Indian Crypto Tax Move, Shorting Coinbase, FTX and Gemini in New Markets + More News
Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Taxes news
- India won’t allow losses incurred in a particular digital asset to be set off against income from another version of a crypto holding, Bloomberg reported, citing a junior finance minister. “We fear the lack of provision to offset losses will drive away users from KYC-compliant exchanges and platforms to the underground peer-to-peer grey market, which would defeat the purpose of the tax,” Ashish Singhal, Co-founder of Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuberreacted, reacted.
Investments news
- Fund manager Jim Chanos told CNBC he’s shorting crypto exchange Coinbase, calling it a “bubble stock”, but did not mention the size of his shorting position. He said that he thinks Coinbase is “over earning” as their revenue base is roughly 3% to 4% of their custodian assets.
- Information services company for digital assets The Tie has announced a USD 9m strategic funding round at USD 100m valuation, led by Blizzard, with participation from executives at GoldenTree Asset Management, Nexo, NYDIG, Hudson River Trading, Gemini Frontier Fund, Republic Capital, and others. The investment will enable The TIE to scale up its product development and support its exponential customer growth, they said.
- Crypto bank SEBA Bank listed its digital asset-based Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam and Paris. SEBA Bank’s listed products offer a regulated gateway for institutions to invest in cryptoassets, they added.
Adoption news
- A survey by El Salvador’s Chamber of Commerce found that 14% of respondents said they had transacted in bitcoin (BTC) since September, when the country became the first in the world to recognize the digital token as legal tender, per Bloomberg. More than 90% of the 337 companies polled said bitcoin adoption in the country had little to no impact on their sales.
Exchanges news
- Gemini secured an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland. It is the first fintech to become authorized for such a license in the Republic since October 2020, the Irish Times reported. An Irish license, which Gemini applied for in early 2020, allows the company to issue electronic money which it currently does in the UK via its Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorization.
- FTX announced the establishment of FTX Australia, which will offer a suite of exchange and over-the-counter (OTC)-based products and services, as well as derivatives. The exchange had previously announced its expansion to Europe and the Middle East as well.
- The companies behind crypto platforms FTX.US and FTX.COM respectively, FTX Trading Limited and West Realm Shires Inc., announced a long-term partnership with four-time Grand Slam singles champion, Naomi Osaka. In addition to becoming an FTX global ambassador, Osaka will receive an equity stake in FTX Trading Limited and will be receiving compensation in crypto.
- Binance confirmed in an undertaking to the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in Canada that the exchange will cease activities involving Ontario residents. Binance will also stop opening new Ontario accounts, and provide fee waivers and reimbursements to certain Ontario users under the administration of a third party, the company said.
NFTs news
- NFT company Yuga Labs teased its new Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) metaverse by tweeting a short trailer alongside: “See you on the Otherside in April. Powered by apecoin.” Previously, blockchain metaverse developer Animoca Brands tweeted that it was entering the BAYC universe “for a secret project,” which fans are speculating may be connected to the new metaverse.
- DeFi protocol iZUMi Finance announced it is partnering with the HOURAI NFT project to imbue its upcoming NFTs with the value from iZUMi’s DeFi derivatives. Each NFT holder can trade the original HOURAI NFT for an iZUMi DAO veNFT (veiZi), which contains ETH 0.2 worth of locked iZi tokens.
CBDCs news
- The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is currently studying digital bank licensing and digital currencies, The Peninsula reported, citing Head of the FinTech Section at QCB Alanood Abdullah Al Muftah. She added that it is “still being studied” if the country wanted to create its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) or not.
Legal news
- Asa Saint Clair, also known as Asa Williams or Asa Sinclair, was convicted of devising an investment scheme in which he defrauded more than 60 victims into providing loans to his organization, the World Sports Alliance, tied to a purported digital coin offering called IGObit, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. He falsely represented to investors that the World Sports Alliance was a close affiliate of the United Nations and that they would receive guaranteed returns on their investment, and instead diverted the investors’ funds for his personal expenses and benefit, the DOJ said.
