Blockchain

COINBASE CEO REVEALS COVID-19 VIRUS EMERGENCY PLAN

Published

7 years ago

February 26, 2020

Major US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has revealed it has prepared a three-tier escalating response to the growing COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis.

According to a document shared by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the company is preparing for the worst case scenario, and has a three-tier escalation response plan in place.

The escalating tiers will be triggered when the confirmed numbers of infected reach specific levels, or if authorities enact quarantines in the localities of Coinbase offices.

The plan looks something like this:

Phase 1: implemented when there is more than 100 cases of endemic person-to-person transmission (i.e. spreading in the ‘wild’). This will involve increasing frequency of office cleaning and restricting visitors to essential personnel only. Employees will also be given the option of working from home.

Phase 2: implemented when more than 1,000 cases of confirmed infection, or authorities have enacted quarantines. All visitors banned from offices, or an airport-style screening of visitors using thermal imaging, and no more meals provided on-site.

Phase 3: if containment fails, employees will be ordered to work from home. Offices will be essentially locked down, and essential personnel may be relocated outside the danger area.

Apparently, Coinbase’s offices in Japan have already moved to Phase 1, while offices in the United States, Japan, Ireland and the UK are monitoring developments but have not activated plans. Coinbase has also restricted business travel to China, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan and South Korea.

Armstrong emphasised he feels confident the risk to employees is low, saying:

“Our expectation is that the measured mortality rate (once low-severity cases are included in the overall count) will fall significantly and that we’ll see limited transmission in the west, where there will be fewer high density multi-generational housing situations.”

AYO.NEWS says:

It’s good to see a major company taking steps to ensure the continuity of business, and we hope Armstrong is correct about the mortality rate. However, it could just as easily be argued (and was, indeed, hinted at by the WHO yesterday), that the Chinese response has actually lulled the west into a false sense of security.

While the prevalent attitude among the mainstream is that the west has “better healthcare” and is better equipped to deal with a pandemic, many experts strongly disagree, pointing out that healthcare systems in the west have very limited, and in many areas zero, surge capacity.

They also point to the fact that the Chinese have vast military, law enforcement and state manpower and apparatus at their disposal, along with a compliant population used to doing what it is told. As we have seen with crisis ranging from hurricane Katrina to the 2011 London/UK riots – this is evidently not the case in the west.

Others point to the fact that the assumed mortality rate is largely based on Chinese figures, which are widely believed to be fabricated or massively underplayed – with plenty of evidence to suggest most of those dying at home are not being recorded on official figures, and many that die in hospitals are being recorded as ‘heart failures’ etc.

This virus is evidently highly contagious, and its long incubation period (the 14-day assumption has already been revised to 30 days or more), makes it impossible to stop.

What Armstrong clearly has not accounted for is that, when healthcare systems collapse under sheer demand, out just-in-time supply systems stop working, and civil unrest breaks out, the mortality rate could skyrocket.

But, all is not lost. Just as with the 1918 ‘Spanish Influenza’ pandemic, the virus could mutate into a very mild form and disappear as quickly as it arrived. Until we see that, things will be on a knife edge and, as the CDC said yesterday, people should prepare for things to be very bad, and should expect their lives to be severely disrupted.

Staying with the virus crisis, yesterday we reported the 32^nd ENADA International Amusement and Gaming Show, scheduled to be held in Rimini, Italy, from 11^th-13^th March has been postponed due to the emergency.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Blockchain

VCOIN LAUNCHES DEBIT CARD WITH UPHOLD: IMVU USERS EARN IN-GAME & SPEND IN REAL LIFE

VCOIN has teamed up with Uphold on a debit card that lets IMVU users spend currency earned in-game on real-world purchases.

Published

5 years ago

June 29, 2021

AYO News Staff

Vcoin launches debit card with uphold: imvu users earn in-game & spend in real life

VCOIN, the transferable digital currency used in the social metaverse app IMVU, has launched a debit card in partnership with digital money platform Uphold, allowing users to take value earned inside the virtual world and spend it in real life.

IMVU users can now withdraw VCOIN to an Uphold account and spend it using the Uphold debit card, earning 2% cashback on every purchase, both online and in store.

How the card works

The card is available first to US residents, with international availability to follow. Digital-only cards are free to order and use through the Uphold Card app, while a physical card carries a one-off fee of $9.95. Cashback on purchases is paid into the cardholder’s Uphold account.

From virtual economy to real wallet

VCOIN was first introduced inside IMVU, the friend-discovery and social metaverse app operated by Together Labs. IMVU runs one of the larger virtual economies of any social platform, with around 27 million transactions and 14 billion credits changing hands each month, according to the company.

