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News Release Digital Asset Direct

The Post-FTX Future of Financial Governance

Ink Finance

Crypto CeFi, the Original Sin The spectacular and scandalous collapse of FTX showed the colossal damage that a centrally organized, opaquely disclosed, and recklessly managed financial agent can do to the entire industry and society at large. That centralized organizations can dominate the assets originating from decentralized networks is a sad irony, a disease that has plagued crypto since the day when there was crypto trading. The narrative of the “crypto natives” is that blockchain technology was supposed to replace centralized entities, the likes of the Federal Reserve or other monetary authorities. Whereas in reality, cryptocurrency has handed itself to the shady and sketchy organizations that primarily use them to loot and raid. The irony is so sharp that it hurts. It has never been more evident than now that decentralized, transparent, rigorous, and professional management of Web3 finance must take the center stage. Now isn’t just a watershed moment; it is an existential one. The infrastructures needed to enable and sustain a crypto-powered Web3 go far beyond the DeFi in its current form, as facilities in this category are merely independent functional units - MUCH better units than their counterparts in centralized systems. What we regard as the absolute necessity is the operational and control layer on top of these functional units, capable of enforcing responsibility & accountability imposed upon the operators of these functional units, while demonstrating their competence & credibility. These operators should ideally be elected and monitored by the communities (organized as DAOs) they serve, and are regulatory compliant to perform their professional tasks, if necessary. Throughout 2021 and the better part of 2022, prior to the fallout of FTX, the number of DAO participants has already grown from 13,000 to a whopping 1.7 million people worldwide. The records speak for themselves; decentralization is the heart and soul of Web3. The damages done by the likes of FTX, 3AC, Celsius, etc. will only serve to show the advantage of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), as they are built on blockchains and promise transparent and democratic governance. Yet such lofty promises will disappoint if the operations of the DAOs are built on leaky or shaky foundations, particularly regarding their finance. Integrated Financial Management in a DAO Most DAOs today are built hastily with incoherent and fragmented management components that have resulted in plutocratic governance schemes, Sybil-infested incentive structures, and the proliferation of useless “utility tokens” (as fundraising vehicles). While these integrity and economic issues are already threatening the viability of DAO as an important augment to the traditional corporate framework, the lack of professional fiscal and finance tooling makes the matter even worse. There have been numerous DAO treasury tools in the market, and more are coming. Most of them are multi-sign wallets in one form or another. Participants in the Web3 financial management sector need to urgently understand that the robustness of individual parts of a machine is not the same as a well-designed and well-run machine itself. How these parts are put together is entirely a different thing of its own merit. A Multi-sig wallet can be regarded similarly to a DeFi lending protocol or a DEX as an independent functional part (we can’t emphasize enough that they all are MUCH better than their counterparts in the centrally managed regime). Yet, what makes up a financial management framework is the processes and procedures governing the usage of these parts, which must also be built on-chain to be verifiable and enforceable. A quick review of the evolution of the Web1 economy to the Web2 economy may shed light on our vision of the DAO financial management in the Web3 era. There were once numerous companies of various sizes who were all building their own online business systems. There were abundant independent solutions available to them (front end browser tools, back end server tools, middleware, payment, etc.), and yet what made Web2 an ultimate success isn’t the abundance or individual qualities of these solutions; it is rather the emergence of cloud service and SaaS. Specialized, customizable, integrated, and off-the-shelf software suites that are capable of providing end-to-end solutions for a certain domain of business have won the day. This is what Ink Finance is delivering to DAOs who treat their fiscal management and financing seriously. What Financial DAOs Look Like in the Future While progress in recognizing DAOs as legal entities is underway in places such as Wyoming and the Marshal Islands, or that the Colorado co-op scheme is being revised to embody DAOs, the underlying technical