- White House Pushes for Punitive Tax on Crypto Mining
The Biden administration is campaigning for a tax first sought in a recent federal budget proposal, advocating that crypto miners pay an amount equal to 30% of their energy costs.
U.S. President Joe Biden is looking to impose a punitive tax on crypto mining operations for the “harms they impose on society,” the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) argued Tuesday in an online post.
The administration’s blog entry made the case for a U.S. tax equal to 30% of a mining firm’s energy costs – an unusual industry-specific penalty that could threaten the profits of such businesses.
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/05/02/white-house-pushes-for-punitive-tax-on-crypto-mining/
- Coinbase Launches International Exchange for Bitcoin and Ether Perpetual Futures
The launch of Coinbase International Exchange follows the company’s approval to operate its digital currency operations in Bermuda, which was granted by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).
In a blog post, Coinbase noted that “building out a global perpetual futures exchange for digital assets will help support an updating of the financial system by making Coinbase’s trusted products and services more accessible to users of digital assets who live outside of the [United States].”
Coinbase added:
As more and more markets are moving forward with regulatory frameworks to become crypto hubs, we believe the moment is right to launch this international exchange.
- Bitdeer to Raise $500M for Bitcoin Mining Operation in Bhutan
The Nasdaq-listed Bitdeer, a crypto mining firm helmed by the former CEO of Bitmain Technologies Jihan Wu, today announced a strategic partnership with Druk Holding & Investments (DHI), the commercial arm of the Royal Government of Bhutan.
The scope of the partnership is to launch crypto mining operations that will deploy “100% carbon-free” hydroelectric power in a new mining center in the Kingdom of Bhutan, the company said in a press release Wednesday.
To that end, Bitdeer and DHI plan to establish a closed-end fund with a goal of raising up to $500 million “from the international community,” read the announcement.
The fundraiser is expected to begin by the end of the month.
https://decrypt.co/138698/bitdeer-raise-500m-bitcoin-mining-operation-bhutan
- UK government targets fraudsters with new ban on cold calls for crypto
The United Kingdom is set to ban cold calls selling financial products, including insurance and cryptocurrencies, to crack down on fraud. The National Crime Agency estimates that fraud costs the country approximately £7 billion ($8.7 billion) annually.
The U.K. government announced its new fraud strategy, pledging 400 new jobs to update its approach to intelligence-led policing. The government will work alongside the telecoms regulator, the Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, to use new technology to counter phone number “spoofing,” which would prevent fraudsters from impersonating legitimate U.K. phone numbers.
According to Bloomberg, wire fraud is now the most prevalent crime in the U.K., with 1 in 15 people falling victim to it. To ensure more victims of fraud get their money back, the government aims to introduce laws that require financial institutions to reimburse victims of authorized fraud.
- Pepecoin Overtakes Dogecoin, Shiba Inu Trading Volumes As Early Buyers Take Profits
Frenzied trading activity has pushed the newly-launched pepe token (PEPE) to garner trading volumes higher than those of dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) – which are otherwise the biggest memecoins by trading volumes.
Pepe trading volumes surged to over $250 million in the past 24 hours amid a 100% price spike over the weekend in a rally that reversed on Tuesday night. Over the same period, trading volumes on dogecoin stood at $225 million, while shiba inu volumes were a much lesser $100 million.
Data from CoinGecko show crypto exchange OKX saw over $76 million in trading volumes for pepe tokens, followed by $43 million at the decentralized exchange Uniswap.
A bulk of these volumes may be generated by automated bots, which continually buy and sell tokens to generate trading activity and provide liquidity to investors in turn for a few dollars of profits.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7536034
- Bitcoin Ordinals Surge to 3M Inscriptions, but Most Are Just Text
The number of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) tied to the Bitcoin blockchain surged above 3 million earlier this week after a one-day spike in activity that mainly consisted of text-based assets, data from Dune Analytics show.
The tokens, called inscriptions, function on the Ordinals Protocol, which allows users to embed data into the Bitcoin blockchain by inscribing references to digital art into small Bitcoin-based transactions.
