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30 Jun 2025

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Discord is now paying users with ‘Orbs’ to watch ads and play games
Announced last week via blog post, Discord has begun testing its own digital currency called “Discord Orbs,” which are virtual rewards for completing so-called “Quests” on the Discord platform. Discord says they’re dedicated to making Quests the “most authentic, engagement-centric advertising product in gaming,” which currently come in two types: Play Quests and Video Quests. With Play Quests, you can either play the advertised game for a specified length of time while logged into the Discord desktop app, or stream with the desktop app to at least one friend in a voice channel for a specified length of time. With Video Quests, you must fully watch the advertised video in the desktop or browser app. Discord The Orbs you earn through Quests can be spent in the Shop to buy things like Nitro credits, badges, avater decorations, profile effects, and more. As of this writing, you can’t buy gifts, recurring Nitro or Boosting subs, or partner-branded shop items. So far, main benefit of Orbs seems to be the ability to try Nitro without paying for a subscription. Orbs are currently rolling out to select users around the world; over time, “many more” will gain access to Orbs as rewards. However, it’s unclear whether Orbs will eventually roll out to all Discord users and, if so, what the timeline will look for the full rollout.

Dollar decline: Is the US dollar about to be replaced?
The world's reserve currency is losing its dominance.

Police arrest trio after toy store damaged, high-speed 50km dash across Auckland
Dash began after 3.18am burglaries at a currency exchange and toy store in Browns Bay.

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When will we see King Charles on our currency?
The King's coins will circulate alongside Queen Elizabeth's coins.

Crypto millionaires are being targeted by kidnappers in Europe
Any sufficient accumulation of wealth can make someone a target for crime, and cryptocurrency has been a popular tool for scammers thanks to its “anonymous” possibilities. Those two factors appear to be combining in disturbing ways in a wave of kidnappings and ransoms in western Europe. Wealthy crypto investors are now being singled out for kidnappings, according to police. A report from The Guardian (via PCGamer) says that a man was abducted on the streets of Paris last Thursday, with masked attackers forcing him into a van and then holding him captive until police rescued him on Saturday. Five men were arrested at the house after a raid, but unfortunately the unnamed victim had a finger cut off in a rather cliché ransom attempt. The kidnappers were apparently trying to extort his son—a “crypto-millionaire”—before the scheme fell apart. Two other crypto-driven kidnappings have occurred in France, one in January and one in December, both times with the victim recovered by police after raids and with some significant distress. Similar stories have occurred in Spain and Belgium, again, with the victims recovered by police and at least some kidnappers arrested. Cryptocurrency is a unique variable in this pattern of wealthy kidnappings and ransoms. Though cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are easily trackable via public blockchain ledgers, the holders of the currency themselves can be anonymous, leading to its popularity as a method for fraud, money laundering, and other crime. It’s possible—though by no means easy or straightforward—to move cryptocurrency into conventional wealth and evade law enforcement, especially over international borders. The cryptocurrency boom seems to be over now that “mining” crypto, which is essentially the process of turning electricity into digital wealth, is no longer as profitable as it once was. But the accumulations of wealth via cryptocurrency are still very much in the spotlight, attracting criminals to take advantage of less-informed investors via old-fashioned “pump-and-dump” schemes with a fresh coat of paint. Cryptocurrency is also a favorite tool of romance scams, with victims lured into putting real money into fake coins via the promise of investment gains in a system called “pig butchering.” These organized crime setups are doubly disturbing, as they require huge operations that often use kidnapping and forced labor in developing countries.