A Bitcoin Startup Raised $50M to Allow Users to Trade With ‘Bitcoin-Grade’ Security

Portal to Bitcoin, a Bitcoin-first protocol enabling trust-minimized cross-chain trading, has secured $50 million in new financing led by Paloma Investments, bringing the project’s total funds raised to $92 million. The funding will support the expansion of BitScaler, the firm’s adapter that scales native Bitcoin without wrapped tokens, custodial bridges, or “message passing or other … Read more

How to supercharge Netflix’s shopping mall plans

This week, Netflix shared a few more details about its budding location business: The company will open its very first Netflix House in Philadelphia on November 11th, with a second location set to open in Dallas on December 11th. Both locations will span across 100,000 square feet, and offer ticketed experiences related to Netflix franchises … Read more

U.S. Government Starts Pushing Economic Data Onto Blockchains as ‘Proof of Concept’

The U.S. government has begun using blockchains to disseminate key economic data, starting with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s release of gross-domestic product (GDP) numbers on Thursday, which was described as a “proof of concept” for doing more of this in the future. “We are making America’s economic truth immutable and globally accessible like never … Read more

3 Startup Struggles Nobody Talks About (and How to Overcome Them)

Starting a new business is exciting. You’re building something new, solving problems you care deeply about, and potentially transforming an entire sector. Yet, beneath the pitch decks and late-night brainstorming sessions, most founders wrestle with struggles that don’t make it onto TechCrunch. Let’s talk about three of the biggest ones—and how to fix them. 1. … Read more

Crypto for Advisors: The Growth of Solana and Ethererum

In today’s Crypto for Advisors newsletter, Samantha Bohbot, partner and chief growth officer from RockawayX breaks down decentralized finance and the differences Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana bring to this space. Then, Kevin Tam answers questions about institutional investment in crypto ETFs and notes some global trends in “Ask an Expert.” – Sarah Morton Unknown block … Read more

Taco Bell’s AI drive-thru plan gets caught up on trolls and glitches

Taco Bell’s plan to outfit hundreds of drive-thrus with an AI voice assistant isn’t going exactly as the chain expected. Dane Mathews, Taco Bell’s chief digital and technology officer, admitted to The Wall Street Journal that the company is re-evaluating where to deploy the tech as customers air their frustrations on social media, and others … Read more