A parliamentary vote in Slovakia has been completed approving lower crypto taxes in the country
The current 25% taxes will be slashed to 7%
Slovakia has joined a growing list of pro-crypto legislation after approving the amendment of the crypto taxes bill, which slashes the taxes to only 7%.
Slovakia to have lower crypto taxes
Slovakia has joined a growing list of countries actively supporting the crypto community. Its country has approved a bill that lowers crypto taxes, among other measures affecting cryptocurrency holders.
The vote was passed on June 28 to reduce personal income tax for profits gained from the sale of crypto assets a user holds for at least a year. The taxes will now stand at 7%, a significant drop from the current 19% and 25% taxation sliding scale. The payments received in crypto assets up to 2400 euros will not be subject to taxation as well.
The bill also excludes income in the form of cryptocurrency from a health insurance contribution of 14%. According to local sources, the Ministry of Finance anticipates the financial impact of the amendment to be around 30 million euros a year. It comes weeks after the parliament passed another amendment to the constitution that codified the citizen’s right to use cash as a payment method in anticipation of the digital euro.
The country is also preparing itself for onboarding the MiCA legislation that was approved recently. This regulation will go into place in the Eurozone in 2024. It is the first of its kind in the world, which sets the EU ahead of other nations like the US. Keep watching Fintech Express for updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
MicroStrategy boss Michael Saylor has announced a new acquisition of Bitcoins by the company.
The company now holds the most coins for an institution, 152,333, after acquiring 12,333 new coins at an average price of $28,136.
MicroStrategy has pushed its limits in Bitcoin acquisition after buying $347M worth of Bitcoins at an average cost of $28,136 per coin. The institution now holds 152,333 coins worth around $4.52 billion, acquired at an average cost of $29,668 per Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy fills its Bitcoin bags yet again, is institutional demand spiking?
Michael Saylor is an outspoken Bitcoin Maximalist who has been pushing people to adopt the coin. He has been speaking on social media and live events about how the coin could support innovation quoting its ever-growing use cases and how it could help deal with most of the digital problems that have been an issue in the world.
MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 12,333 BTC for ~$347.0 million at an average price of $28,136 per #bitcoin. As of 6/27/23 @MicroStrategy hodls 152,333 $BTC acquired for ~$4.52 billion at an average price of $29,668 per bitcoin. $MSTRhttps://t.co/joHo1gEnR0
He recently stepped down from being the CEO of MicroStrategy, a move that many said could result from his multi-billion Bitcoin acquisition project. However, he came out to debunk the theory saying that he stepped down to have time to focus more on the investment and monitor it more closely.
Now, the company has added $347 million worth of bitcoins taking the whole sum to over $4 billion. The investment is already in profits as it was acquired at an average price of $29,668 per coin, while the coin is trading at $30,275. Bitcoin is expected to keep rising as institutional demand is set to increase.
Blackrock, Fidelity, and other Traditional Finance institutions are swooping in to introduce Bitcoin ETFs, which will most likely kickstart a soft mainstream adoption of the coin. As a result, the price of the coins is set to spike over the long term. However, market conditions could change as nothing is promised.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on crypto and other fintech-related developments.
Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson has praised the network for its efforts to withstand the bear market.
Hoskinson believes the network is growing and gaining real adoption under the harshest conditions while maintaining complete decentralization, just like Bitcoin.
Cardano CEO Charles Hoskinson has replied to a tweet praising the Cardano ecosystem for its efforts to weather the current bear market cycle, saying it’s commendable to uphold total decentralization in the process.
Charles Hoskinson praises Cardano for its efforts to stay afloat
Cardano is one of the largest cryptocurrencies, boasting a total market cap of 9 billion dollars. This valuation puts the coin as number 7 in the crypto market showing how immense it is. Cardano was created by Charles Hoskinson, who also serves as its CEO.
Charles Hoskinson was also a founding member of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum. He, however, disagreed with some of the future developments on the network and stepped back to develop Cardano, which has grown to attain a market dominance of around 0.82%.
Earlier today, he quoted a tweet that had called out possible FUD that interest in Cardano’s ADA coin was waning. The tweet called out a popular Youtuber for saying that the Cardano ecosystem has no TVL and institutions were losing interest. It refuted the claims that it’s the fastest-growing coin in the decentralized finance sector.
#Cardano community, saw on a popular YouTube (not @Cardano member), a piece saying to the effect the ecosystem has no TVL & institutions were not interested, among other negative things. We just uninformed retail. Bewitched by @IOHK_Charles (who is awesome).
