Plus, the Super Bowl and crypto
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The United States Treasury has reiterated that the IRS will not consider crypto miners, stakers, and developers to be brokers. This news is an overwhelmingly positive clarification after the Infrastructure Bill left these determinations up to the Treasury. What does this mean? By being classified as brokers, miners, stakers, and coders could have theoretically been subjected to a tax reporting burden that would be impossible to comply with. - In the crypto world, exchanges like Coinbase are considered brokers. Thus, they collect the information necessary to accurately report to the IRS.
- Miners, stakers, and developers often don't have access to this information, making such reporting to the IRS impossible.
A narrowing of the broker definition is a step toward the lauded regulatory clarity that will help catalyze further cryptocurrency and web3 adoption.
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Following a $100M payment to settle investigations into its interest-generating accounts, BlockFi will look to register with the SEC. It was reported Friday that BlockFi might be forced to discontinue its flagship high-yield account for U.S. customers, but now it seems that the company will offer the product with a new name and a stamp of regulatory approval. More: - BlockFi plans to file an S1 to offer BlockFi Yield to U.S. investors as a security.
- Existing U.S. clients will be able to continue to earn interest in their existing accounts but can not add more assets.
- Non-U.S. users are unaffected.
What this means: The precedent has been set for high-yield crypto savings accounts to be considered securities. ... at least in the U.S. - BlockFi considered itself to be analogous to a traditional bank account swapping sub-1% yield for 8%.
- The SEC considered the offering more akin to a mutual fund.
- This will require BlockFi and other high-yield products to have FDIC insurance.
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 A message from PASSBASE ~60M Americans have been affected by identity theft and fraudsters are only getting more advanced. In fact, as more business has moved online throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, cybercrime has increased 600% – whoa! That’s why it’s become even more critical for companies to have scalable KYC programs that can distinguish real users from bad actors. Our favorite resource on the topic is the latest e-book from Passbase that unpacks top approaches to fight fraud and protect customers without compromising on user experience. Their New Identity Playbook covers: - How identity verification (IDV) has evolved from passwords and one-time database checks to today’s modern technologies
- Comparisons between standard and best-in-class IDV across key customer touchpoints
- The questions to ask your IDV provider as you evaluate your solution.
Download the New Identity Playbook
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A word on the Super Bowl For the first time in crypto's nascent history, the industry's top companies hit the big stage with Super Bowl ads. First, we had Coinbase's QR code - The company spent an estimated $14M for the spot.
- The ad propelled the Coinbase app to No. 2 on the Apple App Store from No. 186
- 20 million people visited the website in 1 minute
- The QR code directed viewers to the company's website....which crashed.
FTX - It featured comedian Larry David as a technology skeptic.
- The company gave away 7.54 BTC.
Nouns DAO made a guest appearance on the Bud Light NEXT ad 
eToro - Really played off of the "to the moon" meme.
Crypto.com 
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South Koreans who pre-ordered Samsung's new Galaxy S22 smartphone will receive a commemorative NFT. The NFTs will provide holders with "ongoing membership benefits and privileges." More: - The NFT drop was carried out in partnership with the Theta Network developers, Theta Labs.
- There is no information as to what the benefits and privileges NFT holders supposedly get will actually be.
- The NFT collaboration with Samsung will aim to attract users to Theta's ThetaDrop NFT marketplace.
- Samsung's venture arm invested in Theta Labs in 2019.
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Web3 Tweet: Mason Nystrom on the leading categories within the NFT industry 
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- JP Morgan predicts that bitcoin's long-term price will reach $150,000.
- New Hampshire's governor has launched a commission to promote crypto innovation
- The Singaporean bank DBS plans to launch retail crypto trading by the end of 2022.
- Metaverse real estate sales hit $500M in 2021.
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 |  | Trevor Grant is an entrepreneur, investor, and writer based out of Chicago, Illinois. His primary area of interest is web3 venture capital, social tokens, and infrastructure. Other pursuits include screenwriting, yoga, and traveling. He holds a BS in biomedical engineering. Connect with him on Twitter @trevorisonline |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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