Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Crypto trading addicts pay $90k to treat “addiction”

Treatment Centers worldwide are now considering crypto trading as an addiction, with some offering to treat the “ailment” for as high as $90,000, Bloomberg reported.　　The report revealed that many people now consider cryptocurrency trading addictive and are seeking help for it, with some going as far as comparing their addiction to gambling.　　According to an online therapist, Dylan Kerr,　　“Its very similar to being at a roulette table…it demands your attention. If you take your eyes off the prize, you could miss out on massive opportunities and incur massive penalties.”　　One of such self-professed addicts, Stevie Rojas, claimed that his trading experience began with Bitcoin, but in no time, he began trading riskier altcoins mostly because of the thrills that come with such trades.　　He continued that this affected his personal life significantly, but he was finally able to quit after going to a confessional in Manila and praying about it. Is crypto trading addictive？　　Despite cases of people like Rojas, the idea of crypto trading being addictive is controversial. This might be because the space is still relatively new and beyond that, behavioral addictions such as gambling are only just becoming accepted as a form of addiction.　　However, there have been some valid concerns among

2022-05-05Deep Dive

Bankoff Crypto Cards Suspended Amid High Volume of Russian Transactions

Visa and Stripe Halt Support for Bankoff Cards　　Payment processors Visa and Stripe have halted services for cards issued by Bankoff, the online banking platform informed clients on Tuesday, May 3. In a notice, a copy of which was posted on social media, the company explained that the suspension was due to the increased number of active users and transactions from Russia.　　“It means our cards are no longer supported for any offline and online payments,” the Bankoff team elaborated. The neobank also revealed that its funds in a U.S. account had been frozen, assuring customers its currently working to restore access to the money.　　Representatives of Bankoff have confirmed the development to Forklog. The crypto news outlet added in a report that some users who deposited cryptocurrency to their accounts have complained they were been unable to withdraw their balances as well.　　The news of the terminated services comes after in early March, Visa and Mastercard halted operations in Russia as part of sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Russian-issued cards supported by the worlds leading payment processors cannot be used for purchases outside Russia.　　Following the restrictions, Russian residents began ordering Bankoffs virtual cards which allowed them to make payments

2022-05-05Deep Dive

Korean Finance Chief Nominee Wants Capital Gains Tax On Crypto Delayed To 2025

Koreas future Finance Chief Choo Kyung-ho mulls introducing a capital gains tax for financial investments and cryptocurrencies in 2025, Korea JoongAng Daily reported Monday.　　As per the report, both sides of the government had planned in December to introduce a 20% capital gains tax on financial investments and cryptocurrencies beginning in January next year, in a move that was seen as trying to woo youthful voters.　　At the time, president-elect Yoon Suk-Yeol had even stated that he would abolish the capital gains tax on stock investment in a bid to support retail investors while pushing transaction tax to lower levels. Last year, Korea slashed the stock transaction fees from 0.25% to 0.23%, with plans to further cut the current rate to 0.15% when it begins to levy the said capital gains tax. Yeol is expected to assume office this month.　　“There is a need to produce more funds to flow into the stock market by putting off a capital gains tax on financial investments and lowering a stock transaction tax,” Choo was quoted saying during a parliamentary confirmation hearing, adding that the planned taxation on cryptocurrencies should be shelved for another two years until 2025.　　Despite Korea having a strong idea on one of

2022-05-05Deep Dive

S.Korea’s incoming administration pushes to end ICO drought

South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeols administration has included approval of initial coin offerings (ICOs) among its 110 national tasks announced Monday.　　Fast facts　　The right-wing government will prepare a two-lane regulatory framework for ICOs by classifying digital assets as securities and non-securities.　　The bill aims to manage the issuance and listing of digital tokens and prevention of unfair trade acts, according to the presidential transition committee.　　South Koreas Financial Services Commission (FSC) banned ICOs in 2017 after observing excessive speculation and financial crimes in the local industry.　　Yoons administration included a plan to establish legislation tentatively named the Digital Asset Basic Act, which will contain guidelines on issuing digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), investor protection and stabilizing digital transactions.　　The presidential transition committee added that a crypto assets tax will be discussed after investor protection-focused legislation is in place.　　Yoons term begins May 10, 2022.　　For more Blockchain news, please download WikiBit- the Global Blockchain Regulatory Inquiry APP.

2022-05-05Deep Dive

Binance Now Officially Regulated In France

Leading cryptocurrency Exchange platform Binance, has continued to stretch its reach throughout the world. Taking to twitter, the official Binance handle shared that the exchange has been welcomed by the financial authorities in France.　　France opens its doors to Binances services　　In the announcement, Changepeng Zhao – the CEO of Binance – noted that the cryptocurrency exchange has been allowed to function as a Digital Asset Service Provider in the country. The license was authorized by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), which is the regulator of the French financial markets.　　The Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), which supervises the French Banking system, also gave its approval. The exchange if now fully available to conduct business within the country.　　To fully kickstart operations, Binance reveals that it will be employing a significant amount of France based residents, with interested in the cryptocurrency industry, to carryout activities in the branch.　　Excerpts of the announcement reads,　　“We will now significantly expand our operations in France, with the intention to recruit up to 250 people focused on crypto and blockchain infrastructure development in the country, making France one of our regional HQs around the globe.”　　As asserted by many cryptocurrency observers, the milestone is a significant pointer