The tweet also pointed out Wisdom Tree Cardano ETP and 21shares Cardano ETP, further debunking the claims that Cardano is fading. It quoted a June 21 analysis explaining how different TradFi institutions had accumulated cryptos, with Cardano in the fifth position.
These are the crypto rankings tradfi institutions will find on the only app that really matters to them (@TheTerminal). Cardano in 5th, no stable coins or staked ETH removes the noise (take note @CoinMarketCap@coingecko). Good luck stopping them from buying ADA pic.twitter.com/WCY7oELmnf
Charles Hoskinson reflected on the matter, saying:
“Lots of noise in crypto. Look for the signal. Cardano is getting real adoption and growing as an ecosystem under our industry’s harshest conditions. Like Bitcoin, this is being done in a completely decentralized way.”
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on crypto and other fintech-related developments.
US Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr has confirmed his support for Bitcoin again, saying that it prevents the manipulation of the Money Supply.
Robert F. Kennedy has been expressing support for Bitcoin throughout his campaign, saying that US citizens need the freedom to invest in assets of their choice.
In a June 28 tweet, Robert F. Kennedy Jr expressed that he would support Bitcoin and ensure that all US citizens have the right to hold their Bitcoin and make it inviolable. He added that it is a nice tool to save US citizens from totalitarianism and manipulation of the money supply.
US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr confirms his support of Bitcoin
Robert F. Kennedy Jr is a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in the US and has come forwards so as not to be shaken by controversy. He recently challenged a debate on COVID vaccines and their effectiveness. He is also the first ever US president to accept Bitcoin donations for his campaigns.
He also has expressed his support for the world’s premier cryptocurrency, saying that US citizens deserve the right to hold and trade Bitcoin without government interference. On June 28, he posted a tweet reading.
“As president, I will ensure that your right to use and hold Bitcoin is inviolable. Bitcoin is not only a bulwark against totalitarianism and the manipulation of our money supply, and it points the way toward a future in which government institutions are more transparent and democratic.”
The tweet also came with a video that explained that his Bitcoin donations would be through the Lightning Network. He added that he would support people to own Bitcoin and holding their Keys like they hold keys for their cars and property.
He added that he wants to help the Bitcoin community continue with the dream as long as they turn to carbon-free power supply methods like recycling and re-using power. He added that he, however, doesn’t believe that the environmental impacts of Bitcoin should be used as a smoke screen to bar people from using it.
He also hit back at the government for the weaponization of money, saying that Bitcoin fights against this and upholds the rights that US citizens have been given by their constitution to have freedom over their possessions.
As president, I will make sure that your right to use and hold Bitcoin is inviolable. Bitcoin is not only a bulwark against totalitarianism and the manipulation of our money supply, it points the way toward a future in which government institutions are more transparent and more… pic.twitter.com/rPkMARieYu
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 27, 2023
This development comes when lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren have called for an anti-crypto army to oppose the industry due to impacts on the environment and the dollar’s strength. In other news, regulators in the US are going hard after crypto industries without first putting workable regulatory frameworks.
However, only time will tell if the tide will change to pro-crypto in the country. Amid that, keep watching Fintech Express for updates on crypto and other Fintech-related stories.
Decentralized derivatives exchanges are seeing an increase in traffic as regulators continue cracking down on centralized exchanges
On June 27, the DEX to CEX futures trading volume ratio hits a new ATH.
On June 27, the DEX to CEX futures trading volume ratio recorded a new all-time high though DEXs still have fewer futures trading volumes. These developments show growing discontent in the centralized crypto markets like Binance and Coinbase as regulators go harder after them.
Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) keep getting more attention
Decentralized derivatives exchanges attracted much attention recently as regulators are going after centralized counterparts harder. The US SEC, for instance, is charging both Binance and Coinbase, while Binance has been asked to stop operating in several countries recently.
Amid this, the DEX to CEX futures ratio reached a new ATH. However, DEXs still account for a small portion of futures trading volume. However, it shows a growing trend of investors turning to decentralized platforms as regulators do not have much oversight over them.
This development comes at a time when more attention from investors is heading to the Decentralized Finance sector. On June 26, Fintech Express reported on an analysis of the DeFi markets showing a 15% spike in market capitalization due to the destabilization of the centralized options due to regulatory uncertainties.
A shift to the decentralized finance sector will continue as regulators continue going after centralized protocols. However, nothing is promised as many factors influence the crypto market and thus may vary greatly from time to time. Do your research before engaging in any crypto activity.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on crypto and other fintech-related developments.
Chibi Tokens have dropped by 98% in value after the team behind Chibi Finance withdrew liquidity.
The team appears to have made away with over $1M.
