Table of Contents
Bitcoin News: 07th October 2021
- MoneyGram Has Joined Forces With Stellar and Circle To Make Crypto Payments Possible.
- Is the Tiny Island of Tonga going to Make Bitcoin a Legal Tender?
- According to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, 110 countries are considering CBDC at some point
- In the fight against ransomware assaults, Chainalysis has acquired cybercrime investigation business Excygent.
- The first company in the EU to utilise the Ethereum blockchain to finance automobiles is a German automaker.
- Within two months, India will have a second crypto unicorn.
- Cryptocurrencies will be taxed in South Korea, but not NFTs.
- Europe’s First Blockchain Car Financing Program Is Launched By Auto1 FT
MoneyGram x Stellar To Make Crypto Payments Possible
Coming, up first, MoneyGram, a money transfer and remittance company, has announced a partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the development and growth of the open-source Stellar blockchain network, and Circle, the blockchain development company behind the USD Coin stablecoin ($USDC).
By employing Circle’s USDC stablecoin to facilitate and settle payments, and then converting payouts to a user’s local currency, Stellar will assist MoneyGram in enabling crypto payouts through local currencies for its users. Settlements for these USDC transactions would also be possible thanks to MoneyGram’s interface with Stellar. United Texas Bank will provide an additional settlement layer for the procedure to connect Circle and MoneyGram.
Quoting, Denelle Dixon, CEO and executive director of the Stellar Development Foundation,
“Working with MoneyGram allows end consumers to have on- and off-ramps everywhere that MoneyGram’s vast agent network supports this. So this is just transformational in terms of being able to exchange crypto for fiat and fiat for crypto. We’re trying to go as big as we can.”
Is the Tiny Island of Tonga going to Make Bitcoin a Legal Tender?
Many crypto aficionados expected that numerous countries will follow El Salvador’s lead in adopting Bitcoin as a legal cash, and there are signs that Tonga may be the next to do so, as one of the country’s MPs is working on a bill to do so.
MP Lord Fusitu’a, who said in an interview with Financial Review that he is working on a comparable Bitcoin bill that will be introduced to the Tonga Parliament by May 2022, is the politician in question.
According to him, this would allow the Oceania country to benefit from Bitcoin’s potential as a legal tender, which would coexist with the Tongan Pa’anga, the country’s primary fiat currency.
MP Fusitu’a is a Lord Member of Parliament for the Kingdom of Tonga’s Niuas Legislative Assembly. He’d previously indicated his fascination with Bitcoin’s dynamics early this year. However, he was only interested in investing in the crypto king at the time.
While the bill will require significant backing from the country’s central bank and other politicians, Lord Fusitu’a is optimistic that it will pass, based on its relative success in El Salvador.
110 countries are considering CBDC at some point
Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), recently spoke about digital currencies, including CBDC, in one of her recent presentations. On October 5, the IMF’s managing director delivered this speech at the T20 Summit, which was organised by Bocconi University and the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). Sessions with various policymakers and professionals examined subjects related to key worldwide challenges as part of the submission. Climate and growth, international finance, trade and investments, digitalization, poverty, and inequalities were among the subjects discussed.
She claims that more than half of the world’s central banks are investigating Central Bank Digital Currencies at some point (CBDC).
The IMF, according to Georgieva, is looking at digital currencies as a whole in terms of macroeconomic and financial stability. This was in response to a question on whether she sees digital currencies and cryptocurrencies as potential dangers to financial stability.
Moreover, Quoting the Director, “When we look at the world of digitalization, digital currencies, of course, are a very important part of it. Before the pandemic, we used to say the future is digital. With the pandemic, the future has arrived very prominently in the world of money,”
Chainalysis acquires Excygent
Quoting, Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager, “Following the flow of ransomware payments on the blockchain is instrumental for law enforcement to understand and dismantle ransomware operations.”
Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics startup, has acquired cybercrime investigation firm Excygent for an unknown sum, implying that the two will continue to collaborate to “dismantle ransomware operations.”
Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager said in a Tuesday statement that the company worked with Excygent on the seizure of cryptocurrency linked to the now-defunct darknet market Silk Road, the shutdown of a major child abuse website, and the disruption of campaigns related to terrorism financing and other projects. Excygent employees will join the firm’s Investigations and Special Programs unit, according to Gronager, to help with investigations into the cryptocurrency used in cybercrime.
AutoF1 to utilise the Ethereum Blockchain
Auto1 FT, a financial partner in the automotive sector, has become the first European company to use Ethereum smart contracts to finance car purchases. The Germany-based corporation stated in a news release that the initiative seeks to eliminate all paperwork in order to facilitate its main business of automobile finance.
Smart contracts will be utilised across the whole finance process’ life cycle. Due to the tamper-proof nature and increased transparency of blockchain technology, Auto1 FT also aims to reduce expenses and mistakes.
“Our digital solution saves auto dealers a lot of time and money, and it’s creating new norms in the mobility sector.” The overall cost and paperwork associated with financing an automobile are reduced to a minimum when smart contracts are used. Increased data security, along with quicker and less expensive applications, provides maximum efficiency. “Thanks to the blockchain, errors and confusion are almost impossible,” stated Taimur André Rashid, Managing Director of Auto1 FT.
Payment modalities, computations, fees, and the all-important credit score will all be handled by the system.
The move is expected to transform the European car finance market, with an emphasis on improving data security and efficiency. The new blockchain connection, according to the business, is one of the first stages in expanding the digital value chain.
Within two months, India will have a second crypto Unicorn
CoinSwitch Kuber, an Indian crypto exchange, has announced that it has raised US$260 million in a Series C investment round, making it the country’s second crypto unicorn. Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz led the newest financing round, which attracted notable investors (a16z). Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Ribbit, and Tiger Global were among the existing investors in the round. Coinbase has also invested in CoinDCX, the first crypto unicorn in India, which was launched in August.
Despite the fact that CoinSwitch Kuber is the second Indian business to achieve unicorn status — a phrase used to describe a privately owned startup valued at over $1 billion — its valuation of US$1.9 billion in the fundraising round puts it ahead of CoinDCX, which is valued at US$1.1 billion. This is CoinSwitch Kuber’s third funding round this year; it raised US$15 million in January and another US$40 million in April in a deal that valued the company at US$500 million. The firm has raised over $300 million in total investment and has seen its valuation nearly quadrupled in the last six months.
It’s also an indication that the Indian crypto environment is slowly but steadily maturing, and Gaitonde anticipates the emergence of more Indian crypto unicorns in the future.
Cryptocurrencies will be taxed in South Korea
While revenue from virtual asset transactions will be taxed beginning January 1, 2022, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will not be taxed at this time, according to South Korea’s finance minister. Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki stated during the National Assembly’s annual review on Wednesday that the government intends to begin taxing virtual asset profits in the future year. When asked about taxing NFTs, the minister stated that the topic of whether NFTs should be classed as virtual assets is still being debated, but that NFTs are not currently classified as virtual assets under the income tax legislation.
In July, the blockchain division of South Korean internet firm Kakao, Ground X, launched Klip Drops, an NFT art marketplace where artists successfully auctioned off their digital artworks in return for Kakao’s cryptocurrency, KLAY. NFTs are being used in industries other than the arts, such as online gaming, entertainment, and real estate.
NFTs are considered collectables in the United States, and revenue from trading NFTs is taxed at a rate of 28 per cent on trading profits, while earnings from NFTs are also taxable in Australia as capital gains.
Follow us on Social Media:
Join Our Telegram Channel for more such Technical analysis and Telegram group for free crypto signals.
Medium | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram | Reddit | Facebook | LinkedIn
Read Yesterday’s news here.
