Monaco Has 'a Lot to Prove' After Buying Crypto.com
*By Tanaya Macheel*
The highly coveted crypto.com domain has fetched a hefty price tag.
Monaco, a Swiss payments and cryptocurrency startup, paid $12 million for the URL as part of a rebranding strategy, according to a source involved in the transaction. Interest in the domain has always been high among cryptocurrency companies but boomed this year as mainstream interest in the cryptocurrency market grew following the price spike at the end of 2017. Domain sellers speculated it could have sold for between $5 and $10 million.
Crypto.com previously led to the personal website of Matt Blaze, a prominent cryptology researcher and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Blaze had maintained for years that the domain was not for sale and has been critical of the growing number of people that use the “crypto” prefix as an abbreviation of cryptocurrency, rather than cryptography ー the science of writing or cracking codes.
Neither Blaze nor Kris Marszalek, Monaco's CEO, responded to requests for comment.
"I don't think conflating cryptography and digital currency will serve either field well in the long run, particularly as to how they're perceived by the public and policymakers," Blaze wrote on his blog over the weekend. "Surprisingly few of the important aspects of digital currency are directly related to its cryptographic components."
TechCrunch reported Friday that Blaze had finally sold it to Monaco for an undisclosed amount. The two parties reached an agreement in June after discussions with a handful of other potential buyers that began earlier this year, Blaze wrote. He maintains he has "no idea" what Monaco plans to do with the site and that he has no financial stake in the business.
Monaco currently offers a peer-to-peer transfer service with crypto and wallet app, though it's perhaps best known for its Visa debit card that allows users to spend cryptocurrency funds from their wallets anywhere that accepts Visa card payments. Like its current competitors in the space, Monaco is now working to offer a larger suite of financial services ー including an investment service like that offered by Coinbase, Robinhood, Circle or Square, as well as a credit line.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/highly-coveted-crypto-com-domain-name-sold).
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into several social media and artificial intelligence companies about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index as its stock rides higher on a cryptocurrency wave.
Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics, dives into their $63.3M acquisition of Vayu Robotics and how it's accelerating the future of autonomous delivery systems.
