Crypto Financial News

Bakkt, a crypto custody service that includes an app where consumers can view and transact with assets, has announced the closure of its consumer-facing app as regulatory scrutiny increases. 

Bitcoin is set for its best January since 2013 on bets that monetary tightening and the crypto-sector crisis are both ebbing. The largest token is up 40% since the turn of the year, a first-month gain bettered only twice before when crypto was in its infancy. Smaller coins like Solana, Axie Infinity and Decentraland have doubled in value, part of a $280 billion January climb in digital assets overall, CoinGecko figures show. Bitcoin retreated 2.5% to $23,200 as of 11:37 a.m. in London on Monday amid broad declines in risk assets. The rebound from last year's deep rout is part of a wider revival in risk appetite on expectations that central banks will slow interest-rate hikes and perhaps even cut borrowing costs later this year as high inflation moderates. The rally in virtual coins has weathered ongoing fallout from the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX exchange — such as the bankruptcy of crypto lender Genesis Global Holdco LLC and a spate of layoffs across the industry.

crypto industry has great expectations from the upcoming Union Budget of 2023. The Industry is hoping that FM Nirmala Sitraman will bring a number of changes, specifically how Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) are classified and taxed. The 2 major demands are: 1. The 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on sale transactions of Crypto assets should be abolished. This tax causes investors to lose capital with each trade and discourages prospective investors from participating in this market, resulting in a loss of capital investment in crypto assets. 2. The current tax architecture should be changed to allow for set-off and carry forward of losses in VDAs similar to equity shares/derivatives. The 30% threshold was set in response to comparisons of digital assets with highly speculative avenues such as gambling, betting, and so on. However, VDAs are similar to securities trading and should, therefore, be treated similarly with respect to taxation and setoff benefits. According to Delhi-based think tank The Esya Centre, the 30% tax and 1% TDS led to a cumulative trade volume worth Rs 32,000 crore shifting from Indian crypto exchanges to foreign ones between February and October 2022. The study also estimated that the current tax architecture may result in a loss of approximately Rs 99.3 trillion of local exchange trade volume over the next four years.

Global payment giant PayPal held $604 million of cryptocurrencies for its customers by the end of 2022, with Bitcoin and Ethereum accounting for almost 90% of that figure. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has blamed a cyber-attack group backed by the government of North Korea for its role in a $100m crypto heist reported on 24 June 2022. The funds mainly in Ethereum (ETH) were stolen from Harmony's Horizon bridge.

The Commodity Future Trading Commission is "well positioned" to address regulatory gaps in the crypto market, according to CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 3 said she will be looking at arriving at a global SOP (standard operating procedure) for regulating crypto assets in her upcoming G20 meeting with finance ministers and central bank governors in a much-needed clarity on the way forward for the crypto sector.

Cryptocurrency prices lurched higher on Wednesday in wake of more dovish than expected remarks from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who was speaking as usual in the post-Fed policy announcement press conference. Risk assets, including stocks, surged as Powell acknowledged that the central bank has made progress in its fight against inflation and said that the “disinflation process has started”.

Total assets under management (AUM) for digital asset investment products surged a whopping 36.8% to $19.7 billion in January, its highest level since May 2022, CryptoCompare said in its latest monthly Digital Asset Management review report. According to the crypto intelligence firm, “bullish sentiment was driven by liquidated short positions and a favorable macro environment, reflected in the most recent CPI announcement, which saw Bitcoin's price reach $23,000; its highest level since August 2022”.

An Ontario man has allegedly lost his home plus his entire life savings after falling victim to a crypto scam. 

The state of New York has announced a new bill that would allow agencies to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for fines, civil penalties, taxes, fees, and other payments charged by the state.

The White House has published a roadmap asking authorities to increase enforcement and ramp up efforts to regulate the crypto sector.

Crypto billionaire and former CEO of BitMex Arthur Hayes has warned that Bitcoin may yield all its recent gains if the Federal Reserve does not pivot on monetary policy.

The United Arab Emirates plans to use crypto for trade in the future and also set up a working regulatory framework, according to the country's minister of state for foreign trade. 

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's Minister of Information Technology, has said crypto would face no issue within the country if related laws are followed. 

Brokerage firm Bernstein has advised institutions to dabble into crypto and give up their "zero crypto allocation" strategy. 

Silvergate shares moved higher on Tuesday after the crypto bank assured investors it is taking steps to weather the FTX collapse despite posting a $1 billion loss in the last quarter of 2022. 

Researchers said investor bets on a rosier macroeconomic picture were driving a jump in riskier assets.

Traders betting against the crypto market have suffered more than $450 million in losses over the past 24 hours as major cryptocurrencies surged higher in one of the most impressive rallies in about a year. 

The crypto-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) market has seen a topside push in 2023 amid a surge in cryptocurrency prices.

Crypto.com said it had decided to reduce global workforce by approximately 20%. (File)