The hype around esports is fading, as teams and organizations shrink due to a weak sponsorship and ad market, falling VC investment, and the crypto meltdown (Cecilia D’Anastasio/Bloomberg)

Cecilia D’Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear says the US could use legislation to create “a third option” between contractors and employees to classify creators and gig workers  —  Twitch Chief Executive Officer Emmett Shear thinks US employment laws could be improved to better support content creators …

Asa Hiken / Ad Age:
Sources: Crypto.com saw a 30%-40% reduction in headcount between June and August, with 2,000+ employees leaving the company, mostly due to layoffs  —  The cryptocurrency exchange has been dramatically downsizing its marketing deals and headcount in the wake of crypto winter  —  May 7 was a joyous day at Crypto.com.

Cecilia D’Anastasio / Bloomberg:
An analysis of Twitch streams from October 2020 to August 2022 shows Twitch’s moderation tools often failed to stop children streaming and adults grooming them  —  The gaming platform’s design enables people to find and exploit kids in real-time  —  Graphics and illustrations by Rachael Dottle

Esports is growing in schools around the country, and organizations are working with districts to build this activity into curricula and after-school programs.
“We’re working to legitimize esports,” said Carolyn Navarro, an executive assistant for the North America Scholastic Esports Federation, during the California Esports Roundtable at the California IT in Education conference.
Heidi Baynes and Steve Hickman, educational technology coordinators for the Riverside County Office of Education, also spoke on how their office is supporting schools’ implementation of esports programs.
“We’re…

Cecilia D’Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Amazon’s Twitch makes changes to address child predation concerns, including mandatory phone verification and improving account termination for users under 13  —  Twitch, the video game livestreaming site popular with teens and kids, announced changes it’s making on the platform to increase safety …

Adam Cochran / @adamscochran:
[Thread] A detailed timeline of FTX’s meltdown, starting in September: SBF’s jab at CZ, CoinDesk’s article, CZ sells FTT, “FTX is fine”, Alameda woes, and more  —  1/82 I’ll be pinning this detailed timeline, as my final piece covering this topic, as now the case is closed in my mind. This was a crime plain and simple and I’ll put no more wind in this criminals sails: FTX: Meltdown. The definitive and chronological thread.