The debit card closes the loop between that in-app economy and everyday spending. Creators and users who earn VCOIN by selling virtual goods or participating in the community can now convert those earnings into money they can use at ordinary merchants, rather than keeping the value locked inside the app.

A test case for the creator economy

The launch reflects a wider effort across gaming and virtual worlds to let users earn real income from in-game activity. It also highlights the regulatory hurdles involved: by routing withdrawals and spending through Uphold, an established and regulated money platform, VCOIN relies on a partner already set up to handle compliance, identity checks and card issuing.

How widely users adopt the card will be watched closely by other platforms considering whether to let virtual currencies flow out into the real economy.

Blockchain

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE’S WOLVES ENTER ROCKET LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Published

6 years ago

November 5, 2020

AYO News Staff

English Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) has entered the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS).

Wolves already fields rosters in FIFA 21, FIFA Online 4, PUBG, Identity V, and Pop Kart Racing, and is the first Premier League club to enter the RLCS.

Discussing the news Wolves General Manager for Marketing and Commercial Growth, Russell Jones, said:

“Gaming and esports remain a crucial part of our brand growth strategy and signing such talented and ambitious players to represent our Rocket League esports team is another step forward in our journey to build stories outside of football and widen the appeal of the Wolves brand across the world.

“We have spent the last six months scouting teams and players and are delighted to welcome Rix, Luis and Ole, who will become Wolves Esports for the remainder of the current RLCS season X and beyond. We will be offering the team our full support as they compete in the winter split.

“I’d also like to thank the University of Wolverhampton who continue to be an exceptionally supportive partner of the Wolves Esports programme.”

While Team Captain of Wolves Esports Rocket League, Rix Ronday, added:

“It is a real honour to captain the first-ever Wolves Esports Rocket League team. I’m confident that we have recruited two of Rocket League’s most exciting talents in Ole and Luis and we are working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the RLCSX Winter Split kick-off.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Wolves have already demonstrated their enthusiasm for esports, using it to strengthen what is now a powerful global brand – for example, way back in February 2019, it became the first Premier League club to enter Chinese esports, through a partnership with Weibo eSports Club.

And, given the very real possibility of COVID-19 causing further disruption to football, diversifying the brand into multiple esports seems like a smart way to ensure fan engagement can continue, come what may.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates.

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Blockchain

FIFA 21 CHALLENGE IS MOST WATCHED EA ESPORTS EVENT YET

Published

6 years ago

November 4, 2020

AYO News Staff

The EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 Challenge has smashed the viewership record, with an Average Minute Audience of over 250K.

A one-day esports tournament that paired top global professional footballers with the world’s best FIFA players, the EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 Challenge drew an average minute audience (AMA) of 254,057 with a total watch time of 1,024,696 hours, making the event the most-watched EA operated esports broadcast in history.

In fact, the broadcast more than doubled the viewership metric set by the next most-watched EA operated FIFA event, the FIFA Global Series FUT Champions Cup: Barcelona, which took place over multiple days in January 2018 and registered an AMA of 92,678.

During the competition, four esports players paired with four professional footballers from international clubs Liverpool, West Ham United, Inter Milan, and Borussia Dortmund, clashed on October 29 for the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Challenge.

Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fnatic’s Tekkz took home the trophy and won $20,000 on behalf of their selected charities

In addition to incorporating celebrity participation to reach non-traditional gaming audiences, the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Challenge was the first event to utilize FIFA Global Series Viewership Rewards, creating an interactive broadcast for viewers with in-game benefits for watching to further drive engagement and subsequent play time.

Reflecting on the event EA SPORTS FIFA Commissioner, Brent Koning, said:

“EA SPORTS FIFA is woven into the fabric of football culture. Bringing professional footballers and our esports pros together creates entertainment that sets our tournaments apart.

“The success of the FIFA 21 Challenge reinforces our strategy and vision for broadening the esports audience, creating content for our fans, and underscores the value of entertainment-driven events that branch outside of traditional esports.”

The FIFA 21 Challenge was a part of a series of EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series pre-season invitationals, featuring notable influencers, footballers, and FIFA pros, in partnership with the interactive entertainment world’s biggest video streaming and content platforms.

It’s a nod to EA’s renewed competitive gaming strategy, which leverages the convergence of traditional sports, competitive gaming, and pop culture to create new, engaging, and accessible broadcasts for diverse audiences.

AYO.NEWS says:

Viewership figures like this illustrate just how integrated esports, especially FIFA, is becoming in mainstream football culture, and the growth looks set to continue, and reflects well on EA’s competitive gaming strategy. Last month, EA announced improvements and a bigger prize pool for the upcoming esports season.