Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Minting, distributing and selling NFTs must involve copyright law

Everyone is wild about nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The first half of 2021 alone saw NFTs from Andy Warhol, NFTs of the code for the World Wide Web, the first-ever Tweet and, of course, the famous $69 million NFT sale of Beeples “Everydays.” Whether this explosive rise of NFTs is a flash in the pan or the future of art and beyond is a hot topic of conversation. An emerging theme from that conversation is whether NFTs have a copyright problem. Copyright is engaged throughout the NFT process, but there is nothing inherent in an NFT itself to ensure that copyright rules are respected (or even considered).　　The story of blockchain development in the cryptocurrency space is one of struggle against centralization and regulation. Cryptocurrency maximalists envision a “democratized” financial system, free from legislative control. NTFs grew out of this space and share some of this tendency to decouple from established institutions. With this decoupling of NFTs and copyright law, significant problems arise that affect both the purchasers of NFTs and the artists that create them.　　 Copyright problems　　The first problem is ownership. Transferring an NFT does not — on its own — convey any property rights in the digital file linked in

2021-08-23Deep Dive

Worldwide Crypto Adoption Sees Massive Upsurge As Vietnam, India Lead Parade

The global adoption of cryptocurrency has skyrocketed over the last year when it registered a growth of 881%. As per the 2021 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, crypto adoption in India has been the second-largest in the world over the last year.　　The crypto growth story is stronger in the developing world with Vietnam leading the chart and Pakistan and Ukraine occupying the 3rd and the 4th slots.　　Chainalysis is a New York-headquartered data platform which offers blockchain forensics services to government and private companies. It is the second year that Chainalysis has released its crypto adoption index. The 2021 report ranks 154 countries and uses 3 different metrics. It uses P2P exchange trading volume instead of gross transaction volume which favors developed nations.　　In a blog posted on August 18, 2021, Chainalysis said that it tried to capture crypto adoption by ordinary people and focused on use cases, transactions, and savings instead of trading and speculation. Togo, Colombia, and Afghanistan figure among the top 20 countries in crypto adoption.　　China and the United States, which occupied 4th and 6th places, dropped to 13th and 8th places respectively.　　The high rate of crypto adoption by developing countries such as Vietnam, Kenya, Nigeria, and Venezuela is

2021-08-23Deep Dive

No More Ethereum ETFs? Proshares, VanEck Withdraw Ether ETF Proposals

Just two days ago, fund managers VanEck and ProShares filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to bring Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to the U.S. markets. However, the two firms broke news on Friday that they have both chosen to withdraw their active applications.　　Similar to the dozens of Bitcoin ETFs awaiting approval, the proposed ETFs would have been based on Ether futures contracts, alongside other financial products and “pooled” investment vehicles providing further exposure to Ethereum.　　“The Amendment relates to Vaneck Ethereum Strategy ETF, a series of the Trust,” read the amended S.E.C. filing. “No securities were sold in connection with the Amendment and the Trust has determined not to proceed with the offering of this series at this time.”　　A ProShares filing followed a similar pattern, reading that Proshares would be “withdrawing the amendment because it has elected not to proceed with the registration process for the new series associated with the amendment.”　　While it remains unclear what caused the two firms to abruptly halt their efforts, many have assumed that there were conversations with regulatory bodies such as the SEC. With the Commission further delaying its review of Bitcoin ETFs, its certainly possible that the firms were told that

2021-08-23Deep Dive

37% of American Investors Would Not Cash out Their Crypto Even in Critical Moments

While most US crypto investors believe in the virtual assets merit, prominent people like Elon Musk seem to affect their opinion.　　According to a recent research, US cryptocurrency investors have allocated on average $1,707 in such assets. 37% of them admitted they would not touch these funds even if they must cover a necessary bill or an important payment.　　Somewhat expectedly, the celebrity who influences most of the respondents crypto-related decisions is Elon Musk.　　Many Americans Have ‘Diamond Hands’　　The betting platform – GamblersPick – surveyed 1,000 US digital asset investors to conclude that a big chunk of them (37%) would hold to their crypto possessions at all costs. 51% went further, stating that they dont find even luxury purchases as a tempting reason to cash out.　　Taking a closer look at the different generations, Baby boomers are the group that has invested the most in the crypto market, while Generation Z ranked last. Male Americans have an average amount of $1,940 worth of digital assets and seem to have a greater interest in the matter than women. Females median number stands at $1,375.　　GamblersPick revealed that the demand for cryptocurrencies among US investors is growing to such a level that loans and borrowing money from

2021-08-23Deep Dive

Bitcoin Tops $50,000 for First Time Since May

Bitcoin returned to the $50,000 mark on Sunday evening, a major price milestone as the crypto market continues to break out from its spring crash and subsequent summer slump.　　The worlds largest cryptocurrency by market cap just surpassed $50,000. At the time of writing, its up 2.6% in the last 24 hours, 5.6% in the last week, and 55% in the past month, according to CoinGecko.　　The last time Bitcoin saw $50,000 was in mid-May, just after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company would no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for its cars due to environmental concerns. That news along with a crackdown in China sent Bitcoin tumbling in the days and weeks that followed.　　Musks 180-degree turn stunned investors since Tesla had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin just three months earlier, and that purchase had boosted confidence among institutional and retail investors.　　The damage was further exacerbated the following week when the Chinese government vowed to crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading—and later did.　　The wider crypto market tends to tailgate Bitcoins price movements, and all major cryptocurrencies began to plummet following the bad news.　　Bitcoin lost more than half of its value, falling below $30,000 on multiple occasions over the past

