money

If lawmakers and regulators were already up in arms about loot boxes, especially in mobile games, they might have a storm coming once real gambling and betting apps start arriving on Google Play Store. Such apps that involve the risk of losing large sums of money have always been a thorny subject, which is why they were limited to an extremely low number of markets. Starting March, however, that will no longer the case as Google Play adds 15 more countries to that list.

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An almost unprecedented set of circumstances have created a situation in which normally diametrically opposed politicians agree on an action. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just called for a hearing on (and likely an investigation into) Robinhood's decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock "while hedge funds are able to trade the stock as they see fit." AOC continued, "As a member of the Financial Services Committee, I'd support a hearing if necessary."

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Robinhood, WeBull and other brokerages are down for the count, right now, thanks to extreme volatility in a wide variety of stocks across several markets. If we're looking at GameStop and AMC, we see massive market manipulation and calls from regulators to stop trading altogether. If we look at cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin, we see a bit more of the same.

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This afternoon Reddit was down for a period of time starting at around 11:29 PST. On January 27, 2021, Reddit was the subject of some scrutiny thanks to the extreme nature of stock prices after recommendations and pushes from Reddit's various stock-watching communities. The push involved stocks like GameStop, BlackBerry, and the movie theater company AMC.

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President Joe Biden's top pick for head of the US Treasury Department Janet Yellen responded to questioning this week by the US Senate Finance Committee. Questioning from Senator Maggie Hassan prompted Yellen to speak about cryptocurrency and the use of said digital currency by the public. Hassan asked Yellen about cryptocurrency and its use "for terrorist financing."

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We've seen an 1st Edition Gem Mint Charizard Pokemon Card sell for over two hundred thousand dollars. That's a card that was sold to the public, available in packs of cards you could purchase at your local sports card and Magic: The Gathering card game shop. It wasn't easy to get, but it was realistically attainable (if you had the cash back then). A 1st Edition Charizard has traditionally been the most sought-after card in the entire series. As of January of 2021, a different card supplanted the dragon.

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Hulu announced a "students" plan this week with an apparent "65% discount valid as long as you're a college student." This price would be for the "ad-supported plan" for approximately $1.99 USD per month, where it'd otherwise be $5.99 USD per month. Just so long as student enrollment status remains verified, the price shall remain, as verified by SheerID.

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This week the folks at the IRS responsible for issuing Stimulus Check money to the masses released a document. In this document, they answered a few questions about the latest payment (2 of 2) with regard to the Get My Payment tool and the status of each individual United States citizen. Earlier today we spoke about how some users will get a "Payment Status #2 - Not Available" message - now we're looking at what'll happen if you've changed bank accounts or home mailing addresses since you were given the first check back in early 2020.

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It would appear that the Stimulus Check pandemic payment process is going slightly different than expected. If you've gone ahead and checked the status of your payment - the second Stimulus Payment of the pandemic - you might've seen the message "Payment Status #2 - Not Available." Do not panic - this is normal. While some Americans already got a $600 payment in their bank account in the last week, others will need to wait a little longer.

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If you're waiting for that $600 stimulus money from the United States government, you might be in luck. Some citizens have reported that direct deposit cash has already been sent as part of the latest stimulus round for our ongoing global pandemic for COVID-19. If you got a check by mail earlier this year, chances are you'll get a check by mail again later this week or at some point early next week.

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The SEC announced a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc, and as such, XRP trading pairs are going offline on Coinbase. If any of that made any sense to you whatsoever, you probably know about cryptocurrency and quite possibly have some investment made in XRP. If you're using XRP on Coinbase right now, you'll want to finish up any sort of transactions you've got going before Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 10AM Pacific Standard Time if you want those transactions to be fulfilled.

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This week a new COVID-19 relief package is on the brink of passing in Washington DC. If the bill does pass as it's written right now, it would appear that each individual recipient of a "direct payment" will get about half of what they received in the first relief payment earlier this year. Not all Americans will be eligible for this payment. We'll know the full extent of the rules and regulations of this bill once it's been made public (via the internet) this afternoon.

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