by Renu Sharma | Jan 25, 2023 | Bitcoin, News
According to state television, Iranian authorities seized over 1,000 Bitcoin mining devices from two defunct enterprises. The measure was made in response to an increase in power use. An energy ministry spokesperson informed local state-run media that bitcoin mining was the major source of the 7% increase in power demand in June.
According to one expert, Bitcoin is gaining traction in Iran as a viable way of keeping wealth. "Two of these bitcoin farms have been detected, with an usage of one megawatt," Arash Navab, a state television official, said. Mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin entails connecting computers, often
Mining machine owners are compensated with freshly minted coins for contributing computer power for validating transactions on that network, making it a potentially lucrative activity - especially when done on a big scale.
Bitcoin mining has apparently sprouted up in a number of Iranian cities. "Everyone is talking about Bitcoin and how to obtain it," said Mahsa Alimardani, an Oxford Internet Institute researcher who grew up in Iran.
With US sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme causing financial hardship, Iranians frequently debate how riches may be securely maintained on social media, she noted. Gold and US money have long been popular choices.
"Bitcoin and [other cryptocurrencies] are gradually emerging as the third option," she told the BBC. Courts in Iran have ordered the government to release thousands of confiscated cryptocurrency mining machines, according to local media.
Also Read: Iranian Businesses Were Granted To Use Crypto For Imports
To address electricity shortages, Iranian authorities stopped mining and seized associated equipment in 2021. According to the reports, Tavanir, a power provider, also cracked down on unauthorised crypto mining farms last year as power demand increased throughout the summer. The utility has shut down 7,200 illicit crypto mining operations and confiscated over 250,000 mining devices.
The Organization for Collection and Sale of State-Owned Property holds over 150,000 pieces of crypto mining equipment, much of which will be freed following legal judgments while some of them have already been returned, according to reports quoting the organisation's leader, Abdolmajid Eshtehadi.
Tavanir "shall submit fresh strategies to make use of [the remaining] gear without causing damage to the national grid," according to Eshtehadi.
Iran's central bank has prohibited other banks from trading in cryptocurrency due to worries that the technology may be abused.
It stated that Bitcoin could be "converted into a method for money-laundering and financing terrorism" and "a means for moving criminals' money". The rial, Iran's currency, fell to an all-time low in early April.
Banks, financial institutions, and currency exchanges must immediately refrain from selling or purchasing digital currencies. This is a setback for those Iranians who regarded cryptocurrency as a method for Iran to overcome challenges with its banking system and international sanctions.
Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technology, unveiled a proposal in February to establish the country's own internet. Mr Jahromi's initiative was also supported by Iran's cyber-security body, which stated that virtual currencies would be acceptable if properly controlled.
Also Read: Let’s take a look at how crypto mixers have posed a threat to the enforcement of sanctions
However, the central bank was not on board. At the time, it informed Iranian state media that the "wild oscillations" of crypto-currencies, combined with "pyramid schemes", had made the virtual currency market "unreliable and hazardous".
Early in April, India's central bank issued a similar prohibition on the selling or acquisition of cryptocurrency. Banks have three months to unwind their exposure to virtual currency exchanges, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Latest News
by Renu Sharma | Jan 25, 2023 | Market, Market News
According to a research report conducted by Esya Centre, a New Delhi-based technology policy think tank, Following the country's introduction of harsh crypto tax rules in February of last year, Indians moved more than $3.8 billion in trading activity from domestic to foreign cryptocurrency exchanges.
The analysis is the first to offer a monetary assessment of the impact of India's contentious crypto tax policy on local exchanges. On February 1,2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration proposed a 30% tax on crypto earnings and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on all transactions. The 30% tax went into force on April 1, and the 1% TDS went into effect on July 1.
The industry was unable to back up its claim that the tariffs would "destroy liquidity" when they were introduced. According to the Esya Centre analysis, local exchanges lost 81% of their trading volumes in four months following the implementation of the much-debated 1% TDS regulation.
Days before the 30% tax was implemented, Nichal Shetty, CEO and founder of WazirX, one of India's largest exchanges, predicted that Indians would "find methods to not be a part of the system because people are not going to quit crypto." If the current trend continues, Esya predicts that "centralised exchange firms would become unviable" in India.
