BitDigest - Friday October 8, 2021
Crypto market cap jumps 14% over past 7-days with bitcoin and ether up 21% and 15% respectively
South Korea plans to proceed with crypto tax system early next year
Bloomberg Businessweek released a cover-story finding tether (USDT) invested “billions” of its reserves in Chinese and crypto lending companies
The Headlines
South Korea Will Not Delay Crypto Tax Regime
In response to lawmakers seeking a further postponement on crypto taxes, South Korea’s Finance Minister declared that plans to tax gains on digital currencies at a rate of 20% will go into effect in 2022 and will not be delayed again.
Sri Lanka to Establish Crypto / Blockchain Study
The government of Sri Lanka intends to appoint a committee to study regulations and initiatives taken by different countries to attract investments in the areas of digital banking, blockchain and blockchain related industries such as cryptocurrencies.
Volt Crypto ETF Approved to Trade
The SEC has approved Volt Equity’s Volt Crypto Industry Revolution and Tech ETF, an actively managed fund seeking to invest 80% of its capital in US and foreign “bitcoin industry revolution companies” with exposure to cryptocurrencies on their balance sheet.
BITF's Provides Update on Argentinian Mining Facility
Canadian digital miner Bitfarms (NASDAQ: BITF) released an update on their previously announced new 210 MW mining facility in Argentina. The new facility expects to be operational in 2022 and will house 55,000 rigs operating at a cost of $0.022 kw/h.
The passively managed Invesco Alerian Galaxy Crypto Economy ETF (NYSE: SATO) and the Invesco Alerian Galaxy Blockchain Users and Decentralized Commerce ETF (NYSE: BLKC) started trading yesterday.
Commission free mobile trading site Public.com is adding digital currencies to its platform allowing members to buy, sell and hold crypto assets in the same app they use to manage their stock market portfolios. Initial assets include: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Stellar (XLM), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Dash (DASH), and Zcash (ZEC).
Bloomberg Investigates Tether's Reserves
Next week’s Bloomberg Businessweek cover story titled “the $69 Billion Crypto Mystery” digs into the question as to how tether (USDT) is backed, “if it’s truly backed at all” and makes accusations that the company has used the stablecoin’s reserves to invest billions of dollars in short term loans to large Chinese company and companies offering crypto-backed loans like Celsius.
Tether responded to the report calling it a “one-act play… taking snippets of old news from various places and dubious sources, and making it fit a pre-packaged and pre-determined narrative.”
Core Scientific to Build 300 MW Data Center in Texas
Core Scientific plans to develop a 300 MW crypto mining-based data center in Denton Texas bringing the company’s total power capacity to over 800 MW
Exchange, Custody and Product News
CZ Confirms Ireland is part of HQ Plans
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) confirmed that the leading digital exchange by trading volumes intends to establish a headquarters operation in Ireland.
Binance Ending Activity in South Africa
In another apparent move to appease regulators, Binance announced that all accounts held in South Africa would be closed within 90 days.
Thoughts on the Ecosystem
Stablecoins Should Hold Assets at Regulated Banks
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says stablecoins should be regulated with their underlying assets held in trust accounts in regulated banks. Mnuchin also suggested that “stablecoins should be invested in U.S. Treasuries or things that look like U.S. Treasuries – money-markets of highly liquid, backed investments.”
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BitDigest is a weekday news update on digital currencies and blockchain technology for friends and partners of Parsons & Whittemore, a single family office based in Rye Brook, New York. Receipt of BitDigest is by approval of the Author. The commentary, analysis, opinions and recommendations in this newsletter represent the personal and subjective views of the Author, and are subject to change at any time without notice. The information provided in this newsletter is obtained from sources which the Author believes to be reliable. However, the Author has not independently verified or otherwise investigated all such information. Neither the Author nor any of the Author's affiliates make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from reading this newsletter. While past performance may be analyzed in this newsletter, past performance should not be considered indicative of future performance. No reader should make any investment decision without first consulting his or her own financial advisor and conducting his or her own research and due diligence. The Author is not making a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities of any kind.