Along with Matt Kalish, the chart-topping DJ stands accused of federal consumer protection violations after driving sales for a crypto-based startup that ultimately collapsed. According to a lawsuit filed in federal court, Steve Aoki and DraftKings cofounder Matt Kalish deceived thousands of buyers by concealing financial relationships with a digital collectibles company that later went bankrupt, Front Office Sports reports. Plaintiff Evan Berger, who also serves as counsel in the case, reportedly purchased 26 MetaZoo tokens after viewing social media content from both defendants. His collection, once valued above $150,000, holds no market value today, per the suit. The complaint points to a livestreamed poker game at Aoki's residence where both defendants discussed the tokens' appreciation potential. Federal Trade Commission guidelines require influencers to clearly mark sponsored content and Instagram's parent company, Meta, maintains similar disclosure policies. The lawsuit alleges Kalish and Aoki ignored these standards while presenting themselves as “disinterested consumers” rather than compensated spokespeople, recommending MetaZoo NFTs on social media to inflate their value while failing to disclose that they were paid for the posts. The proposed class action seeks to represent “tens of thousands” of American buyers and Berger is reportedly requesting $5 million in baseline compensatory damages. A thought leader in the electronic music space, he writes stories at the intersection of music, technology and culture. He's also contributed words to Yahoo Life, UPROXX and Roland, one of the world's most iconic manufacturers and distributors of electronic musical instruments.

The rapid plummet of a digital coin promoted by ex-New York City Mayor Eric Adams is drawing outrage from investors and crypto mavens who say the debut of the currency resembles a “rug pull” or “pump-and-dump” scheme. “NYC Token” fell a jaw-dropping 82% in value less than an hour after opening Monday afternoon — and as someone withdrew $2.5 million in liquidity from the asset. “This thing is about to take off like crazy,” Adams said in a video promo for the currency. The token — proceeds from which would go to unspecified efforts to fight antisemitism and so-called “anti-Americanism,” the ex-mayor bizarrely said — opened at $0.60 per share. But its value quickly plummeted to $0.11 as a party took out $2.5 million from the token. Observers noted that the sudden collapse bore the hallmarks of what is known as a “rug pull” scheme — similar to a “pump-and-dump” — in which unscrupulous entrepreneurs drain the value out of a cryptocurrency shortly after they launch it. About $1.5 million of those funds were later put back in the NYC Token. “Our market maker made adjustments in an attempt to keep trading running smoothly, and as part of this process, moved liquidity. “I truly have no explanation on why they did it,” he was quoted as saying. Maybe I'm overoptimistic and I don't want to believe that's the case, but maybe this is what it is.” Meanwhile, a possible trademark dispute is brewing that involves a Bronx-based entrepreneur who accused Adams of hijacking the NYC Token concept. Edward Cullen claims he pitched the idea for a cryptocurrency branded around New York City to Adams' team in June and had already trademarked the name “NYC Token” before the former mayor's public rollout. “We are going to pursue action, including sending a cease-and-desist within the next two days.” Adams and representatives for NYC Token have not publicly addressed the trademark allegations. Some critics say the episode highlights the growing risks of politicians lending their names and credibility to speculative financial ventures, warning that official stature can blur the line between public service and private promotion — and leave everyday investors exposed when hype overtakes fundamentals. “If a sitting president can attach their name to a speculative financial product, then every governor, mayor, and city councilmember now has the green light to do the same,” said Dean Lyulkin, CEO of Cardiff. “Once political credibility becomes a marketing asset, the line between public service and private promotion effectively disappears. You cannot argue that this behavior is inappropriate at the local level if it has already been tolerated at the top.”

Share this article Algorand Foundation has announced its return to the US, re-establishing its headquarters in Delaware and appointing a new board to drive its strategic goals. The move underscores the Foundation's commitment to US leadership in blockchain innovation and financial empowerment. The new board is composed of finance, technology, and policy leaders, focusing on initiatives such as global payments, asset tokenization, and other financial empowerment areas. Board members include Chair Bill Barhydt of Abra, former MoneyGram CEO and United Texas Bank Dallas Executive Vice Chairman Alex Holmes, former FinCEN Acting Director Michael Mosier, Jito Labs CLO Rebecca Rettig, and Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden. The expansion aims to leverage Algorand's blockchain technology for practical financial solutions, including investments, cross-border payments, and asset tokenization. Sign in to your account Don't have an account? Create one Create your account Already have an account? Sign In Forgot your password? Sign In

