Coinbase’s Armstrong and ARK Invest’s Wood Talk Crypto


Image: Brian Armstrong, Cathie Wood (Milken Institute)


ARK’s Cathie Wood and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong Talk About Crypto’s Outlook

ARK Invest’s founder and CEO took part in a panel discussion titled, Conversations with Crypto Pioneers. The discussion was held at the Milken Institute’s 2022 Global Conference and included Brian Armstrong who is the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase (COIN). When it comes to Bitcoin and other cryptos, both CEOs are strong advocates. What Ms. Wood and Mr. Armstrong had to share ought to be of great interest to investors whose wallets have shrunk with the recent weakness in this asset class.

According to Armstrong one billion people around the world will use cryptocurrency technology in one way or another by the end of the 2020s. Crypto has started to enter the mainstream over the past few years. Armstrong said, about 200 million people worldwide have used crypto. Institutional investors are increasingly embracing digital currencies in their portfolios, and some retirement savers may soon see Bitcoin as an option in their 401(k) plans.

Wood believes the rate of crypto adoption in the U.S. is slow because of regulatory uncertainty; she said, “I would’ve expected more clarity,” and added. “Basically we’ve come at this from a negative point of view, and I’ve seen other countries come at it from a positive point of view. If we’re not lucky, regulatory arbitrage is going to take the market away from us.”

“This is a new asset class, and you have to have a point of view,” Wood said.

Armstrong seems at odds with the official point of view of regulators and others in Washington. He’s not overly optimistic, noting a recent executive order from President Biden that calls for protections from the crypto industry’s potential innovations. And last month, the White House outlined a national policy to address the risks and benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has been cautious when it comes to regulating cryptos. He has said that many tokens traded on crypto exchanges are likely securities. As securities, they would require more disclosures from both the tokens as well as the platforms that are not now registered security exchanges. Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange.

“I think this is a very bipartisan issue,” said Armstrong, “The majority of people I met with in Congress, 50% or more, are now pro-crypto, they believe that this is a net good for society.” About one in five Americans have now used crypto or tried it in some way, Armstrong said, and the number is growing quickly. “That’s a massive voting group. It’s quickly becoming very politically unpopular to be anti-crypto,” according to Armstrong.

Both CEOs noted the application of blockchain technology in everyday life goes well beyond digital coins.

The Coinbase CEO sees use cases for the technology in social media. He was asked about his view on Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, to which he said the company has a huge opportunity to become a leader in decentralized social media, where users’ online identity and content aren’t owned by one particular platform, but by users themselves through a decentralized ledger. It would mean anyone could use all the information on Twitter and display it in various ways. “Essentially, it democratized access to [social-media content], and I think that’s one of the directions Twitter could go,” Armstrong said. “I imagine that there are a number of startups and other companies that will be building competing decentralized social media products if [Twitter doesn’t.]”

Both Armstrong and Wood agree crypto and blockchain technology could spur growth around the world over the next decade. The world will see a substantial portion of GDP coming from the crypto economy in 10 to 20 years, similar to e-commerce, the two agreed. “People think they might have missed the opportunity when they see Bitcoin at $70,000, but we are in fairly early days,” Wood advised.

With recent moves in financial assets, particularly crypto, those that held since last year are hurting. Bitcoin prices are down 20% year to date and 40% below their peak reached in November 2021. ARK Invest’s CEO who’s funds own crypto and crypto-related assets, was an early investor in digital assets and blockchain technology. Coinbase is the fifth-largest holding of the ARK Innovation exchange-traded fund (ARKK), the company’s flagship product.