infrastructures that carry them must be built to address at least the following three critical aspects of on-chain finance: 1. This is the easiest to understand: open-source DeFi protocols that carry out financial transactions such as spot trading, derivatives, lending, cross-chain asset swaps, and payment solutions. These facilities have never been short of innovation since DeFi took root in 2019, and will certainly attract more talents and investments after the fallout of FTX; 2. The operational and control layer on top of the above mentioned DeFi facilities. It is very much underappreciated why the aforementioned facilities are not enough to mitigate financial risks by themselves alone. Let’s use Aave and Uniswap, the two prominent DeFi protocols, as examples. If an asset manager spends $1M to acquire token X from Uniswap and then pledges it on Aave to get a $700k loan, and then uses the proceeds to acquire more token X from Uniswap, and then pledges it again on Aave, and repeats the process indefinitely, neither Aave nor Uniswap can stop his egregious leveraging. The guardrail curbing this asset manager’s action is the key, which leads to the inevitable process of rulemaking and enforcement - the process of financial governance, itself being a part of a more general governance framework. What makes this process challenging is that the domain of finance is widespread, requiring profound financial knowledge and the proper engineering that delivers rigor as well as flexibility. This is the sector that I nk Finance is specialized in, one that we expect to see more competition in, as its critical importance becomes more and more clear to the institutions and large ecosystems. We regard this sector as the financial SaaS of Web3. 3. Last but not least, the integration with global regulations. The FTX debacle has shown the harm of regulation arbitrage. If the advanced leading countries do not step up on the regulatory effort, the shady organizations will simply base themselves in jurisdictions with poor or no regulation, yet the nature of cryptocurrencies assures that the harm will be felt globally. Encouragingly, various decentralized protocols have made major inroads in this domain, paving the way for on-chain organizations to be regulatory compliant if they choose to. Ink Finance has dedicated critical efforts to integrating these technologies to its own stack, partnered with industry leaders such as Astra a nd Humanode. To sum up, the financial DAOs of the future will need to use open source DeFi facilities as their transactional backbone, manage its fiscal and financial process with a transparent and on-chain executable financial control framework, and make themselves regulatory compliant when required. Conclusion The ingredients to the long-term legitimacy of on-chain finance are customizable, flexible, and specialized products that can be picked off-shelf and ready for end-to-end deployment, which brings professionalism, security, transparency, and adaptivity to regulatory oversight. Only when the crypto industry can deliver such sound financial management solutions, will it then be able to persuade and incentivize traditional institutions to shake off the carnage brought by the centralized agents operating under the banner of crypto. Only then can institutions such as auction houses, VC & angel investors, alternative asset managers, and web2 metaverse companies adopt DAO as an augment to their corporate structure in order to achieve high efficiency of their businesses, which is the promise of the Web3 world. At Ink Finance, we will keep delivering the most comprehensive and professional solutions to financially minded DAOs. We might be facing the longest and coldest crypto winter, but we are ready to chew glass and work with other determined builders to accelerate the adoption of TRUE decentralized finance. About the author: Tony Tang is the CEO of Ink Finance, a multi-chain financial governance toolset for on-chain organizations to manage all aspects of their fiscal and financing activities. Tony is a financial industry veteran with an engineering background who previously served as managing directors at several top financial institutions and fintech VC. Ink Finance is a DAO governance toolset, enabling all kinds of ecosystems to establish governance economy, manage internal finance, and connect with DeFi investors everywhere, through a no-code user experience. As a Financial SaaS built on blockchain, Ink Finance has the most comprehensive financial engineering tools to support on-chain issuance, settlement, clearing, and analysis of Non-Fungible Financial Products.Ink Finance is backed by heavy weight eco builders such as Republic Crypto and DeFi Alliance, partnered with cutting-edge solution providers such as Humanode, Astra, SolvFinance, Polytrade and deBridge, etc. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Camille Zhang camille.zhang@ufit.live