CleanSpark stock rallied early Wednesday after the bitcoin miner announced plans to develop a major data center project in Texas to support artificial intelligence and high performance computing. Bitcoin traded around $95,000 Wednesday morning following a Tuesday rally. 12/21/2025 CleanSpark shows improving price performance, earning an upgrade to its IBD Relative Strength Rating 12/21/2025 CleanSpark shows improving price performance, earning an upgrade to its... Get instant access to exclusive stock lists, expert market analysis and powerful tools with 2 months of IBD Digital for only $20! Get market updates, educational videos, webinars, and stock analysis. Learn how you can make more money with IBD's investing tools, top-performing stock lists, and educational content. Information in Investor's Business Daily is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer, recommendation, solicitation, or rating to buy or sell securities. The information has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but we make no guarantee as to its accuracy, timeliness, or suitability, including with respect to information that appears in closed captioning. We make no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in any particular securities or utilizing any specific investment strategies. Real-time quote and/or trade prices are not sourced from all markets.

High Roller Technologies Inc (NYSE:ROLR), operator of the High Roller and Fruta online casino brands, has announced that it has entered into a binding Letter of Intent with crypto trading platform operator Crypto.com, for an exclusive partnership to launch an event-based prediction markets product in the US. The partnership will offer people the opportunity to trade event contracts across markets including finance, entertainment, and sports, through a legal, engaging, and user-friendly platform. The move by High Roller comes as a number of gaming and betting companies are moving to stem competition from financial trading concerns such as Robinhood, which are effectively moving into the sports betting market via event contracts. Late last year FanDuel Predicts launched (in five US states), backed by a partnership with derivatives market operator CME Group. Sports betting outfit DraftKings has also thrown its hat into the Prediction Markets sphere. Pairing the massive appeal of prediction markets with our strong distribution capabilities is an incredibly exciting opportunity, and we're looking forward to introducing our premium experience to consumers across the country.” The partnership remains subject to the execution of definitive agreements, which will include customary representations, warranties, conditions, covenants, and other provisions consistent with transactions of this nature, and there can be no assurance the parties will reach definitive agreements. High Roller Technologies Inc is a leading global online gaming operator known for its innovative casino brands, High Roller and Fruta, listed under the ticker ROLR on the NYSE. The Company delivers a cutting-edge real-money online casino platform that is intuitive and user-friendly. With a diverse portfolio of over 6,000 premium games from more than 90 leading game providers, High Roller Technologies serves a global customer base, offering an immersive and engaging gaming experience in the rapidly expanding multi-billion iGaming industry. The online casino features enhanced search engine optimization, machine learning, seamless direct API integrations, faster load times, and superior scalability. Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA) is an affiliate of Crypto.com and is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization; CDNA offers the trading of prediction market contracts, as well as economic and cryptocurrency event contracts. With FNG's Newsletter you'll get all the latest breaking FX Industry news stories - in a concise daily email, directly to your Inbox.