Paul Hoffman

Managing Editor, Channelchek

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Sources

https://milkeninstitute.org/video/crypto-pioneers-conversations

https://milkeninstitute.org/events/global-conference-2022/overview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSo5r4y8Gpo

https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-crypto-adoption-global-gdp-coinbase-ark-51651619611?mod=grayscale

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Release – Information Services Group Announces First-Quarter 2022 Results and Increases Dividend by 33%



Information Services Group Announces First-Quarter 2022 Results and Increases Dividend by 33%

Research, News, and Market Data on Information Services Group

  • Reports
    GAAP revenues of $73 million, an all-time quarterly high, exceeding
    guidance
  • Reports
    net income of $5 million, GAAP EPS of $0.10 and adjusted EPS of $0.12, all
    first-quarter records
  • Reports
    record adjusted EBITDA of $11 million, exceeding guidance
  • Increases
    quarterly dividend by 33%, to $0.04 per share, effective with dividend
    payable June 17 to record holders as of June 3
  • Sets
    second-quarter 2022 guidance: revenues between $73 million and $75 million
    and adjusted EBITDA of between $10 million and $11 million

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, today announced record financial results, including its highest quarterly revenues ever, for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.

“ISG has begun 2022 in record fashion,” said Michael P. Connors, chairman and CEO. “We delivered our highest quarterly revenues ever, at $73 million, up 12 percent in constant currency, along with record profitability. Our growth to start the year continues our outstanding financial performance since the launch of our ISG NEXT operating model in 2020, underscoring our business momentum and supporting our decision to raise our quarterly dividend by 33 percent.”

Connors noted ISG also generated double-digit growth in recurring revenues, especially from its subscription research and platform businesses.

“Our strong performance reflects demand for our data, insights and advice, as clients continue to invest in technology to enable greater efficiency and faster growth. Our solution-centric approach and ISG iFlex delivery model allows us to serve specific client needs with greater delivery flexibility,” Connors said.

Connors said ISG sees market momentum continuing in 2022. “Demand continues to be strong, despite rising enterprise costs related to global inflation, continuing supply chain disruptions, geopolitical concerns, higher energy costs and high demand for tech talent,” he said.

During the first quarter, ISG continued to expand its ISG GovernX® platform business with the acquisition of automated contracting solution Agreemint. The AI-powered contracting platform brings important new capabilities to the market-leading GovernX vendor compliance and risk management solution and will be used by ISG to add value to future platform solutions now in development.

First-Quarter 2022 Results

Reported revenues for the first quarter were a record $72.6 million, up 9 percent versus last year and up 12 percent in constant currency. Currency translation negatively impacted reported revenues by $1.9 million versus the prior year. Reported revenues were $41.4 million in the Americas, up 9 percent versus the prior year; $23.5 million in Europe, up 3 percent versus the prior year on a reported basis and up 10 percent in constant currency, and $7.7 million in Asia Pacific, up 34 percent versus the prior year on a reported basis and up 40 percent in constant currency.

ISG reported first-quarter operating income of $7.7 million, up 54 percent from $5.0 million in the first quarter of 2021. The firm also reported record first-quarter net income and fully diluted income per share of $4.9 million and $0.10, respectively, versus net income of $3.4 million and earnings per share of $0.07 in the prior year. Net income margin (calculated by dividing net income by reported revenues) increased to 6.8 percent, from 5.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Adjusted net income (a non-GAAP measure defined below under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures”) for the first quarter was $6.4 million, or $0.12 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared with adjusted net income of $5.5 million, or $0.10 per share on a fully diluted basis, in the prior year’s first quarter.

First-quarter adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure defined below under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures”) reached a record $10.6 million, up 23 percent from the first quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin (a non-GAAP measure calculated by dividing adjusted EBITDA by reported revenues) was 15 percent, up more than 165 basis points from the prior year.

Other Financial and Operating Highlights

ISG generated $4.1 million of cash from operations in the first quarter, versus $12.1 million in the prior year. The firm’s cash balance totaled $43.7 million at March 31, 2022, down from $47.5 million at the end of the prior year. During the first quarter, ISG repurchased $5.5 million of shares and paid down $1.1 million of debt. As of March 31, 2022, ISG had $73.4 million in debt outstanding, compared with $77.7 million at the end of the first quarter last year. At 1.8 times, the firm’s gross-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA ratio (a non-GAAP measure calculated by dividing outstanding debt by adjusted EBITDA) was at a record low at March 31, 2022.

2022 Second-Quarter Revenue and Adjusted
EBITDA Guidance

“For the second quarter, ISG is targeting revenues of between $73 million and $75 million and adjusted EBITDA of between $10 million and $11 million,” said Connors. “We will continue to monitor the macroeconomic environment, including the impact of inflation and other factors, and adjust our business plans accordingly.”

