Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

An Indian industry association has written to the country’s finance minister seeking clarity on cryptocurrency taxation in Union Budget 2022-23. “The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Council should detail the applicability of taxation, else there will be confusion.” Industry Wants Clarity in Crypto Tax Laws in Union Budget 2022-23 Indian industry association Indiatech has written to the country’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, regarding cryptocurrency taxation. The association represents major cryptocurrency exchanges in India, including Coinswitch Kuber, Wazirx, and Coindcx. In its letter, the association asked the finance minister for clarity regarding crypto taxation in Union Budget 2022-23. The industry body also urged the government to amend existing tax laws to include crypto assets. Indiatech’s president and CEO, Rameesh Kailasam, told Ettech: The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Counc

Mai Capital Management’s chief equity strategist and regional president, Chris Grisanti, has predicted that this year will be tough for crypto largely due to regulations. However, he expects established cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, to “do quite well” once regulations come into focus. Equity Strategist’s Crypto Predictions Mai Capital Management’s Chris Grisanti shared his outlook for the cryptocurrency market in an interview with CNBC Thursday. Grisanti, CFA, is chief equity strategist and regional president of Mai Capital Management, a wealth management firm that provides planning and investment advisory services. Noting that crypto is “almost a victim of its own success,” Grisanti detailed: I think it’s going to be a tougher year for crypto … There will be calls for regulation from all over the place — from China, from Europe, and here in the United States. Nonetheless, the equity strategist sees some cryptocurrencies coming out ahead. “I do think there will b

Just recently the reality star, American Youtuber, and Tiktoker Stephanie Matto made international headlines after raising $200K from selling her farts contained in mason jars online. After Matto had to go to the hospital and after a doctor told her the farting idea was causing her to get hospitalized, she’s decided to sell her fart jars as non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. Tiktoker Reveals Fart Jars NFT Collection The Youtuber and Tiktoker Stephanie Matto chose an interesting career choice when she decided to sell her farts in mason jars to paying customers online. The wind-breaking entrepreneur managed to acquire $200,000 for her mason jarred farts, but the idea was taking a physical toll on her body. That’s according to a doctor who told her the farting idea was an issue after Matto was recently hospitalized. In order to be more conscious of her body, Matto is now leaning on blockchain technology to continue her fart-selling career. Matto, the former reality star of TLC’s

Last month, the lead vocalist of System of a Down, Serj Tankian, hosted an art exhibition with the non-fungible token (NFT) platform and marketplace Curio NFT. The physical and virtual-melded art show was called “Not for Touching” and this week Tankian told Bitcoin.com News that he believes NFT technology has opened new doors for his artistic expression. This week Bitcoin.com News chatted with System of a Down’s (SoaD) lead vocalist, Serj Tankian , about non-fungible token (NFT) tech and how it has given him the ability to express his art in a new way. In December, Tankian and Curio NFT hosted an art exhibition featuring the artist’s NFT artwork called “Not for Touching.” Tankian has been an artist for years, but NFTs has given the SoaD singer a new way “to affect multiple senses simultaneously” and he stressed that he’s always interested in having “a stronger impact artistically.” The following is an in-depth discussion with SoaD’s Serj Tankian that Bitcoin.com News recorded on Ja

Police in Kosovo seized another batch of over 200 mining devices as part of raids that started on Thursday. The offensive against underground crypto farms was launched after authorities in Pristina banned the power-hungry minting of digital currencies amid an energy crisis in the country. Authorities in Kosovo Confiscate Mining Hardware in Serb Majority North Law enforcement officers in Kosovo have confiscated hundreds of mining machines as part of efforts to curb crypto mining activities in the face of electricity shortages. One person has been arrested in the latest police operation in the predominantly Serb northern part of the country. A statement issued by the Kosovo police revealed that the authorities have seized 272 devices used for the production of cryptocurrency in the municipality of Leposavic, AFP reported. “The whole action took place and ended without incidents,” Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla noted in a post on Facebook. Finance Minister Hekuran Murati also took t

China’s social media giant, Wechat has said it will support the digital yuan in a move that is expected to increase the of Chinese residents that use the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). Wechat’s support of the digital yuan potentially avails the digital currency to the social media’s 800 million active users. New App Provides Access to CBDC Wechat, one of China’s biggest messaging and payment apps, is reportedly set to support the digital yuan, China’s CBDC. The addition of the CBDC to the social platform is expected to boost the adoption rate of the digital yuan. The messaging giant’s decision to support the CBDC comes shortly after the central bank’s launch of the e-cny app that gives users in certain Chinese regions and cities access to the digital yuan. However, as the report in the Coinrivet notes, Wechat’s announcement, as well as the inclusion of Alibaba’s Alipay in the digital currency’s ecosystem, suggests that the e-cny app alone may not achieve the central bank