When major global news breaks, the Atlantic Council's experts have you covered—delivering their sharpest rapid insight and forward-looking analysis direct to your inbox. A weekly column by Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe, Inflection Points focuses on the global challenges facing the United States and how to best address them. UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine's politics, economy, civil society, and culture. MENASource offers the latest news from across the Middle East, combined with commentary by contributors, interviews with emerging players, multi-media content, and independent analysis from fellows and staff. Econographics provides an in-depth look at trends in the global economy utilizing state-of-the-art data visualization tools. The good news from the World Bank's Global Findex Database 2025 is that 79 percent of adults globally and 75 percent in low- and middle-income economies (LMIEs) now have a financial account of some kind. Mobile phones are even more ubiquitous, with 86 percent of adults globally and 84 percent in LMIEs having one, which in most contexts can be used to access financial services. However, the majority of adults in LMIEs that have a financial account do not yet fully engage with the formal financial sector. Only 40 percent of adults in LMIEs (on average) saved formally and only 24 percent of adults in LMIEs (on average) borrowed from a formal financial service provider in the last year and even they do not necessarily have the type of credit they need.1Klapper et al., The Global Findex Database 2025, xxxiii, 152, 154, 218. There are, therefore, about three billion people who could actively engage in the formal financial sector, and they present both a challenge for financial sector leaders and an opportunity for accelerating inclusive growth. The main reasons adults in LMIEs do not use formal digital financial services are affordability, lack of trust in service providers, and lack of products to meet their needs. Rapid advances in digital public infrastructure (DPI) and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to directly tackle these challenges. Yet, there are potentially problematic aspects to these exciting innovations. DPI has the potential for loss of data privacy (if privacy by design is not embedded), for rent extraction (if not an open-source platform), and for government surveillance (if DPI safeguards are not central).5Zoran Jordanoski, “Safeguarding Digital Public Infrastructure: A Global Imperative for Sustainable Development,” United NationsUniversity Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance, July 9, 2025, https://unu.edu/egov/article/safeguarding-digital-public-infrastructure-global-imperative-sustainable-development. These guardrails are essential so new customers have affordable, appropriate products, can trust their money and data are safe, and have effective recourse mechanisms if problems occur. Ruth Goodwin-Groen is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center. Goodwin-Groen brings thirty years of strategic and technical leadership in financial-sector development and financial inclusion in emerging markets toher current consulting practice, Goodwin-Groen Consulting. The author extends special thanks to those providing expert input on this paper: Isabelle Carboni, Expert Consultant; Eric Duflos, CGAP; Nicole Goldin, United Nations University-Centre for Policy Research & Atlantic Council; Leora Klapper, World Bank; David Porteous, Integral: Governance solutions; and Camilo Tellez-Merchan, Gates Foundation. She also deeply appreciates the input of Atlantic Council colleagues Josh Lipsky, Sophia Busch, and Juliet Lancey as well as those who contributed to the findings and recommendations of this report through their participation in two roundtable discussions at the Atlantic Council in April and October of 2025. This report was made possible in part by a grant from Tala. Valued at nearly $900 billion each year, global remittances have become a large portion of many nations' gross domestic product. But transaction costs remain too high—a problem that policymakers should tackle at upcoming meetings in Washington and Rio de Janeiro. Policymakers, investors, and innovators must advance a new financial inclusion agenda designed for the global majority. Cryptocurrencies and CBDCs have the potential to enhance financial inclusion. However, the lack of quantitative data makes it challenging to evaluate their impact. To assess their financial inclusion capacity, this paper builds a rubric for policymakers which includes layers of consideration. Image: AM hair salon owner, Andrea Manoli, is pictured using Mercado Pago app, at her store in Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 15, 2020. Sign up to receive expert analysis from our community on the most important global issues, rapid insights on events as they unfold, and highlights of the Council's best work.

Be the first to see our newest insights and key updates across all datasets Find stocks with ease across diverse datasets and filters Build and test your own strategies, using Quiver's Congressional trading datasets Build and test your own strategies, using Quiver's Institutional holdings datasets Our video reports and analysis, with early access to exclusive, subscriber-only videos SRx Health Solutions and EMJ Crypto Technologies announce merger; Eric Jackson to host virtual chat on January 22, 2026. SRx Health Solutions, Inc. has announced a virtual fireside chat hosted by EMJ Crypto Technologies' CEO Eric Jackson, scheduled for January 22, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. The virtual fireside chat is scheduled for Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. Eric Jackson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of EMJ Crypto Technologies, will host the fireside chat. You can register for the virtual fireside chat by following this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G1QBimEOR5-HtPHMI_pOGQ#/registration. The discussion will cover EMJX's treasury operating system architecture, governance principles, and capital allocation strategies. Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of a press release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The model used to summarize this release may make mistakes. To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard. NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SRx Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE American: SRXH) (the "Company") and EMJ Crypto Technologies (“EMJX”), a digital-asset treasury operating platform with which the Company has entered into a definitive merger agreement, today announced that EMJX Founder and Chief Executive Officer Eric Jackson will host a virtual fireside chat on Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. During the discussion, Mr. Jackson will outline EMJX's treasury operating system architecture, governance-first design principles, and approach to disciplined capital allocation across varying digital-asset market environments. EMJX is a Gen2 digital-asset treasury operating system designed to manage multi-asset digital holdings using quantitative models, artificial intelligence, and systematic risk controls. The platform emphasizes transparency, governance, and disciplined capital allocation across varying market environments. Words such as “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “aim,” “plan,” “may,” “could,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them, except as required by law. Add Quiver Quantitative to your preferred sources on Google

