Mastodon CEO To Transfer Ownership To A Nonprofit Organization
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
The decentralized social media network Mastodon announced a new plan to transfer ownership to a non-profit organization in Europe.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko will transfer ownership, stewardship, and assets to a non-profit organization in Europe.
- The decentralized social media network will work on developing the new legal and institutional structures during the next 6 months
- Mastodon wants to keep the platform “free of the control of a single wealthy individual,” and differentiate itself from Elon Musk’s X, and Zuckerberg’s Meta.
According to the official announcement on its website, founder and CEO Eugen Rochko will hand management and assets to a new administrative structure that is yet to be announced as Mastodon’s team is still working on the best jurisdiction and legal structure in Europe.
“The next 6 months will see the transformation of the Mastodon structures, shifting away from the early days’ single-person ownership and enshrining the envisioned independence in a dedicated European not-for-profit entity,” states the document.
Rochko’s role will switch for him to focus on product strategy, in alliance with his principles of keeping the application “free of the control of a single wealthy individual.”
This strategy to avoid giving the power of a network to just one person comes right after Mark Zuckerberg ended Meta’s fact-checking program —some critics speculate that Zuckerberg’s decision may have been influenced by political considerations, including past tensions with upcoming President Trump and efforts to navigate business interests in a polarized environment.
Mastodon—founded in 2016—expects to continue developing tools where users can share and create authentic content, and differentiate itself from other business models like Elon Musk’s X and Zuckerberg’s Meta platforms. Its communications team also explained that they keep working and developing its fediverse project and invited people to join the creative team or donate to reach the operating goal of €5 million in 2025.
Photo by Vasilis Chatzopoulos on Unsplash
Crypto Bank Sygnum Achieves Unicorn Status with $1 Billion Valuation
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
The crypto bank Sygnum recently raised $58 million and reached a valuation above $1 billion, hitting unicorn status.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- In a recent funding round, the crypto bank Sygnum raised $58 million, reaching a $1 billion valuation and earning unicorn status.
- The digital asset bank expects to develop its infrastructure, expand to more regions in Europe, and launch in Hong Kong.
- The recent funding round included the participation of current and new investors, employees, and the bitcoin-focused firm Fulgur Ventures.
According to Reuters , Sygnum, with headquarters in Singapore and Zurich, expects to expand to more regions in Europe, launch in Hong Kong, and develop its infrastructure. The company has been growing and expanding recently, having registered in Liechtenstein in September and raising $40 million last year.
The new funding round involved new and current investors, the company’s employees, and the firm Fulgur Ventures—a bitcoin-focused venture.
Sygnum—established in 2018—offers its customers multiple services such as custody solutions for digital assets, and trading and tokenization services.
According to Fortune , Sygnum holds digital assets like Bitcoin instead of fiat currencies like U.S. dollars for its customers, a strategy that even traditional banks are starting to replicate.
“We’re not a traditional bank coming from the fiat world. We are looking at the market from the digital asset space and then integrating it to traditional banking,” said Mathias Imbach, Sygnum co-founder and CEO, to Fortune.
While the new successful deal is related to recent developments in the United States— Bitcoin surpassed the 100,000 milestone a few weeks after Donald Trump won the presidential elections and hours after he announced Paul Atkins, an advocate for cryptocurrency adoption, as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission—, the crypto bank does not intend to expand to America at the moment.
“Sygnum has focused on its home markets in Europe and Asia and has no current plans to enter the U.S. market with our own entities,” said Imbach to Reuters. “The U.S. developments for positive crypto market reform are, however, highly encouraging … Sygnum is exploring other options to benefit from this trend and will update the market once these are sufficiently developed, for example, partnerships and M&A.”
