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Monday, 13 June 2022

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Good morning!

Apple has in recent years pride itself in the work that it's doing with privacy, commissioning multiple campaigns for its YouTube.

But developers have always frowned against the move by Apple claiming that the iPhone maker has overreached.

Developers have argued that Apple has too much control over its App Store. Now they are seeing major breakthroughs. After a long heated battle with the Dutch authorities and Tinder, Apple is not reducing some of its guidelines around in-app payment options and language choice.

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.
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Summary of the news

  • Do Kwon, the CEO and co-founder of Terraform Labs is now under investigation for alleged money laundering of over $80m a month before Terra collapse
  • Crypto investors are once again in panic mode as Ethereum sinks to its lowest level since March 2021
  • Apple is caving in to the lawsuit filled by the Dutch regulators and Tinder. It has reduced restrictions over language choise and payment options on the App Store
  • TikTok’s parent company is gearing up to invest a lot of money in VR
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Reports reveal Do Kwon transferred $80m a month before Terra collapse

Technext Round1
Do Kwon the CEO and co-founder of Terraform Labs (TFL) have come under fire in recent weeks after Terra’s historic collapse a month ago. And now, the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly launched an investigation into the Terra implosion, Technext reports.

He has denied the allegations of money laundering which were levied against him by SEC. The SEC reportedly discovered a situation where $80 million dollars of the company’s funds every month were sent to different wallets for the operating expense. This reportedly happened a few months before the collapse of Terra.

Some interviewed employees confirmed to the SEC that Do Kwon transferred funds to the tune of $80 million a month from company funds to secret crypto wallets and foreign bank accounts.

The said employees, who were interviewed remotely, confirmed that they warned Kwon about the dangers inherent in the design flaws of the Terra ecosystem, but Kwon ignored the warnings and went on with his money laundering spree.
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Crypto investors on panic mode as Ethereum sinks to its lowest level since March 2021

Amazon
In the aftermath of data showing US inflation hitting a new 40-year high, Bitcoin and Ether plummeted on Sunday, joining a broader cryptocurrency sell-off, as investors went on risk-off mode, Nairametrics reports.

Ether fell as much as 5% to $1,440, its lowest level since March 2021, while Bitcoin fell as low as $27.3K, its lowest level since May 12.

Many crypto assets are also in the red, including Cardano, OMG, XRP, and Avalanche.

Last week, the flagship cryptocurrency began to lose value steadily after a few briefs and fruitless bids to go through $32K. The most recent rejection at that level dropped the asset to $30K, where it remained for a few days.

According to Coinglass data, total long crypto liquidations were above $100 million for the third day in a row on Sunday, after $258 million on Friday and $290 million on Saturday.
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Apple’s giving up ground in its App Store fight with Dutch regulators and Tinder

BitCoin
Apple announced on Friday that it once again updated its rules about how Dutch dating apps can use third-party payment systems, after the company had “productive conversations with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM),” The Verge reports.

The updated rules give developers more flexibility about which payment systems they use, change the language users see when they go to pay, and remove other restrictions that the previous rules put in place. The ACM has expressed approval of these changes, noting Apple “will meet the requirements... set under European and Dutch competition rules.”

While the rules aren’t wide-reaching (again, they only apply to Dutch dating apps), they do show what Apple’s willing to do to comply with government regulation — which it could be facing a lot more of as the EU and US gear up to fight tech monopolies, and potentially even force the company to ditch the iPhone’s Lightning port.
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TikTok’s parent company is gearing up to invest a lot of money in VR

Netflix
ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is getting serious about entering the virtual reality (VR) space, according to a report from Protocol. A source close to the situation told the outlet that the company plans on investing “tons of money” to develop VR-related content, The Verge reports.

It looks like a large portion of ByteDance’s investment is going into hiring. As noted by Protocol, over 40 job listings have popped up for Pico, the Chinese VR headset maker ByteDance acquired last year. Most openings are for Pico Studios’ west coast-based branches in California and Washington, ranging from a head of VR game strategy to a game operation manager. Other open positions suggest an increased focus on Pico’s VR hardware, including an optical engineer and a systems design electrical engineer.

Protocol also points to Pico’s head of consumer sales listing as a potential indicator that Pico is looking to establish a presence in the US. The job description notes that candidates will be “responsible for the sales and marketing of Pico’s overall product in the US consumer market.”
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