The U.S. Treasury Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into possible regulation of stablecoins to minimize potential risks to the current financial system. This and more news is in this handy daily summary so you're always up to date with the latest events happening within the crypto world.
Cryptocurrencies and altcoins
📍Litecoin rose to $235 after a false rumor related to Walmart. The price of Litecoin (LTC) rose 35% on Monday after a rumor began to circulate about Walmart's possible adoption of the cryptocurrency. However, the American multinational retailer denied the rumor and indicated that it was false information, which caused the price of the cryptocurrency to plummet. At the time of this writing, the value of LTC fell again to $180 per unit.
📍The activation of smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain is not favoring the price of the ADA cryptocurrency. The price of ADA has fallen by 7% in the last few hours, since the activation of smart contracts on the Cardano mainnet was announced. At the time of this writing, ADA shows a value of $2,4 per unit, down 20% from its value seen at the beginning of this month, when it reached a new historical high.
Bitcoin and Blockchain Adoption
📍El Salvador wants to boost foreign investment with Bitcoin. According to statements by the legal advisor to the Presidency of El Salvador, Javier Argueta, foreign investors will be exempt from taxes on bitcoin profits in the country. Argueta told AFP, “If a person has assets in bitcoin and makes a large profit, there will be no taxes”The measure seeks to encourage investment and attract more capital to the Latin American country, he said.
NFT and DeFi Markets
📍Marvel and DC artists and collaborators are prohibited from selling action figures and comic book superheroes as NFTs. According to reported Bloomberg, American entertainment companies have banned artists and collaborators who work with them from trading their comic book characters as non-fungible tokens (NFT). Marvel and DC Comics are defending their intellectual property rights to supposedly enter the world of NFTs in the future.
The outlet noted that while the measure denies artists significant income, the companies have committed to providing artists with secondary income for their work, especially when it comes to blockbusters.
Development and Technology
📍Tecnalia partners with Chainlink to investigate the application of oracles in key global industries beyond DeFi. The European benchmark Research and Technological Development Centre will begin to analyse the benefits of oracles blockchain-based smart devices in industries such as energy, industry 4.0, data economy and transportation. As explained by the research center in a release Blockchain oracles can offer additional value to these industries, such as driving greater efficiency, reducing costs, providing greater security guarantees, improving user privacy, and potentially introducing new use cases not yet imagined.
Cybersecurity
📍DeFi protocol Zabu Finance loses $3,2 million in security exploit. The decentralized finance protocol that is developed on the Avalanche blockchain suffered a security exploit that stripped it of $3,2 million. The developers of the protocol reported about the attack and alerted exchanges and Avalanche developers, stating that the team has not sold ZABU tokens, but that the losses were the result of a hack.
At the time of this writing, the ZABU token is trading at a value of $0,00009; at the time of reporting the attack, its value fell to $0,00001, losing more than 98% of its value in just a few minutes.
Rules and Regulations
📍The U.S. Treasury Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are considering possible regulation of stablecoins. Treasury Department and SEC executives have been holding various meetings with various participants in the crypto industry, especially those related to stablecoins o stable coins. By informs Reuters, the agency is gathering information to analyze possible regulation of this market, which has grown exponentially in the last year.
Treasury and SEC officials are looking into the potential risks associated with stablecoins and their liquidity. Apparently, among the biggest concerns of US regulators are the rapid growth of stablecoins, the reserves and assets that back the value of these coins in the market, and the possibility that investors may want to withdraw value from stablecoins at the same time; which may affect the stability and security of their financial system. So far, Treasury officials seem to be just gathering information and have not given details of what regulation might look like in the future.
📍India's Finance Ministry wants to levy taxes on cryptocurrency profits. Via Twitter, the financial news outlet ET Now, reported that India's Finance Ministry is considering taxing cryptocurrency exchange operations as well as profits earned by cryptocurrency users through trading operations, without recognizing cryptocurrencies as an asset class in the country.
The news did not sit well with users, who claim that they are already paying taxes on their cryptocurrency transactions. In 2020, India lifted the Supreme Court's prohibitive regulations on cryptocurrencies. However, it has not been able to establish clear regulation for this industry in the country.
📍Regulatory requirements in South Korea will force almost all cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms to close in the country. Cryptocurrency companies in South Korea have until next week to submit their license applications to the country's financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea (FSC). However, the Commission's demands are exaggerated for smaller exchanges and service providers, leading several analysts to question the possibility of a new cryptocurrency. they estimate that they will be forced to close due to the lack of an official license, leaving the crypto market monopolized in the hands of large companies.
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