According to the study, the current tax system may cause a $1.2 trillion loss in local exchange trade volume over the next four years, as well as a commensurately large negative impact on tax collections, and a drop in transaction traceability.
According to the paper, India's virtual digital-asset (VDA) business is "crippled by the present tax architecture," and the "baseline scenario" under the current structure is that "virtually all" Indian centralised VDA users would switch to a foreign exchange.
TDS should be reduced from 1% per transaction to 0.1%, in line with the securities transaction tax, according to the academics. They also advocate allowing losses to offset profits and instituting progressive gains taxes rather than the current flat 30% rate.
Also Read: WazirX, a cryptocurrency exchange, has released Proof of Reserve to boost transparency.
As a country with a current account deficit that has reached an all-time high of $36.4 billion, India requires money to flow in rather than out to offshore exchanges that bypass banking channels. The fresh results may put pressure on policymakers to restrict crypto outflows that contribute to India's current account imbalance.
Domestic Crypto Exchanges Suffer
According to CoinDesk, the Esya Centre analysis discovered that local exchanges lost 81% of their trading volumes in four months following the implementation of the contentious 1% TDS regulation.
Nischal Shetty, CEO and founder of WazirX, one of India's largest exchanges, allegedly claimed days before the 30% tax went into force that Indians will "find methods to not be part of the system because people are not going to leave crypto."
The Dangers Ahead
If the current trend continues, the policy think tank predicts that "centralised exchange firms would become unviable" in India. According to the research, a loss of nearly $1.2 trillion in local exchange trade volume over the next four years could be caused by the two main goals of the existing regulatory architecture and the existing tax structure, which would have a commensurately large negative impact on tax collections and transaction traceability.
Also Read: WazirX follows the footsteps of Binance and delists USDC
Suggestions for Crypto's Survival in India.
According to the paper, India's virtual digital-asset (VDA) business is "crippled by the present tax architecture," and the "baseline scenario" under the current structure is that "virtually all" Indian centralised VDA users would migrate to foreign currencies.
The researchers propose that TDS be reduced from 1% per transaction to 0.1%, in line with the securities transaction tax. They also advocate allowing losses to offset profits and buildingprogressive taxes on gains instead of the flat 30% tax.
Latest News
by Renu Sharma | Jan 25, 2023 | Altcoin News, News
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressed optimism but caution about the cryptocurrency market's prospects in 2023. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared his 2023 forecast on Twitter. Garlinghouse indicated that he is "cautiously hopeful" that the United States will achieve regulatory certainty for the cryptocurrency business by 2023.
The Ripple CEO commemorated the opening day of the 118th Congress with a Twitter thread. According to Garlinghouse, support for crypto regulation is "bipartisan and bicameral."
Glenn Thompson, Tom Emmer, Patrick McHenry, Ritchie Torres, John Boozman, Ro Khanna, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, and Cory Booker, according to Garlinghouse, "understood the need for clarification."
In addition, the Ripple CEO stated that the US government already has a functioning framework in place to design crypto legislation. As examples, Garlinghouse listed the Securities Clarity Act, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, the DCEA, and the Clarity for Digital Tokens Act.
Furthermore, Garlinghouse stated that other nations, such as Singapore, the European Union, Brazil, and Japan, are ahead of the United States in developing crypto legislation and regulations.
Also Read: After FTX, Binance is the only cryptocurrency exchange at the top, raising concerns about it being “too big to fail.”
According to Brad Garlinghouse, no law is perfect, and there will likely never be one that pleases everyone. But perfection should not be the enemy of progress, and these recommendations are more than just a starting point for discussion in this new Congress.
The stakes are at an all-time high.
The Ripple CEO mentioned FTX as an example of the government's failure to establish clear crypto legislation. Because there are no internationally coordinated crypto regulatory norms, firms are forced to relocate to nations with lesser regulatory and ethical standards.
Garlinghouse believed that the government will use existing building blocks to bring clarity to the cryptocurrency markets. Rahul Advani of Ripple Asia anticipates an XRP SEC resolution in the first half of 2023.
While Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressed optimism about crypto regulation clarity in 2023, Ripple's Asia Pacific Policy Director Rahul Advani expressed hope for a settlement in the ongoing XRP SEC litigation struggle.
In an interview, Advani stated that Ripple expected a court judgement in the first half of 2023. The A-Pac director said that the SEC was attempting to alter the law rather than enforce it in order to increase its authority.
Advani's projection is in line with experts' expectations for the Ripple SEC litigation to be resolved in March 2023.
The XRP price is struggling to stay over $0.35.
Meanwhile, the price of XRP has been unable to break dynamic resistance from its 20-day EMA (red wave). Furthermore, the Ripple coin is being held back by a multi-month declining trendline.
Bulls appear to be actively purchasing, with Jan 2's lengthy lower wick indicating that XRP drew buyers around the lower price bands. On January 4, the Ripple cryptocurrency increased by roughly 3% to a peak above $0.352. To begin a robust advance, though, XRP bulls would need to flip the 20-day EMA to target resistance at $0.357.
Brad Garlinghouse observed that other countries have surpassed the United States in developing a crypto framework.
If the XRP price fails to rise, the currency may fall to test support at $0.34, which has been sustaining Ripple price movement since November 9. Furthermore, a break below immediate support might cause the XRP price to fall to $0.32 before rebounding. On the daily charts, the relative strength index for XRP stayed neutral at 45.2.
Latest News
by Renu Sharma | Jan 25, 2023 | Market, Top 10 Cryptocurrencies
The worldwide cryptocurrency market has dropped from $1.02 trillion to $983.72 billion, an 11% drop since Monday, according to CoinMarketCap. All of the major cryptocurrencies have recently been trading in the red, putting long-term investors to the test. Every cause of the large bitcoin market slump is listed here.
Luna-Terra disaster
Everything started after the Luna-Terra fiasco. It was a severe issue that affected both its investors and the wider crypto industry. There are numerous stablecoins on the market, including Binance USD (BUSD), USD Coin (USDC), and Tether, to name a few (USDT).
The central bank issues three of the aforementioned stablecoins, which are linked to the USD. These organisations have a dollar fund that backs each coin to $1 in cash reserves or commercial papers/receivables. When Luna lost 99.9% of its value, Terraform Labs (the company behind Terra) created a scheme to sell all of its Bitcoin reserves in order to reset the peg to $1, but it ultimately failed. As a result, the cryptocurrency market lost more than $40 billion.
The stock market
The stock market and the cryptocurrency market are intertwined. The cryptocurrency market is on a downward trajectory, comparable to the stock market. The same dynamics that influence the stock market also influence cryptocurrency prices.
Rise in interest rates
The Federal Reserve of the United States has agreed to boost interest rates in order to combat inflation. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Fed will implement an aggressive plan to boost debt interest rates, limit spending, and control record-high inflation. The aggressive increase in interest rates is generally regarded as a leading recession indicator.
Celsius Network, a decentralised finance startup, announced on Sunday that it is banning all bitcoin transactions due to "extreme market conditions." During the big sell-off that followed the shutdown, all cryptos dropped.
Regulatory obstacles
In 2022, cryptocurrency had a difficult year. The bitcoin market fell in January before rebounding in February. Governments throughout the world have been closely monitoring the global crypto market as they strive to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Which Digital currencies will endure?
The top twenty most often traded cryptocurrencies are a good place to start. If and when a crash in bitcoin markets does occur, it is simple enough to identify some notable survivors in this listing. The original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is quickly becoming a store of wealth. Its blockchain and software have given rise to offshoots such as Bitcoin and Litecoin Cash.Both aim to be the most popular cryptocurrency for daily transactions. Decentralised applications, or Dapps, on the Ethereum network are responsible for a number of tokens like Populous and are quickly gaining popularity.
Others, like Dash, have staked similar claims and carved out niches in industrialised economies like Spain and emerging ones like Zimbabwe. NEO might end up being the underdog. In order to expand the cryptocurrency ecosystem in China, it is focused on the smart economy and closely collaborating with the Chinese government.
Additionally, it has collaborated with organisations including Japan's Ministry of Economy and Microsoft China. However, moving down the list reveals which cryptocurrencies require more risk tolerance from investors. For instance, the recently popular cryptocurrency TRON lacks a working product and has a very inexperienced inventor.