On 27 June 2023, Chibi Finance conducted an exit scam on the project. The team removed liquidity from the Arbitrum-based protocol, which was then bridged to Ethereum, where 555 ETH, approximately $1,041,141, was deposited into the crypto mixer Tornado Cash before being transferred to individual wallets across other networks.
More scams in the crypto space as Chibi Finance pulls the plug on its customers
Chibi Finance also deleted its Twitter account and website, confirming the exit scam. This is not the first such scam in the crypto space. So far, in 2023, CertiK has confirmed over $14M lost in scams on the Arbitrum network across 12 incidents.
This attack could have been possible as Chibi developers had the chance to deploy a malicious contract that allowed them to siphon funds from Chibi’s smart contracts, according to security firm Certik.
The team managed to get away with around 555 ETh that transferred from Arbitrum to Ethereum. It then used the unpopular crypto mixer, Tornado Cash, to launder the loot before sending it across different networks.
According to Certik, EOA 0x80c1ca8f002744a3b22ac5ba6ffc4dc0deda58e3 removed the following assets from the project’s contracts:
256,012.95 USDC
94.67 WETH
4.25520843 WBTC
115,049 USDT
89,563.95 ARB
Certik also noted that:
“All contracts were created by the Deployer of Chibi Finance. The deployer set the malicious contract as the `_gov` address giving the contract the ability to call `panic`. This function allows the malicious contract to `emergencyWithdraw` funds to the exit scammers address.”
No action on the Chibi team or clarity for investors has been taken. Meanwhile, keep watching Fintech Express for updates on this and other fintech-related stories.
Hong Kong’s HSBC is set to offer its customers Bitcoin and Ethereum Exchange-Traded Funds.
Hong Kong has been asking banks to warm up to crypto customers more and be vigilant in scouting for such emerging markets and supporting them.
The development comes as a race by TradFi institutions in the US to offer similar products begins.
Hong Kong is spearheading crypto adoption in Asia as banks increasingly support the crypto industry. HSBC has now announced that it will offer customers Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
Crypto adoption and regulation accelerates in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is taking the front in the regulation and adoption of crypto assets in the world. It has been asking its banks to support and offer crypto clients financial services. In June, It called out several banks, including Standard Chartered and HSBC, for gating their banking infrastructure from crypto organizations in the region.
It called a meeting asking all banks to be more active in the scouting and enabling of emerging technologies like the crypto industry. In that meeting, Hong Kong’s central bank explained that emerging industries like crypto mostly take a good market share. Also, it sensitized the banks that crypto may be here to stay, making it prudent to associate with it.
HSBC has announced that it would look forward to introducing Bitcoin and Ethereum Exchange Traded Funds to its customers. This move is a hallmark as other regions have yet to allow such from big banks. However, traditional finance companies have started a race to offer similar products and services.
This move is expected to broaden access to crypto assets for Hong Kong residents. These residents can only explore ETFs like the CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF, CSOP Ethereum futures ETF, and the Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF.
HSBC was among the banks the Hong Kong regulators questioned for not offering crypto services last month. However, it has been in the process of gearing up for it. It has launched the Virtual Asset Investor Education Centre for investors to read and confirm the risks associated with the virtual asset industry.
It will also allow its users to go ahead and use the HK Easy Invest app, HSB CHK Mobile Banking app, and the Online banking infrastructure to access its ETF products. However, no more official information is yet to be offered regarding the timeline of the product’s availability and other products that could be added in the future.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on crypto and other fintech-related developments.
Tension has subsided in the oil markets after Belarus’s Lukashenko brokered a peace deal between Yevgeny Progozhin and President Vladimir Putin.
Pregozhin had attempted to overthrow Putin over claims that the Russian Military had killed his Wagner paramilitary soldiers but aborted the mission after 24 hours only.
The oil markets had feared that any disruption in Russia would impact the global supply chain as resources get focussed on another ware other than oil production.
Oil markets have calmed down due to the brokerage of the peace deal between rebel Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group, and President Putin. Prigozhin had led his army of mercenaries to the Russian capital in an attempt to eject President Putin for alleged attacks on his men.
Hope in sight for oil markets after Belarus brokers Russia peace deal
Oil markets have settled after prices started to hike following the news that a civil war could have impacted Russia. The oil markets are now calm as investors are promised that Prigozhin will no longer attempt a coup against Putin after a peace deal was brokered by President Lukashenko, who will oversee Prigozhin being transferred to the country.
Russia is a major oil producer, making further constraints like a civil war enough to impact the global supply chain. As such, investors watched warily as the coup attempt began on Saturday, which could have ended Putin’s 23 years of power.