PRESS RELEASE. Chicago, IL – 9th January, 2022 – Denjary Watru , the creator of the Game On NFT has dropped an NFT that is sure to become highly sought after by all those who know and understand Bitcoin, its implications for society going forward, and who have an appreciation for the value of digital art. According to Denjary, the inspiration for the Game On NFT happened during his routine treadmill workout and while talking on the phone to a friend, attempting to explain Bitcoin. Surrounded by sports themed pictures on the walls of the exercise area of his home, he had the thought of using a football metaphor to help his friend (who loves football) to better understand Bitcoin. At the end of the call, when the friend said the metaphor had really helped him to get it, Denjary went to his desk and began sketching some of the ideas expressed during the call. Eleven months later, after assembling a team of creatives, the Game On NFT was born. The artwork is titled Game On because

The government in Turkey does not intend to impose a 40-percent levy on crypto-related gains as has been alleged, members of the ruling AKP party have indicated to the local press. They have also emphasized that the current regulatory efforts are aimed at creating a sustainable environment for the blockchain industry. Turkey to Establish Regulatory Base for Cryptocurrency Market A legislative proposal tailored to regulate cryptocurrency trade in Turkey is likely to be submitted to the parliament in the upcoming weeks. Sources from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the country’s ruling political force, have “strongly denied” allegations that authorities in Ankara are going to tax cryptocurrency gains at a rate of 40%, the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet reported. One of the AKP representatives, the deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary group Mustafa Elitaş, commented on social media last month that the new law will serve to regulate Turkey’s crypto system, while “preventing

Investors from Pakistan have become victims of a massive fraud using cryptocurrency. The country’s main law enforcement agency has issued a notice to crypto exchange Binance in relation to the scam which resulted in the loss of $100 million dollars for Pakistanis, media reports revealed. Fraudsters Lure Pakistanis to Invest in Cryptocurrency Through Binance Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency ( FIA ) has uncovered a crypto investment scam that has allegedly cost Pakistani citizens some 17.7 billion rupees (around $100 million). Providing details on the case, Imran Riaz, director of the FIA cybercrime wing, said on Friday that the organizers used cryptocurrency. Quoted by local media, Riaz announced: We launched a probe after receiving complaints regarding a fraud involving billions of rupees being committed using nine online applications. The fraudsters employed mobile apps offering Pakistanis crypto investment opportunities and people sent between $100 and $80,000, or an av

Members of the U.S. Federal Reserve are getting criticized this week after the central bank published its minutes report from the policy meeting on December 14-15. Following the update, the outgoing vice chair of the Federal Reserve’s trading activities has reignited ethics conversations. Richard Clarida’s Trades Under Scrutiny The U.S. central bank can shake up markets and this was seen earlier this week when the Federal Reserve published last month’s policy meeting update which indicated the Fed’s plans to raise rates and cut back quantitive easing (QE). Not too long after, the New York Times (NYT) published a new disclosure report concerning the outgoing vice chair of the Federal Reserve, Richard Clarida. NYT author Jeanna Smialek wrote that “corrected disclosures show that Vice Chair Richard H. Clarida sold a stock fund, then swiftly repurchased it before a big Fed announcement.” The reporter further added that “Clarida, the departing vice chair of the Federal Reserve, failed

This week Google Trends shows that the acronym NFT, which stands for non-fungible token, has reached a score of 100, the highest score a search query can get from the data analytics aggregator. Meanwhile, statistics indicate that during the last 30 days across ten different blockchains, there’s been $2.73 billion in NFT sales. NFT Monthly Volume Sees Close to $3 Billion in Sales — Axie Infinity, Clonex, MAYC Sales Reign While the crypto economy has seen a downturn, it’s too early to say whether or not it’s affecting NFT sales. However, monthly statistics show that across ten different blockchain networks including Ethereum, Ronin, Solana, Flow, Polygon, and more, there’s been $2.73 billion in NFT sales. The collection with the most sales stemmed from the Ronin chain or the Axie Infinity blockchain video game NFT compilation. Over the last 30 days, metrics indicate Axie Infinity saw $219.5 million in sales. Month-over-month, Axie Infinity sales are down 66.51%. The NFT collection C

Four days ago, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) was coasting along at $255.84 billion and since then, the TVL has dropped ​​8.55% in value. During the last 24 hours, the TVL has slid 2.80%, and Curve’s $23 billion locked today represents 9.84% dominance. Value Locked in Defi Takes a Hit, TVL Down 2.8% in 24 Hours Since digital currency markets have been dropping in value during the last few days, the value locked in decentralized finance has slipped as well. In four days, the TVL in defi dropped 8.55% from $255.84 billion to today’s $233.95 billion. Curve Finance holds the largest TVL today and is dominant by more than 9.84% with $23 billion locked. This is followed by Convex Finance, Makerdao, Aave, WBTC, and Instadapp, respectively. The biggest seven-day drop in terms of a defi protocol’s TVL in the top ten protocols is Lido, which lost 14.03% this week. The decentralized exchange (dex) Uniswap lost 9.44% this week and WBTC shed 7.63% due to bitcoi