2021-08-23Deep Dive

PayPal Launches Crypto Services in UK

In brief　　The UK becomes PayPals first crypto expansion outside the U.S.　　The company has been gradually building up its crypto offerings.　　Starting Monday, PayPals U.K. customers can buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.　　Customers can buy as little as £1 ($1.3) worth of the cryptocurrencies using their bank account, PayPal balance, or debit card through a crypto tab on PayPals website and mobile app.　　The U.K. is the second nation to access these services after the digital payments behemoth rolled out its crypto suite in the U.S. in October 2020. It offers the same four coins to U.S. customers.　　PayPal does not charge customers for HODLing but will charge transaction and currency conversion fees. It has not provided a fee schedule, but in the U.S. fees range from 50 cents for purchases under $25 to 1.5% of the transaction for purchases over $1,000.　　Customers cant transfer crypto to other wallets. Crypto purchased through PayPal can only be spent through the app, though the company is reportedly working to change that—at least in the U.S., as is competitor Robinhood.　　Paypal CEO Dan Schulman told Decrypt in March that crypto could eventually form part of a “super app” that would cover shopping, financial services, and

2021-08-23Deep Dive

DeFi regulation must not kill the values behind decentralization

Cryptocurrency brought us peer-to-peer payments that continue to elevate participation in the global economy for millions of people without access to traditional banking services. The rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) promises to further expand access to financial services, including savings, lending, derivatives, asset management and insurance products.　　This innovation, which empowers financial inclusion, should be allowed to flourish in a regulated environment where individuals and institutions are protected and suspicious activity is identified and reported. But how do you regulate these decentralized products without completely removing the core attributes of financial inclusion and decentralization？　　Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures are a critical function to assess risk and a legal requirement to comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws that vary by jurisdiction. Most of these AML laws are instituted for good reasons: to deter criminals by making it harder for them to launder money obtained through illegal activities (e.g., human or drug trafficking, terrorism, etc.). AML regulations require financial institutions to know the true identity of their customers, monitor transactions and report on suspicious financial activity.　　Why regulators see DeFi as a major problem　　Given that decentralized applications (DApps) have no central, controlling entity, there is little clarity around who is responsible for ensuring DApps,

2021-08-23Deep Dive

PayPal Brings Crypto Service to UK Customers

PayPal is extending its crypto service to the U.K., allowing customers to buy, sell and hold four different cryptocurrencies on its platform.　　Users will be able transact in bitcoin (BTC, -0.11%), ether (ETH, -1.08%), litecoin (LTC, +0.96%) and bitcoin cash (BCH, -2.35%) for as little as £1 ($1.40), PayPal said.　　The rollout is the first expansion of PayPals crypto offering outside the U.S.　　The process will begin this week and should be available to all eligible customers within the next few weeks.　　Customers must have verified their identity in order to be eligible. PayPal business accounts will not be supported.　　PayPal introduced crypto buying, selling and holding to U.S. customers last October, a move closely followed by bitcoin attaining new highs for 2020 and one of the sparks that ignited the subsequent crypto bull market.

2021-08-23Deep Dive

Taiwan’s XREX Blockchain Firm Raises $17M in Funding Round Led by CDIB Capital

XREX Inc., a Taiwanese blockchain TradeTech firm, has closed a $17 million funding round led by investment firm CDIB Capital Group (CCG) and several big-name investors.　　The pre-Series A round was oversubscribed by 200%, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk on Monday. Asked why XREX decided to run its round via a pre-series A, Wayne Huang, co-founder and CEO of XREX, told CoinDesk on Sunday they felt they hadnt raised enough revenue.　　“Originally we were targeting only $5 million to $8 million, which would give us enough of a buffer to cushion any covid-caused uncertainty and to have enough revenue to do a Series A,” said Huang. “But traction continued to grow, and investors were very supportive, so we became oversubscribed and decided to increase the round size.”　　A pre-Series A funding round allows companies to gauge investor interest in the interim between the seed funding round and the Series A. Funding will go towards expanding the firms fiat currency portfolio, acquiring additional licenses, and furthering partnerships with financial institutions and digital wallet providers.　　Other investors included SBI Holdings subsidiary SBI Investment, Global Founders Capital, ThreeD Capital, E.Sun Venture Capital Systex Corporation, Metaplanet Holdings, AppWorks, Black Marble, New Economy Ventures, and Seraph

2021-08-23Deep Dive

Crypto Long & Short: When China Spoke, Bitcoin Reacted. America? Not So Much

Governments can‘t stop cryptocurrencies, but they can make it much harder to access them. So it would make sense that unfriendly government policies in the world’s largest economies would play a role in driving down the price of BTC.　　As a case in point, in the few days after China reiterated its crypto crackdown in May, bitcoin at one point plunged by as much as 30%. The drop was another reminder that when China speaks, the market listens.　　The U.S., it seems, not so much. 　　This month, a highly controversial crypto tax provision in the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed through the Senate, despite ardent attempts to amend it. Crypto advocates claimed that the provision would make it impossible for miners, software developers and other crypto-related actors to comply with U.S. tax regulations, thus threatening to drive much of the industry overseas. This would seem to be a pretty bearish sign.　　But it wasnt, at least over the short term. 　　Why did bitcoin seem to react so differently to the U.S. compared with China？ (CoinDesk)　　In the few days that followed the advancement of the bill, bitcoin shot up by as much as nearly 7%. In fact, shortly following the drama in Washington the

2021-08-23Deep Dive

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