November 23, 2022 09:25 AM Eastern Standard Time

Venus Protocol Says the v4 Release of Its DeFi Lending Protocol Is a Game Changer for User Experience — Here’s What Users Can Expect

Venus Protocol

Venus Protocol, a leading lending protocol on BNB Chain, is getting ready to launch a suite of new upgrades in the latest version of its popular crypto lending platform. The many upgrades are aimed at giving users more security, more trading options, and more opportunities to generate yield on their assets. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the biggest changes users can expect in Venus v4. A New Risk Dashboard One of the biggest upgrades that will come with v4 is the dynamic risk-management system being developed in partnership with Gauntlet, a simulation platform for on-chain risk management. Users will gain access to a new Risk Dashboard that will display three risk metrics: value at risk (VaR), liquidation at risk (LaR) and Borrow Usage. VaR is a measure of capital at risk because of insolvency — when a borrower is unable to pay their debt. LaR is a measure of capital at risk because of liquidations — when large-scale selloffs make it harder to find buyers for a particular currency. Finally, Borrow Usage is a measure of how aggressively depositors are borrowing against the collateral supplied. These metrics will be shown for each asset as well as aggregated into a system-level measure for all assets in Venus. The hope is that the Venus community can use that asset-level and system-level risk data both to make better-informed lending and borrowing decisions and to see the impact of the new parameters recommended via the testing done with Gauntlet. A Large Pool Of New Tokens Will Be Available To Venus Protocol Users Another exciting feature of the v4 upgrade in development is the introduction of Isolated Markets. Under the current common collateral pool model, users are limited to a handful of the least risky assets. This is because, in a common pool, every asset in the pool is vulnerable to bankruptcies in any other asset in that same pool. So common pools tend to skew conservative as a way to reduce risk. For those interested in trading newer or riskier tokens, there aren’t as many options available. Venus Protocol’s upcoming isolated lending pools would provide segregated risk by separating those riskier tokens into their own pools. That segregated risk protects the common pool from the risk of those assets inside Isolated Markets. This will create independent lending environments that shield the common pool from exposure to those riskier tokens while giving users the ability to choose which pools to participate in based on their own personal risk profiles. The Venus team expects this update to gradually bring most of the more liquid tokens on BNB Chain into the lending protocol, where they will then be separated into pools based on shared risk profiles. Each pool will also be given a risk rating so users can easily compare the performance and risk of each pool. The PancakeSwap Integration Will Offer A Built-In DEX The integration of PancakeSwap, a popular decentralized exchange on BNB Chain, will add a swap page to the Venus dashboard where users can swap tokens they already hold and supply to Venus without leaving the Venus user interface (UI) they’re familiar with. The upgrade is a big deal for Venus users and a huge leap in the DeFi space as a whole because no other app supports that kind of swap functionality inside a lending protocol. As the crypto landscape continues to expand with new tokens being added, decentralized exchanges (DEXes) have been a key means of trading those tokens directly between crypto traders. A standalone DEX establishes the prices of various cryptocurrencies algorithmically and uses liquidity pools to facilitate trades so that traders can quickly exchange crypto. The Venus team is excited to finally offer a more seamless alternative. With v4, Venus would become the very first protocol to provide both crypto borrowing and lending and the ability to swap tokens in the same UI. An Adjustable Stability Fee For VAI VAI is Venus’ stablecoin, a coin whose value is pegged to another asset like a fiat currency, a commodity, or another cryptocurrency. In 2021, VAI lost its peg because the stablecoin was oversupplied in the market. Since then, the team has been looking for a way to solve this off-peg problem. The solution: a modified form of the Stability Fee, in which users pay interest for minting new VAI. When the market is oversupplied, the interest rate on minting VAI will increase. When supply is too low, the rate will drop to encourage new VAI minting. The income generated from that interest will go into the Venus Treasury as a new source of income for users. Stable Rate Venus’ Stable Rate enhancement will allow users to borrow and lend with more confidence. Users will face less uncertainty, especially under volatile market conditions. This will allow for better investment forecasting. Stable rates will also allow users to manage account health more easily. Suppliers will not face the frustration of declining APY. Venus’s Stable Rate solution is expected to be more affordable than others on the market, and that edge should bring more users to Venus Protocol. Venus Tokenomics 3.0 Venus’ latest upgrade to its tokenomics — or the overarching structure of a cryptocurrency’s economy, including mining and staking, supply limits, and yields — has been hotly anticipated by its community for a long time. The v4 (Tokenomics 3.0) upgrade will finally mark the end of that long wait. The biggest changes in Venus Tokenomics 3.0 are all aimed at incentivizing protocol retention, reinvesting value, creating flywheels and embedding better shortfall defense. That includes the introduction of the Venus Prime Soulbound Token (SBT), a new mechanism for incentivizing loyalty. The non-transferrable Venus Prime tokens are earned by staking XVS in the vault for 90 days and maintaining a minimum stake of 1,000 tokens. Once earned, the SBTs give users access to variable boosted yield across selected markets, which will be paid out in the currency being borrowed or supplied. Venus Protocol (“Venus”) is an algorithmic-based money market system designed to bring a complete decentralized finance-based lending and credit system onto Binance Smart Chain. Venus enables users to utilize their cryptocurrencies by supplying collateral to the network that may be borrowed by pledging over-collateralized cryptocurrencies. This creates a secure lending environment where the lender receives a compounded interest rate annually (APY) paid per block, while the borrower pays interest on the cryptocurrency borrowed. These interest rates are set by the protocol in a curve yield, where the rates are automated based on the demand of the specific market, such as Bitcoin. The difference of Venus from other money market protocols is the ability to use the collateral supplied to the market not only to borrow other assets but also to mint synthetic stablecoins with over-collateralized positions that protect the protocol. These synthetic stablecoins are not backed by a basket of fiat currencies but by a basket of cryptocurrencies. Venus utilizes the Binance Smart chain for fast, low-cost transactions while accessing a deep network of wrapped tokens and liquidity This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Venus Protocol contact@Venus.io Company Website https://venus.io/