Quarterly Dividend

The ISG Board of Directors approved a 33 percent increase in the quarterly dividend, from $0.03 per share to $0.04 per share, effective with the next quarterly dividend, payable on June 17, 2022, to shareholders of record on June 3, 2022.

Conference Call

ISG has scheduled a call for 9 a.m., U.S. Eastern Time, Tuesday, May 10, 2022, to discuss the company’s first-quarter results. The call can be accessed by dialing 1-800-304-0389; or, for international callers, by dialing +1 313-209-5140. The access code is 6633167. A recording of the conference call will be accessible on ISG’s website (www.isg-one.com) for approximately four weeks following the call.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains “forward-looking statements” which represent the current expectations and beliefs of management of ISG concerning future events and their potential effects. Statements contained herein including words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “expect,” “intend,” “will,” “continue,” “should,” “may,” and other similar expressions, are “forward-looking statements” under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Those risks relate to inherent business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies relating to the businesses of ISG and its subsidiaries including without limitation: (1) failure to secure new engagements or loss of important clients; (2) ability to hire and retain enough qualified employees to support operations; (3) ability to maintain or increase billing and utilization rates; (4) management of growth; (5) success of expansion internationally; (6) competition; (7) ability to move the product mix into higher margin businesses; (8) general political and social conditions such as war, political unrest and terrorism; (9) healthcare and benefit cost management; (10) ability to protect ISG and its subsidiaries’ intellectual property or data and the intellectual property or data of others; (11) currency fluctuations and exchange rate adjustments; (12) ability to successfully consummate or integrate strategic acquisitions; (13) outbreaks of diseases, including coronavirus, or similar public health threats or fear of such an event; and (14) engagements may be terminated, delayed or reduced in scope by clients. Certain of these and other applicable risks, cautionary statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from ISG’s forward-looking statements are included in ISG’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ISG undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

ISG reports all financial information required in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In this release, ISG has presented both GAAP financial results as well as non-GAAP information for the three months ended March 31, 2022, and March 31, 2021. ISG believes that evaluating its ongoing operating results will be enhanced if it discloses certain non-GAAP information. These non-GAAP financial measures exclude non-cash and certain other special charges that many investors believe may obscure the user’s overall understanding of ISG’s current financial performance and the Company’s prospects for the future. ISG believes that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors because they improve the comparability of the financial results between periods and provide for greater transparency of key measures used to evaluate the Company’s performance.

ISG provides adjusted EBITDA (defined as net income plus interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, foreign currency transaction gains/losses, non-cash stock compensation, interest accretion associated with contingent consideration, acquisition-related costs, and severance, integration and other expense), adjusted net income (defined as net income plus amortization of intangible assets, non-cash stock compensation, foreign currency transaction gains/losses, interest accretion associated with contingent consideration, acquisition-related costs, and severance, integration and other expense, on a tax-adjusted basis), adjusted net income per diluted share, adjusted EBITDA margin, and selected financial data on a constant currency basis which are non-GAAP measures that the Company believes provide useful information to both management and investors by excluding certain expenses and financial implications of foreign currency translations, which management believes are not indicative of ISG’s core operations. These non-GAAP measures are used by ISG to evaluate the Company’s business strategies and management’s performance.

We evaluate our results of operations on both an as reported and a constant currency basis. The constant currency presentation, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, excludes the impact of year-over-year fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. We believe providing constant currency information provides valuable supplemental information regarding our results of operations, thereby facilitating period-to-period comparisons of our business performance and is consistent with how management evaluates the Company’s performance. We calculate constant currency percentages by converting our current and prior-periods local currency financial results using the same point in time exchange rates and then compare the adjusted current and prior period results. This calculation may differ from similarly titled measures used by others and, accordingly, the constant currency presentation is not meant to be a substitution for recorded amounts presented in conformity with GAAP, nor should such amounts be considered in isolation.

