Crypto
European Parliament members vote in favor of crypto and blockchain tax policies
Members of the Parliament of the European Union voted in favor of a non-binding resolution aimed at using blockchain to fight tax evasion and coordinate tax policy on cryptocurrencies. In an Oct. 4 notice, the European Parliament said 566 out of 705 members voted in favor of the resolution originally drafted by member Lídia Pereira. According to the legislative body, the resolution recommended authorities in its 27 member states consider a “simplified tax treatment” for crypto users involved in occasional or small transactions and have national tax administrations use blockchain technology “to facilitate efficient tax collection.” For cryptocurrencies, the resolution called on the European Commission to assess whether converting crypto to fiat would constitute a taxable event, depending on...
Bitcoin miner profitability under threat as hash rate hits new all-time high
The Bitcoin hash rate hit a new all-time high above 245 EH/s on Oct. 3, but at the same time, BTC miner profitability is near the lowest levels on record. With prices in the low $20,000 range and the estimated network-wide cost of production at $12,140, Glassnode analysis suggests “that miners are somewhat on the cusp of acute income distress.” Bitcoin network hash rate. Source: Hashrate Index Generally, difficulty, a measure of how “difficult” it is to mine a block, is a component of determining the production cost of mining Bitcoin. Higher difficulty means additional computing power is required to mine a new block. Utilizing a Difficulty Regression Model, the data shows an R2 coefficient of 0.944 and the last time the model flashed signs of the miners’ distress was during BTC...
Basel Committee: Banks worldwide reportedly own €9.4 billion in crypto assets
According to a new study published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a supranational organization responsible for setting the standards on bank capital, liquidity and funding, 19 out of 182 global banks supervised by the committee reported that theyowned digital assets. Combined, their total exposure to crypto is estimated to be €9.4 billion ($9.38 billion). In context, this represents 0.14% of the total risk-weighted asset composition of the 19 crypto-owning banks surveyed. When taken into account overall, cryptocurrencies only comprise about 0.01% of the total risk-weighted assets of all 182 banks under the Basel Committee’s supervision. Two banks made up more than half of the overall crypto-asset exposures, while four more comprised approximately 40% of the rema...
CFTC can issue summons through Ooki DAO’s help chat box, says judge
The United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission can serve members of the Ooki decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, with summons through online communications, according to a federal judge. In an Oct. 3 order granting a CFTC motion, U.S. District Judge William Orrick said the commission could provide a copy of its summons and complaint through Ooki DAO’s help chat box as well as a notice on its online forum. The judge said the court’s decision was based on the CFTC effectively serving the Ooki DAO by providing the necessary documents. The CFTC filed a lawsuit against the Ooki DAO on Sept. 22, alleging the organization offered “illegal, off-exchange digital asset trading,” violated registration guidelines and broke provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act. The legal action came ...
Bitcoin price sees first October spike above $20K as daily gains hit 5%
Bitcoin (BTC) saw its first trip above $20,000 on Oct. 4 as traders expected familiar resistance to cap gains. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Multi-week dollar lows fuel Bitcoin bulls Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/United States dollar climbing prior to the Wall Street open, up over 5% in 24 hours. The pair had shaken off macroeconomic concerns at the start of the week, with trouble at Credit Suisse and the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict failing to slow performance. Now, the short-term analysis focused on a run potentially topping out closer to $21,000 — as was the case late last month, as sell-side pressure at that level remained significant. “20500-21000 is a sell zone. If price gets there, which should, don’t be too bullis...
Latin Grammy Awards signs three-year contract for award show NFTs
This year’s 64th Latin Grammy Awards will have its first-ever nonfungible token (NFT) collection after the Latin Recording Academy signed a three-year contract for award show-related NFTs. The aforementioned partnership is between the Latin Recording Academy, which is behind the Latin Grammys, and OneOf, a Web3 music platform. Each collection, which will lead up to that year’s award show, will include drops highlighting Latin music. According to Manuel Abud, the CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, this is a new form of musical innovation and a way for fans to “own a piece of the Latin GRAMMYs:” “The Latin Recording Academy is committed to exploring innovative, new ways to celebrate excellence in Latin music and to connect music to other art forms in our culture, including visual and digita...