November 23, 2022 08:15 AM Eastern Standard Time

A Look At The Growing Beauty And Wellness Space — And Some Companies To Keep Your Eye On

Benzinga

The beauty and wellness industry is currently experiencing a renaissance according to many, and companies can thank the younger generations and TikTok. TikTok has become a hub for all things beauty and wellness and in turn, could be the next big marketing gold mine. TikTok and other social media apps are allowing customers to view and experience products like never before. A potential customer can watch a video of someone unboxing a product, applying it and even see how the product survives a busy day. Social media has become the premier beauty destination, and products or companies that go viral on TikTok see massive success. Products that go viral, like the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand, are often sold out for months. The numbers are impressive, too. The #beauty hashtag on TikTok currently exceeds 100 billion views. Studies show that most social media users access the app 12 times per day, with an average of 52 minutes per day. The organic and word-of-mouth nature of apps like TikTok is deeply impacting the wellness and beauty world. The growth in the beauty industry isn’t limited to certain brands doing well. Asian skincare and beauty products are witnessing massive growth in European and North American markets. In 2022, revenue in the beauty and personal care market in Asia amounts to $210.9 billion and is expected to grow annually by 6.39%. Between brands going viral on social media apps and Asian beauty interest being piqued by K-Drama and K-Pop pop-culture sensations. It is clear that the beauty and wellness industry is on the path to continued growth and could be worth market investors keeping their eyes on going into 2023. Beauty And Health Companies To Watch In 2023 L’Oreal S.A. (OTC: LRLCY ) saw some supply chain obstacles in the years past primarily due to COVID-19 but expects to bounce back completely in 2023. The company has recently invested in research and development (R&D) as well as hired additional employees to assist with its ramp-up in 2023. Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) is one of the leading cosmetic suppliers in the United States. Ulta may have performed relatively well in 2022. Its most recent financial report saw the company increase net income by 17.8%. The growing interest in the wellness and beauty space is a contributor to Ulta’s increased performance. Yoshitsu Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: TKLF) is a Tokyo-based provider of health, wellness, beauty products, home goods and food. Asian Market is the company’s primary focus but it is expanding retail locations into cities in North America, Australia and the United Kingdom. Yoshitsu is also considering opening a distribution center in the U.S. to help with fulfillment times. In China (Hong Kong), the company has a growing number of retail locations and has expanded its brick-and-mortar roots into a successful e-commerce company. Yoshitsu could be poised for expanded growth as the supply chain returns to normal following the pandemic. The growing interest in Asian beauty companies also positions Yoshitsu to potentially perform well in 2023. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Benzinga +1 877-440-9464 info@benzinga.com Company Website http://www.benzinga.com

November 23, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Samsara Luggage Takes Charge of Travel Tech

Benzinga

The holiday travel outlook is shaping up well for Samsara Luggage as the travel brand reports celebrating unprecedented growth after the launch of its smart luggage and travel accessories — products that are made to ease the travel experience as the industry continues its recovery after a 2-year upheaval due to the pandemic. Holiday travel is kicking off this week with many wondering what to expect after a turbulent summer season where staffing was short and lost luggage made the headlines. Air travel is expected to increase beyond pre-pandemic numbers according to PwC’s annual Holiday Outlook report. Air travel has picked up again, with almost half of travelers — 46% — planning to fly, up from 40% in 2021 and 33% in 2020. The last peak in travel was marked with complications, with overbooked planes, long wait times, canceled flights and over a million lost bags in the U.S. between January and June 2022. The percentage of lost bags, when compared to 2019, is 30% more. As the travel industry’s recovery continues, Samsara Luggage Inc says they are well-positioned to help improve the traveler experience. Samsara Luggage Inc has come up with a clever way to ease stress among travelers and provide customers with a seamless and easy traveling experience. Awarded Special Mention in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 list, Samsara Luggage has designed a line of suitcases with an embedded Apple AirTag. The suitcase can be tracked using the Find My app on the iPhone. Now, travelers can stay a step ahead by accessing information about their lost or stolen luggage using their personal mobile device. Samsara Luggage’s Tag Smart suitcase is designed with a durable aluminum frame and TSA-approved combination locks that keep the AirTag protected. The Tag Smart technology is meant to help change the game for travelers by creating a lower-stress experience by letting travelers know where their valuables are at all times. Samsara Luggage Is Partnering With Big Brands To Bring Its Tech Luggage To More Consumers In October, Samsara Luggage made its debut at Tommy Bahama retail stores around the country. "Samsara's presence in a fleet of Tommy Bahama retail stores is a milestone for the company," says Atara Dzikowski, Co-founder & CEO, Samsara Luggage. "The exemplary customer experience and hospitality that the Tommy Bahama stores are known for made the decision to come out of the web and into the brick-and-mortar space an easy one. We are thrilled to give everyone curious about Samsara the opportunity to see the quality of our products in-person for the first time." Click here for more information about Samsara Luggage’s recent partnerships with Tommy Bahama and other notable companies. It may be exciting to see how Samsara Luggage continues to innovate in the travel technology industry. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Benzinga +1 877-440-9464 info@benzinga.com Company Website http://www.benzinga.com

