The Texas State Securities Board has reportedly opened an investigation into crypto lending platform Celsius Network over its decision to suspend user withdrawals.
According to a Thursday report from Reuters, Texas State Securities Board director of enforcement division Joseph Rotunda said the regulator began investigating Celsius on Monday shortly after the platform announced it would be “pausing all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts.” Rotunda reportedly called the investigation a “priority” for the Texas regulator.
“I am very concerned that clients — including many retail investors — may need to immediately access their assets yet are unable to withdraw from their accounts,” the enforcement director reportedly said. “The inability to access their investment may result in significant financial consequences.”
The report on a possible investigation into Celsius followed a Wall Street Journal report from Thursday that two firms that habacked the crypto lending platform during a November 2021 funding round did not plan to provide additional funds due to the potential risks, citing people with knowledge of the situation. WestCap Group and Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec led a $750 million Series B funding round for Celsius, which helped the platform reach a $3.5 billion valuation.
With the crypto market experiencing significant volatility in June, Celsius has reportedly onboarded attorneys to find different solutions to the current financial challenges faced by the company. CEO Alex Mashinsky took to Twitter on Wednesday — breaking a three-day social media silence — to say that the Celsius team was working “non-stop” to address user concerns.
@CelsiusNetwork team is working non-stop. We’re focused on your concerns and thankful to have heard from so many. To see you come together is a clear sign our community is the strongest in the world. This is a difficult moment; your patience and support mean the world to us.
The Texas State Securities Board also took action against Celsius in September 2021, initially scheduling a hearing related to allegations that the network had offered and sold securities in the state that were not registered or permitted, in addition to the platform not registering as a dealer under Texas’ Securities Act. The New Jersey Bureau of Securities issued a cease and desist order against Celsius for similar alleged violations of the state’s securities laws.
Major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have dipped close to $20,000 and $1,000, respectively, in the last seven days amid extreme market volatility. Possibly in response to these losses, many crypto exchanges have announced staff cuts between 5%–20%, including Coinbase, Gemini and Crypto.com.
Cointelegraph reached out to Celsius Network and the Texas State Securities Board, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
We interviewed Maddie Ziegler because we think you’ll like her picks at these prices. Maddie Ziegler is a paid spokesperson for Fabletics. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may get a commission if you purchase something through our links. Items are sold by the retailer, not E!. Prices are accurate as of publish time.
Reliable activewear is such an essential aspect of working out. Whether you’re hitting the gym, the dance studio, or just running errands, wearing pieces that move as you do is key. With so many activewear brands out there, it can be tough to narrow down your shopping, but you should take a cue fromMaddie Ziegler. The Dance Moms alum is such a big fan of Fabletics that she has her own collection with the brand.
Maddie told E!, “I love shopping at Fabletics because Fabletics offers stylish, on-trend, high-performance activewear that makes you look and feel your best. I also love how inclusivity is so important to the brand- each look is created for all shapes and sizes. The pieces are so affordable and accessible to everyone!”
And, of course, her lifetime of dance experience factored into the design process. She explained, “Comfort is key to me. I am always on the move whether working, travelling, or exercising, so I wanted to design a collection that could support and make me feel good in every aspect of my life.”
Sue Bird has decided that she will be hanging her sneakers and will retire at the end of the 2022 season, per a tweet, she posted on Thursday afternoon.
Bird, a 12-time all-star, spent her entire WNBA career with the Seattle Storm, in which she accumulated just about every accolade possible. In 19 years, Bird has won four WNBA titles, earned eight all-WNBA selections, and is the all-time WNBA assist leader. She holds career averages of 11.9 points and 5.6 assists and is a career 85 percent free-throw shooter while shooting 43 percent from the field across her WNBA career.
Bird played here college hoops at the University of Connecticut under Geno Auriemma. Following a torn ACL just eight games into her college career, Bird came back and became one of the most accomplished women’s college basketball players ever; winning the Naismith College Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy, the AP College Player of the Year, and the Big East Player of the Year award, and AP College Player of the Year on top of winning her second national title in 2002 as a senior.
She also won the Nancy Lieberman Trophy three years in a row.
Bird also had a stellar international career. She is a five-time EuroLeague champion, a two-time Europe Supercup winner, a five-time Russian league champion, and a five-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA.
