money gaming apps on the Play Store beyond fantasy sports categories.
Google today issued an open letter voicing support of pending Oregon right to repair legislation.
The right to repair movement has been gaining tremendous traction over the past several years.
In October, California became the third state to pass a right to repair bill — following New York and Minnesota.
The paper cited iFixit reports, noting that some seven different parts can trigger Apple’s warning system during repair.
Companies like Google and Samsung, meanwhile, have partnered directly with third-party solutions such as iFixit, including its own home repair option for Pixel devices.