November 23, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

discoverIE Group profits jump in "very strong first half"

discoverIE Group PLC

Contact Details Proactive Proactive UK Ltd +44 20 7989 0813 uk@proactiveinvestors.com

November 23, 2022 07:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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RedBrick AI raises US$4.6M to accelerate the development of healthcare AI

Redbrick AI

Health-tech AI platform RedBrick AI is today announcing a US$4.6M seed funding round to accelerate the development and adoption of artificial intelligence in clinical settings, through rapid data annotation on medical imagery. The round was led by Surge, Sequoia Capital India, and Southeast Asia’s rapid scale-up program, with participation from Y Combinator and angels. Medical imagery is an essential source of truth in clinical diagnosis and comprises about 90% of all healthcare data. AI systems can dramatically shorten the time to diagnosis, improve clinician productivity by triaging high-importance cases, and act as the first line of defense in under-staffed clinical environments. Researchers and healthcare institutions are increasingly investing in AI solutions to improve diagnostics, treatment and patient quality of care. The use of AI in healthcare stands to transform patient care by boosting clinician productivity and automating clinical diagnosis. In 2021 alone, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 115 AI algorithms for use in medical environments, an 83% increase from 2018. However, researchers cannot use medical images to train AI systems until they are cleaned and expertly annotated. Training an AI system also requires hundreds of annotated medical images and thousands of hours of annotation by clinicians. Due to the complexity, size, and unique nature of medical images, clinicians have to resort to traditional and difficult-to-use clinical tools to perform annotations. RedBrick AI is thus laser focused on solving the first key challenge to healthcare AI adoption – providing clinicians high-quality data annotation tools that accelerate the preparation of training datasets. RedBrick AI CEO and co-founder Shivam Sharma commented: “Working with leading healthcare AI teams over the past year has been an incredible journey and learning opportunity. With the rapid growth of artificial intelligence in clinical settings, researchers need excellent tools to build high-quality datasets and models at scale. Our customers are in the vanguard of this growth, pioneering everything from surgical robots to automated detection of cancers. We are incredibly excited to use the funds we’ve raised to power the next generation of researchers in building AI for clinical settings.” RedBrick AI’s tools address several challenges unique to medical data annotation, such as the complexity of existing annotation tools, quality control and machine learning integration. The platform's specialized annotation tools can be accessed through the browser and are designed to be used without prior training. RedBrick AI also offers semi-automated tools to annotate complex 3D medical images. RedBrick has a robust quality control process to ensure the quality of annotations, which are crucial to securing AI algorithm certifications from regulators. It involves efficient quality control workflows on the platform that can compile the opinions of several clinicians per annotation case, all while dramatically reducing time spent on project management. Its API also helps machine learning engineers integrate with their cloud and clinical data stores, for example, AWS or hospital enterprise PACS servers. The APIs are used to build ML data pipelines. RedBrick AI launched in 2021 by CEO and co-founder Shivam Sharma, and CTO and co-founder Derek Lukacs. Both Shivam and Derek previously worked on SpaceX’s Hyperloop technology, and participated in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition. Shivam has a background in aerospace engineering and computer science from University of Michigan, while Derek holds a Bachelors and Masters in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan. About RedBrick AI Teams building medical imaging AI use RedBrick AI to rapidly and collaboratively build high-quality training datasets. The RedBrick AI SaaS platform offers high-performance web annotation tools for 2D and 3D data to give experts access to specialized tooling right from their browsers. The RedBrick configurable workflow system helps teams build robust and scalable quality assurance processes. RedBrick AI offers a suite of APIs to help developers consume the annotations being created, and integrate with MLOps. For more information on RedBrick AI, visit https://redbrickai.com/ About Surge Surge is Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia’s rapid-scale up program. Surge combines up to USD 3 Mn of seed capital with company-building workshops, a global curriculum and support from a community of exceptional mentors and founders. The program’s goal is to supercharge early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia and give founders an unfair advantage, right out of the gate. For more information on Surge, visit www.surgeahead.com. About Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO to beyond. Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, CRED, Druva, Five Star Finance, Freshworks, GoTo, Groww, Kopi Kenangan, Mamaearth, Pine Labs, Polygon, Razorpay, Truecaller, Zomato and more. We spur founders to push the boundaries of what's possible. In partnering with Sequoia, startups benefit with over 50 years of tribal knowledge and lessons learned working with companies like Airbnb, Alibaba, Apple, Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn and Stripe early on. From the beginning universities, endowments, and other non profits have been the backbone of our investor base which means founders' accomplishments make a meaningful difference. For more information on Sequoia's work in India and Southeast Asia visit sequoiacap.com/India and sequoiacap.com/sea. Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://redbrickai.com/

