Mon April 24

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In the news today; CSM Launches Blockchain-Powered Employee Verification System, U.S. Govt. Gives A Go Ahead To Voyager's $1 Billion Binance.US Acquisition Deal and Bored Ape Yacht Club Ripoff NFTs Violated Yuga Copyright

🕵️ CSM Launches Blockchain-Powered Employee Verification System: CSM Tech, an IT consulting company based in India with a global presence, has developed a blockchain-based system called "ProofChain" to verify employee records. This system, built on HyperLedger Fabric, is immutable and tamper-proof, allowing third-party verifiers to authenticate the work experience of individuals who have worked at CSM Tech. This initiative addresses challenges in the IT industry with fake credentials and comes after incidents of falsified work history at other companies. Records of approximately 3,500 past employees have been migrated to the blockchain platform, and third-party verifiers can access the system through a secure login process. The ProofChain system has been integrated into CSM Tech's ERP system and has already received over 100 requests for employee record verification through the blockchain-based website.

📖 U.S. Govt. Gives A Go Ahead To Voyager's $1 Billion Binance.US Acquisition Deal: The American branch of Binance has received approval from the U.S. federal government to acquire the remaining assets of the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Voyager announced on Twitter that a resolution had been reached with the government, allowing the proposed plan to proceed. The joint stipulation filed with the district court on April 19th now awaits approval from the judge. Once approved, Voyager, the Committee, and Binance.US will move forward expeditiously. The plan values Voyager at $1 billion, with Binance.US paying approximately $20 million in cash, in addition to repayments to Voyager's customers. This approval comes after the government previously halted the deal due to concerns about potential violations of securities laws. Binance.US stepped in to acquire Voyager's assets after FTX's bid fell through when the exchange collapsed in November of the previous year.

💻 Bored Ape Yacht Club Ripoff NFTs Violated Yuga Copyright: Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, has won a partial summary judgment in its case against Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, who created the RR/BAYC NFT collection as a satirical response to Yuga Labs. The U.S. District Court in California found that Yuga Labs owns valid and enforceable trademarks for BAYC and that the defendants used these marks to sell RR/BAYC NFTs without consent, causing confusion among consumers. The court also ruled that the defendant's use of the BAYC marks was not fair use or artistic expression, as Yuga's marks were strong in the marketplace and the RR/BAYC project was intended to mislead. The defendants' domain names were also found to potentially create confusion, and their actions were deemed malicious and engaging in cybersquatting. Yuga Labs' claim for $200,000 in statutory damages was dismissed, and damages will be determined in a pending trial.

What is the Bored Ape Yacht Club?: Bored Ape Yacht Club is a popular series of NFT profile pictures minted on the Ethereum blockchain.