Similar to how Request Network describes itself as the future of commerce, the company recently changed its original plan to become an online money transfer aggregation service. The white paper for the cryptocurrency describes a variety of applications for its coin, including the Internet of Things, online payments, and the implementation of business logic for governmental regulations. However, the startup has very little to offer in terms of affiliations or prior work in such fields.
by Renu Sharma | Jan 25, 2023 | NFTs
The concept of the metaverse has recently received a lot of interest in the tech sector. The metaverse, also known as the virtual universe, is a computer-generated virtual world that allows users to interact in real time with each other and digital things. A fully immersive and interactive experience is created by combining virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), NFTs, and other immersive technologies.
Several trends might be expected in 2023 as technology progresses and the metaverse becomes more widespread. Here are some of the most fascinating metaverse trends to keep an eye on:
1. Increased connection to the actual world
While the metaverse is a virtual environment, it is becoming more and more linked to the physical world. More examples of this integration, such as virtual events held in physical locations or VR experiences linked to real-world locales, can be expected in 2023.
The usage of virtual reality in real estate is one example of this integration. Instead of physically viewing a house, potential buyers can use VR to take a virtual tour of it. This allows them to explore the property, and potential buyers can use VR to take a virtual tour of the property. This allows them to thoroughly investigate the property without physically visiting it.
2. Expanded use of avatars
Avatars are defined as are virtual representations of users in the metaverse. As avatars grow more popular in 2023, we anticipate a huge increase in their utilisation. Avatars allow users to more personally express themselves and communicate with others in the metaverse. They can also be used to represent users at virtual meetings or events, allowing them to remain anonymous if desired.
3.The rise of online influencers
Virtual influencers are digital avatars with a large social media following. Virtual influencers will grow more popular in 2023 as they get more realistic and sophisticated.
Virtual influencers are already being used by brands to market their products or services, and this trend is projected to grow in 2023. They provide a one-of-a-kind opportunity for marketers to contact their target demographic, and as technology advances, they will become even more effective in advertising products and services.
4.The rise of gaming in virtual and augmented reality
Games are already an important component of the metaverse, and the virtual reality gaming business is expected to grow considerably more in 2023. VR gaming immerses players completely in the game, delivering a more realistic and participatory experience.
Metaverse platforms also celebrate Indian culture and strive to create a forum for innovators, investors, and players to explore the infinite possibilities. Such platforms are expected to proliferate in the coming year.
5. The growth of virtual reality therapy
Virtual reality treatment is a growing trend that is projected to continue in 2023 as VR technology advances and becomes more cheap. VR therapy can be used to treat a variety of mental health disorders, including anxiety, sadness, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
VR treatment, which can effectively cure mental health disorders, helps patients to address their fears and triggers in a controlled and safe environment. We may anticipate the expansion of VR treatment and its usage in treating a broader spectrum of mental health disorders in 2023.
6.The advancement of online education and training.
Virtual education and training are currently being used in a variety of businesses, and we may expect much more progress in this field in 2023. The metaverse enables the creation of immersive and interactive learning environments accessible from anywhere on the planet.
Virtual education and training approaches are more adaptable and cost-effective than traditional education and training methods. They also enable the development of customised learning experiences that are suited to the needs of the learners.
7. The emergence of a mixed reality
Hybrid reality mixes virtual and physical reality, allowing users to engage with both worlds at the same time. We can expect hybrid reality technologies to emerge in 2023, blurring the lines between the two worlds and producing a more seamless and immersive experience. Mixed reality, which mixes components of VR and AR, and projection mapping, which projects virtual things onto physical surfaces, are two examples of hybrid reality technology. These technologies have the potential to transform industries including entertainment, education, and retail by allowing users to engage with the environment around them in novel ways.
Conclusion
To summarise, the metaverse is an intriguing and fast evolving domain with many themes to watch. The metaverse is expected to revolutionise how we connect, learn, and shop, thanks to the emergence of NFTs and social VR, as well as the convergence of virtual and augmented reality. As virtual reality technology improves and becomes more widely available, the metaverse will undoubtedly play a larger role in our daily lives.