November 23, 2022 06:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Interview with David Ginsburg, Investment Director at SolidusX

SolidusX

In light of the growing inflation in the UK, our team sat down with David Ginsburg, Investment Director at SolidusX, to discuss the importance of taking advantage of the situation and investing now. Q: Thanks for joining us, David. Let's start things off. Prices are skyrocketing in the UK right now. What's been the reasoning behind that? A: Thanks for having me! Well, where to begin? It's hard to narrow it down to one single factor. Obviously, one of the most significant geopolitical events in the past few decades, Russia's war on Ukraine, is a huge reason why. Energy prices are soaring because of a newfound surge in demand after COVID. On top of that, Ukraine provides a monumental amount of wheat and other resources. Naturally, this leads to an increase in food prices across the board. Countries were in lockdown during Covid, which affected economic activity. Someone needs to pay the bill. Regarding the balance between saving human lives and minimizing the economic impact, I think there was a better path. Yet, I would want to be off the decision-making desk. Q: Talk us through the problems with supply chains as well. A: The supply chains have been an issue for several years. The debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains around the world. With countries around the world imposing strict lockdowns and closing borders, eCommerce boomed in demand while supplies diminished heavily. Even now, China still has stringent restrictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The culmination of the Russian war and supply chain issues don't bode well for inflation. Q: So, you've got a British population depressed and scared of the rising prices. What does their future look like? A: I know things are less than ideal right now. The instability of the UK government changes in recent times has yet to fill people with much certainty. We are in a tense geopolitical situation, but this won't last forever. European energy ministers reached an agreement to put a halt to the rising electricity prices. Yes, we're in for a more brutal winter than most, and we need to brace for it. I truly hope the new government will help with economic stability and, together with the BoE, lead a responsible approach to curb inflation. In our line of work, we always talk about inflation as if it is a living organism, a beast trying to eat up the middle class. In the last couple of years, we've witnessed a change in how most people think about money and what they do with it. Brexit, then Covid, and now rising inflation led to a liquidity crisis amongst UK banks. Smart Britons looking to maintain and create value for their money voted for off-shore accounts and Crypto related investments. Moving away from the British Pound and towards return on investment. Noticing this multi-billion dollar shift in where money is stored, UK banks began to focus on protecting their liquidity, restricting clients' money movements and discouraging them from making any investments. But you can count on them offering you a loan every chance they get. Oddly enough, Britons are left with a choice between protecting their bank's bottom line or protecting their financial future. My responsibility is for the individuals we work with and not for the well-being of the British banking system. Seeing the connection between Crypto and financial independence, I urge people to open a crypto wallet and have more control over their money.. Q: You've been a proponent of investing during these difficult times. Could you give us some more information on that? What's your reasoning behind that? A: Most people today are so engulfed in current events that they simply cannot think far ahead. Let me be clear, this is by no means criticism. It's almost impossible to disconnect from all the problems around the world. Especially with social media constantly bombarding us with new information. Economically, the average person is feeling the brunt of increasing living expenses. However, the markets are still there. All markets. We emphasize to clients that they should stay dynamic while we help provide information about exciting market opportunities. Climate change and ESG are long-term factors we consider as well. Inflation and volatility are similar to rising sea levels; you need to sink or swim. If your strategy is keeping money passive in ISAs, Cash, or traditional investments, you should be prepared to watch your hard-earned money drown. With the current market atmosphere, you should ensure your money stays active and honed in on short-term trading opportunities. There's plenty of money to be made, given that you know what strategies to follow and what to look out for. Q: You're an Investment Director at SolidusX. Can you give our readers some insight into what SolidusX does precisely? A: We operate from London and provide financial services to our clients worldwide. Put simply, we connect people to global financial markets and guide them through it by explaining the platform and how to invest and providing general information about market events. We deal with traditional forex, CFDs, and commodities, but we've also managed to offer our clients access to cryptocurrencies. We offer Tier 1 liquidity, multiple state-of-the-art trading platforms, and our algorithmic analysis tool, Solidifyre. If you care about your financial future, you should worry about your money losing value to inflation or not doing anything because it is not invested properly. You want to embrace volatility. You can't go surfing when there are no waves, and surfing is fun, especially when you got someone to teach you how to do it and when catching a wave (in this metaphor) means collecting a nice profit. Contact Details SolidusX SolidusX Team +44 20 8154 3483 investors@solidusx.com Company Website https://solidusx.com/

