Crypto Briefs is your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Regulation news
South Korea’s deputy prime minister and finance ministry chief Hong Nam-ki has confirmed the reports about forthcoming crypto tax plans that will see cryptocurrency-related profits taxed under capital gains taxation rules. Per Yonhap, Hong added that the country was trying to persuade other G20 nations to do likewise. Reports began circulating yesterday, after over two years of inter-ministerial wrangling about how taxes would be implemented.
Adoption news
Bank of Canada, the country’s central bank, is working on its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a job posting on the institution’s website suggests. The bank is looking for a CBDC project manager, someone to oversee the design of what it calls “a contingent system for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which can be thought of as a banknote, but in digital form.” The bank says its new offering will be built to protect user privacy, available to those without mobile phones or bank accounts, and should work even without electricity.
The Giving Block, a company that helps non-profits and charities accept donations in cryptocurrencies, announced the launch of the Crypto for Black Lives donation campaign, aiming to raise as much as USD 1 million. Matching funds, up to USD 25,000, were said to be donated through Gitcoin, as well. At press time, seven non-profit organizations were supported by the campaign: The National Black Chamber of Commerce, Black Girls CODE, The Bail Project, Nashville Bail Fund, Justice Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Movement 4 Black Lives. Donors can help through a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, DAI, Litecoin, ERC-20 tokens, Bitcoin Cash, and Zcash.
Business news
South Korean software giant Hancom’s blockchain subsidiary Hancom Weed has bought a controlling stake in a gold exchange, reports ET News. The Hancom subsidiary says it has invested in the Seoul-based firm, Sunhak Gold Oil, and the same media outlet claims that Hancom will likely look to enable blockchain-powered trading on the platform.
A Chinese bank says its cross-border blockchain platform pilot has successfully handled a trade deal to the EU, including a 195,000 euro (USD 219,000) payment from a Europe-based buyer. Per East Money, the Henan branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China says that its platform has been set up to help facilitate payments for small and medium-sized companies doing international trade deals.
Crypto exchange OKEx and P2P Bitcoin marketplace Paxful are partnering up, according to an emailed press release. OKEx will integrate Paxful’s Kiosk into its own platform, giving its users additional options of payment and trading. Thus, Paxful will serve as a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp. Both companies hope the partnership will propel crypto adoption in developing countries, given that OKEx users will now be able to buy Bitcoin using more than 160 fiat currencies.
As a result of a new partnership between Ontology and Switzerland’s crypto-financial service provider Bitcoin Suisse, the former’s ONTO wallet will now support the CryptoFranc (XCHF) stablecoin. In an emailed press release, it was also said that the ONT token would soon become available through the Bitcoin Suisse online platform for buying, selling, and trading.
BTSE, the token of to the financial technology exchange of the same name will soon get listed on Bitfinex, the company confirmed in a press release. In return, it will list Bitfinex’s LEO utility token. Both companies are claiming the cross-listing will “increase inter-exchange settlement functionalities on both platforms.”
ConsenSys Codefy is building a platform that will offer Ethereum staking as a service, and has already signed six companies to test it out. The participants of its Pilot Program are Binance, Crypto.com, DARMA Capital, Huobi Wallet, Matrixport, and Trustology, which will be among the first one to try Ethereum’s proof of stake solution ahead of the Ethereum 2.0 launch later this year. Ethereum 2.0 will see the network step away from the Proof-of-work concept, effectively ending mining and introducing staking instead.
Betting site Unikrn announced a new partnership with blockchain payment firm BitPay, saying it will “extend accessibility and ramp up activity” across its platform. According to Unikrn’s press release, BitPay will be tasked with assisting in processing. BitPay users who try Unikrn for the first time will get a 300% transfer bonus using BITPAY as a code.
Legal news
Robert Joseph Farkas, AKA “RJ”, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud, the US Department of Justice announced earlier this week. RJ was the co-founder of Centra Tech, a company promising crypto owners a way to pay for goods at services wherever Mastercard or Visa cards were accepted. The company ran a successful ICO back in 2017 but the funds, at one point worth more than USD 60 million, were seized by the FBI. Each of the counts he pleaded guilty for carrying a maximum prison sentence of five years.
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