Newsletter: In a media landscape dominated by algorithmic feeds that aim to manipulate and extract, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is choose to read what you want, when you want, without anyone watching over your shoulder.
Here’s how to use #RSS.
NYC, 1919: Perched on a towering pile of donated books, a librarian calls from a megaphone to request more book donations for American troops stationed in France. The American Library Association’s campaign sent up to 55,000 books each month to military camp libraries.
via Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.40926/
#archivespelunking #books #bookstodon
Absolute chaos. After my scoop about the upcoming launch of a Trump Wallet by Magic Eden, in cooperation with the $TRUMP memecoin team, Magic Eden pushed out their announcement. Both Eric and Don Jr then repudiated the project, stating they had no prior knowledge.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics
Adam Levitin on the GENIUS Act: “[I]n regard to cash deposits, the stablecoin investors will have priority over the claims of ma-and-pa for their bank deposits (and thus over the FDIC's subrogation claim when it pays ma-and-pa). Yes, you read that correctly: Congress is about to put the claims of stablecoin investors ahead of ma and pa's bank deposits. That's just stunning. Now ma-and-pa's deposits are FDIC insured, so they'll be alright, but it means the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund is footing the bill. In other words, the GENIUS Act is subsidizing stablecoin issuance on the back of bank deposits. By subordinating the FDIC's subrogation claim in a bank insolvency to the claims of stablecoin investors, the GENIUS Act is effectively letting FDIC insurance leak out to cover uninsured stablecoins, without any insurance premiums paid.”
https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2025/05/the-genius-acts-insolvency-provisions-crypto-investors-come-ahead-of-bank-depositors.html
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol
In April, Coinbase announced changes to its user agreement that added two clauses limiting class action lawsuits and requiring lawsuits to be filed in New York. The changes apply to disputes initiated after May 15.
On May 14, Coinbase disclosed a data breach.
Five class action lawsuits have been filed in response to the breach since then: none before May 15, three outside of New York.
#Coinbase #crypto #cryptocurrency
El Salvador's President Bukele is reportedly preparing to arrest the journalists who have reported on the secret deals Bukele struck with Salvadoran gangs that have enabled his consolidation of power.
#ElSalvador #Bukele
FBI: Americans aged 60 and older reported losing almost $3 billion to crypto fraud last year. In total, Americans reported being scammed out of around $9.3 billion via crypto, out of a total $16.6 billion in total reported Internet crime losses that year.
https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2024_IC3Report.pdf
#crypto #cryptocurrency
If I light your house on fire and then douse the flames halfway through it burning down, I shouldn’t be praised for my firefighting skills
#USpolitics #USpol
Newsletter: A major crypto scandal tarnishes the reputation of Solana bigwigs, crypto influencers, and Argentine President Javier Milei.
“This is FTX type of shit,” said a crypto founder confronting Meteora’s Ben Chow over alleged insider trading.
“We just launched a 16TB archive of every dataset that has been available on data.gov since November. This will be updated day by day as new datasets appear. It can be freely copied, and we're sharing the code behind it to help others make their own archives of data they depend on.” Harvard Library Innovation Lab (via BlueSky)
The TikTok ban, the Musk Twitter takeover, the Facebook moderation policy changes, the Republicans’ rapidly intensifying crackdowns on speech... let these be the proof you needed to move anything you care about online to a space you control.
Digital sovereignty is more important than ever.
#DigitalSovereignty