Government

Cyprus Drafts Crypto Rules, May Introduce Them Before EU Regulations

20/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

Cyprus has prepared its own legislation to regulate crypto assets and is likely to adopt it before Europe finalizes a common regulatory framework, a government official has indicated. The authorities in Nicosia welcome the “careful” use of cryptocurrencies, he added.

Government of Cyprus to Submit ‘Attractive’ Crypto Bill

Cyprus has an “enviable position” in the EU when it comes to innovation, with the second-best progress last year, according to the European Innovation Scoreboard, the country’s Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriacos Kokkinos stated at a meeting with the local fintech community. The event was devoted to digital assets, entrepreneurship and financial technology.

Commenting on the future of digital assets in Cyprus, including cryptocurrencies, the minister walked a fine line between embracing innovation and having to pay heed to laws, the Cyprus Mail wrote in a report on Thursday. Quoted by the English-language daily newspaper, Kokkinos elaborated:

I can tell you that Cyprus welcomes the use of digital and crypto assets, but we still need to be very careful and respect not only the regulations currently in place but also the absence of any regulations.

The government representative gave an example with Malta, the regulatory framework of witch attracted many crypto companies and investors but also led to increased scrutiny and investigations into some of its companies and banking institutions. “We have to be careful of the frameworks of the European Union since we are a member state,” Kokkinos emphasized.

The deputy minister then revealed that the Cyprus government has already drafted a “very attractive bill on crypto assets.” The legislation has been published and interested parties can review it, he pointed out. The executive power has also commissioned a New York-based firm to assist the island nation with the implementation of the regulations.

“Our challenge is not being aligned with the EU, it’s about the dilemma of whether to wait for the ECB to finalize their own regulatory framework or do we go alone on our own, with the former scenario also involving the possibility of that framework being overregulated,” Kyriacos Kokkinos remarked. “My answer is that we will go at it alone while respecting the rules,” he added.

The deputy minister acknowledged that certain challenges exist, including some disagreements between the government and the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC). “We must remember that the CBC is subject to the ECB and central banks tend to be conservative, so our job is to challenge them through the debates we are having with them,” he told the audience at the event which took place in Larnaca.

Do you expect Cyprus to introduce crypto regulations before the European Union? Tell us in the comments section below.

Joe Rogan Says Bitcoin Is ‘Freaking Out’ Government, the Latest on Inflation, and More — Bitcoin.com News Week in Review

08/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

Another whirlwind week in crypto draws to a close, and of course there’s no shortage of spicy stories and new, compelling narratives in the world of innovative digital money. This week, Elon Musk gives investment advice, United States Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler catches flack from SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, and Joe Rogan calls bitcoin a viable currency, noting that it’s got the government “freaking out.” Buckle up and look lively, this is the Bitcoin.com News Week in Review.

Joe Rogan: Bitcoin Is Now a Viable Currency and the Government Is Freaking Out

Famous podcaster Joe Rogan, the host of The Joe Rogan Experience, talked about bitcoin on his show, posted Tuesday. The show features an interview with UFC light heavyweight fighter Khalil Rountree Jr.

Noting that now bitcoin is “a viable form of currency” that “You can actually buy things with,” he said, “the government is freaking out.”

Read More

Lawmakers, SEC Commissioner Slam Chair Gensler for Focusing on Crypto Enforcement

Several U.S. lawmakers and a commissioner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have voiced concerns about the securities regulator expanding its crypto enforcement unit.

“The SEC is a regulatory agency with an enforcement division, not an enforcement agency.”

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk Gives Investment Advice He Says ‘Will Serve You Well in the Long Term’

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk has shared his recommended investment strategy, which he believes “will serve you well in the long term.”

Some people noted that Musk’s strategy is similar to one adopted by Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.

Read More

US Central Bank Raises Rates by Half a Percentage Point, Fed’s Powell Says Similar Hikes Are on the Table

The U.S. Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate on Wednesday and the increase was the biggest rate hike in two decades.

“Inflation is much too high,” the central bank’s chair Jerome Powell said after the Fed raised rates by 0.5%.

Read More

What are your thoughts on this week’s hottest stories? Let us know in the comments section below.

One Step Closer To Municipal Bitcoin Permanent Funds

28/04/2022 by Idelto Editor

Fort Worth starting to mine bitcoin opens the door for more municipalities to put bitcoin mining proceeds into a permanent fund for future use.

The below is a direct excerpt of Marty’s Bent Issue #1198: “One step closer to bitcoin mining permanent funds” Sign up for the newsletter here.

This is an encouraging sign, the city of Fort Worth, Texas has launched a pilot bitcoin mining project in their local City Hall. The pilot project may be small, with only three S9s that collectively produce $3.39 worth of USD denominated profit per day — assuming a cost of electricity of $0.05 kWh and that Braiins OS+ is running on the machines. This may not seem like anything other than a marketing stunt, but I think this is a very important signal that the city of Fort Worth is sending to cities and small towns across the United States; bitcoin is something you should be taking seriously and bitcoin mining is something you should consider.

This feels like the first step of many that will be taken on the path toward bitcoin permanent funds popping up around the country. Permanent funds that leverage stranded energy sources or excess energy are something that your Uncle Marty has been championing since April 2021. Bitcoin provides small towns, cities, counties and whole states with a mechanism that can be leveraged to turn their wasted or underutilized energy resources to produce sats flows that can flow into dedicated permanent funds that have the sole purpose of holding mined bitcoin for an extended period of time after which the town/city/county/state can begin deploying the mined sats to finance necessities and reduce — or potentially eliminate — taxes. It may seem crazy, but it also may work.

