Tax redux

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January 17, 2019 TAX DRIVE: U.S. lawmakers have resurrected a bipartisan push to exempt gains from small cryptocurrency transactions from being taxed. “The Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act of 2020” amendment to IRS tax code would exempt realized gains under $200. Full story DEFI CONFUSION: The decentralized finance (DeFi) boom of 2019 is already making accountants dizzy. If you lock up crypto in exchange for a synthetic asset or a stablecoin, is that a trade or merely a temporary reorganizing of the original asset? Startups are now stepping up to help investors find the answers to such questions. Full story GUIDING LIBRA: Executives and founders from Anchorage Bison Trails, Union Square Ventures, Calibra and Mercy Corps will head up a technical steering committee to oversee the development of Libra. Full story BOT PARTNER: Amid soaring activity within the crypto derivatives market, software maker Trading Technologies rolled out a suite of trading tools for users of the popular Deribit exchange. Included in the software package are advanced order types, charting and analytics, as well as a feature to program algorithmic bot trading. Full story SCANDI LISTING: One of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in Scandinavia will go public later this year. Oskar Soderstrom, CEO of Stockholm-based BTCX, told CoinDesk the firm is looking to deliver an IPO in Q3. Full story HEADED TO DAVOS? CoinDesk is sending a team of journalists to scrutinize the global elite as it meets for the annual World Economic Forum. It will be Davos, but through a lens of crypto and blockchain. Our daily dispatches will tell you what sessions you should attend, what you missed yesterday (or last night) and prep you for what people are talking about on the Promenade today. The CoinDesk Confidential newsletter will run for five days only, so be sure to sign up now. Subscribe here BITCOIN BUMP: Bitcoin is up only slightly at press time, after a good start to daily trading soon faded. Traders pushed bitcoin above the psychological threshold of $9,000 in early trading hours, but the price has since recapitulated. In a different context, bitcoin is up 23 percent on a year-to-date basis. Full story NOT YOUR FACE, NOT YOUR KEYS: Civic CEO Vinny Lingham sat down with CoinDesk at the Digital Money Forum in Las Vegas last week to talk about the non-custodial Civic Wallet, which enables users to carry crypto and fiat currencies on their own devices and secures the system using facial recognition. Watch now WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   Copyright © 2020 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.  Our mailing address is:  250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US  Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Canadian crypto exchange guidance / KyberSwap's move to Malta / Crypto terrorism funding

