Let’s take a break from obsessing about GDPR and obsess about blockchain. TechCrunch says venture capitalists have invested more than $1.3 billion so far this year, more than the previous eighteen months combined. Not really surprising.

And one more acquisition: retail data giant dunnhumby bought Aptaris, an enterprise promotion management platform. It illustrates the trend towards integration of customer data management with data activation. You like trends, right?

Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation.  The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.