New Tool to Track Tax Evaders, Digital Collectors LBCOIN + More News

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 4 min read

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

Source: The Bank of Lithuania

Regulation news

  • A new Brazilian tax evasion tool could allow tax authorities and law enforcement agencies to police crypto, reports Criptonoticias. The solution is named Sisbajud and will roll out in September this year. Although it was designed principally to police fiat transactions, some in the country believe it could also be applied to bitcoin (BTC) – which the same media outlet reports is frequently used for tax evasion purposes in the South American nation.
  • Russia’s chief internet censor has lifted its ban on Telegram. Per Vedomosti, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (known as Roskomnadzor) has backtracked, and instead chose to praisethe Telegram founder Pavel Durov for his “willingness to fight terrorism and extremism.” The censor attempted (and largely failed) to impose a ban on the chat app back in April 2018.

Digital currency news

  • On July 23, the Bank of Lithuania will issue its Digital Collectors Coin, as a way to honor the Act of Independence of Lithuania, signed in 1918. A total of 4,000 LBCOINs will be issued, each consisting of six randomly selected digital tokens (a total of 24,000 tokens). The tokens represent the 20 signatories, divided into six categories (priests, presidents, diplomats, industrialists, academics, municipal servants). Each category will have 4,000 tokens allotted to it. These coins will be tradeable for actual physical coins, whose price will be symbolic EUR 19.18 (USD 21), and will have legal tender status in the country.
  • The government of Thailand announced its plans to build a prototype national digital currency and test it out with a few large enterprises in the country. To that end, it has partnered up with Siam Cement Group (SCG), a major building material provider in the country. Siam Cement Group will integrate the central bank digital currency into its procurement and financial management systems and test it for half a year. The results are expected to be published in early 2021.

Blockchain news

  • A district in the Chinese city of Shenzhen is set to launch a blockchain-powered test and exam result storage platform for schools, reports the Guangzhou Daily. The Futian District says that it wants schools in the area to move the collection, issuance and verification of test scores onto a blockchain platform, where each student’s scores will be logged and encrypted.
  • Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), has partnered with trade company Itochu to build a blockchain-based surplus power trading platform, reports Digital Today. TEPCO is Japan’s biggest power provider, and plans a proof of concept by March next year, followed by a full rollout in 2023.
  • A joint public-private consortium in South Korea’s second city Busan says it will build a blockchain-powered medical tourism platform, reports Gn News. The consortium comprises the likes of Busan Bank. Medical tourism usually refers to cosmetic procedures, such as plastic surgery – particularly popular among visitors from other East Asian nations.
  • Blockchain-oriented investment firm ParaFi Capital invested in Kyber Network Crystal (KNC), an ERC-20 token and an integral part of the on-chain liquidity protocol Kyber Network, earlier this year, the latter confirmed in a recent press release. By joining forces, Kyber and ParaFi will be looking to build liquidity infrastructure and governance framework. The financials of the deal were not disclosed.

Mining news

  • A Chinese mining pool decided to return most of the high Ethereum (ETH) transaction fee to its original sender, F2Pool confirmed in a blog post. After finding out that the sender, MiningPoolHub, was compromized, and that the ETH 2,310 fee was the result of a cyberattack, it decided to return roughly 90% of the cost – ETH 2,079, or approximately USD 480,000. The funds were returned to a new address, given that the old one is still under the criminal’s control, says the post.

Adoption news

  • Ripple, Brave, Huobi and three dozen other companies have teamed up into the Open Payments Coalition to bring PayID, a universal payments system, globally available. PayID, which is already running in Australia, aims to simplify and speed up money transfer, anywhere in the world. All users need is the receiver’s email address or phone number linked to their bank account. Some of the member companies include BitGo, BitPay, Bitrue, Bitso, Bitstamp, Blockchain.com, etc.
  • Bitcoin (BTC) may be the most popular cryptocurrency in the western world, but in terms of the technical aspects of its blockchain, it doesn’t even make the top ten. That is according to China’s Center for Information and Industry Development, who recently released its 18th CCID Global Public Chain Technology Evaluation Index, as reported by local news media. The report ranks various blockchains on its basic technology, applicability, safety, decentralization, performance and other metrics, and it has placed Bitcoin as 12th. EOS leads the pack, followed by TRON and ETH. Bitcoin placed 17th last year – its worst position ever.
  • Earlier this week, Ernst & Young announced it released EY CryptoPrep, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) app to assist American citizens with their crypto tax filings. Accessible via browser, the tool is advertised as “fully automated, enterprise-grade crypto tax engine” which should guide the users through every step of the process. Supporting “many major” cryptocurrency coins and exchanges, the tool aggregates transaction data, applies tax rules and provides a detailed account of both gains and losses. It then automatically fills Form 8949.
  • American Bitcoin ATM provider CoinFlip is entering the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, by offering various DeFi services to its customers. According to the company’s press release, CoinFlip’s customers will have access to digital asset management provider BlockFi, crypto payments platform Crypto.com, and interest rate protocol Compound. Furthermore, it is listing USDC onto its 720 ATMs spread out across the United States.