Management believes this information facilitates comparison of underlying results over time. Non-GAAP financial measures, when presented, are reconciled to the most closely applicable GAAP measure. Non-GAAP measures are provided as additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP estimates contained herein to the corresponding GAAP measures is not being provided, due to the unreasonable efforts required to prepare it.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: 
III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 800 clients, including 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

Information Services Group, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income and
Comprehensive Income

(unaudited)

(in thousands, except per share amounts)

 

Three Months Ended March 31,

 

2022

 

 

 

2021

 

 

Revenues

$

72,563

 

$

66,571

 

Operating expenses

Direct costs and expenses for advisors

 

 

43,955

 

 

 

41,156

 

Selling, general and administrative

 

19,587

 

 

19,040

 

Depreciation and amortization

 

1,289

 

 

1,360

 

Operating income

 

7,732

 

 

5,015

 

Interest income

 

45

 

 

71

 

Interest expense

 

(563

)

 

(643

)

Foreign currency transaction gain (loss)

 

24

 

 

(11

)

 

Income before taxes

 

7,238

 

 

4,432

 

Income tax provision

 

2,308

 

 

1,008

 

Net income

$

4,930

 

$

3,424

 

 

Weighted average shares
outstanding:

Basic

 

48,526

 

 

48,504

 

Diluted

 

51,326

 

 

52,313

 

 

Earnings per share:

Basic

$

0.10

 

$

0.07

 

Diluted

$

0.10

 

$

0.07

 

 

Information Services Group, Inc.

Reconciliation from GAAP to Non-GAAP

(unaudited)

(in thousands, except per share amounts)

 

Three Months Ended March 31,

 

2022

 

 

 

2021

 

 

Net income

$

4,930

 

$

3,424

 

Plus:

Interest expense (net of interest income)

 

518

 

 

572

 

Income taxes

 

2,308

 

 

1,008

 

Depreciation and amortization

 

1,289

 

 

1,360

 

Interest accretion associated with contingent consideration

 

 

 

32

 

Acquisition-related costs (1)

 

10

 

 

(45

)

Severance, integration and other expense

 

110

 

 

135

 

Foreign currency transaction (gain) loss

 

(24

)

 

11

 

Non-cash stock compensation

 

1,503

 

 

2,148

 

Adjusted EBITDA

$

10,644

 

$

8,645

 

 

Net income

$

4,930

 

$

3,424

 

Plus:

Non-cash stock compensation

 

1,503

 

 

2,148

 

Intangible amortization

 

528

 

 

714

 

Interest accretion associated with contingent consideration

 

 

 

32

 

Acquisition-related costs (1)

 

10

 

 

(45

)

Severance, integration and other expense

 

110

 

 

135

 

Foreign currency transaction (gain) loss

 

(24

)

 

11

 

Tax effect (2)

 

(681

)

 

(958

)

Adjusted net income

$

6,376

 

$

5,461

 

 

Weighted average shares
outstanding:

Basic

 

48,526

 

 

48,504

 

Diluted

 

51,326

 

 

52,313

 

 

Adjusted earnings per share:

Basic

$

0.13

 

$

0.11

 

Diluted

$

0.12

 

$

0.10

 

 

 

(1)

Consists of expenses from acquisition-related costs and non-cash fair value adjustments on pre-acquisition contract liabilities.

(2)

Marginal tax rate of 32%, reflecting U.S. federal income tax rate of 21% plus 11% attributable to U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions.

 

Information Services Group, Inc.

Selected Financial Data

Constant Currency Comparison

 

Three Months

Three Months

Three Months

Constant

Ended

Three Months

Constant

Ended

Ended

currency

March 31, 2022

Ended

currency

March 31, 2021

March 31, 2022

impact

Adjusted

March 31, 2021

impact

Adjusted

Revenue

$

72,563

$

1,237

$

73,800

$

66,571

$

(722)

$

65,849

Operating income

$

7,732

$

234

$

7,966

$

5,015

$

(272)

$

4,743

Adjusted EBITDA

$

10,644

$

242

$

10,886

$

8,645

$

(279)

$

8,366

 

Source: Information Services Group, Inc.

