Gemini Goes DeFi, IRS To Ask About Bitcoin, Securitize Finds 130 Clients + More News

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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June 25, 2023

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Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

DeFi news

• US-headquartered crypto exchange Gemini said that it is “committed to building a trustworthy skybridge for you to traverse into this new, exciting frontier” of DeFi, as they added new support for 15 additional DeFi tokens today. “We believe in the potential of DeFi and are here to help usher in this next wave of growth and financial innovation for the world,” Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of Gemini, said.

Tax news

• The US Internal Revenue Service is making it a lot harder to pretend you don’t have bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptoassets hidden away somewhere as they plan to alter the standard 1040 form by putting this question on the front page: At any time during 2020, did you sell, receive, send, exchange or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency? The taxpayer must check the box “Yes” or “No”, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Security tokens news

• Security token platform Securitize said it now has 130 issuers and over 30,000 investors that use their technology, compared with 43 customers and “a few thousand investors” fourteen months ago. The company added that in their last quarter (Q2’20) they signed 27 customers, and this quarter (Q3’20) they will sign 35 new customers.

Regulation news

• Ten South Korean MPs have launched a bid to table a private member’s bill that seeks to reform key blockchain-related laws and introduce a new legal framework for the industry. Per Fn News, the MPs all hail from the ruling Democratic Party, and the group is spearheaded by the pro-industry and pro-blockchain campaigner Lee Sang-min. Lee claimed that urgent action was required to ensure the “competitiveness of the domestic blockchain industry.” The bill proposes the creation of a national talent pool and training programs to create new blockchain experts.
• Pro-crypto Minnesota congressman Tom Emmer, the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has won bipartisan support for a new draft bill that seeks to classify tokens sold in securities offerings as commodities rather than securities. The bill would seek to amend securities laws that date back to the 1930s. In a statement, Emmer’s office stated that, under the bill, companies could “provide for the distribution of their assets to the public without fear of additional regulatory uncertainty.”

CBDCs news

• Ethereum (ETH)-focused major blockchain company ConsenSys said it has been awarded a cross-border payment network study project by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The company said it will work on the second implementation phase of the Inthanon-LionRock project, with PricewaterhouseCoopers Limited and Forms HK. In May 2019, the project was initiated by HKMA and the Bank of Thailand to study the application of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border payments.

Blockchain news

• Beijing’s Haidan District, the capital’s second-largest in terms of size, has reported on its blockchain adoption progress. Per Shina, eight local government organs in the district are now making use of blockchain-powered solutions as part of a pilot begun in 2019. The district said that a total of 11,162 operations have been conducted on its network so far, and claimed that, in some instances, the blockchain network has cut down on the need for paper-based document submissions by 40%.
• Ontology (ONT) said it has partnered with Daimler Mobility AG’s Blockchain Factory to develop MoveX, “a first-of-its-kind blockchain-based mobility platform for the automotive and mobility industry.”

Mining news

• China-based major Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer MicroBT said in an emailed press release that it has partnered with New York-based Foundry Digital LLC and a Southeast Asia-based company to increase its market share in North America and improve supply chain efficiencies for North American buyers of its mining machines.