A group of investors in Africrypt are reportedly pushing to have criminal charges pressed against directors of the now-defunct cryptocurrency investment platform. Opponents of the move have argued that this push is unlikely to succeed because many of the investors have already been reimbursed part of their funds. Mystery Investor Injects More Than $5 Million Into Africrypt In a new twist to the Africrypt saga, a group of investors in the collapsed cryptocurrency investment platform is reportedly taking steps to ensure criminal charges are leveled against the firm’s two missing directors. The move by these investors comes just a few weeks after a mystery investor paid more than $5 million to rescue Africrypt. According to a Bloomberg report , this group of investors wants the matter resolved quickly and has raised the possibility of pursuing the case via a private prosecution. These investors are being represented by Sean Pierce of Coast to Coast Special Investigations. In an interv

Johann Steynberg, the wanted CEO of Mirror Trading International was recently arrested by Brazilian law enforcement after he was caught using a fake document. The arrest, which took place in the country’s Goiás province, was carried out by the Brazilian military police. Fake IDs, Laptops, and Credit Cards Seized Johann Steynberg, the CEO of Mirror Trading International (MTI), a bitcoin Ponzi scheme, was recently arrested by Brazilian law enforcement after he was caught using a false document, reports from the South American country have said. Following the arrest, credit cards, laptops, and fake identification were also seized. As per several Portuguese language reports, Steynberg, who is on Interpol’s wanted list, was apprehended in the Goiás province by members of an elite unit within Brazil’s military police. In a statement confirming the arrest, the Brazilian military police also shared details of the steps taken before the decision to capture Steynberg was made. The statemen

On December 31, the software community founded in 1998, Mozilla, announced it was accepting crypto-asset donations via Bitpay. However, shortly after the announcement, a number of people complained about the decision the company made. A week later, Mozilla has announced it is backing away from digital currency acceptance for now and has “paused the ability to donate cryptocurrency.” Mozilla Revealed Crypto Acceptance Last Week and Quickly Backed Away After Backlash Last week, Mozilla, the current owners of the Gecko layout engine, the Thunderbird email client, and the Firefox web browser revealed it was accepting crypto donations via the payment processor Bitpay. “Dabble in dogecoin? HODLing some bitcoin [and] ethereum? We’re using Bitpay to accept donations in cryptocurrency,” Mozilla tweeted at the time. Mozilla co-founder Jamie Zawinski criticized Mozilla’s crypto acceptance decision immediately after the tweet. “Hi, I’m sure that whoever runs this account has no idea who I am

While bitcoin, non-fungible token (NFT) assets, ethereum, and cryptocurrencies had an incredible year in 2021, none of the trends made it into Google’s “Year in Search” review. Currently, interest in bitcoin, in terms of Google searches has dropped considerably since the week of May 16th through the 22nd of last year. Search trends for the term “bitcoin” have slid 72% since it scored the highest score of 100 last May to today’s score of 28. Worldwide Search Queries for ‘Bitcoin,’ ‘Ethereum,’ and ‘Cryptocurrency’ Continue to Slide Interest in bitcoin, NFTs, cryptocurrency and ethereum has waned according to Google search trends. Essentially, the web page Google Trends analyzes the popularity of top search queries worldwide and regionally and it scores specific terms and phrases by the number of searches. Last year, crypto-assets like BTC and ETH reached all-time price highs and interest increased a great deal during those specific time frames. Typically, when the price reaches new

The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, is not deterred by bitcoin’s volatility, noting that buying the dip could yield “a good profit.” He reiterated that he will receive his first three paychecks in bitcoin and will make New York City the center of blockchain technology. New York Mayor Hints at Buying the Dip The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, is undeterred by the falling price of bitcoin. A former New York City police captain and Brooklyn borough president, Adams took office on Jan. 1 as the 110th mayor of New York City. He was asked on CNBC Thursday whether he has been paid in bitcoin since he said last year that he will take his first three paychecks in BTC . Commenting on the price of bitcoin this week and how it would have affected his paychecks if he had been paid in the cryptocurrency, the new mayor of New York City laughed and said: Sometimes the best time to buy is when things go down, so when they go back up, you’ve made a good profit. “Yes, I’m going to take

