Raketech, the Malta-based online gambling affiliate marketing company, has appointed Oscar Karlsten as new Chief Operating Officer. 

Karlsten has been with the company since the start of the month, and will be responsible for its central operations, product development, and investments, and focusing on creative content, SEO and UX. 

He was previously Chief Information Officer and Chief Product Officer at affiliate marketing company Catena Media, and has also been CEO at Avantime Group AB, and worked at Toca Boca and Google. 

Commenting on the appointment Raketech CEO, Oskar Mühlbach, said:

“Oscar’s extensive experience within the digital marketing industry brings many valuable insights and expertise to Raketech. With him onboard, we have now secured the last piece of the management puzzle and I am very much looking forward to seeing him accelerate our transformation from affiliation to the iGaming performance marketing partner.”

While Karlsten himself added:

“I’m incredibly excited to be a part of Raketech. There’s such a positive buzz in the company and after meeting all of the people I can’t wait to add my experience into the mix. With the team and strategy we have in place – I truly believe we will reshape performance marketing as we’ve seen it.”

As we recently reported, Raketech saw profits plunge by 77% during the first quarter of 2020, despite revenue increasing slightly. 

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Blockchain lottery company Quanta has appointed Ioannis Papachristou as SVP, Managing Director, of its Isle of Man operations. 

Papachristou has extensive experience in managing operations and projects, and is said to be a dynamic and motivated professional with a proven track record of managing projects from concept to completion. 

Introducing Papachristou Quanta’s CEO, Harmen Brenninkmeijer, said:

“Ioannis is able to respond quickly to changes that occur on a daily basis in fast moving industries. As a member of senior management, the managing director is also expected to promote expansion and innovation within the industry.”

While Papachristou himself added:

“I am excited to take on this role and to focus on Quanta’s potential to utilise revolutionary technology to bring unparalleled security, transparency, and immutability to the gaming sector and beyond. As a true believer in Quanta’s vision for the future, I have confidence in the new management team and its ability to lead the company to success.”

Staying with Quanta, in March we reported the company had appointed John Kamara as SVP African Operations, while in February Jason Yee was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the company.

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Isle of Man-based esports betting operator Luckbox has welcomed US soccer player Luis Robles as an investor. 

Robles is goalkeeper for Inter Miami – the Major League Soccer (MLS) team co-owned by David Beckham. He also has a degree in finance from the University of Portland and is a keen investor. 

Regarding his investment, Robles said:

“On the road, I’ll be watching Netflix, while my room-mate is watching Twitch. My team-mates, they’re watching in the same way they watch an opponent for a football match. They like to see tactics and strategies, what people are using and what works so that they can use those things in their own game.

“That to me was mind-blowing. And yet, it’s what people are doing and it shows the importance of esports in our culture right now. With what’s going on in the world right now, a lot of the way we’ve been able to maintain a connection with our fanbase, is through FIFA – using FIFA as an avenue through which players can still compete, while entertaining and engaging fans.

“I love investing, I love diversifying my portfolio and looking at different decks and wishing I could get involved and Luckbox has given me a great opportunity to do that.”

While CEO of Luckbox, Quentin Martin, added:

“It’s well documented that esports is super-hot right now and many famous names from the world of sports and entertainment have recognised this by backing a host of projects. We’ve been live in 100 countries for just over a year now, so we’re still a very young company. To have the support of someone as highly respected as Luis is clearly a massive boost for our company.

“For sports fans, betting on outcomes is often an extra way to enjoy the match experience. Safe, legal and legitimate betting is increasingly important to esports and, over the coming years, it will be the dominant driver of revenue for the industry.”

Financial terms of the investment have not been disclosed. The news follows this week’s announcement that the operator is to list itself publicly on the TSX Venture Exchange. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Clearly there’s a useful publicity value when a major celebrity or sports star invests in an esports business, but it’s also an indication of how the perception of esports is evolving to those in the traditional sports and entertainment industries.

Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Odell Beckham Jr have all invested in pro gaming in recent years. Just a couple of months ago we reported Tribe Gaming had secured over $1m in a seed funding round that included Boston Celtics player Gordon Hayward, and WWE pro wrestler Claudio “Cesaro” Castagnoli. 

‘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. 

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Ira Kleiman’s legal team has claimed Craig Wright already has the key to the encrypted “Satoshi” file, containing keys to over 820,000 Bitcoin (BTC). 

According to documents filed with the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, Kleiman’s legal team cited the movement of $1.6m worth of BTC from addresses supplied to the court, and Wright’s public threats to tank the BTC market – something that could easily be done with access to over 820K BTC – as proof of their extraordinary claim. 

In total, the “Satoshi” file contains keys to 820,200 BTC, along with blockchain related intellectual property. The BTC would be worth nearly $7 billion at today’s prices.

The Kleiman estate is suing Wright over the Bitcoin that was allegedly mined in partnership with the late Dave Leiman – a partnership that Wright denies ever existed. It is the evidence of that alleged partnership that, according to Kleiman’s team, is motivating Wright to prevent access to the “Satoshi” file. 

Kleiman’s team has also pointed to Wright’s “sustained pattern of perjury, forged evidence, misleading filings, and obstruction,” citing four specific instances when he lied under oath, including gone just last week when he produced forged documents relating to his divorce. 

A jury trial is set to commence for the case on 6 July…

AYO.NEWS says:

If ever there was a movie-worthy legal drama, this is it. Over the past year we’ve seen team Wright file a US copyright registration for the Bitcoin White Paper, ask for a ludicrous 90-year extension to a Fee Motion, and get a ruling ordering him to hand over half his Bitcoins overturned. 

Although the crypto community seems to be mostly anti-Wright, he does still have some supporters, and the value of the BTC at stake means there’s every reason for both parties to fight to the very end – and a clear incentive for people on both sides to “bend the truth,” to say the least!

‘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. 

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Robert Kiyosaki, author of New York Times bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad, has advised people to buy Bitcoin to save themselves from a coming economic crash.

Despite receiving its fair share of criticism, Rich Dad Poor Dad has sold over 32 million copies since it was first self-published in 1997, and Kiyosaki has become a well-known social media personality, with 1.3m followers on Twitter alone. 

On 19 May, he took to Twitter to denounce the Federal Reserve’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and urging investors to buy gold, silver, and Bitcoin (BTC). 

NEW YORK CITY GOING BROKE. All cities count on INCOME TAX, SALES TAX & REAL ESTATE TAXES, especially COMMERCIAL RE. Add pension contributions for teachers firefighters & police. USA GOING BROZkE. FED PRINTING FAKE $ cannot SAVE YOU. Get gold silver Bitcoin and SAVE YOUR SELF.

— therealkiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) May 19, 2020

A few hours earlier, he’d tweeted harsh criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, accusing him of murdering the economy with “fake pandemic fears.” Kiyosaki also urged people to prepare for more virus alarmism in the autumn. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Though Kiyosaki isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, he does have a lot of influence on social media, and his comments will have been noted by many. And, despite Bitcoin (BTC) still seemingly stuck below $10K, Kiyosaki is just the latest in a growing chorus of notable voices warning that the cryptocurrency is about to come into its own as the traditional economy plummets into a self-inflicted death spiral in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns. 

Over the past few weeks former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager and current Global Macro Investor CEO, Raoul Pal, has speculated about $1m BTC, CEO of Pantera Capital, Dan Morehead, said $500 BTC is possible by summer 2021, crypto analyst PlanB used a modified Stock-and-Flow model to predict $288K BTC by the end of this year, and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht put his money on $333m BTC within a few years. 

Meanwhile everybody’s favourite crypto eccentric John McAffee is still banking on $1m Bitcoin by the end of this year, and has warned about the imminent collapse of fiat currencies (and advised everyone to “buy peanut butter”). 

In addition to individual predictions, we’re also starting to see some interesting signs in crypto trading and activity. For example, last week we reported that open interest on Chicago Mercantile Exchange Bitcoin options had exploded, surging over 1,000%, while two weeks ago Silvergate Bank said it had seen BTC transaction volumes surge during the first quarter of 2020. 

‘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

Payment processing platform MoneyMatrix has appointed Samoil Dolejan as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. 

In his new role as head of MoneyMatrix, Dolejan will be overseeing the strengthening of its operational capacity, expansion of client portfolio, and the growing offering of payments solutions. 

Before joining EveryMatrix and working in software development, Dolejan had worked in finance. He has a degree in Business Administration and a masters degree in Risk Management, and has overseen multiple projects of private equity funding over the course of his career. 

During his five years at EveryMatrix, he has held the CEO position of EveryMatrix’s PAM, and CFO position for the Group. 

Part of the EveryMatrix Group, MoneyMatrix is a Malta-based standalone Financial Institution, regulated by the MFSA. The company says it currently handles more than €100 million in monthly transactions, and caters for more than 60 iGaming merchants. 

Commenting on Dolejan’s appointment, Group CEO of EveryMatrix, Ebbe Groes, said:

“I am delighted to have Samoil on board as the CEO of our payments company. Samoil’s experience with EveryMatrix gives him the competitive edge a person in this role needs to understand the operational and financial requirements of clients.

“Over the years, Samoil has become a trusted stakeholder in the company, and I do not doubt that he can keep MoneyMatrix on the path of prosperity and success. He can run the long marathon, not take the easy route, and still achieve his ambitions, which proves he’s the right man for this job.”

While Dolejan himself added:

“EveryMatrix is a company that pushes people to achieve their biggest ambitions. The payments industry, where the competition is fierce, is a great place to test your metal.

“Constant changes are driving innovation and shifting the balance of power between players. The conversation is changing from “how much will it cost?” to “how much value will it bring?”. Companies that will be able to bring consolidated value to their clients will be successful. MoneyMatrix has many value-adding features that help companies of all sizes to be agile and profitable, and I am excited to help the world learn about them!”

Staying with EveryMatrix, last week the company published a report on the state of esports betting in 2020, showing huge growth, especially in titles like FIFA and NBA 2K. 

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