With that list of accolades, Bird will retire as arguably one of the greatest WNBA players of all time and has opened up a new path for aspiring WNBA talents who looked up to Bird.
With a recent trailer at this year’s Xbox Games Showcase, and now a whole dedicated reveal event, it’s been a busy week of Overwatch 2 news. There’s so much new info about the Blizzard shooter sequel that it can be quite hard to take in all at once. That’s why we’ve distilled all the new details we’ve learnt here so you can easily see all you need to know:
1. Overwatch 2’s PvP is launching in early access on October 4th and will be free-to-play.
2. A Beta will also be launching on both PC and consoles on June 28th, with sign-ups starting June 16th.
3. A new hero – Junker Queen – and a new map – Rio de Janeiro – will both be playable in the upcoming Beta.
Overwatch 2 PvP Beta Screenshots
4. Crossplay and cross-progression will be available from launch in Overwatch 2.
5. Loot boxes will no longer exist in Overwatch, instead being replaced by seasonal battle passes. Each of these passes will have both free and premium rewards.
6. Weekly challenges will cycle in and out to provide extra XP boosts and a quicker way to climb the battle passes.
7. A store will also be available alongside the battle pass system.
8. Each of these seasons will last nine weeks and be themed.
9. Every season will bring with it either a new hero, map, or mode.
10. A new hero will join Overwatch 2 every other season, meaning every 18 weeks. That’s a similar cadence to when Overwatch first launched in 2016.
11. Three new heroes will join Overwatch 2 at launch – the damage hero Sojourn, recently revealed Junker Queen tank, and a currently unidentified support character.
12. Game director Aaron Keller told us that clues are in the reveal video. A turquoise spirit fox running towards a Torii gate is seen briefly in the reveal video. Could this be an ability of this mysterious support character?
13. Junker Queen’s origin story was revealed in a punk-infused animation that charted her rise to ruler of the lawless Junkertown.
14. She’s armed with an axe in one hand and a shotgun in the other, setting her up as an aggressive closer-quarters tank with attacks that drain enemies’ health and restore hers.
15. Her quick melee is not just a punch, but an attack that can inflict a wound on an enemy.
16. Her secondary fire is a throwable knife named Gracie that lodges into enemies and can then be recalled, dragging enemies towards her.
17. She also has an ability called Commanding Shout, that boosts the speed and armor of teammates around her.
18. Junker Queen’s ultimate is called Rampage, which creates a whirlwind of magnetised metal, dealing damage to any who stand in her path and preventing them from healing for a short period of time.
19. Other new heroes that will join the roster are a mix of ones we’ve previously seen glimpses of in story content and others we’ve never heard of.
20. Six new maps will also be included at launch. These look set to include locations such as Rome, New York, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, Monaco and Portugal.
21. The reveal event gave us our first look at the Portugal map, complete with classical architecture and trademark Overwatch sci-fi touches. It’s another map for the new Push mode.
22. More than 30 new skins will be added to the cosmetics pool on October 4th also. Including a brand new “mythic” skin.
23. Mythic skins are a new cosmetic that are a level higher than legendary. They are individually customisable and we are shown a cyberpunk-looking Genji skin during the reveal event.
Overwatch 2 – Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
24. New cosmetic items such as weapon charms and player banners will also be available.
25. Previously existing maps have been tweaked to accommodate the game’s shift to 5v5 from 6v6. These tweaks include changes to pieces of cover or moving a door from where it used to be.
26. All maps have also gone through a makeover with new lighting and shadows resulting in a global glow-up, and the option to now play some maps at both day and night time.
27. Ambient sound has been recorded from real world locations to give their respective Overwatch 2 map’s an extra layer of authenticity.
28. Overwatch 2’s Competitive Mode is being revamped in Competitive 2.0, which includes reworked scoreboards and the ability to see a more detailed breakdown of your performance after each match.
29. Competitive skill ratings will no longer be presented as hard numbers, but instead players will be placed in smaller tiers within broader ranks depending on their performance level.
30. Overwatch 2 will support home theatre and Dolby Atmos setups, as well as take advantage of 3D audio features on console.
31. New voice lines and conversations have been recorded between all of the heroes. In total, 25,000 voice lines have been written for Overwatch 2.