Tokens.com Corp. (SMURF) – Beefing Up the P2E Segment

Thursday, May 05, 2022

Tokens.com Corp. (SMURF)
Beefing Up the P2E Segment

Tokens.com Corp is a publicly traded company that invests in Web3 assets and businesses focused on the Metaverse, NFTs, DeFi, and gaming based digital assets. Tokens.com is the majority owner of Metaverse Group, one of the world’s first virtual real estate companies. Hulk Labs, a wholly-owned Tokens.com subsidiary, focuses on investing in play-to-earn revenue generating gaming tokens and NFTs. Additionally, Tokens.com owns and stakes crypto assets to earn additional tokens. Through its growing digital assets and NFTs, Tokens.com provides public market investors with a simple and secure way to gain exposure to Web3.

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Joshua Zoepfel, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Adding More Assets. Tokens.com announced that the Company subsidiary, Hulk Labs, has acquired play-to-earn gaming assets in two platforms, Arcade Land and BitBrawl. Hulk Labs acquired land parcels in Arcade Land and avatar NFTs. The amounts invested in each platform were not disclosed.

Arcade Land Overview. Arcade Land is a Metaverse land-based world that focuses on gaming and play-to-earn. The world holds 10,000 unique plots where NFT holders can build out their parcel and allow other holders to visit, hangout, and play games. These holders can also build stores, place advertising, and sell items, in additional to the land holding yield earning potential, depending on the size, similar to Decentraland….

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Deeper Dive to Understanding Machine Learning


Image Credit: MIT News


Unpacking Black-Box Models

Adam Zewe | MIT News
Office

Modern machine-learning models, such as neural networks, are often referred to as “black boxes” because they are so complex that even the researchers who design them can’t fully understand how they make predictions.

To provide some insights, researchers use explanation methods that seek to describe individual model decisions. For example, they may highlight words in a movie review that influenced the model’s decision that the review was positive.

But these explanation methods don’t do any good if humans can’t easily understand them, or even misunderstand them. So, MIT researchers created a mathematical framework to formally quantify and evaluate the understandability of explanations for machine-learning models. This can help pinpoint insights about model behavior that might be missed if the researcher is only evaluating a handful of individual explanations to try to understand the entire model.

“With this framework, we can have a very clear picture of not only what we know about the model from these local explanations, but more importantly what we don’t know about it,” says Yilun Zhou, an electrical engineering and computer science graduate student in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and lead author of a paper presenting this framework.

Zhou’s co-authors include Marco Tulio Ribeiro, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research, and senior author Julie Shah, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and the director of the Interactive Robotics Group in CSAIL. The research will be presented at the Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics.

Understanding Local Explanations

One way to understand a machine-learning model is to find another model that mimics its predictions but uses transparent reasoning patterns. However, recent neural network models are so complex that this technique usually fails. Instead, researchers resort to using local explanations that focus on individual inputs. Often, these explanations highlight words in the text to signify their importance to one prediction made by the model.

Implicitly, people then generalize these local explanations to overall model behavior. Someone may see that a local explanation method highlighted positive words (like “memorable,” “flawless,” or “charming”) as being the most influential when the model decided a movie review had a positive sentiment. They are then likely to assume that all positive words make positive contributions to a model’s predictions, but that might not always be the case, Zhou says.

The researchers developed a framework, known as ExSum (short for explanation summary), that formalizes those types of claims into rules that can be tested using quantifiable metrics. ExSum evaluates a rule on an entire dataset, rather than just the single instance for which it is constructed.


Using a graphical user interface, an individual writes rules that can then be tweaked, tuned, and evaluated. For example, when studying a model that learns to classify movie reviews as positive or negative, one might write a rule that says “negation words have negative saliency,” which means that words like “not,” “no,” and “nothing” contribute negatively to the sentiment of movie reviews.

Using ExSum, the user can see if that rule holds up using three specific metrics: coverage, validity, and sharpness. Coverage measures how broadly applicable the rule is across the entire dataset. Validity highlights the percentage of individual examples that agree with the rule. Sharpness describes how precise the rule is; a highly valid rule could be so generic that it isn’t useful for understanding the model.

Testing Assumptions

If a researcher seeks a deeper understanding of how her model is behaving, she can use ExSum to test specific assumptions, Zhou says.