November 22, 2022 05:20 PM Eastern Standard Time

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Top Toys (and Trends) for the Holiday Season

YourUpdateTV

Although reports indicate consumers have lower confidence to spend this holiday due to inflation, toys have historically proven to be recession resistant because families want to make sure kids experience the magic and wonder of play. Recently, Toy Trends Specialist at The Toy Association, Jennifer Lynch, participated in a nationwide satellite media tour to discuss the hottest toys for the holiday season. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/MR-RS6VSihw 67 percent of parents said they spend more time playing with their kids now than they did before the pandemic, and 54 percent said they specifically seek out toys that will enable them to make new memories with their children, according to a recent Toy Association survey of 2,000 parents across the U.S. Here are a few of the hot toys you’ll want to get your hands on this holiday season: Holiday Main Street, LEGO It’s time for a favorite festive tradition as you build the latest addition to the LEGO® Winter Village Collection. Assemble the snow-capped toy store and music store, then build the streetcar to take the shoppers home. With multiple features and four building booklets included, this set makes a great family project. TONKA Mighty Monster RC, Basic Fun! First-ever RC Tonka truck made with cold-rolled steel and 4-in-1 monster action: haul, dump, plow, and stunts! From up to 100 feet, kids can remotely control the high-torque steering in 4-wheel drive, motorized hauling and dumping, and brag-worthy 360° degree stunts! Load objects into the truck bed, secure them with the foldable tailgate, and clear obstacles big and small with the kid-powered plow. American Girl’s 2022 Holiday Collector Doll Sapphire Splendor, Mattel This year’s limited-edition American Girl collector doll commands attention with its jewel-toned hair, vivid violet eyes and more than 100 Swarovski crystals. The peacock-inspired gown features a taffeta bodice and sweetheart neckline embellished with Swarovski crystals; gathered ombre mesh shoulder straps; a fourtier, full-length ombre mesh skirt with taffeta lining; and an embroidered mesh applique at the waistband. The outfit also includes a metal tiara with blue-and-purple Swarovski crystals; a teardrop Swarovski crystal necklace; a pair of purple Swarovski crystal pierced earrings; iridescent elbow-length gloves, a gold purse and gold sandals. Print Perfect Purse Pets, Spin Master Get ready for Print Power! Meet Bamboo Boo and Hoot Couture featuring trendy pattern designs and stylish details. Print Perfect Purse Pets are interactive purses that really blink and respond to your touch with 30 new sounds and reactions. Also available in the line is a Hello Kitty and Friends Loves Purse Pets collection in a larger size for Sanrio fans of all ages Klutz LEGO: Race Cars, Klutz LEGO Race Cars combines science and racing to create the ultimate STEM LEGO kit! Kids can build a 3-ft long, high-quality chipboard track! See how your race car fares against papercraft obstacles like banana peels, orange cones, boxes, and barrels! Or–place on your opponent’s side of the track to slow them down! Fun, non-fiction content highlighting the coolest, fastest, and weirdest cars ever to exist, plus other cool race car facts! Put physics into action using aerodynamic tips and tricks from the instruction book For more information, visit thegeniusofplay.org About Jennifer Lynch As an official spokesperson and toy trends specialist for The Toy Association, Jennifer Lynch chats with toymakers throughout the year to track trends and developments impacting the toy aisles and kids’ entertainment. She has been interviewed by publications including New York Magazine, Inc. Magazine, The Spruce and Insider, and made appearances on KTLA-TV, Good Day Philadelphia, WGN Chicago, WNBC New York, KATU Portland, Bloomberg Radio, and CNET, among others. She also serves as the narrator for The Genius of Play’s "Once Upon a Playtime" podcast, which invites listeners to rediscover the value of play through real-life, personal stories of actors, artists, entrepreneurs, and more. Jennifer has more than a decade of experience covering the toy and kids’ entertainment industries. Prior, she served as the editorial manager for aNb Media and its b2c review site TTPM.com, where she oversaw all digital and print communications, reviewed product, and co-hosted a web series conducting in-depth interviews with toy industry executives. She began her career in her home state of Pennsylvania, handling marketing communications for Penn State’s art galleries (her alma mater). She resides in New Jersey with her husband and baby girl. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