Las Vegas, Nevada, Jan. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- High Roller Technologies, Inc. (“High Roller”) (NYSE: ROLR), operator of the award-winning, premium online casino brands High Roller and Fruta, today announced it has entered into a binding Letter of Intent (the “LOI”) with Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (“CDNA”), for an exclusive partnership to launch an event-based prediction markets product in the United States of America. The partnership will offer people the opportunity to trade event contracts across markets including finance, entertainment, and sports, through a legal, engaging, and user-friendly platform. “We're thrilled to bring High Roller to the USA through this strategic partnership with Crypto.com,” commented Seth Young, Chief Executive Officer at High Roller. “Pairing the massive appeal of prediction markets with our strong distribution capabilities is an incredibly exciting opportunity, and we're looking forward to introducing our premium experience to consumers across the country.” “Crypto.com is a leader in prediction markets and we are thrilled to expand access to event contracts through innovative partnerships, including with High Roller,” said Travis McGhee, Global Head of Predictions at Crypto.com. The partnership remains subject to the execution of definitive agreements, which will include customary representations, warranties, conditions, covenants, and other provisions consistent with transactions of this nature, and there can be no assurance the parties will reach definitive agreements. High Roller Technologies, Inc. is a leading global online gaming operator known for its innovative casino brands, High Roller and Fruta, listed under the ticker ROLR on the NYSE. The Company delivers a cutting-edge real-money online casino platform that is intuitive and user-friendly. With a diverse portfolio of over 6,000 premium games from more than 90 leading game providers, High Roller Technologies serves a global customer base, offering an immersive and engaging gaming experience in the rapidly expanding multi-billion iGaming industry. The online casino features enhanced search engine optimization, machine learning, seamless direct API integrations, faster load times, and superior scalability. As an award-winning operator, High Roller Technologies continues to redefine the future of market engagement through innovation, performance, and a commitment to excellence. For more information, please visit the High Roller Technologies, Inc. investor relations website, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages. Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA) is an affiliate of Crypto.com and is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization; CDNA offers the trading of prediction market contracts, as well as economic and cryptocurrency event contracts. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include such factors as discussed throughout Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Finance minister says digital innovation will be pursued in line with regulation and national interest The Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with SC Financial Technologies, which it described as an affiliated entity of World Liberty Financial. The agreement will allow dialogue and technical engagement around “emerging digital payment architectures”. Today, World Liberty Financial signed an MoU with the Ministry of Finance to explore innovation in digital finance, particularly the use of stablecoins for cross-border transactions, signalling growing global interest in Pakistan as a key market for digital assets. The development marks one of the first publicly announced partnerships between World Liberty Financial, a crypto based finance platform launched in September 2024, and a sovereign state. It also comes amid warming ties between Pakistan and the United States. Under the agreement, SC Financial Technologies will work with Pakistan's central bank to explore integrating its USD1 stablecoin into a regulated digital payments framework, allowing it to operate alongside Pakistan's own digital currency infrastructure, a source involved in the deal told Reuters. The announcement coincided with a visit to Pakistan by Zach Witkoff, co founder and chief executive of World Liberty Financial and chief executive of SC Financial Technologies. “Our focus is to stay ahead of the curve by engaging with credible global players, understanding new financial models, and ensuring that innovation, where explored, is aligned with regulation, stability, and national interest,” Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said. Stablecoins, which are digital tokens typically pegged to the US dollar, have expanded rapidly in recent years. Pakistan has been exploring digital currency initiatives as it seeks to reduce cash usage and improve cross border payments, including remittances, a key source of foreign exchange. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed or derived from.

Names like ADA, TRX, and the surging newcomer DOGEBALL dominate discussions among traders hunting massive gains. Established players face headwinds, while fresh projects spark real excitement in this volatile space. This meme-powered token combines viral DOGE appeal with genuine utility on a custom-built Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain. The presale momentum builds fast, drawing investors eager for early entry into a project blending gaming thrills and low-fee transactions. The DOGEBALL ICO has launched strong, shattering expectations with rapid accumulation in Stage 1. This short four-month window ends May 2, 2026, creating built-in urgency unlike drawn-out sales elsewhere. Backed by Falcon Interactive—a global gaming powerhouse with hits on Apple and Google Play—the project gains serious promotion and blockchain access for millions of users. The addictive DOGEBALL game lets players hurl balls at characters, level up, climb leaderboards, and vie for shares of a $1M prize pot in $DOGEBALL tokens, with the top spot claiming $500k. High-yield staking delivers 80% rewards, turning holdings into passive income streams while the ecosystem grows. A $1000 investment at the presale price of $0.0003 secures roughly 3,333,333 tokens. Analysts eye ambitious post-launch targets, with some forecasting $1 as realistic amid gaming adoption and exchange listings, transforming the same $1000 into $3.33 million. Launch value hits $75,000, and a $1 target delivers $5 million—pushing potential toward life-changing multiples. This setup echoes early Dogecoin entries, where ground-floor positioning fueled explosive wealth. ADA hovers around $0.39 in early 2026, showing limited upside despite occasional bounces. Recent analyses point to bearish short-term trends, with prices consolidating near support levels and forecasts capping near-term gains around $0.40–$0.45. Ecosystem developments continue, but momentum stalls compared to broader market shifts. Longer-range outlooks vary widely, yet current performance reflects stagnation amid competition from faster networks. TRX trades near $0.30, posting modest gains in January 2026 but failing to ignite major rallies. As a top crypto for low-fee transactions, TRX benefits from consistent utility. Still, stagnation persists without catalysts to drive it decisively higher toward $1 in the near term. Established names like ADA and TRX offer stability but little thrill in today's market, leaving investors searching for the next big mover among top crypto options. DOGEBALL emerges as the standout presale, blending meme energy with live blockchain testing, gaming utility, and confirmed partnerships that position it for explosive growth. Head to the DOGEBALL website immediately, apply code DB50 for that 50% bonus, and secure a position in what could become the breakout story of 2026. Here at BlockchainReporter, our team of global writers is dedicated to providing price analysis on leading cryptocurrencies and covering the latest developments pertaining to