32. Season 2 will begin on December 6 and includes a new tank hero, new map, 30+ skins, a new mythic skin and battle pass.
33. Throughout 2023, new seasons will arrive alongside new heroes, maps and modes, over 100 skins and the arrival of Overwatch 2’s PvE.
34. PvE maps will arrive as seasonal content and move the story of Overwatch forward.
35. The story centres around the return of Null Sector and members of the Original Overwatch team requiring help from the younger generation.
And that’s everything new that we’ve learned about Overwatch 2 this week. Be sure to stick with IGN for regular updates on the sequel ahead of its launch on October 4th 2022.
Simon Cardy absolutely cannot wait to get lost in this game again. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.
Once again on the precipice of greatness, the Golden State Warriors look to close out the NBA Finals with a Game Six win over Boston.
But Draymond Green apparently doesn’t see the 2022 Finals against Boston as fierce as previous challenges, such as defeating LeBron James in the NBA Finals. Green opened about the mental hurdles it takes to defeat Jame per the Athletic:
“It doesn’t compare to mentally playing against LeBron James, who I think is arguably the smartest guy to ever play this game,” Green said. “Not one of; he is arguably the smartest guy to set foot on a basketball court. To say that it compares to that, it’s disrespectful to LeBron, and it’s a lie to you.”
Draymond Green was asked the mental challenge of facing Celtics vs. LeBron James:
“It doesn’t compare. He is arguably the smartest guy to set foot on a basketball court. To say that it compares to that, it’s disrespectful to LeBron & it’s a lie to you.”pic.twitter.com/jXCyULdW29
Green, a three-time champion with the Warriors, had to defeat the four-time Finals MVP in three of his five NBA Finals appearances to secure his rings. Green’s first Finals loss came from the infamous 2016 Finals, where Golden State blew a 3-1 lead, and the second loss came against Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals.
The Warriors and the James-led Lakers have also met in the 2021 play-in tournament for the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoffs. James ultimately led the Lakers to a win after hitting a clutch fadeaway three to secure the Lakers’ date with the Suns in the first-round of the playoffs.
Green did acknowledge that Boston is challenging in their own way, per Yahoo Sports:
“Now, in saying that, they do have a guy over there in Marcus Smart who is extremely smart, who it’s like a chess match going up against him. He is kind of the brain of that team. I think every team you kind of have that guy,” That’s the brain of that team, and they have that in Marcus Smart, a guy who I have a tremendous amount of respect for and his basketball IQ. So it’s a challenge for sure. Ime [Udoka, Celtics coach] is extremely smart. We know his pedigree.”
Green and the Warriors will look to wrap things up in Thursday’s Game Six in Beantown. If Boston wins Game 6, the series will shift to San Francisco for a win-or-go-home Game 7 in Chase Center.
A New York City subway rider died on Thursday after his pants became caught in the doors of a Q train late Wednesday night as he exited, causing him to be dragged along the platform and then onto the tracks, the police said.
The episode took place just before midnight at the Avenue M station in Midwood, Brooklyn, and the man, who the police said appeared to be in his 30s and whom they did not identify, was taken to Maimonides Medical Center.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway, said that service was disrupted between Kings Highway and Prospect Park until about 3:30 a.m.
The police said that it was not clear if the man was struck by a second train that entered the station shortly after his fall.
The subway system has been dogged by concerns about safety since ridership plummeted during the pandemic. A Goldman Sachs employee, Daniel Enriquez, was shot and killed on the same Q line in late May. The killing came just days after officials had heralded a milestone: 3.6 million subway trips in a single day, a pandemic-era record.
In April, a gunman fired 33 shots on an N train traveling through Sunset Park during the morning commute, wounding 10 passengers. And in January, Michelle Go, an employee of Deloitte, was killed after she was pushed onto the tracks at the Times Square station.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Solana (SOL) tumbled on June 16 amid a broader retreat across the top cryptocurrencies, led by the Federal Reserve’s 0.75% interest rate hike a day before.
Solana price rebound fizzles
Notably, SOL/USD plunged nearly 17% to $30 a token, wiping almost all the gains from the day before. The SOL price volatility liquidated almost $10 million worth of contracts in the past 24 hours across multiple crypto exchanges, data from Coinglass shows.
