Crypto Retro

2022-11-23 20:00:08 ​​Kenyan legislation establishes crypto taxation, creates consumer protections.

The country’s first effort at crypto regulation amends its Capital Markets Law to define crypto as a security and establish reporting, tax and other requirements.

An amendment was introduced to the Kenyan Capital Markets Law on Nov. 21 that would require those who own or deal in cryptocurrencies to provide the country’s Capital Markets Authority with information on their activities for tax purposes, local media reported. This is the first time Kenya has extended financial regulation to cryptocurrency.

Under the Capital Markets (Amendment) Bill, Kenyans would pay capital gains taxes to the Kenyan Revenue Authority when they sell or use digital currencies. Cryptocurrency held for less than a year would be subject to income tax, while after that, capital gains tax would apply. Kenya has an income tax that ranges from 10% to 30%. Banks already charge an excise duty of 20% on all commissions and fees on crypto trades.

The author of the bill, Member of Parliment Abraham Kirwa, said:

“The amendment will provide for the definition of digital currencies, its creation through crypto mining and provide for regulations around trading of digital currencies. The amendment will also outline responsibilities of persons or businesses trading in digital currencies, provide for its taxation, ownership and provide for promotion of innovation in this area.”

The bill would define digital currencies as securities, provide for the licensing of individual crypto traders and create a centralized electronic register of transactions in digital currencies in the country. It would also institute consumer protection measures, such as creating a fund “to protect investors from financial loss arising from the failure of a licenced broker or dealer” and privacy guarantees.

A Chainalysis survey released in September ranked Kenya 19th worldwide in cryptocurrency adoption and fifth in peer-to-peer trading. The proposed amendment comes simultaneously with a call by Kenyan President William Ruto to double the country’s tax base. Open / Comment

2022-11-20 20:00:09 ​Singapore State Fund Temasek Writes Down $275 Million Investment in FTX.

As the recent collapse of major exchange FTX continues to ravage the crypto markets across the world, Singapore’s state-run fund Temasek has decided to write down the $275 million investment made into the failed crypto exchange.

“We invested US$210 million for a minority stake of ~1% in FTX International, and invested US$65 million for a minority stake of ~1.5% in FTX US, across two funding rounds from October 2021 to January 2022,” Temasek said in a statement. “In view of FTX’s financial position, we have decided to write down our full investment in FTX, irrespective of the outcome of FTX’s bankruptcy protection filing.”

“We believe that exchanges form a key part of global financial systems. The thesis for our investment in FTX was to invest in a leading digital asset exchange providing us with protocol agnostic and market neutral exposure to crypto markets with a fee income model and no trading or balance sheet risk,” according to the Singaporean entity.

Temasek says the fund’s portfolio of investments is worth as much as S$403 billion ($293.5 billion), which means that the latest development is unlikely to exert a major impact on its activities.

“The cost of our investment in FTX was 0.09% of our net portfolio value of S$403 billion as of 31 March 2022,” according to the statement.

At the same time, Temasek said its investment in FTX was not part of a larger strategy to expand the fund’s exposure to crypto.

“There have been misperceptions that our investment in FTX is an investment into cryptocurrencies. To clarify, we currently have no direct exposure to cryptocurrencies,” the entity said.

Temasek also declared that similarly to its other investments, “we conducted an extensive due diligence process on FTX, which took approximately 8 months from February to October 2021. During this time, we reviewed FTX’s audited financial statement, which showed it to be profitable.”

This said the Singaporean entity admitted that its decision to trust the fund’s money to a company run by Sam Bankman-Fried was not based on a correct evaluation of the motives that were driving FTX’s founder. Open / Comment

2022-11-17 20:00:19 ​​NFT rides shotgun as Red Bull Racing closes out F1 season.

Red Bull Racing will close out a successful Formula 1 season with an NFT emblazoned on both drivers’ vehicles at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology firms continue to feature in the world of Formula 1, with a nonfungible token (NFT) making its mark on Red Bull Racing’s vehicles to close out the 2022 calendar.

Red Bull Racing dominated the F1 season, topping the constructors’ standings, while Max Verstappen closed out the drivers’ standings for a second consecutive season. With the curtain closing on 2022’s race schedule in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 20, the team’s cars will feature an NFT on their livery in what is being called a first in F1.

Red Bull Racing struck a deal with cryptocurrency exchange Bybit as a principal team partner in February 2022, one of a handful of cryptocurrency firms sponsoring teams in Formula 1. The exchange’s logo will feature alongside Lei the Lightning Azuki, an NFT artwork and character from the anime-inspired Azuki collection.

The original Lei Azuki NFT is one of 10,000 NFTs from the collection. The 8494 is currently listed on OpenSea and is valued at around 9 Wrapped Ether (wETH), or $11,100 at the time of writing.

Red Bull Racing’s Lei the Lightning Azuki will be a limited edition version of 8494 and is set to be minted on the Tezos blockchain and available through Bybit’s NFT marketplace.

