Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Campaigning at Sea ⛵️

January 23, 2019

McAfee Will Run for 2020 President in Exile

Getty Images

Sitting on a boat in international waters, John McAfee is planning his campaign to become president of the United States - the same country that just indicted him for not filing income taxes.

Announced in a video on Tuesday, McAfee stated he has simply refused to file taxes for the last 8 years.

It's all caught up with him now, though. McAfee revealed:

"The IRS has convened a grand jury in the state of Tennessee to charge myself, my wife [...] and four of my campaign workers with unspecified IRS crimes of a felonious nature."

What's his reasoning?

Privacy cryptocurrencies. According to the video, McAfee believes government and people will come to a "war" when privacy cryptocurrencies take off and allow common citizens to shelter their funds from taxes.

When this happens, "governments will have to shrink and find new means" - meaning they will have to become more efficient with a smaller budget.

The campaign continues...

Regardless of McAfee's reasoning behind not paying taxes, he is still breaking the law. But those charges won't stop him from continuing his 2020 campaign out at sea.

McAfee explained:

"I will not allow them to imprison me and shut my voice down, which they'll do immediately. Why? Because I am a flight risk. Obviously, I am at flight."

Finishing up, the candidate called upon supporters saying "crypto community, we are at war."

EXCHANGE

Reverse Merger Could Take Bithumb Public in the U.S.

According to CNBC, South Korean-based Bithumb could become the first publicly traded crypto exchange in the United States.

That's because Blockchain Exchange Alliance (BEA), a company that holds a controlling stake in Bithumb, wants to go public by acquiring a public company called Blockchain Industries.

The action, called a reverse merger, would subsequently make BEA a public company.

Skipping the IPO

Apparently BEA had toyed with the idea of an initial public offering (IPO) to get listed but the process would take up to 1 or 2 years to make the transition.

Through a reverse merger, however, BEA can complete the process much faster and with a smaller headache.

It's been tested

While this is the first instance of a crypto exchange going public, it's not the first time a crypto company used this method to get listed.

Mike Novogratz, founder of the firm Galaxy Digital, also used a reverse merger to take his crypto investment bank public in Canada by purchasing shell company Bradmer Pharmaceuticals.

But BEA won't stop at listing. Eventually it wants to "up-list" or rather, get listed on prominent stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.

LAYOFFS

From 80 People Down to 30, Nebulas Weathers Through Layoffs

Despite raising over $60 million a year ago, the Nebulas (NAS) blockchain project has already faced a series of cutbacks including slashing heads by more than 60%.

The story broke on CoinDesk where the team learned that the layoffs have been going on since July after the NAS token made quite the tumble from its $2 debut.

Now, standing just over $0.50, the team is projecting enough funds to continue for another two years to "achieve full decentralization."

Tightening the roadmap

That two years of runway will come at a price though. The project has already cut "unimportant projects" out of its roadmap like third-party wallet development and will likely continue to tighten its focus on the "main tech visions" of Nebulas.

Cutting costs like other startups in the industry, Nebulas will likely wait for a market recovery before returning to the now-sidelined developments.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

🤝 Ripple has partnered with a Chinese university to build out a blockchain research program.
👨‍⚖️ Pennsylvania court rules that crypto exchanges do not fall under the Money Transmitter Act (MTA).
🚀 Bakkt begins hiring push to bring key players into the soon-to-be launched futures exchange.

MEME