SOL liquidation record since May 17. Source: Coinglass
The latest declines come as an extension to SOL’s broader correction, where it dropped by more than 90% after peaking out near $267 in November 2021. SOL also fell to its lowest level since July 2021 near $25.
Solana’s pullback move on June 16 began after testing a horizontal trendline resistance near $34 that constitutes what appears to be an “ascending triangle” pattern.
Ascending triangles are continuation patterns, i.e., they tend to send the price in the direction of their previous trend. As a rule, breaking out of a triangle pattern in a bearish market, for example, sends the price down by as much as the structure’s maximum height.
If SOL breaks below its ascending triangle’s lower trendline then the bearish profit target will come below $22.50, as shown in the chart below.
Solana’s downside target is about 25% below today’s price and could be achieved by June. Nonetheless, if SOL bounces after testing the triangle’s lower trendline as support, it would eye the $34-36 range as its interim upside target.
Massive SOL exit
Over 27 million Solana tokens have exited its smart contract ecosystem since June 13.
The total value locked (TVL) inside Solana smart contracts dropped to 74.65 million SOL (~$2.25 billion) on June 16, down 27% in the last three days, according to data tracked by DeFi Llama. That amounts to nearly $840 million of withdrawals from the ninth-largest blockchain ecosystem by market cap.
Solana TVL performance since April 2021. Source: DeFi Llama
Solend, a lending platform functioning atop the Solana ledger, witnessed a 26.5% decline in its TVL in the last three days and was holding 9.66 million SOL (~$290 million) as of June 16. Nevertheless, it remains the leading platform by TVL within the Solana ecosystem.
The outflows indicate that depositors do not want to keep their SOL locked in DeFi protocols, a sentiment common across the sector after Terra, an “algorithmic stablecoin” project, collapsed last month.
Contagion, another yield ponzi going down.
Seriously get your coins off anything like Celsius and BlockFi before they aren’t your coins anymore.
LFG, 3AC, Celcius etc all spread risk to each other and you pay the price for it https://t.co/cemFCvAeAz
Therefore, Solana’s path of least resistance remains skewed to the downside in the near term, particularly with no improvement in terms of macro and fundamentals.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
It’s Ana de Armas like you’ve never seen her before.
On June 16, Netflix released the first trailer for its upcoming filmBlonde, starring the actress as Marilyn Monroe. Ana, a natural brunette, sports the late Hollywood icon’s trademark platinum blond hairstyle.
The trailer also shows Ana re-enacting Marilyn’s most iconic movie scenes, like wearing a white halter dress, with air from a subway vent sending her skirt billowing above her knees. Another features Ana as the late star in her strapless pink gown, singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” onstage in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
The new film is based on Joyce Carol Oates‘ historical fiction novel and also stars Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale and Julianne Nicholson.
“Blonde boldly reimagines the complicated life of icon Marilyn Monroe,” Netflix’s synopsis notes. “Blurring the lines of fact and fiction, the film artfully explores the tension between her public and private life.”
Women display sorted gums and gum resins at a local market in Marsabit County. The women have greatly benefited economically through harvesting and selling non-wood products. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS
by Robert Kibet (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
Nairobi, Jun 16 (IPS) – Clad in traditional regalia and necklaces of richly coloured beads that form magnificent patterns around their necks, an army of women from the pastoral Rendile community that resides at the heart of Marsabit, a county in Kenya’s arid north, is on a mission.
Shoulder-to-shoulder, they are walking towards economic freedom armed with relevant tools up the hill to tap gum and gum-resins from acacia trees.
“We face a myriad of challenges. First, we have to fetch water before harvesting gum from acacia trees. We then sort and dry it before taking it to the market for sale. From gums and gum-resin sales, I am able to meet my family’s needs. No need to sell my sheep and goats at a throw-away price,” says Caroline Sepina, a 47-year-old mother of six, as she carefully sorts the gum, which retails at $ 5 (Ksh 550) per kilogram.
Gums and resins are hardened plant exudates obtained from Acacia, Boswellia and Commiphora species in African drylands.
In Kenya’s drylands, human survival is continually faced with multiple challenges with minimal options for alternative livelihoods.