If she suspects her model is discriminative in terms of gender, she could create rules to say that male pronouns have a positive contribution and female pronouns have a negative contribution. If these rules have high validity, it means they are true overall and the model is likely biased.

ExSum can also reveal unexpected information about a model’s behavior. For example, when evaluating the movie review classifier, the researchers were surprised to find that negative words tend to have more pointed and sharper contributions to the model’s decisions than positive words. This could be due to review writers trying to be polite and less blunt when criticizing a film, Zhou explains.

“To really confirm your understanding, you need to evaluate these claims much more rigorously on a lot of instances. This kind of understanding at this fine-grained level, to the best of our knowledge, has never been uncovered in previous works,” he says.

“Going from local explanations to global understanding was a big gap in the literature. ExSum is a good first step at filling that gap,” adds Ribeiro.

Extending the Framework

In the future, Zhou hopes to build upon this work by extending the notion of understandability to other criteria and explanation forms, like counterfactual explanations (which indicate how to modify an input to change the model prediction). For now, they focused on feature attribution methods, which describe the individual features a model used to make a decision (like the words in a movie review).

In addition, he wants to further enhance the framework and user interface so people can create rules faster. Writing rules can require hours of human involvement — and some level of human involvement is crucial because humans must ultimately be able to grasp the explanations — but AI assistance could streamline the process.

As he ponders the future of ExSum, Zhou hopes their work highlights a need to shift the way researchers think about machine-learning model explanations.

“Before this work, if you have a correct local explanation, you are done. You have achieved the holy grail of explaining your model. We are proposing this additional dimension of making sure these explanations are understandable. Understandability needs to be another metric for evaluating our explanations,” says Zhou.

Reprinted with permission of MIT News” and a link to the MIT News homepage ( http://news.mit.edu/)


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Blackboxstocks (BLBX) – E*Trade Integration and Mobile App Launch

Wednesday, May 04, 2022

Blackboxstocks (BLBX)
E*Trade Integration and Mobile App Launch

Blackboxstocks, Inc. is a financial technology and social media hybrid platform offering real-time proprietary analytics and news for stock and options traders of all levels. Our web-based software employs “predictive technology” enhanced by artificial intelligence to find volatility and unusual market activity that may result in the rapid change in the price of a stock or option. Blackbox continuously scans the NASDAQ, New York Stock Exchange, CBOE, and all other options markets, analyzing over 10,000 stocks and up to 1,500,000 options contracts multiple times per second. We provide our users with a fully interactive social media platform that is integrated into our dashboard, enabling our users to exchange information and ideas quickly and efficiently through a common network. We recently introduced a live audio/video feature that allows our members to broadcast on their own channels to share trade strategies and market insight within the Blackbox community. Blackbox is a SaaS company with a growing base of users that spans 42 countries; current subscription fees are $99.97 per month or $959.00 annually. For more information, go to: www.blackboxstocks.com .

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Joshua Zoepfel, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

A Busy Day. Blackboxstocks’ management recently announced the release of the Company’s native mobile app on the iOS and Android app stores, as well as the integration with E*TRADE with the Blackbox platform.

Mobile App Launch. The Company officially completed the development of the Blackbox app and released it on Apple and Android phones. Recall, the app utilizes most of the features of the desktop site (over 90% according to the Company) while also giving the user real time alerts on their device even when not actively using the app….

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

TAAL Distributed Information Technologies (TAALF) – Reports 4Q21 Results

Tuesday, May 03, 2022

TAAL Distributed Information Technologies (TAALF)
Reports 4Q21 Results

TAAL Distributed Information Technologies Inc. delivers value-added blockchain services, providing professional-grade, highly scalable blockchain infrastructure and transactional platforms to support businesses building solutions and applications upon the BitcoinSV platform, and developing, operating, and managing distributed computing systems for enterprise users.

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Joshua Zoepfel, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

4Q21 Results. TAAL had previously pre-announced 4Q revenue in the $13.75-$14.25 million (CAD) range. Actual revenue came in at $14.7 million, with income before value adjustments of $8.1 million, and net income of $832,100, or $0.02 per share. We had projected revenue of $13.55 million, income before value adjustments of $8.9 million, and net income of $2.6 million, or $0.06 per share.