Ether exchange netflow highlights behavioral pattern of ETH whales
The exchange netflow of Ether (ETH) over the past couple of years highlights a behavioral pattern among Ether whales that market analysts believe is done to pump the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency. The “exchange netflow” is an indicator that measures the net amount of crypto entering or exiting wallets of all centralized exchanges. The metric’s value is simply calculated by taking the difference between the exchange inflows and the exchange outflows. Data shared by one of the pseudonymous traders of crypto analytic firm Cryptoquant indicates that ETH whales have consistently sent their holdings onto exchanges to raise the price of ETH and sell it at a higher market price. The Ethereum exchange netflow data confirmed the behavioral pattern among ETH whales and in...
Basel Committee crypto asset prudential treatment proposals get detailed responses
The comments period has ended for the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) “Second Consultation on the Prudential Treatment of Cryptoasset Exposures,” a document published in June 2022. International financial associations had a lot to say in response to it. Several did so at once in a joint 84-page comment letter released Oct. 4. In addition, there were a few lone voices, although they did not differ significantly in content from the conclusions made by the joint associations. All the commenters had the same basic message. Institute of International Finance (IIF) director of regulatory affairs Richard Gray, speaking on behalf of the joint associations working group that participated in the response letter, summed up the response when he told Cointelegraph in a stateme...
How Crypto Twitter reacted to Kim Kardashian’s $1.26M SEC fine
The crypto community reacted with a mix of disbelief and amusement after reality star Kim Kardashian was fined for promoting the cryptocurrency EthereumMax (EMAX). The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Kardashian $1.26 million on Oct. 3, for “touting on social media” about the EMAX without disclosing she was paid $250,000 to post about it. Kardashian has neither admitted to nor denied the SEC’s allegations, but settled the charges and agreed to not promote any cryptocurrency assets until 2025. SEC chairman Gary Gensler tweeted the fine was a reminder that celebrity endorsement of investment opportunities doesn’t “mean those investment products are right for all investors.” Today @SECGov, we charged Kim Kardashian for unlawfully touting a crypto securi...
Tether commercial paper exposure now under $50M, says CTO
Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) has nearly completely slashed its commercial paper holdings, with less than $50 million worth of commercial paper units as of Sept. 30, 2022. Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino made the announcement in an Oct. 3 tweet, adding also that Tether’s United States Treasury bills increased to 58.1% of its total portfolio, up 25.1% from its Jun. 30 figure of 43.5%. #tether portfolio update. Tether as of 30 September 2022 holds ~58.1% of its assets in US t-bills. Up from 43.5% on June 30 2022.CP exposure is < 50M now.@Tether_to — Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) October 3, 2022 Commercial papers are short-term debt instruments issued by companies, which are often used to finance various business operations, while treasury bills are claimed to be more stable than commercial pap...
Beeple’s Discord URL ‘hijacked,’ directing users to wallet drainer
Non fungible token (NFT) artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann has found himself the target of phishing scammers yet again, warning users that the URL link to his official Discord server was “hacked” — sending unaware new members to a wallet draining Discord channel if they follow the link. In an Oct. 3 post, the NFT artist warned users not to go into the “fraudulent” Discord channel and verify as it will “drain your wallet.” it appears our discord URLs were hacked to point to a fraudulent discord. DO NOT go into that discord and do not verify, it will drain your wallet!! once again massive thanks again to discord for being garbage. — beeple (@beeple) October 3, 2022 However, Beeple wasn’t the first to notice the URL slight-of-hand, with Twitter user maxnaut.eth not...
CoinShares’ Butterfill suggests ‘continued hesitancy’ among investors
Minor inflows for digital asset investment products over the last few weeks suggest a “continued hesitancy” towards crypto amongst institutional investors amid a slowdown of the U.S. economy. In the latest edition of CoinShares’ weekly “Digital Asset Fund Flows” report, Coinshares head of research James Butterfill highlighted stand-offish institutional sentiment towards crypto investment products, which saw “minor inflows” for the third week in a row. “The flows remain low implying continued hesitancy amongst investors, this is highlighted in investment product trading volumes which were US$886m for the week, the lowest since October 2020.” Between Sept. 26 and Sept. 30, investment products offering exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) saw the most inflows at just $7.7 million, with...