November 22, 2022 04:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

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100 Additional Small Businesses Owned by Women and People of Color in Oakland to Each Receive a $10,000 Grant from Comcast RISE, Bringing the Total Oakland Investment to $2 Million

Comcast California

Comcast today announced it will award an additional $1 million in grants to 100 small businesses owned by women and people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian American owners, among others, in Oakland, bringing the total to $2 million to date. These recipients are part of the more than 9,500 entrepreneurs nationwide who have been selected as Comcast RISE awardees since November 2020. Oakland was one of five cities, including Chicago, Miami, Oakland, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., that was selected to award a $10,000 grant to 100 local businesses from the Comcast RISE Investment Fund, for a total of $5 million across 500 businesses, bringing the amount awarded nationwide to $21 million to date. Through Comcast RISE, the company also announced it will support 13,000 small businesses, owned by people of color and women, with monetary grants; a TV campaign, production of a TV commercial or consulting services from Effectv; or computer equipment, internet, voice, or cybersecurity from Comcast Business by the end of 2022. “We started our tamales business as a street food vendor in the Mission and eventually opened our storefront. Nice months ago, we relocated to a busier location in the Swan’s Market, which was an expensive move,” said Reyna Maldonado, co-owner of La Guerrera’s Kitchen, a family affair run with her mom. “Thanks to the Comcast RISE Investment Fund, we’ll be able to re-invest the funds back into our business.” In addition, Comcast RISE invests in ongoing mentorship and resources to help businesses succeed in the long run. The program has partnered with Ureeka, an online platform for entrepreneurs, to provide grant recipients with business coaching to help build skills in company foundation, growing customers and financial stability. All Comcast RISE recipients will also have a specialized online networking community within Ureeka with access to educational resources, sources of capital, and vetted experts such as U.S. Black Chambers, National Asian Pacific Islander Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Association for Enterprise Opportunity, Walker’s Legacy and Operation Hope. Comcast RISE was formed in late 2020 to give small businesses owned by people of color the grants needed to not just survive, but thrive. From bakeries and barber shops to childcare centers and cleaning services, Comcast RISE has supported a variety of businesses, diversifying our local economies in more ways than one. There are more than 9,500 recipients from 704 cities across 37 states within the program. In November 2021, Comcast RISE announced a major expansion to all women-owned businesses nationwide. “It has been gratifying to see over 600 diverse California businesses across all industries and experiences benefiting from the Comcast RISE program,” said David Tashjian, Senior Vice President of Comcast for the California Region. “We want small businesses owned by women and people of color to continue to grow and thrive, overcoming the challenges of the current economy.” All eligible applicants will receive a monthly Comcast RISE newsletter with educational content, and all small business owners can visit the Comcast RISE destination on the X1 platform featuring aggregated small business news, tips, insights, and more. Just say “Comcast RISE” into the X1 voice remote. Comcast RISE is part of Project UP, the company’s comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity and help build a future of unlimited possibilities. More information and the applications to apply for either the grant program or marketing and technology services are available at www.ComcastRISE.com. With today’s announcement, the following 100 selected businesses in Oakland will each receive a $10,000 grant: About Comcast Corporation Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. We are principally focused on connectivity, aggregation, and streaming with 57 million customer relationships across the United States and Europe. We deliver broadband, wireless, and video through our Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information. About Comcast Business Comcast Business offers Ethernet, Internet, Wi-Fi, Voice, TV and Managed Enterprise Solutions to help organizations of all sizes transform their business. Powered by an advanced network, and backed by 24/7 customer support, Comcast Business is one of the largest contributors to the growth of Comcast Cable. Comcast Business is the nationâs largest cable provider to small and mid-size businesses and has emerged as a force in the Enterprise market; recognized over the last two years by leading industry associations as one of the fastest growing providers of Ethernet services. For more information, visit www.business.comcast.com or call 866- 429-3085. Follow on Twitter @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social. About Effectv Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, helps local, regional and national advertisers use the best of digital with the power of TV to grow their business. It provides multi-screen marketing solutions to make advertising campaigns more effective and easier to execute. Headquartered in New York with offices throughout the country, Effectv has a presence in 66 markets with nearly 35 million owned and represented subscribers. For more information, visit www.effectv.com. Contact Details Comcast California Adriana Arvizo +1 925-200-1919 Adriana_Arvizo@comcast.com

November 22, 2022 10:57 AM Pacific Standard Time

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