A statement from Red Bulls Racing’s team principal, Christian Horner, highlighted the ongoing exploration of Web3 use cases through the partnership in the sporting world

“In many ways, it’s been an eye opener for us to the vast opportunities Web3 has to offer. This unique project is the perfect combination of creativity, innovation, and passion which matches our ethos on the track.”

The sport of Formula 1 has been a big proponent of the cryptocurrency space. Cryptocom signed a major sponsorship deal in June 2021 as its official cryptocurrency and NFT partner. Fan token blockchain platform Chiliz has also partnered with a handful of F1 teams over the past two years.

McLaren became the first team to carry out a ‘livery takeover’ with their main sponsor OKX in 2022. Cointelegraph had an exclusive interview with Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo about the partnership at Token2049 in Singapore in October 2022. Open / Comment

2022-11-17 15:00:16 Cheelee: GameFi short video platform. Watch. Play. Earn.

Cheelee is the first GameFi short video platform where the user can make money while viewing the feed. Upon registration of your in-app wallet, you receive special NFT glasses, and you can start making money.

The mechanics are based on the Attention Economy model, where user’s attention is treated as a commodity for which social networks begin to pay. I looked into WP and got to the point.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights:
1. A sustainable financial model. An extremely important indicator in the current market.

Cheelee is a social network, whose revenue is by 30% provided by advertising, in-game purchases and collaborations with brands, while for most m2e projects this figure is no more than just 1%.

2. The project is focused on a wide audience of social networks, it is 4.6 billion people, and plans to reach the 1st billion in the next 4 years.

3. The Cheelee social network was not created from scratch. There are almost three years of development behind it, 100+ team members, experience and continuity in the form of NUTSon social network with more than 1.5M uploads.

4. Free project entry. You do not need to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to become a member of Cheelee, you just need to sign-up and start using the app.

5. You can earn without changing any of your habits. Just scroll through the feed, watch videos and get tokens.

All this sounds cool, but what about the prospects for the token price?

The emission of tokens is limited. There is a deflationary economic model, while the complexity of the mining will increase.

To support the token rates (there will be two CHEEL and LEE), the project has a Stability Fund, where up to 100% of profits from NFT sales and in-app transactions and 70% of advertising revenue, in-game purchases and collaboration with brands will be donated.

Now there is a chance to get WL and take a part in the giveaway of 50 000$!!!

https://bit.ly/3hAT7Xl Open / Comment

2022-11-15 20:00:10 XRP Price Surge: Judge Analisa Torres on Coinbase Leading XRP Price Surge? Whales Add 139 Mln XRP

Tuesday granted Coinbase’s request to file Amicus Brief in the support of Ripple Fair Notice Defense. This major update in the Ripple lawsuit has directly pushed the XRP price to shoot up.

However, this has also spiked the whales’ interest in the XRP.

https://coingape.com/xrp-price-surge-coinbase-leading-xrp-price-rally/?kl Open / Comment

2022-11-14 20:00:10 ​​Payments company Curve bids for BlockFi’s 87,000 credit card customers.

A Curve spokesperson has confirmed they have been in negotiations to acquire BlockFi’s credit card program's customers since Nov. 12.

Payments company Curve is in active discussions to acquire crypto lender BlockFi’s more than 87,000 credit card customers — whose credit cards have been suspended since Nov. 11.

A Curve spokesperson told Cointelegraph that “outreach and negotiations” started on Nov. 12 and are still in the process with Banking as a Service (BaaS) company Deserve, which services the BlockFi card program.

“Terms are being negotiated actively between Curve and Deserve, but a sale or partnership, if agreed to, is pending the conclusion of due diligence,” the spokesperson said.

“The primary point of contact for the pending negotiation is Deserve/ Evolve, not BlockFi, but that is an understanding that needs to be confirmed,” they added, noting also that Curve is not interested in BlockFi’s assets.

Should the acquisition succeed, the fintech is looking to continue BlockFi’s credit card program, noting that customers will still be able to earn crypto rewards.

They also said an added benefit of a successful acquisition is that customers from BlockFi’s credit card program “will not be ported to yet another centrally-held exchange.”

Reports over the weekend suggested that Binance US and Coinbase were also pursuing BlockFi’s credit card customers as well.

A spokesperson from Coinbase however clarified to Cointelegraph that: “We’re not engaged in any conversations or efforts related to BlockFi's card program,” while Binance US has not yet responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.

The bid for BlockFi’s credit card customers comes days after BlockFi announced it was suspending withdrawals on Nov. 11, citing the ongoing saga with crypto exchange FTX as the cause.

The same day BlockFi credit card users flooded Twitter reporting their cards were no longer working and had received messages from BlockFi confirming the cards had been suspended because of “recent events at BlockFi.”

Some users were further antagonized when they received messages from BlockFi informing them they would still be required to keep up with their credit card payments. Open / Comment

2022-11-11 20:00:10 ​​The Clearing House stands up for bank rights, opposes CBDC in comments for US Treasury.

The payments operator responded to a Treasury inquiry related to the presidential executive order with an appeal to keep bank interests in sight when designing digital assets.

