Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

The Biggest Online Bank In Russia Wants To Offer BTC To Its Wealthy Clients, But There’s A Problem

A top online banking institution in Russia, Tinkoff is interested in offering investors an opportunity to invest in cryptocurrencies, but it appears that this quest will be troubled by the highly uncertain regulatory policies in Russia.　　Tinkoff ranks as the largest online bank in the country, and according to its CEO, Oliver Hughes, various investors are already asking for crypto-based services.　　Unclear Legislation　　However, Oliver says that the current regulatory climate in Russia is unclear as pertains to the crypto market. First off, back in 2020, the Russian government approved and recognized Bitcoin as well as other cryptos as currencies, but that recognition doesnt seem to benefit the banks since the Russian Central Bank has outlawed crypto payments. Apparently, the Russian Ruble is still the only currency allowed to be used for payments.　　During an interview, the CEO told CNBC that under this unfavorable climate, Tinkoff doesnt have a clear framework to offer crypto services to Russian investors without ruffling feathers with the Central Bank.　　While there are issues like money laundering that bedevil the crypto world, CEO Oliver Hughes believes that the positives outweigh the negatives and that serious investors are already sold to the idea of crypto investments.　　Still, the Russian government, just like

2021-06-04Deep Dive

A decentralized platform is rebuilding the way freelancers find work

With the gig economy booming, a decentralized jobs site wants to rethink the way job providers and freelancers meet.　　By 2027, more than half of the U.S. workforce will be freelancers.　　That means that 86.5 million Americans will be part of the gig economy at least part time, according to a recent study by Statista. Thats up from 67.6 million this year, and the pandemic has only accelerated this trend, as a recent study of the $1.2 trillion industry showed 12% of the U.S. workforce tried freelance work for the first time in the past 12 months.　　And all of those decentralized workers will need to find and work with clients, which is where HYVE comes in.　　A decentralized platform designed to cut intermediaries out of the freelance and workforce industry, HYVE isnt planning to fix the business, which it says is broken.　　“We‘re not touching that with a 10-foot pole,” the company says. “We’re building it from scratch.”　　A community-governed ecosystem, HYVE wants to bring the power of the decentralized blockchain technology to every part of the gig economy. That means connecting workers with people and companies that want to hire them is just the first step. It also plans to bring smart contracts and

2021-06-04Deep Dive

Biden’s Crypto Tax Evasion Crackdown Could Also Hit Non-US Traders

The American President Joe Biden appears ready to go to war with tax evaders, particularly those seeking to make use of crypto – and has put forward a plan that could hit crypto traders outside the United States, as well as domestic users.　　In a set of Treasury proposals released last week, the department called “tax evasion using cryptoassets” a “rapidly growing problem.”　　The department wrote:　　“Since the industry is entirely digital, taxpayers can transact with offshore crypto exchanges and wallet providers without leaving the United States. The global nature of the crypto market offers opportunities for US taxpayers to conceal assets and taxable income by using offshore crypto exchanges and wallet providers.”　　The Treasury has proposed to remedy this by forcing America-based crypto “brokers,” namely exchanges and wallet providers, to pass on information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the nations top tax body, on foreign customers that indirectly hold accounts on their platforms.　　The idea, it appears, would be to create a global network of tax bodies that shares information about overseas crypto tax evasion. The IRS would share its data with overseas governments – expecting to receive data on Americans hiding crypto on exchanges and wallet providers abroad in exchange.　　The Treasury wrote:　　“In

2021-06-04Deep Dive

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak loses Bitcoin scam case against YouTube

