Data Sheet—Blockchain Might Be a Big Deal, Some Day
Crypto law enforcer. Did somebody mention bitcoin? New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is looking into 13 digital currency exchanges, including big names Coinbase and Bitfinex, seeking information about their policies on privacy, fraud, and money laundering, among other matters. The Gemini Exchange, founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, also got a request. “We look forward to cooperating with and submitting our responses to the questionnaire that has been circulated,” Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss tells the New York Post.
Tax it to me later. Sticking with the legal world, the Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc., which challenges the landmark 1992 ruling Quill Corp. v. North Dakota holding that online retailers don’t have to collect sales taxes for states where they are not physically present. While Justice Anthony Kennedy signaled his desire to overturn Quill a few years ago, it didn’t seem like many of his colleagues were on board on Tuesday. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked a series of withering questions challenging South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley. “I’m concerned about the many unanswered questions that overturning precedents will create a massive amount of lawsuits about,” Sotomayor noted.
Tax it to me later, part two. And speaking of taxes, the Internal Revenue Service’s online portal for paying taxes crashed on Tuesday, the last day to make an on-time payment for 2017 income taxes. So the IRS extended the filing deadline until today.
NIMFY: Not in my front yard. San Francisco is cracking down on the wave of scooter startups (LimeBike, Bird, and Spin) that have blanketed the city’s sidewalks with a scourge of electric-powered bikes. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed a rule requiring a permit to park a scooter on the sidewalk. “I’m quite amazed at the brouhaha,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin said at the meeting.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. With new privacy regulation under discussion in Congress, Facebook is looking for potential allies and reaching out to conservative groups, Politico reports. Given “the rapidly changing discussions here in Washington, there’s an increased chance Washington will rush to regulate, with privacy concerns at the top of the radar,” Facebook public policy manager Lori Moylan wrote in an email to the groups that was obtained by Politico.
You’re holding it wrong. IBM is finally growing again, but not the right way, at least in Wall Street’s eyes. The recovering tech giant posted first quarter revenue of $ 19.1 billion, up 5% from last year and better than analysts expected. But the growth of sales in IBM’s so-called strategic imperatives—which includes social, mobile, analytics and cloud services—slowed to 15% from 17% in the prior quarter. IBM shares were down 5% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Hasty retreat. Chinese telecom giant Huawei is scaling back its decade-long effort to crack the U.S. market, the New York Times reported. Layoffs hit the company’s lobbying office in Washington, D.C., where the climate has turned decidedly negative on the Chinese tech industry.
