berkeley research group

The FTX contagion has spread to several companies including to crypto lender BlockFi, which on Monday declared bankruptcy. Photo: Maurice NORBERT (Shutterstock)Crypto lender BlockFi was once eager to hand practically anybody a sack of money containing gold-plated crypto coins, without even a bare credit check. Now they themselves would like some investor to lay out some cash without asking too many questions, especially not about their obvious connections and contagion from the fallout of FTX. On Monday, the New…

The US crypto lender Voyager Digital said that it had filed for bankruptcy, becoming another casualty of a dramatic fall in prices that has shaken the cryptocurrency sector. Crypto lenders such as Voyager boomed in the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing depositors with high interest rates and easy access to loans rarely offered by traditional banks. However, the recent slump in crypto markets-sparked by the downfall of two major tokens in May-has hurt lenders. New Jersey-based Celsius in June froze withdrawals and has hired…

Photo: Amir Levy (Getty Images)On Tuesday, news broke of a potential acquisition that would upend the surveillance industry if approved: NSO Group, one of the most well-known, notorious, and troubled spyware vendors on the market, may be bought by L3Harris Technologies, a major American defense contractor that specializes in a wide assortment of surveillance and military products. The next day, the White House fired a shot across the bow, putting both companies on notice. The acquisition, which was originally reported by…

Photo: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP (Getty Images)The CEO of the notorious spyware vendor NSO Group apparently has a new plan to rebound from the company’s ongoing legal and fiscal tailspin: start re-selling its noxious spyware to the very governments that got it into trouble in the first place. Beset by ongoing lawsuits, declining sales, scurrying investors, and unendingly negative press coverage, NSO Group has entered a financial spiral and seems so strapped that it’s struggling to pay its own employees. The pivot by CEO Shalev…