A recent court ruling said that video hosting giant YouTube is not responsible for cryptocurrency-related scams posted on its platform.　　Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak failed to support his lawsuit against YouTube over an advert using his image to promote a fake Bitcoin (BTC) giveaway, Bloomberg reports.　　Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil Kulkarnia said in a tentative ruling Wednesday that YouTube and its parent firm Google are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — a federal law shielding internet platforms from responsibility for content posted by users.　　Wozniak sued YouTube in July last year over a typical bogus crypto giveaway that stated that anyone who sends cryptocurrency to a certain address will receive more cryptocurrency in return. The Apple co-founder argued that YouTube not only failed to remove the fraudulent ads but “materially contributed” to the scam by selling targeted ads driving traffic to the videos and falsely verifying the YouTube channels that carried the videos.　　“If YouTube had acted quickly to stop this to a reasonable extent, we would not be here now. What human would see posts like these and not ban them as criminals immediately？” he said. In the suit, Wozniak reportedly noted that similar crypto scams

2021-06-03Deep Dive

NFT’s Have Dropped By 90% Since May. Is This Goodbye?

NFT has been the buzzword of the blockchain space over the past several months, reaching celebrity status with artists and public figures who were keen to capitalise on the rapidly growing industry. However, the popularity of non-fungible tokens has dropped drastically since May 3rd, when the sale of NFTs reached a peak of $102 million in one day.　　According to data produced by Protos, a mere $19.4 million in NFT sales were processed in the past week, with some suggesting that the NFT bubble has finally popped. While digital collectibles make up the majority of sales, representing half of the current market, overall the number of NFTs sold has dropped by almost 90% compared to the peak in May.　　In its peak, the NFT boom saw droves of celebrities and artists collaborating with NFT platforms such as OpenSea, NBA Top Shot, and Nifty Gateway, with the sales of NFTs reaching lucrative levels for some individuals.　　Perhaps, most famously, it was the sale of Beeple‘s The First 5000 Days that really drew attention from the mainstream. The sale of his NFT at the prestigious art house Christie’s drew global attention in March when his digital collage sold for a staggering $69 million. Since then,

2021-06-03Deep Dive

Must-knows of Digital Currency Trading: Protect You from Frauds!

The rapid growth enjoyed by cryptocurrencies in recent years has made them attractive to many people. However, owing to the extremely intricate blockchain technology, enormous knowledge is required in digital money trading. In addition, numerous frauds are emerging as the decentralization of blockchains is indicative of operating businesses under no regulation. As such, concepts that you must know in digital currency trading are introduced as follows to enrich your knowledge in this field.　　Exchange: It is a marketplace where securities, commodities, derivatives and other financial instruments are traded.　　KYC: It is an acronym for “Know Your Customer”, the identity verification with the aim of compliance and anti-money laundering.　　CEX: It is the abbreviation for Centralized Exchange, referring to exchanges equipped with centralized operation teams. Users should be verified through KYC.　　DEX: It is the abbreviation for Decentralized Exchange, referring to exchanges built on blockchains that operate transactions automatically. No prepaid charges for cryptocurrencies or per-transaction fees are required.　　Erc20, Trc20 or Bep20: They are representative of issuance standards of crypto tokens on blockchains. Crypto assets issued on their own blockchains must abide by the issuance standards accordingly.　　Wallet: It is the vehicle of receiving crypto tokens, presenting as the address of the wallet on its own

2021-06-03Deep Dive

Irish MEP calls for stringent crypto regulations in Europe

Chris MacManus, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing Midland Northwest, Ireland, has called for strict crypto regulations in Europe.　　According to a report on Wednesday, the MEP from Sinn Féin wants wholesale changes to the European Unions proposed cryptocurrency changes.　　MacManus has submitted 45 amendments to the EU aimed at toughening crypto laws in the region. Detailing his proposed crypto regulations, the Irish MEP stated:　　“Under my proposals, all new and existing crypto-assets will require authorisation by a ‘competent authority’ like the Central Bank. Currently, currency founders simply have to deposit a white paper that outlines the cryptos purpose and technology, with no scrutiny whatsoever. These white papers, under my amendments, would also require a lot more detail and transparency.”　　MacManus is also going after mining and with the MEP stating that state authorities would have to examine the potential environmental impact of crypto activities before granting authorization to any project.　　The Irish MEPs recommendation also includes regulations for stablecoin issuers and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). On stablecoins, MacManus called for issuers to hold sufficient capital to back the value of their tokens in circulation.　　Such a provision would mean that stablecoin holders will be able to redeem the value of their “coins”