One low hanging fruit that comes to mind for your Uncle Marty is orphaned natural gas wells that are sitting on land controlled by the local government. A permanent fund could be spun up by allowing a private sector miner to come in and take over the well for free, allow them to use the natural gas to produce electricity on site, mine with that electricity, and direct a small percentage of the sats flows to the permanent fund as a contribution for being able to take over the well. The local government wouldn’t even need to go through the hassle of becoming a miner themselves.

That’s one way to do it. Another way would be to take what El Salvador is attempting to do with their volcano bond and bring it to the municipal level. Local governments could issue muni bonds with the sole intent of raising funds to acquire mining equipment that would be used to take advantage of any stranded or wasted energy plays with bond holders getting made whole first and the mining operations contributing directly to the permanent fund after that.

If I were a small town, city, or state looking to attract talent I would be racing to spin up a bitcoin mining permanent fund that allows you to offer lower tax rates and show constituents that you are forward thinking and innovative.

Shoutout to the city of Fort Worth and the team at Luxor (who helped coordinate all of this) for pushing this ball forward. In time, my bitcoin mining permanent fund dream will become a reality.

How Bitcoin Protects Private Property Rights

24/04/2022 by Idelto Editor

Bitcoin protects private property for its users due to its theft-proof design, its use of decentralized nodes and an immutable public ledger.

We’re going to continue our conversation of Bitcoin’s role in humanitarianism, this time in the realm of private property rights. But before we talk about that, we need to understand why private property is so important.

One of the biggest drivers of economic growth and higher standards of living is private property rights.

This is the idea that you own the fruits of your labor as well as anything else you purchase with the fruits of your labor. To illustrate this, let’s say you are working at a company and you save enough money to buy a car. The money you earn (which is the fruit of your labor) and the car are both your property. The government has to protect your property from theft by other private individuals, and the government itself cannot take your property without due cause and/or just compensation.

Private property rights are important because they incentivize productivity. People are disincentivized to work if the money they earn or the stuff they buy can be confiscated without warning or compensation.

And in a society where people are disincentivized to work, there are fewer products and services available and less innovation occurring. These three factors are the key drivers in improving a region’s standard of living. Private property rights are the reason why there are better cars every year, better phones, computers and faster internet.

But, property rights don’t exist naturally. They have to be enforced by a government that punishes people for stealing other people’s property as well as not encroaching on its own citizen’s property. And, unfortunately, many countries around the world do not have a government that does this.

For example, the Chinese government will cut off people from Alipay and WeChat Pay, popular Chinese payment systems, if they make statements that go against the current authoritarian regime. Russia will freeze people’s bank accounts if they spread news that works against the Kremlin and its interests. And in 2021, Nigeria froze the bank accounts of citizens protesting against the government.

The lack of respect for private property harms these countries’ citizens and keeps them in a worse state of living relative to other freer countries. It’s not a coincidence that democratic countries are much wealthier than authoritarian countries.

How Does Bitcoin Protect Property Rights?

Bitcoin’s blockchain, by design, makes it impossible for private and public actors to take control of someone else’s money. The blockchain is immune to theft and unitary control because it is a decentralized system. The blockchain is spread across a network of computers, called nodes, and to control the blockchain, you would have to control at least 50% of the nodes in the network. This is a virtual impossibility because the amount of energy and resources needed to control 51% of the network would be insurmountable by any practical measure today. The blockchain has stood the test of time, in that 51% of it has yet to remain under the control of a single actor, and as the number of nodes grows, this becomes less and less likely to happen.

Citizens under an authoritarian government do not have to worry about the government stealing their bitcoin, nor do they have to rely on inept failing governments to protect their property.

For millions of people around the world, bitcoin is their first chance to practice self-sovereignty over their own money. Their money is under their control and they don’t have to worry about anyone stealing it. Bitcoin is helping them preserve the human right to private property.

This is a guest post by Siby Suriyan. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

Draft Law Regulating Aspects of Crypto Taxation Submitted to Russian Parliament

17/04/2022 by Idelto Editor

A bill updating Russia’s tax law to incorporate provisions pertaining to cryptocurrencies has been filed with the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. The legislation is tailored to regulate the taxation of sales and profits in the country’s market for digital assets.

Russian Deputies to Review Law on Crypto-Related Taxation

The federal government of Russia has submitted to the State Duma a draft law introducing rules for the taxation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies. The bill will make the necessary amendments to Russia’s tax code to answer a range of outstanding questions.

One of the aspects is the application of value-added tax (VAT). According to the authors, VAT should be levied on services provided by operators of platforms issuing or exchanging digital financial assets (DFA), a term encompassing cryptocurrencies in current Russian law.

The tax base for “digital rights,” another legal definition that covers security and utility tokens, will be determined as the difference between the sale and acquisition price of the token, Forklog reported, quoting the document.

Russian entities owning tokens will pay 13% of the revenues from their digital rights while the tax rate for foreign companies will be 15%. The issuers of digital financial assets will be obliged to file tax reports on the parties involved and the transactions made during the current year by Feb. 1 of next year.

The law will not affect Russians holding cryptocurrencies, Andrey Tugarin, managing partner at the law firm GMT Legal, told the crypto news outlet. He explained that the bill concerns only the market for digital financial assets and digital rights. The tax regime it introduces mirrors the one applicable to the securities market.

Parallel to the tax bill, the Russian government is also preparing to file a new draft law “On Digital Currency,” recently revised and submitted to the cabinet by the Ministry of Finance. The department is a proponent of the legalization of cryptocurrencies while the Bank of Russia opposes it.

Expectations are that the two pieces of legislation will both be adopted during the spring session of the State Duma. They will complement the law “On Digital Financial Assets,” which went into force in January 2021 and only partially regulated the country’s crypto sector, to establish a comprehensive legal framework for cryptocurrencies.

Do you expect Russia to quickly adopt the new crypto laws? Let us know in the comments section below.