Inside Bitcoin.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Market Watch: Prices remain in the green to end the working week with Bitcoin within touching distance of reaching the $9,000 barrier. Ethereum Classic, however, has shown that it is still an asset to consider, rising nearly 30 percent in 24 hours. Bitcoin: $8,808 (1.50%) // $160 billion market cap. Ethereum: $166 (3.05%) // $18.2 billion market cap. XRP: $0.232 (2.19%) // $10.1 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $337 (5.49%) // $6.1 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: Ethereum Classic: $9.97 (27.82%) // $1.1 billion market cap. Top 100 Loser: Augur: $14.66 (14.64%) // $161 million market cap. Prices are as of 12:12 p.m. ET. 1. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has issued new guidance for crypto exchanges, which details what platforms fall under derivatives law. Published yesterday, the five-page provisions are titled "Guidance on the Application of Securities Legislation to Entities Facilitating the Trading of Crypto Assets." According to the regulator, exchanges that fall under the law are those that only provide a contractual right or a claim to an asset, and don't transfer it to the user straight away. The regulator went on to say that the user would have "ongoing reliance and dependence" on the platform, which, in turn, would expose them to "fraud risk, performance risk and proficiency risk on the part of Platform." The rule won't be applied to exchanges that deliver an asset to a user immediately or to those where the underlying asset isn't a security or derivative. -COINTELEGRAPH 2. KyberSwap exchange is reportedly moving its operations out of Malta and is heading to the British Virgin Islands on the 24 January due to Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) regulations. The 5AMLD requires European companies to introduce know-your-customer (KYC) measures and to report any suspicious customer activity. On top of that, crypto firms need to have someone to oversee compliance and to train staff in anti-money laundering requirements. However, KyberSwap has decided to move away from Malta as it said that "the new regulations would put too high a barrier for the majority of traders, both regulatory and cost-wise." As per an email to users, the exchange will move to the BVI on Jan. 24. -THE BLOCK A MESSAGE FROM SALESFORCE The Best of Dreamforce: get how-to resources to help you drive digital transformation with the Customer 360 Platform. Whether you’re trying to connect every customer, empower every employee, or create a company culture of innovation, Dreamforce-in-a-box will show you how the Customer 360 Platform can help you reach your biggest goals. Learn More Here 3. Follow Friday: Dan Hedl Hedl is currently the director of business development at the Kraken crypto exchange. Prior to this position, he was with Interchange, a portfolio reconciliation tool for crypto institutional traders. This was acquired by Kraken in 2019. Before Interchange, Hedl worked at Uber, focusing on rider growth and global data. And before Uber, he spent his time building crypto products such as ChangeTip, which was eventually acquired by Airbnb, and ZeroBlock. As a frequent user of Twitter, Hedl often tweets or retweets posts such as those focusing on former CFTC chairman Giancarlo, Kraken's latest hire, and the pace of developments in the Bitcoin options ecosystem. 4. A study by research company Chainalysis states that terrorism financing using cryptocurrency is growing more sophisticated. In a report, the New York-based company said that Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (AQB), a military wing and terrorist organization of Hamas, was able to collect money through a website that created a new Bitcoin address for each donor to send money to. Additionally, AQB put together a video that instructed people on how they could donate anonymously, like by using public Wi-Fi so that a person's computer IP couldn't be traced by law enforcement. Kim Grauer. senior economist at Chainalysis, said: "This is obviously a growing homeland security problem that agencies need to be monitoring." -BLOOMBERG A MESSAGE FROM NETWORK SOLUTIONS Save Now on Reliable Domain Name, Website and Hosting Services with Network Solutions Whether you’re getting your new business online or building an existing one, you can count on us to be in your corner. For a limited time, save 25% site-wide on domain names, hosting, SSL, and more! With live tech support and flexible plans, this is an offer you can’t afford to miss. Save 25% Now! 5. Crypto exchange Binance is in discussions with Z Corporation and TaoTao, two Japanese companies, regarding a strategic partnership in the Japanese market. The exact details have not been revealed; however, the exchange said that the two organizations "will continue discussions and deliberations with Binance and begin preparation to launch trading services for users in Japan." The news comes after it was reported yesterday that Binance is planning to restrict transactions to Japanese users, which would be implemented gradually. -BINANCE 6. Ripple reportedly spent $170,000 in the first nine months of 2019 in a bid to help shape crypto regulation in the U.S. The money is said to have been used to lobby the Executive Office of President Donald Trump. However, the money spent last year is a small ripple in the pond. In 2018, the company is reported to have spent $450,000 for its lobbying efforts. -COINSPEAKER 7. The Crypto Rating Council (CRC), which is led by crypto exchange Coinbase and others, has been joined by eToro, Radar, and OKCoin. In an online post, the company said that the three new members "join eight other industry leaders in the CRC's continuing mission to provide a more systematic U.S. securities law analytical framework for crypto assets." -TOKENPOST 8. Dash has received a top rating by the Crypto Rating Council, surpassing Ethereum and Zcash, regarding its possibility of being considered a security by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other assets that received ratings included Cosmos (ATOM), Livepeer (LPT), Ethereum Classic (ETC), and Horizen (ZEN). Dash received a score of one, indicating that it is unlikely to be considered a security. It joins the likes of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, Horizen, and the DAI stablecoin. -DASH NEWS 9. A new report indicates that crypto platforms Binance and Huobi received more than 50 percent of $2.8 billion illicit Bitcoin transfers in 2019. According to the company, Binance received 27.5 percent and Huobi received 24.7 percent from illegal transactions. The study further highlights that 300,000 individual accounts at the two exchanges received illicit Bitcoin that was linked with criminal activities last year. -CHAINALYSIS 10. Only six percent of treasury and finance professionals believe that the blockchain is a suitable area of investment. That's according to a survey conducted by TD Bank. However, while interest doesn't appear high, out of the 329 responses, 92 percent indicated that the technology presented at least one positive benefit to the payments industry. -LEDGER INSIGHTS This newsletter was written and curated by Rebecca Campbell. She has been writing and reporting on various industries for the past 10 years, more specifically tech in the last three. Connect with her on Twitter. Edited by Sheena Vasani, staff writer at Inside. Ad Save now on domains, professional email, top-quality hosting and more with Network Solutions! Save 25% Site-Wide! Ad Empower everyone to build apps fast with low code on the Lightning Platform.

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