A look at Satoshi Island

Plus, Russia may sell its oil and gas for bitcoin

Inside.com Part of   Network March 25, 2022

A group of crypto enthusiasts bought a 1.1-square-mile private island called Vanuatu — to be renamed Satoshi Island. Over 50,000 people have applied to live there so far. Here's why: No capital gains tax; No withholding tax; No death tax; Not to mention you get to live on a tropical island with like-minded people. More: Parcels on Satoshi Island will be sold as NFTs. The island is between Australia and Fiji.

Meta has filed for eight trademark applications for its logo. Six of these applications explicitly refer to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. More: The major tie-in comes from Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of Instagram's and Facebook's upcoming NFT integration. Meta's trademarks broadly include any crypto tokens. NFTs fall under those trademarks.

Russia may start selling its oil and gas for bitcoin amid western sanctions. Russia wants to move away from settling transactions in a currency that is at greater risk of sanctioning like the euro.  With friendly countries like China and Turkey, Russia now wishes to settle the transactions in the buyer's currency or in bitcoin. With the unfriendly EU, Russia prefers to use rubles or bitcoin as the settlement currency. The U.S. already has banned imports of Russian oil.

Web3 salaries have soared to as high as $900,000 as companies compete for the best talent. Much of the compensation comes from token incentives; nevertheless, they are still 2-5X as high as traditional silicon valley software jobs. Examples: A senior Solidity dev from lending protocol Silo Finance reported a salary ranging from $300,000-$750,000.  For the $750,000 job, $300,000 is the base salary with $450,000 coming in tokens. Olympus DAO fork TempleDAO posted a job ranging from $300,000-$900,000. OpenSea competitor LooksRare offered compensation packages reaching $600,000.

Web3 Tweet: ETH is like NYC in the 1800s, and on-chain NFTs are like Central Park.

QUICK HITS Struggling to hire? Download Checkr and Everee's State of the Worker Report to learn what drives employees to leave their job and what candidates are looking for in a new role.* The EU's crypto bill officially advanced without a PoW ban. Anchor surpassed Aave with $14B TVL. Artist XCOPY generated nearly $23M worth of sales in minutes. Isreal's largest bank, Bank Leumi, will offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading. Janet Yellen says crypto is playing a significant role in American investment decisions. Founder Shield has re-engineered the insurance experience with seamless digital applications and best-in-class customer service. Make the switch.* *This is sponsored content.

UPCOMING EVENTS March 29 - Venturing in VC - Episode #13 with Eurie Kim (Forerunner Ventures) (Register Here) March 31 - How To Build In Web 3.0 (Register Here) April 04 - Blockchain and the Law (Register Here) April 06 - Entertainment in the Metaverse (Register Here) April 07 - Road to Autonomy: Sidewalk Robots with Ali Kashani (Serve Robotics) (Register Here) April 14 - Shopping In The Metaverse (Register Here) April 28 - Alternative Investments 2: Crypto Safety Standards (Register Here) May 12 - Making Metaverse Dating a Reality (Register Here) May 19 - Understanding Fractionalization (Register Here) June 01 - Selling Consumer Goods in Web3 (Register Here)

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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ExxonMobil's Bitcoin Mining Pilot

ALSO: Austin, Texas green lights bitcoin analysis, EU legislators crack down on big tech, and more |