There are no men within the manyattas in Ndikir, a village located in the Marsabit sub-county. Because of the drought, men have had to move to the nearby Samburu county, searching for pasture and water for their livestock.
Here, the women are left behind, but unlike in the past, when they would be unemployed, they now have alternative livelihoods which complement their livestock.
According to Leuwan Kokton, assistant chief of the Ndikir sub-location, men usually migrate with the livestock to the nearby Samburu county to avoid severe drought, with a few livestock left to help cater for children’s upkeep and sometimes, medication.
“Through this economic venture, I do not have to sell sheep from my herds to cater for my household needs. All I need to do is just walk to the nearby trees and tap the non-wood products, then sell them at the market. This helps me preserve my sheep and goats,” Joseph Longelesh, a resident of Ndikir village told IPS in an interview.
The gums and gum-resins of commercial importance collected from the forests in Kenya include arabic, myrrh, hagar and frankincense. Kenya has resources of gums and resins with commercial production confined to the country’s drylands. Gum arabic comes from Acacia senegal or Acacia seyal, while commercial gum resins are myrrh from Commiphoramyrrha, Hagar from Commiphora holtziana and Frankincense from Boswellia neglecta S.
Traditionally, the resin of Myrrh Hagar is suitable for treating inflammation, arthritis, obesity, microbial infection, wounds, pain, fractures, tumours, gastrointestinal diseases, snake bites and scorpion stings.
Tommaso Menini, the managing director for African Agency for Arid Resource (AGAR), told IPS that gum and resin are directly connected to environmental conservation. The idea is to make the pastoral communities see an alternative source of livelihood apart from livestock.
“Hagar is now an incredibly sought-after product from mostly Chinese buyers because it is highly used in their traditional medicine. Having a nearly 1.4 billion Chinese population means that the demand is high,” Menini told IPS.
“In the last years, we have seen an increasing presence of Chinese buyers setting up a base in Kenya. Before, we had agents who would send several containers to China, but since they are setting up in Kenya, they are now driving prices up because there is more demand.”
For Janet Ahatho, assistant natural resources Director at Marsabit County, these non-wood products have been in existence. Still, the locals had not been exposed to its economic potential and how to exploit them for monetary gains.
“As a county government, we have mapped the areas and worked with the locals. The people who collect the products and sell them are the herders themselves. They have attached that kind of importance to these trees, hence helping in environmental conservation,” says Ahatho.
In Marsabit county, these non-wood products are commonly found in Laisamis, Moyale and North Horr sub-counties.
“Environment destruction is reduced because we have environmental management committees in each sub-county, and they are the ones engaging the collectors and the sellers of the product. They are trained to train the community on why it is important to conserve the tree species,” says Ahatho.
In 2005, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, through the technical cooperation programme of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), carried out resource assessment and mapping of gums and resins in Kenya.
Engineer Chidume Okoro, a Network for Natural Gums and Resin in Africa (NGARA) chairperson, says production is far from sustainable, particularly for frankincense, with debarking frequently damaging or killing trees.
According to Chidume, production of gum and resin in large quantities for commercial purposes should be done with great care, by training the locals on how to do it sustainably while saving the acacia trees.
“With much focus on exporting bulk raw materials and poor management of the resource, export markets are underexploited. Gender inequities and power imbalances exist and in some cases have led to unequal access and control over benefits from these natural resources,” Okoro told IPS.
Since exploring the non-wood products, Sepina says her children have always had balanced meals, and she can pay her children’s school fees.
While Elden Ring doesn’t include intrinsic difficulty settings, players looking for (much) more of a challenge can now turn every enemy in the game into Malenia, Blade of Miquella thanks to a new mod.
As spotted by PCGamesN, YouTube user Bushy used thefifthmatt’s Elden Ring enemy randomiser mod to fill The Lands Between with the infamous boss. Bushy somehow still managed to beat the game in around eight hours, despite coming up against up to five Malenias at once in some areas, a highlight reel of which can be watched on his YouTube channel.
To balance the universe, however, a hero emerged to put Malenia in her place. Elden Ring’s first legendary player, Let me Solo Her, would appear in players’ games to take Malenia down single handedly, and has now done so more than 1,000 times.
In our 10/10 review of the game, IGN said: “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path.”
To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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