Bitcoin Price: $57,541.27 (+2.30%)
Ethereum Price: $4,339.44 (+6.20%)
Canadian investment company buys $2.5 million worth of virtual real estate in Decentraland
- On Tuesday, a Canadian investment firm that focuses on decentralized finance (DeFi) called Tokens.com purchased nearly $2.5 million worth of virtual land in the platform Decentraland.
- Specifically, Tokens.com purchased 116 parcels of virtual land for a total of 618,000 MANA, the native currency of Decentraland, according to a company release. The company claimed the purchase represented the largest transaction of its kind to date.
- Tokens.com purchased the land through the virtual real estate firm Metaverse Group, which offers virtual land development services for clients. The purchase is equivalent to 6,090 square feet of physical land — which is approximately the size of 1.3 basketball courts.
eToro to delist ADA, TRX for US users over regulatory concerns
- eToro is delisting Cardano and TRON for stateside users, according to a new post from the exchange.
- Starting Dec. 26, U.S. users won’t be able to open new ADA or TRX positions, and by Dec. 31, staking for the assets will no longer be available. eToro cited “business-related considerations in the evolving regulatory environment” in its decision.
- Staking reward payouts for U.S. users will end after Jan. 15, 2022, with the final rewards paid in USD.
- Still, U.S. users will be able to hold existing positions of ADA and TRX and those positions can be closed at any time with the assurance that they will pay out in USD. Users won’t be forced to sell their positions at this time, and eToro said it has no plans to force selling.
South Korea financial authority rules that NFTs are taxable
- South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, or FSC, announced Tuesday that nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, will be taxed starting next year. According to The Korea Herald, this tax law amendment would impose a 20% tax on income from virtual assets that exceed 2.5 million won ($2,102) as of Jan. 1, 2022.
- The FSC’s vice chairman Doh Kyu-sang specified that only some NFTs would be categorized as virtual assets and therefore subject to “other income” taxes, referring to those used for investment or payment on a large scale. Tax authorities are in charge of defining the full scope of taxable NFTs.
- This announcement, however, differs from last month’s stance when the FSC had issued a public statement reaffirming that NFTs are not virtual assets and would not be regulated. Korean lawmakers now appear to view NFTs in the same taxable light as cryptocurrencies. A planned tax on cryptocurrency gains was set to take effect on January 1, 2022, but may now be delayed due to political pushback.
OlympusDAO mistake lets user spend $50,000 to buy $1.43 million in OHM
- A mistake enabled someone to spend $50,000 to receive $1.43 million of olympus (OHM) tokens when they should have received far less, according to an update in the OlympusDAO Discord.
- “Earlier today someone bonded an OHM/DAI bond that was presumed to be closed off. This enabled the user to have a substantial discount resulting in the user receiving 1697 ohm instead of 59 ohm. After this occurred, we took immediate action and the bond contract has been shut down in the meantime,” wrote an admin named Wartull.
Valued at $9B, Pokemon Go creator to build metaverse with fresh funding
- Niantic, the developer of the popular augmented reality (AR) mobile game Pokemon Go, is planning to build a “real-world” metaverse with newly raised funding.
- The company officially announced Monday the completion of a $300-million raise from the technology-focused investment manager Coatue, bringing the company’s valuation to $9 billion.
- Coatue is known as a major investor in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, backing companies such as blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis, cryptocurrency startup Fireblocks, blockchain security firm CertiK and others. The firm has also recently participated in a $555-million funding round for cryptocurrency fintech startup MoonPay.
Bitcoin whales plan to buy BTC higher as fresh Mt. Gox payouts add to market fear
- Whales reposition their BTC buy bids higher as price action appears to bore those seeking a continuation of the Bitcoin bull market.
- The return toward $55,000 came as the latest events in the Mt. Gox rehabilitation process, originally published Nov. 16, began to hit the media.
- In an announcement, trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi confirmed that the plans had now become “final and binding,” with the implication that the 141,000 BTC under custody would soon be distributed.
- “The Rehabilitation Trustee will then make repayments to rehabilitation creditors holding allowed rehabilitation claims in accordance with the Rehabilitation Plan,” it states.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia recognizes risks in missing out on crypto
- Matt Comyn, CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), said that the bank is more concerned about the risks of missing out on crypto than those associated with its adoption.
- The CBA is set to become the first of the “big four” banks in Australia to offer crypto-based services after the company announced on Nov. 3 that it would support the trading of 10 digital assets directly via its banking app.
- Speaking with Bloomberg TV on Friday, Comyn was questioned on the CBA’s take on the crypto sector, with the CEO noting: “We see risks in participating, but we see bigger risks in not participating. It’s important to say that we don’t have a view on the asset price itself we see it as a very volatile and speculative asset, but we also don’t think that the sector and the technology is going away anytime soon.”