The jump follows the introduction of the Bitcoin Request for Comment (BRC-20) token standard, allowing users to issue transferable tokens directly through the network. That spurred a collection of digital artwork and meme tokens built on Bitcoin. Market capitalization of the latter category jumped to $137 million on Tuesday.
- Crypto.com Unveils Amy: An AI-Powered Companion for Crypto Enthusiasts
Crypto.com’s new chatbot, Amy, has been designed to assist users in their quest to learn more about the crypto industry, providing them with information on various crypto assets and projects. With its AI capabilities, Amy can offer users “near real-time information” on the latest developments in the crypto world, as well as insights into historical events that have shaped the industry. From blockchain technology to price listings, the firm says Amy is well-versed in all aspects of the crypto landscape, making it a resource for anyone seeking to expand their knowledge in this field.
The company stated that Amy is based on ChatGPT from OpenAI, but Amy is specifically designed for cryptocurrency and blockchain information. Currently, Crypto.com has launched Amy as a pilot in its beta phase, and select users who leverage a crypto.com/price account will be permitted to access the AI-powered chatbot. “Access to Amy will be steadily scaled to more Crypto.com users over the coming weeks,” the company disclosed. “Crypto.com will also introduce Amy to additional Crypto.com experiences over time, including within the Crypto.com App.”
https://news.bitcoin.com/crypto-com-unveils-amy-an-ai-powered-companion-for-crypto-enthusiasts/
- Binance Users Deposited Over $4B to Farm SUI Tokens Ahead of Mainnet Launch
Binance users flooded the exchange with over $4 billion to farm the highly-anticipated SUI token launch.
The world’s largest exchange by trading volume added support for the SUI token through its Launchpad for BNB and TUSD holders on Monday with the event ending on Tuesday.
Users staked tokens worth over $4 billion to farm SUI tokens. Due to the crowding of the pools, however, an average of one dollar invested in the launchpad only reaped 0.016 SUI.
Binance Launchpad is a bootstrapping portal on the exchange, where the exchange sells or enables liquidity farming of tokens of new cryptocurrency projects.
https://decrypt.co/138691/binance-users-deposited-4b-farm-sui-tokens-ahead-mainnet-launch
- Crypto.com launches ChatGPT-based AI user assistant Amy
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues its pervasive entry into industries worldwide. The latest crypto industry adoptee is Crypto.com, which announced its new generative AI user assistant.
Crypto.com announced “Amy” on May 2. The crypto exchange’s new AI companion is built to inform users about the industry, including real-time token prices and projects, historical events, and more. According to the announcement, Amy, which uses ChatGPT as its base, is currently in the pilot phase to “gather learnings” before future expansion.
Abhi Bisarya, the executive vice president of product at Crypto.com, says the company is “bullish” on the usage of AI in crypto.
“As with other businesses and sectors, we see incredible potential and opportunity in the convergence of AI with the crypto industry and our platform specifically.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-com-chatgpt-based-ai-user-assistant-amy
- More crypto exchanges list PEPE following trading frenzy
On May 1, cryptocurrency exchange OKX announced that it would be listing memecoin Pepe (PEPE) at 17:00 Hong Kong Time (HKT) and open Pepe withdrawals on May 2 at 17:00 HKT. In supporting the listing decision, OKX staff wrote:
“Pepe the Frog is a cartoon character and internet meme created by cartoonist Matt Furie. Pepe was designed to be a green frog with a human-like body; this is one of the most popular memes in the world.”
Several cryptocurrency exchanges, including MEXC Global, Bitget, Gate.io and Huobi, listed Pepe trading pairs two weeks prior, stirring what appears to be a trading frenzy. The token has returned 2,340% since April 17 and is now trading at $0.000001223 apiece at publication. Following news of the OKX listing, Pepe’s price has surged over 50% in the past 24 hours.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/more-crypto-exchanges-list-pepe-following-trading-frenzy