2021-06-03Deep Dive

Ripple seeks docs from 15 offshore exchanges it says could be ‘fatal’ to the SEC’s charges

Ripple believes records held by offshore exchanges will prove its executives did not violate Section 5 of the Securities Act by offloading XRP on the U.S. public.　　Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, have filed a motion requesting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigate Bitfinexs parent company, iFinex, and 14 other international crypto exchanges.　　The June 2 motion requests documents from exchanges including iFinex, Bitforex, Bithumb, Bitlish, BitMart, AscendEX (formerly Bitmax), Bitrue Singapore, Bitstamp, Coinbene, HitBTC, Huobi Global, Korbit, OKEx, Upbit Singapore, and ZB Network Technology　　The motions supporting memorandum notes the letters of request solicit assistance from authorities in the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Seychelles, and Malta.　　The SEC‘s amended complaint against Ripple accuses Garlinghouse and Larsen of selling more than two billion units of XRP to “public investors” located “all over the world,” with the SEC seeking disgorgement from Ripple’s executives based on the sales.　　Ripple‘s executives deny the SEC’s allegations they violated Section 5 of the 1933 Securities Act, emphasizing that Section 5 specifically prohibits the domestic sale of securities without a registration statement. Garlinghouse and Larsen‘s legal representation counter that their XRP sales were conducted on foreign exchanges and thus outside of

2021-06-03Deep Dive

Former congressman Ron Paul: Bitcoin is money and should be taxed the same

Former presidential candidate and congressman Ron Paul has renewed calls for Bitcoin to be legalized as money and not taxed.　　Paul is a staunch libertarian and author of the Bitcoiner favorite “End the Fed,” who has advocated for the legalization of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the past. The former congressman has also regularly taken aim against the Federal Reserve for its unchecked money printing since the pandemic began.　　Ahead of his appearance at the Miami Bitcoin conference on June 3, the 85 year-old spoke with streaming financial news provider Kitco News and noted that his goal is to “help legalize the competition, and then I think the people will sort it out. Freedom of choice will sort it out.”　　The former congressman described gold and Bitcoin as money and “competition” to the U.S. Dollar — and highlighted that a major reason investors seek out such alternative forms of money is to hedge against the declining value of the U.S dollar.　　Paul believes that for this reason, “alternate forms of money” should be taxed the same as fiat currency:　　“Right now, if you buy and sell gold, you get it taxed, they can do that. If you make a profit in Bitcoin, you read stories

2021-06-03Deep Dive

When the Hype Dies Down: Which NFT Platforms are Here to Stay?

Anyone familiar with the cryptocurrency and blockchain community will know that 2021 is the year of Non-fungible tokens. While they have been around for a long time, never have NFTs been so popular with several use cases emerging for them. Over the past few months, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of NFTs have been traded.　　One thing everyone agrees on is that the NFT market is having a great run at the moment. The question, however, remains what will happen when the hype eventually dies？ Which of these NFT projects will survive？ Keeping in mind this is quite important for investors who want to invest in the projects. Here, we will discuss some of the projects with enough value to survive even after the hype dies.　　Terra Virtua　　Terra Virtua brings more innovation to the already innovative field of digital art and NFT. As opposed to other companies in the field, which seperate art creation, exhibitions and marketplaces, Terra Virtua combines all NFT aspects.　　The platform offers an immersive artistic experience that combines virtual and augmented reality through the use of the best technologies available. In addition, Terra Virtua offers a marketplace where you can buy any art piece, but thats not all.　　Artists

2021-06-03Deep Dive

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