The price of bitcoin is down 16% over the last 30 days and since the crypto asset’s all-time high (ATH) on November 10, 2021, bitcoin has lost more than 38% since it surpassed $69K per unit that day. Meanwhile, crypto advocates are furiously debating whether this is a bitcoin bear market or if the bull market is still intact. To many observers bitcoin’s current market cycle is not complete, as no solid peak had formed, and speculators still expect another bubble to come to fruition. The Four Phases of the Price Cycle — Bitcoin Traders Debate Cycle Position, Trader Insists ‘Early February Will Be the Move’ Many digital currency traders pay attention to tops and bottoms and the four stages of the market cycle. The stages include the accumulation phase, the uptrend phase, the distribution phase, and the downtrend or capitulation phase. One could say that the accumulation phase took place 666 days ago on March 12, 2020, when the price of bitcoin slipped below the $4K per unit zone. On

PRESS RELEASE. We work harder every year to increase production of the consumer goods that meet everyone’s needs, but in many parts of the world, water pollution, over-fishing and environmental degradation are making the job increasingly difficult (and dangerous). The world’s population is growing and the oceans are becoming increasingly polluted. Our oceans have become “plastic soups”. In addition, the environmental effects of processing cryptocurrencies, due to the enormous consumption of electricity, have already been reported. For this reason, more environmentally friendly solutions are being sought to reduce the energy impact. Global Innovative Solutions is taking action by launching GSI, the Green Token that helps clean up the planet’s pollution (for real). Global Innovative Solutions: The GREEN revolution The company has undoubtedly distinguished itself from the many projects in the crypto market with an innovative and valuable initiative. GSI finances and develops eco

Boba Network, an L2 (layer 2) expansion layer for Ethereum, has announced the launch of what it calls “Wagmi” options as a way of incentivizing builders and supporters to be invested in the project. The incentive programs will be distributed amongst different projects on the chain and will be based on various indicators such as active wallets and project-specific total value locked (TVL). Wagmi Options to Serve as Incentives for Building on Boba Boba Network, an optimism-based L2 (layer 2) solution for Ethereum, has announced the launch of an incentives program using Wagmi options. These options, according to the Boba team, will be a different solution from what other chains have tried before. With Wagmi options, which will depend on network parameters such as total value locked (TVL), or specific project developments, the team hopes to keep the momentum going inside of its network. On this, the Boba team explained: Traditional liquidity mining programs are zero-sum: users come

Minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on December 14-15 show that the central bank is being persistent about unwinding quantitive easing (QE) tactics and that it views ultra-low interest rates as no longer necessary. Global markets immediately dropped after the news was published as stock markets roiled, crypto markets shed billions, and precious metals like gold slipped a hair in value as well. US Central Bank Policy Meeting Suggests the QE and Low-Interest Rate Fiesta Is Coming to an End, Global Markets Lose Billions Recently published notes from the Fed meeting last month indicate that the U.S. central bank thinks the economy is healthy enough to unwind major asset purchases and increase the benchmark interest rate. Mizuho Bank’s Vishnu Varathan wrote in a report that the minutes update from the Fed “bludgeoned the markets” after it was published. Barron’s financial author Randall W. Forsyth wrote that investors being “surprised, is somewhat surprising.” Fed c

Measures imposed by authorities to quell mass protests in mining hotspot Kazakhstan are affecting cryptocurrency markets and the Bitcoin network hashrate. To deal with the civil unrest caused by rising fuel prices and a worsening economy, the government restricted access to the internet and closed down local banks. Fears are rising that the turmoil may spark another major migration of miners now that some are already leaving the country, which also faces power shortages. Government Takes Country Offline as Protests Rage in Major Cities, Russia Sends Troops Thousands of Kazakhstanis took to the streets this week to express their anger over the socioeconomic conditions in their country after the government removed a cap on prices of natural gas and other fuels. Protests erupted in the country’s largest city, Almaty, the capital Nur-Sultan, and in the western Mangistau province. Authorities have imposed a state of emergency. Over 1,000 citizens have been injured, official media report

On January 5, digital currency markets shed a great deal of value as bitcoin dropped below the $44K handle during the late afternoon (EST) trading sessions on Wednesday. Nearly every coin has shed 24-hour value, but a slew of crypto assets have seen double-digit gains and have managed to stave off the crypto economy downturn. This Week’s Double-Digit Crypto Gainers At the time of writing, the crypto economy is down more than 7% to a low of $2.16 trillion on Thursday, January 6, 2022. The price of bitcoin ( BTC ) has lost 7% this week as well as it dropped below the $44K zone from the $46K region where it sat 24 hours prior. BTC ’s current 24-hour range is between $46,901 per unit and a low of $42,466 per unit. Other top crypto assets have shed significant value as well as ethereum ( ETH ) is down more than 10%, binance coin ( BNB ) has lost over 8%, and solana (SOL) has dipped more than 11% in USD value. Weekly metrics were recorded on January 6, 2022, at 9:45 a.m. (EST). Despite