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Coinbase Enters Singapore after Gaining Licence

by Blockchain NewsOctober 11, 2022

Coinbase has entered the Singaporean market as it has gained approval from the central bank to offer its crypto services in the city-state.

The largest crypto exchange in the United States has gained a so-called in-principle approval, which the central bank rolled out last year for crypto firms.

The approval will allow crypto exchanges such as Coinbase to offer services that individuals and institutions can use. Still, the central bank will regulate them under its Payment Services Act.

Coinbase has said that this has been a “significant milestone”. It further added that the company currently has nearly 100 employees and has been building a robust presence in the Southeast Asian state. The largest volume of hires from Singapore is product engineers, according to Coinbase.

“We see Singapore as a strategic market and a global hub for Web3 innovation,” said Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s regional director for Southeast Asia.

Coinbase is among the only 17 crypto firms to receive in-principle approvals and licences from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) after an elaborate due diligence process that is still ongoing. There were about 180 crypto companies that applied for a crypto payments licence to the MAS in 2020 under a new regime.

Competitors Crypto.com and DBS Vickers – the brokerage run by Singapore’s largest bank, DBS – have also established their business in Singapore besides Coinbase.

Although Singapore has become welcoming to outside digital asset services-related firms, its local crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), began liquidation in June after it was unable to meet hundreds of millions of dollars in obligations.

Nevertheless, Singapore’s positive step towards opening up to crypto firms has been attracting firms from China, India and elsewhere in the last few years, making it a major centre in Asia.

In its recent developments, Coinbase announced expanding its services in Australia to make accessing the crypto economy easier and safer, introducing three services to their Aussie clients, Blockchain.News reported.

The digital currency exchange, which first entered the Australian market in 2016, said it would be introducing a PayID feature to its Australian users.

The announcement was disclosed in a published blog post, “First, we are introducing PayID as a way for Australians to top up their Coinbase accounts using direct Australian Dollar transfers.” Said Coinbase in the announcement.”

The crypto exchange’s cloud protocol has also partnered with decentralized oracle network Chainlink Labs to launch an NFT floor price feed service.

The partnership will introduce the NFT lowest pricing source in the Coinbase cloud service, allowing developers to access real-time NFT prices to build applications such as NFT lending marketplaces, such as NFT indices.

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OECD Presents New Transparency Framework for Crypto-Assets to G20

by Blockchain NewsOctober 11, 2022

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – an intergovernmental organization with 38 countries, established to promote economic progress and world trade – has released its new tax reporting framework, the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), to G20 countries.

The release was based on a request by G20 countries for the intergovernmental organization to develop a framework that provides reporting and exchange of information between countries on crypto assets.

G2O finance ministers and central bank governors will meet on 12-13 October to discuss their views on the new regulatory framework, OECD disclosed the matter.

The CARF framework builds on certain enhancements to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) that address tax transparency concerns in the digital economy.

The new transparency initiative, developed together with G20 countries, comes amid rapid adoption of the use of cryptocurrencies for a wide range of investment and financial uses.

Unlike traditional financial products, cryptocurrencies can be transferred and held without the intervention of traditional financial intermediaries like banks and regulators like central banks. The crypto market has also given rise to new intermediaries and service providers, like crypto exchanges and wallet providers, many of which currently remain unregulated.

Such developments mean that cryptocurrencies and related transactions are not comprehensively covered by the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard (CRS). This, therefore, increases the likelihood of their use for tax evasion while undermining the progress made in tax transparency through the adoption of the CRS.

The CARF framework, therefore, seeks to ensure transparency in crypto transactions by automatically exchanging such information with the local regulators about taxpayers on an annual basis. The CARF aims to achieve this objective by targeting entities offering crypto exchange transaction services on behalf of customers to be obliged to report under the CARF. Most crypto assets such as NFTs, DeFi, cold wallets, wallet addresses, and intermediaries like crypto exchanges and DeFi providers are now comprehensively covered by the reporting standard, unlike in the past.

The CARF framework consists of three building blocks: rules that can be transposed into domestic legislation, guidelines to help local administrators with the implementation of the exchange of information, and technical solutions to support such exchange of information.

The CARF proposal comes at an uncertain time for the crypto market, as recent fluctuations in the values of Bitcoin and other assets have affected several crypto businesses and left them with budget constraints.

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Tagged : Crypto / DIGITALASSEST / G20 / News / OECD / Regulation

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Spikes 13.55%, Reaches New ATH of 35.6 Trillion Hashes

by Blockchain NewsOctober 11, 2022

According to the latest data collected from BTC.com, Bitcoin mining difficulty has increased by 13.55% since the last adjustment around two weeks ago.

The current difficulty adjustment now takes 35.6 trillion hashes to generate one Bitcoin (BTC), a massive increase of 13.55% from the previous estimates. As per the data, the hike is the highest increase in Bitcoin mining difficulty since May 2021.

Source: BTC.com

The network rate now stands at 257 million TH/s (terra hashes per second), a massive increase over the 140 million TH/s it had at this time last year, BTC.com data indicated.

Despite pressure from declining prices being witnessed this year, the difficulty adjustment continues its steady rise while the competition among its miners has been growing. High difficulty means it takes more computing power to mine the same number of blocks and makes the network secure. An increase in mining difficulty also means that miners must put in more computing power in order to mine a block. And miners compete against each other for limited block rewards. With more participants and more computing power, the so-called “hashpower” of the entire network increases significantly, which is good for Bitcoin’s price in the long run.

Mining difficulty in the Bitcoin network is adjusted automatically every two weeks after 2,016 blocks have been mined in the network. The next difficulty adjustment will take place on October 24.

Increasing difficulty suggests more challenges ahead for Bitcoin miners who are already feeling the heat from the weak Bitcoin prices and higher energy costs. The bear market has been rough for the miners, who have seen profit margins shrink as Bitcoin prices crashed more than 50% this year while capital dried up and power prices surged.

Last month, one of the largest Bitcoin mining data centres, Compute North, filed for bankruptcy, citing the severe bear market, trouble with its largest lender, and supply issues. On Friday last week, Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain raised $27 million after agreeing to issue 87 million shares to a sole investor in bids to ease liquidity pressures.

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Tagged : Bear Market / Bitcoin / ENERGY COSTS / Miners / Mining / Mining Difficulty