Ethereum price held steady on Wednesday, continuing a trend that has been going on in the past few weeks. ETH token rose to $3,340, and this trend may accelerate in the coming months as it has formed the highly bullish inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, and the spot ETH ETF inflows have continued. Ethereum price technical analysis points to a surge The weekly timeframe chart shows that the ETH price tumbled to a low of $1.360 in April last year and then rebounded to a record high of $4,965 in August. Therefore, the most likely ETH price forecast is bullish as long as it remains above the right shoulder at $2,663. First, data shows that American investors have started buying spot ETH ETFs this week. The funds have now had over $12.57 billion in cumulative inflows, with their total assets rising to nearly $20 billion. Second, Ethereum has continued to gain its market share across all areas in the crypto industry, including decentralized finance (DeFi) and Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization, which most analysts believe is the future of finance. Its market dominance has jumped to 76%, even as new chains have been launched in the past few years. They include networks like Base, Berachain, Katana, and Monad. Its RWA ecosystem has also continued to boom, with top companies like Franklin Templeton and JPMorgan using its chain. It has bought over 4 million tokens since July last year and is on track to hit its target of holding 6 million tokens over time. This raises the possibility that the company will change its goalpost and decide to accumulate more Ethereum over time. There are also signs that Ethereum is undervalued. For example, it has a market capitalization to DeFi TVL ratio of 2.64, much lower than Solana's 3.85 and BSC's 3.85. Ethereum apps now have $337B of capital actively deployed across lending, trading, and settlement.Historically, when this level of activity has existed on Ethereum, the network's valuation has not stayed far below it for long.That's because many of these applications require Ethereum price will also likely rebound as the developers work on the upcoming Glamsterdam and Hegota upgrades later this year. These upgrades will boost Ethereum's speed, making it a faster network. Indeed, there are now questions on the role of general-purpose layer-2 networks as Ethereum will soon match their speeds. CUSIP Database provided by FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. SEC fillings and other documents provided by Quartr.© 2026 TradingView, Inc.

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is warning that emerging “agentic AI” systems could introduce significant data protection challenges as developers and organizations push to automate more open-ended tasks. The assessment arrives in a new Tech Futures report exploring how autonomous and semi-autonomous AI agents may evolve over the next two to five years, including applications across commerce, government, medicine, cybersecurity and consumer services. This capability allows systems to not just generate text or images, but to browse the web, make purchases, interact with other software and, eventually, other agents. Current use cases already include research automation, coding assistance, transaction planning and customer support. But as autonomy increases, so do concerns about privacy, accountability and governance. The ICO notes that agentic systems may operate with limited human oversight, increasing the likelihood of unexpected behaviour and making it harder to determine responsibility for harmful outcomes. The report identifies novel data protection risks, including special category data inference, expanded automated decision-making, ambiguous purpose specification, challenges for transparency, and new cybersecurity threat vectors. While highlighting risks, the ICO also points to innovation opportunities, including privacy-first agentic controls, data protection compliance tooling, trusted computing approaches and improved benchmarking. The regulator will now begin engaging industry through workshops, AI guidance updates, and cross-regulatory collaboration, including work with the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum and G7 data protection authorities. The report emphasizes that organizations deploying agentic systems remain legally responsible for data protection compliance, even as autonomy increases. It also stresses that governance frameworks built for traditional automation may not translate to multi-agent ecosystems. Its findings come as governments worldwide accelerate their AI regulatory agendas and private-sector adoption intensifies.