2022-05-05Deep Dive

Bitcoin Remains Steady as Fed Announces Biggest Rate Hike in 22 Years

The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by a half-percentage point for the first time since May 2000.　　Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, is up about 1% on the news, currently trading at $39,141 on the Bitstamp exchange. The crypto king has bounced together with stocks.　　The central banks aggressive monetary policy is aimed at combating out-of-control inflation, which recently reached the highest level in four decades.　　As reported, the Fed hiked the benchmark short-term interest rate by 25 basis points in March, but consumer prices persistently kept creeping up despite the fact that supply shortages moderated.　　By making it more expensive to borrow money, the Federal Reserve expects to cool down the economy.　　The central banks hawkish U-turn has also taken some steam out of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other leading cryptocurrencies have taken a beating this year together with stocks.　　Interest rate futures suggests a 94% chance of the Fed hiking the benchmark short-term borrowing rate to at least 2.75% by the end of the year. Please download WikiBit for more blockchain news.　　During his press conference, Powell said that inflation was “much too high” and “well above goal.” He claims that it is essential to bring consumer prices down to maintain a

2022-05-05Deep Dive

BTC price gains 4% pre-Fed as MicroStrategy vows to protect Bitcoin from $21K crash

Bitcoin (BTC) saw classic “choppy” price action on May 4 with hours to go before fresh Federal Reserve cues.Bulls pin hopes on history　　Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it bounced between support and resistance after hitting $37,600 on the evening of May 3.　　A subsequent bounceback saw the pair clip $39,000 at the time of writing, providing relief to low-timeframe traders at 4.1% off the lows.　　More broadly, however, Bitcoin stayed rangebound and beholden to macro triggers as markets braced for Fbrace for Fed-induced volatility.　　The two-day meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) and press conference was due to begin at 2:00 pm EST on May 4.　　With little to comfort bulls, some turned to historical comparisons. The start of the Feds previous cycle of key interest-rate hikes in 2015 proved a turning point for BTC price strength, thus culminating in the December 2017 blow-off top.　　“BTC is now testing a multi-week resistance,” popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital, meanwhile, concluded about the daily chart following the uptick above $39,000:“Break this and the multi-week downtrend is over and $BTC will enjoy upside.”MicroStrategy plans for BTC to “never get” to $21,000　　Elsewhere, amid growing calls for a “capitulation” style event to

2022-05-04Deep Dive

War, Crypto & The Invisible Line Connecting It All

Edwin Starr said it best: war is good for nothing. Recently, talks of war have affected crypto in a major way – an invisible string connects the two and we will take a look at how war could impact crypto prices, and the bigger picture impacts at hand.War as many buy or sell at much higher rates then usual, this could lead to many buying at low value and holding until everything plays out and the world chills out. While crypto took a hit, some can say its due to many sanctions – but also war helping effort. Additionally, crypto and NFTs have been utilized to supplement wartime efforts, exacerbating the impact that crypto can have positively on these international fights.　　Furthermore, people in Ukraine are turning to crypto as an alternative to Ukrainian financial institutions, which are limiting people‘s access to bank accounts and foreign currency. In a recent interview, Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation said that “the fact that it can’t be frozen, the fact that it cant be censored, and the fact that it can be used without ID is very, very important,” and added that “they are why bitcoin is such an

2022-05-04Deep Dive

MicroStrategy Considering Yield Generation Options on BTC 95,643 Holdings

The American IT firm MicroStrategy has claimed that it is mulling the possibility of yield generation on its bitcoin (BTC) holdings. At present, the firm holds BTC 129,218 (USD 4.97bn). Most of this figure is “unencumbered,” and is held in the name of its subsidiary firm MacroStrategy.　　The company, which has been buying BTC using its balance sheet, issued a financial performance report for Q1 of 2022, where it noted that it could “conservatively explore future yield generation opportunities” on its “unencumbered” tokens. This would mean excluding the BTC 19,466 (USD 748.6m) that the company used to secure a ground-breaking USD 205 million BTC-backed, three-year loan from the bank Silvergate last month. And that would mean MicroStrategy could “explore” its yield generation options with a whopping BTC 95,643 (3.68m).　　However, although the firms BTC-buying strategy may well prove shrewd in the long-term, it appears that short-term pain may be inevitable. A stagnant BTC market in recent months has bought with it cumulative impairment losses of over USD 1 billion for MicroStrategy, on top of aggregate costs worth USD 4 billion.　　The company explained that “the original cost basis and market value” of its bitcoin holding were “USD 3.967 billion and USD 5.893 billion

2022-05-04Deep Dive

Dfinity is suing Meta over the use of “its logo”

Dfinity Foundation, the developer of Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), has dragged Facebooks parent company, Meta, to court over its use of the infinity symbol as its logo.　　The lawsuit, filed in California, has Dfinity claiming that Meta uses the logo for the same reason it chose to register it.Dfinity registered the logo before Meta　　Dfinity registered the logo in 2018 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office for decentralized platforms and blockchain technology services. This is similar to Meta, which after rebranding from Facebook, revealed its Metaverse aspirations.　　Dfinity, thus, claims that Meta is using the logo to attract the same set of users that it is targeting.　　The non-profit foundation claimed that it has been using the logo since 2017, whereas Meta didn‘t register it until March 2022. It also noted that it didn’t claim the color palette as a feature of the mark.　　Therefore, it doesnt matter that there are color variations between its logo and that of Meta. It claims that it has ownership rights on all variations of the logo.Says Meta‘s logo is harmful to its reputation　　The details of the lawsuit first became public through Trademark attorney Josh Gorben, who posted it on Twitter. A part of the lawsuit states

2022-05-04Deep Dive

...

256258

...

736