Welcome to the Tech Meam ride home for Thursday, October 19th, 2023.

I'm Brian McCullough today.

Is crypto being used for terrorism in the current war?

Netflix has good earnings and raises prices.

Again, what does it mean if open AI had to completely scrap a new AI model

and if those FaceTime video reactions are annoying you, I'll tell you how to turn them off.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

As the conflict in the Middle East continues a pace, there have been various

headlines about the supposed use of crypto by terrorist organizations.

Well, Chain Analysis, which, you know, Chain Analysis, so maybe grain of salt, but Chain Analysis says these reports have been overstating metrics and using what they term to be flawed analysis.

Quoting the block.

Although terrorism financing is a very small portion of the already very small portion

of cryptocurrency transaction volume that is illicit, some terrorist organizations raise store

and transfer funds using cryptocurrency, Chee analysis wrote in a blog post.

Terrorist organizations have historically used and will likely continue to use traditional

fiat-based methods such as financial institutions,

Hawalas, and Shell companies as their primary financing vehicles."

End quote.

In the aftermath of Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel, various

media outlets have sought to estimate the level of illicit crypto funds that may

have been funneled into the offensive. Senator Elizabeth Warren, along with more than a hundred other

lawmakers on Wednesday, cited a report from the Wall Street Journal about Hamas's

...