The Wagner Group paramilitary had taken control of Rostov, where several major oil and gas pipelines intersect, before the coup attempt was called off. This act held the oil markets, hostage, as any disruption in the country would have greatly reduced the global oil output.
West Texas Intermediate futures were up marginally by about 0.22% in afternoon trade in Asia, initially rising as much as 1.3% to just below $70 a barrel earlier Monday, followed by last week’s almost 4% decline.
Brent crude was trading about 0.3% higher at midday in Asia.
“If it had led to disruption in oil supplies from the Russian state, I think what you would have seen is a disruption which could have been anything from a couple of million barrels all the way up to 3.5-4 million barrels,” said Standard Chartered’s Alok Sinha told CNBC.
“Now that kind of disruption even if it’s short term could have really roiled the markets really badly,” he added.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on Macro-finance and other Fintech-related developments.
Decentralized finance has seen a growth in market capitalization as harsh crypto regulation is happening globally.
Over the past two weeks, similar timing with Coinbase and Binance legal charges by SEC in the US, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has increased market capitalization by over 15%.
DeFi has seen a market cap spike of 15% in the past two weeks as the US and other global regulators are going harder after crypto organizations. The market capitalization has increased by $6.3 billion in the time frame from $41.5 billion to $47.8 billion.
Crypto users to turn to Decentralized Finance (DeFi)?
As US regulators work to ‘protect’ citizens from risky crypto organizations, investors have taken a step back from centralized crypto organizations driving the numbers in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector up.
This June, the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) pressed charges against the two largest crypto exchanges in the country, Binance and Coinbase. It alleged that the two organizations were functioning as securities brokers in the country without its knowledge. As such, it wants them to cease operations to ‘protect’ citizens and/or stop offering certain services altogether.
The SEC alleges that the two exchanges have parallels with the fallen FTX crypto exchange, thus putting US citizens’ investments at risk. The exchanges have hit back with Coinbase planning an exit as Binance challenged the SEC to show that it has been mixing its Binance.US platform funds with its International platform and that it has spent customer deposits.
These allegations have come to the front as weak as the SEC has yet to prove that any exchanges are wrong. As such, crypto users have been calling for a US market exit as the country only accounts for 15% of the total global crypto remit. As such, a spike has been noticed in the DeFi markets, with Decentralized Exchanges like Uniswap and PancakeSwap experiencing a growing number of daily users.
Altogether, over $6 billion has been added to the DeFi markets capitalization in the two weeks, showing growing dissatisfaction with how the Centralized part of the crypto industry is regulated.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on crypto and other Fintech-related developments.
BoE raised interest rates again on June 22 as the economy fights high inflation.
It is expected to continue hiking the rates or risk embedding inflation through slow business activity, and possibly recession looms.
Eurozone businesses are caught in a tight zone once more as high-interest rates haunt the economy. It is only expected to worsen from here, at least on a short to mid-term basis, as more hikes must be done to tame rising inflation. This means more pain will be felt in the markets even after the eurozone’s flash composite PMI dropped to 50.3 in June.
June had a slowdown in business activity in the Eurozone after the area was seen to have had a recession, as Q4 of 2022 and Q1 of 2023 had reversed growth rates. To add to the pain, the inflation in the region is one of the highest recorded in the world, which necessitates further rates hike.
These rates hike to make borrowing more expensive; thus, most businesses start shrinking, which is exactly what has happened in the area. The Stoxx 600 index fell by 1.9% in Thursday’s open in anticipation of the BoE interest hike rate decision. BoE went ahead to hike the rates by 50 basis points, higher than the expected 25 basis points.
Preliminary data shows that the region will also have a difficult ending in the Q2 of 2022, with its flash composite Purchasing Managers’ Index dropping to 50.3 in June from 52.8 recorded in May. This is a huge dive from the expected 52.5, which concerns as the 50 mark indicates an expansion in activity while a dip below 50 marks contraction.
“Eurozone business output growth came close to stalling in June, according to the latest HCOB flash PMI survey data produced by S&P Global, pointing to renewed weakness in the economy after the brief growth revival recorded in the spring,” S&P Global said in a release.
“Although energy and supply chain worries have eased since late last year, June has seen a further escalation of concerns over demand growth, and in particular the impact of higher interest rates, and the resulting possibilities of recessions both in domestic markets and further afield.”
The European Central Bank has consistently raised rates for the past 12 months to bring down inflation. The consequence of this action is higher costs of business operations in the bloc, which is a drag on productivity.
Keep watching Fintech Express for updates on finance and other fintech-related developments.
