Telegram will introduce ads, TikTok\u2019s parent company is moving into drug discovery and President Trump continues his battle against Section 230. This is your Daily Crunch for December 23, 2020.
\nThe big story: Telegram prepares to monetize
\nTelegram founder Pavel Durov said the messaging app will introduce advertising next year on public one-to-many channels. Durov wrote on his Telegram channel the ad platform will be \u201cone that is user-friendly, respects privacy and allows us to cover the costs of server and traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also pointed to premium stickers as another way that Telegram could monetize, while emphasizing that existing features will remain free and that he does not support showing ads in private chats.
\nIn addition to discussing the company\u2019s monetization plans, Durov said that Telegram is \u201capproaching\u201d 500 million users.
\nThe tech giants
\nNikola\u2019s stock crashes after announcing cancelation of contract with Republic Services for 2,500 garbage trucks \u2014\u00a0This is the latest deal to unravel for Nikola as it tries to patch up following recent devastating reports.
\nTikTok parent ByteDance hiring for AI drug discovery team \u2014\u00a0\u201cWe are looking for candidates to join our team and conduct cutting-edge research in drug discovery and manufacturing powered by AI algorithms,\u201d the company said in a job posting.
\nStartups, funding and venture capital
\nChinese autonomous driving startup WeRide bags $200M in funding \u2014 The new funding will see WeRide joining hands with Yutong, a 57-year-old company, to make autonomous-driving minibuses and city buses.
\nVoyager Space Holdings to acquire majority stake in commercial space leader Nanoracks \u2014\u00a0Nanoracks provided the Bishop Airlock that was installed on the International Space Station.
\nHonk introduces a real-time, ephemeral messaging app aimed at Gen Z \u2014\u00a0Instead of sending texts off into the void and hoping for a response, friends on Honk communicate via messages that are shown live as you type.
\nAdvice and analysis from Extra Crunch
\nDear Sophie: What\u2019s ahead for US immigration in 2021? \u2014\u00a0Sophie Alcorn weighs in on what\u2019s next for U.S. visas and green cards.
\nLooking ahead after 2020\u2019s epic M&A spree \u2014\u00a0This year, four deals involving chip companies totaled over $100 billion on their own.
\nHeading into 2021: Venture fundraising, liquidity and the everything bubble \u2014 Alex Wilhelm\u2019s final column of the year.
\n(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)
\nEverything else
\nTrump vetoes major defense bill, citing Section 230 \u2014\u00a0President Trump has vetoed the $740 million National Defense Authorization Act, a major bill that allocates military funds each year.
\nXRP cryptocurrency crashes following announcement of SEC suit against Ripple \u2014\u00a0The XRP token\u2019s value has declined more than 42% in the past 24 hours.
\nTaskRabbit is resetting customer passwords after finding \u2018suspicious activity\u2019 on its network \u2014\u00a0The company later confirmed the activity was a credential stuffing attack, where existing sets of exposed or breached usernames and passwords are matched against different websites to access accounts.
\nThe Daily Crunch is TechCrunch\u2019s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you\u2019d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here.<\/p>\n