New Brunswick Facility Sale. TAAL has completed the sale of the New Brunswick facility purchased in December. TAAL will receive $24 million for the facility, which it will lease back. The purchaser has agreed to invest $20 million to upgrade the facility to host hashing operations. The net proceeds from the sale provides TAAL substantial liquidity.

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

SEC Announces Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit Will Double in Size


Image Credit: Richard Patterson (Flickr)


SEC Nearly Doubles Size of Enforcement’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just announced (May 3) that an additional 20 positions will be added to the unit responsible for protecting investors in crypto markets and from cyber-related threats. The newly renamed Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (formerly known as the Cyber Unit) in the Division of Enforcement will expand to 50 staff members dedicated to the unit.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who once taught blockchain and crypto at MIT, says the crypto industry is rife with fraud and abuse. He likens it to the “Wild West.”

“The U.S. has the greatest capital markets because investors have faith in them, and as more investors access the crypto markets, it is increasingly important to dedicate more resources to protecting them,” said Chairman Gensler. “The Division of Enforcement’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit has successfully brought dozens of cases against those seeking to take advantage of investors in crypto markets.

By nearly doubling the size of this key unit, the SEC expects to be better equipped to police wrongdoing in the cryptocurrency markets while continuing to identify disclosure and controls issues surrounding cybersecurity.” Since its creation in 2017, the unit has brought more than 80 enforcement actions related to fraudulent and unregistered crypto-asset offerings and platforms. This has resulted in monetary relief totaling more than $2 billion.

The expanded Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will leverage the agency’s expertise to ensure investors are protected in the crypto markets, with a focus on investigating securities law violations related to:

  • Crypto asset offerings
  • Crypto asset exchanges
  • Crypto asset lending and staking products
  • Decentralized finance (“DeFi”) platforms
  • Non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”)
  • Stablecoins

In addition, the unit has brought actions against SEC registrants and public companies for failing to maintain adequate cybersecurity controls and for failing to appropriately disclose cyber-related risks and incidents.

The Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will continue to tackle cyber-related threats to U.S. markets. “Crypto markets have exploded in recent years, with retail investors bearing the brunt of abuses in this space. Meanwhile, cyber-related threats continue to pose existential risks to our financial markets and participants,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “The bolstered Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will be at the forefront of protecting investors and ensuring fair and orderly markets in the face of these critical challenges.” The expansion by 20 additional positions into the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will bolster the ranks of its supervisors, investigative staff attorneys, trial counsels, and fraud analysts in the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC, as well as several regional offices.

Paul Hoffman

Managing Editor, Channelchek

Suggested Reading



Cryptocurrencies in 2022, a View from Academics



The SEC Wants to Extend Investor Protections to Crypto Platforms





Metaverse: Is The Future Real? – Panel Presentation from NobleCon18



The World Is HOT Right Now! – Panel Presentation from NobleCon18

Source

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-78

 

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Tokens.com Corp. (SMURF) – Broadening the Scope

Monday, May 02, 2022

Tokens.com Corp. (SMURF)
Broadening the Scope

Tokens.com Corp is a publicly traded company that invests in Web3 assets and businesses focused on the Metaverse, NFTs, DeFi, and gaming based digital assets. Tokens.com is the majority owner of Metaverse Group, one of the world’s first virtual real estate companies. Hulk Labs, a wholly-owned Tokens.com subsidiary, focuses on investing in play-to-earn revenue generating gaming tokens and NFTs. Additionally, Tokens.com owns and stakes crypto assets to earn additional tokens. Through its growing digital assets and NFTs, Tokens.com provides public market investors with a simple and secure way to gain exposure to Web3.

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Joshua Zoepfel, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

A New Subsidiary. Tokens.com’s management announced that its subsidiary, Metaverse Group, launched a new advisory service practice called Metaverse Advisors. This practice will provide virtual land brokering and consulting services for clients looking to get into virtual worlds. 

More into the Subsidiary. The Company expanded on the services offered with the subsidiary, including software analytics and reporting tools for clients in evaluating virtual land, appraisals, and visitor traffic information (includes time spent in a virtual store or on a property). As the Company has experience across a couple of different worlds, this can be leveraged towards these services….

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision.