BlockChain Report 11/27: Kobe Bryant involved in Crypto?

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Welcome to The Blockchain Report, your daily rundown for the latest in crypto, with your host Taylor Nikolai. Today: Kobe Bryant is in the crypto space.

Kobe Bryant is planned to speak at a TRON cryptocurrency event.

According to The Next Web, TRON founder Justin Sun, known for his extravagant and occasionally outlandish marketing for TRON, announced that Kobe Bryant will be speaking at a TRON summit. Sun said: “I have been a huge fan of Kobe and deeply inspired by his journey. It’s my great honor to have Kobe as our special guest for the niTROn Summit… It’s worth mentioning that Kobe Bryant is not only a basketball genius, but also an investment genius. We look forward to hearing his great speeches at the summit.”

Apparently, Kobe Bryant is investment and business savvy himself. Bryant once turned $6 million into $200 million after Coca-Cola purchased a stake in a sports drink, of which Kobe Bryant is the primary shareholder. However, it’s still a bit unclear how Kobe Bryant’s experience relates to technology, blockchain, or cryptocurrency in any way. A TRON spokesperson even said: “We can’t draw any conclusions about [Kobe’s] involvement in blockchain […] for now.”

Know who else is planning on having a cryptocurrency conference? North Korea.

According to CCN, North Korea has announced plans to hold a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in an effort to showcase the country’s technological advancement, as well as to support blockchain technology. The conference is planned to last for an entire week, and attendees will have an opportunity to be given a tour of the country. (Awkward)

Although Americans are welcome to attend (although it’s unclear how many actually will), people from South Korea, Israel, and Japan will not be able to attend the conference.

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Journalists are also banned. North Korea doesn’t like people talking about them.

Although this move might come as surprising, the truth is North Korea has been involved in cryptocurrency for quite some time. Last year, a cybersecurity firm found software on various computers that mine Monero and then send the Monero to the Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang.

And finally on today’s show, Overstock is going all-in on blockchain technology.

According to Mashable, the internet’s earliest online retailer Overstock has decided that it will sell its entire ecommerce business in February to focus exclusively on cryptocurrency and blockchain startups.

This year Overstock has lost $163 million.

Overstock’s CEO Patrick Byrne explained how Overstock has made a $175 million investment into Medici Ventures. Medici Ventures is a VC firm that funds blockchain startups. However, Medici Ventures isn’t the first time Overstock has been involved with cryptocurrency. Overstock is known for being the first major retail store to accept Bitcoin back in 2014.

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Patrick Byrne obviously has a lot of faith in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

Thanks for watching The Blockchain Report, If you want to stay up to date on all the latest crypto news and trends, be sure to follow us on Instagram, @BlockchainReport. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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