How Biden Is Seeking to Reshape Business via the CHIPS Act

February 28, 2023
Business

“I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight.”

— Rupert Murdoch, acknowledging in a deposition that several Fox News hosts promoted the false narrative, pushed by Donald Trump, that the 2020 election was stolen. Experts said the admission bolstered the defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against the network.

A bet on blockchain-powered cellphone service

It might seem like bad timing to launch a blockchain-based start-up right now, given public skepticism of crypto-adjacent companies. But Really, a company that promises to marry blockchain with a new cellphone network, is pushing ahead. (Other telecom start-ups are using blockchain as well, including Pollen Mobile and Helium, but the market remains small for now.)

DealBook is first to report that Really has raised an $18 million seed round, one of the largest by a U.S. telecom, to create a decentralized wireless provider, rolling out first in Austin, Tex. Backers include the venture firm Polychain and Mike Maples Jr., a founding partner of Floodgate Fund.

It wasn’t originally about blockchain. Adam Lyons, Really’s founder, first came up with a wireless provider comparison site, similar to what his previous company, The Zebra, which was backed by Mark Cuban, had done for insurance. But starting early last year, he and his team got more ambitious. (The comparison site will initially be Really’s biggest source of revenue.)

How it works:

Really is built on a network of small wireless towers. The towers, mounted on the roof or balcony of a user’s home or business, draw on the owner’s internet connection to provide service. Regular users would get mobile service starting at $7 a month.
Really uses blockchain software to monitor network coverage and process what tower owners should be paid.
Really will help certain tower owners, including schools, hospitals and nonprofits, with blockchain access and subsidies for internet service. “With decentralized wireless, the idea is that the community itself can create cell coverage,” Mr. Lyons told DealBook.

There’s still plenty to be worked out. Tower owners will initially get paid in tokens created by Really, meaning the company will have to navigate U.S. securities rules, as the S.E.C. is increasingly finding that most tokens are securities. (The plan is for owners to eventually be paid in dollars.) Mr. Lyons said the company was consulting with legal counsel to ensure it complies with telecommunications and securities rules.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/28/business/chips-biden-child-care-business.html