The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day  Mar. 25, 2022 Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. Supported by Welcome to The Node.   In today's newsletter: ExxonMobil is piloting a bitcoin mining project. India passes stiff crypto laws. And EU legislators continue bill negotiations without crypto ban provision.   –Daniel Kuhn Today's must-reads Top Shelf STRANDED ENERGY: Oil giant ExxonMobil is running a bitcoin mining pilot project using wasted gas from its North Dakota oil wells. The Irving, Texas-based company is also reportedly looking to make use of its excess natural gas supply, which it said would have otherwise been wasted, burned or flared off in facilities worldwide. It has partnered with Crusoe Energy Systems on the North Dakota oil pilot.   Meanwhile, CoinDesk's Jeff Wilser reports on seven other wild bitcoin mining rigs. TAXING EFFECT: India has passed stiff crypto laws that will ramp up capital gain taxes by 30%, beginning April 1.  In addition to a capital gains tax, that country will also impose a 1% "tax deducted at source" (TDS) on crypto transactions beginning in July and will eliminate potential tax deductions on losses. Some experts in India's crypto industry said the bill will be "more harmful than good" and perhaps "one that will hamper the overall growth of the industry." MiCA MOVES: The European Union's proposed comprehensive crypto regulatory policy proposal, Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), is moving forward to the next stage of negotiations without the controversial provision that would have restricted cryptos like bitcoin that are based on proof-of-work. EU legislators will now move on to trilogue negotiations between the parliament, council and commission, which are still debating the use of NFTs, DeFi and divvying up supervision over the crypto space.  Elsewhere in the EU, lawmakers have passed legislation that will support smaller players against tech conglomerates like Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta called the Digital Markets Act. TERRA FIRMA: Following a community vote on Thursday, decentralized money market Anchor protocol said it will readjust its interest rates each month moving forward, changing its policy from offering blanket 20% returns. The Terra-based platform said the move is about making Anchor, which relies on earning stalking rewards from blockchains, more sustainable in the longer term. Reactions from users were mixed, and the protocol's token dropped 5% on the news. BLOCKCHAIN IN TEXAS: Crypto in the Lone Star state? In a city of one million, Austin, Texas, is taking a step forward when it comes to bitcoin adoption.  City councilors have approved plans to investigate the practicality of accepting payments via bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.  The "fact finding study" will look to hammer out a number of details, including the potential benefit crypto could have on public services, its economic and environmental impact and the financial stability and security of using the digital assets. Findings for the study are said to be due on June 16. –Fran Velasquez What's the best way to beat the crypto market volatility? By sidestepping it altogether.   This is the premise of Earn – Nexo's industry-leading solution, that allows you to utilize your idle assets into a predictable source of passive income.    Unlock your crypto's full potential by earning up to 17% interest on hot assets, including BTC, ETH, AVAX, SOL, FTM, LUNA, DOT, MATIC and more.    Get daily compounding interest with our FLEX offering, or maximize your yield by opting for our Fixed Terms. Whatever you choose, rest assured – all assets in your Nexo account benefit from a $375M insurance by our industry-renowned custodians.   Get the ball rolling by depositing your digital assets till March 31 for a welcome bonus of up to $100. Open your account now at nexo.io What others are writing... Off-Chain Signals Vanuatu prime minister says yes to Satoshi Island crypto project (Cointelegraph) DeFiance Capital rescues $13.3 million at risk of being stolen (The Block) Meme Stonk GameStop Taps Loopring for Beta NFT Marketplace (The Defiant) Ukraine launches NFT 'Museum of War' in crypto crowdfunding push (Reuters) Latest in Crypto Hiring: Jefferies Execs Leave to Create Startup (Blockworks)   Introducing CoinDesk's Mining Week. Our reporters visited crypto mining farms around the world, interviewed key players and crunched network data to shed light on a little-understood industry. Follow along with our continuing coverage.   How Northern Italian Hydropower Producers Became Bitcoin Miners In the pursuit of economic sustainability, northern Italian hydropower producers are turning to bitcoin mining.     Exponential Software Requires Exponential Hardware Web 3 will require the creation of a new structure of hardware, custom-built for the rapidly growing needs of the software.   Putting the news into perspective The Takeaway The Perils of Crypto's Pseudonymous Economy If crypto's pseudonymous economy is to survive this era of NFT rug pulls and token Ponzinomics, then I've yet to see a reason why or how it should. We're living through a massive digital whack-a-mole game. But these moles have mallets – Groucho Marx masks, too. Why, then, do we keep plunking quarters into their machine?    Take Thursday's announcement of fraud charges against two organizers of the "Frosties" non-fungible token blowup. Federal prosecutors alleged 20-year-olds Ethan Nguyen and Andre Llacuna scammed investors in their million-dollar metaverse mumbo jumbo, a collection of cutesy JPEG PFPs (profile pics).    Infected by FOMO (fear of missing out) and crypto hype culture, thousands of well-meaning if misguided victims didn't know who was selling them a tin digital Spam. Some Frosties buyers eagerly dropped thousands of dollars on mint day. They didn't start asking whodunit until after the rug had been pulled. Why bother vetting creators "Meltfrost" and "heyandre" in an ecosystem that lionizes the pseudonymous hack?   Therein lies the ... rug. Crypto and DeFi (decentralized finance) and NFTs and Web 3 have grown to adore pseudonymity's romantic mystique. This makes perfect sense from a historical standpoint: Bitcoin's Satoshi Nakamoto set a trillion-dollar precedent for keeping one's real name under wraps. He or she or they created a financial disintermediation platform that didn't know or care who used it. Years of open-source collaboration, auditing and innovation – and Satoshi's early exit stage left – mean bitcoiners nary fret over the founder's real name.   Earned trust? Bitcoin earned our respect over a decade of growth. Its pseudonymous precedent is now being exploited by a new generation of scam-happy thieves. Carnival goldfish have longer, happier lives than these ringleaders' phony names.   Read the full article here.   –Danny Nelson   What Does a Successful Blockchain Look Like? Hint: Volume Isn't Everything*     How do you know that today's most successful NFT blockchain will still be on top three months from now?   You don't – and part of that uncertainty has to do with how "successful" is defined. In the infancy of the non-fungible token (NFT) space, maybe it was appropriate to obsess over sales volume. While that provides a snapshot of how blockchains rank at a moment in time in terms of a single metric, sales volume can no longer be considered the only indicator of current performance. Nor can it be relied on as an indicator of future performance.   Real-world consequences exist for ignoring other metrics.   *This is sponsored content from Wax. The Chaser... The Node A newsletter from CoinDesk Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here. See Previous Editions Copyright © 2022 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.  250 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003, USA Unsubscribe | Manage your email preferences | Opt out

How Are Crypto Exchanges Protecting Consumers?

Webinar March 31 at 1 p.m. ET Sponsored by Trulioo

As cryptocurrencies become increasingly mainstream and digital trading and investment platforms attract experienced and novice investors alike, regulatory reform, specifically the acceleration of new measures to mitigate financial crime, is adapting to protect consumers. Join Trulioo's exclusive webinar to hear how crypto exchanges can navigate the dynamic and evolving regulatory landscape.   Nick Lord of Blue Pool Communications will moderate a discussion with Trulioo SVP, Identity Solutions, Garient Evans and Bitbuy Chief Compliance Officer, Torstein Braaten.  Garient Evans SVP, Identity Solutions Trulioo Torstein Braaten Head of Regulatory Affairs & CCO Bitbuy Moderator Nick Lord Founder Blue Pool Communications Copyright © 2022 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.    250 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003, USA You can manage your preferences here or unsubscribe from all CoinDesk email.