United States payment systems operator The Clearing House has released its response to a Treasury Department request for comment on “digital-asset-related illicit finance and national security risks as well as the publicly released action plan to mitigate the risks.” The Clearing House found significant security serious risks associated with digital assets, but was concerned that banks should have the same opportunities to participate in the market as nonbanks.

The Treasury Department issued its request for comments Sept. 20 as part of its ongoing response to President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14067 of March 9, 2022, “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.” In its 22-page response letter, The Clearing House addresses some of the questions posed by the Treasury, and it highlights five main points that its sees as ways to mitigate national security and illicit finance risks posed by privately issued non-bank digital assets (many cryptocurrencies and stablecoins) and U.S. government tokens (CBDCs). The letter, dated Nov. 3, was made public on Nov. 10.

The Clearing House called for a federal prudential framework with standards for digital assets service providers that are equivalent to those for depository financial institutions engaged in functionally similar activities. Furthermore, banks “should be no less able to engage in digital-asset-related activities than nonbanks.”

The company minces no words on CBDC, stating:

“The risks associated with the possible issuance of a CBDC in the U.S. outweigh its potential benefits and, therefore, it should be determined that a CBDC is not in the national interest.”

In the event the United States decides to adopt a CBDC, “the foundational requirements in place to prevent criminal and illicit use of commercial bank money must be applied to a U.S. CBDC in such a way that criminal actors are not incentivized to use CBDC,” the company writes. Open / Comment

2022-11-09 16:00:12 ​Kucoin has listed AirDAO's AMB token with a USDT pair.

Kucoin — one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges — has listed AirDAO's $AMB token with a USDT pair, giving its 25 million users an exciting opportunity to participate in AirDAO’s rapidly developing DeFi ecosystem.

Previously known as Ambrosus, AirDAO is the governance DAO for the Ambrosus Network blockchain (AMB-NET). The first DAO to govern an entire L1 blockchain, AirDAO also equips traders with the AirDAO Dashboard — a single, easy-to-use interface of powerful dApps that simplifies the complexity of DeFi into an all-in-one solution. $AMB is both the DAO's governance token and the native utility token, acting as the gas for transactions on the Ambrosus network.

As part of the promotions for the $AMB listing, Kucoin is running a Net Holding competition with a $30,000 $AMB token reward pool for participants, a Twitter airdrop, and a participation reward campaign.

DYOR: Website | Telegram | Twitter Open / Comment

2022-11-08 20:00:16 ​​US authorities announce conviction connected to Bitcoin stolen from Silk Road.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams cited “state-of-the-art cryptocurrency tracing” and “good old-fashioned police work” in the authorities recovering the stolen Bitcoin.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has announced that an individual has pled guilty to wire fraud charges connected to “unlawfully obtained” Bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace in 2012.

In a Nov. 7 announcement, the U.S. Justice Department said James Zhong pled guilty to wire fraud charges related to executing a scheme to steal roughly 50,676 Bitcoin from Silk Road. Authorities seized the Bitcoin from Zhong’s home in the state of Georgia in November 2021, at which time the total value of the crypto was roughly $3.36 billion.

“James Zhong committed wire fraud over a decade ago when he stole approximately 50,000 Bitcoin from Silk Road,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “For almost ten years, the whereabouts of this massive chunk of missing Bitcoin had ballooned into an over $3.3 billion mystery.”

Williams cited “state-of-the-art cryptocurrency tracing” and “good old-fashioned police work” in the authorities tracking down and recovering the stolen BTC. IRS special agents raided Zhong’s property, finding more than 50,491 BTC in a floor safe and “on a single-board computer that was submerged under blankets in a popcorn tin” in addition to another hoard of more than 11 BTC, $661,900 in cash, and 25 Casascius coins worth roughly 174 BTC.

“This case shows that we won’t stop following the money, no matter how expertly hidden, even to a circuit board in the bottom of a popcorn tin.”

According to the Justice Department, Zhong’s scheme involved creating nine accounts on the marketplace to conceal his identity and triggering more than 140 transactions in short order “to trick Silk Road’s withdrawal-processing system” to send the BTC. He was able to set up the accounts with “the bare minimum of information” and didn’t conduct any listings or sales. After withdrawing more BTC than he had deposited, Zhong moved the funds out of Silk Road and “consolidated them into two high-value amounts.” Open / Comment

2022-11-08 19:00:07 $MRST Listing on OKX

$MRST is being listed on the top tier global exchange OKX!

MRST deposits open at 8:00 am UTC on Nov. 7
MRST/USDT, MRST/USDC Spot trading open at 9:00 am UTC on Nov. 9
MRST withdrawals open at 10:00 am UTC on Nov. 10

Spot trading as well as DEX will be available!


10,000 $MRST AIRDROP EVENT
https://gleam.io/Zxf8k/mrst-listing

Check out The Mars: Metaverse Project
https://linktr.ee/mars_labs

Join OKX:
https://okx.com/join/55599569 Open / Comment