The cryptocurrency market remains rangebound with Bitcoin (BTC) hovering around $17,000. While preparing this report, Bitcoin was trading at $17,184, a decrease of 0.40% in the last 24 hours. Ether (ETH), the native crypto of smart contract-enabled blockchain Ethereum, had gained 1.60% to trade at $1,324. XRP was trading at $0.3490, a decline of 0.40% in the same period.
Major cryptos, which have gained ground in the past 24 hours, are VeChain (VET, $0.0175, 0.10%), EOS (EOS – $0.9403, 0.20%), IOTA (IOTA – $0.1874, 1.10%), Dogecoin (DOGE – $0.0759, 1.20%), Internet Computer (ICP, $4.19, -1.60%) and Stellar (XLM, $0.0791, -0.50%) .
Major crypto, which has lost ground in the past 24 hours, ChainLink (LINK – $6.08, -0.50%), Binance Coin (BNB – $274.32, -2.20%), Polkadot (DOT, $4.88, -0.60%), Polygon (MATIC – $0.8430, -1.90%), Avalanche (Avax- $12.23, -2.70%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $106.43, 0.20%), Cardano (ADA, $0.3140, -5.70%), Tezos (XTZ, $0.8302, -0.60%), Shiba Inu (SHIB, $0.00000866, -3%) and Solana (SOL, $15.81, -2.90%).
Government level initiatives
Congress Approves Bipartisan Amendment to National Defense Act
The US Congress has given green light to a bipartisan agreement related to the amended 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDA Act), which was approved by the Senate on December 15. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has been tasked with the responsibility of creating the strategy defined in the 16-page document on the National Strategy for the R&D of distributed ledger technology (DLT). Notably, the OSTP is directly governed by the Office of the President.
Despite the government’s interest in governing the crypto industry, the research clearly includes applications related to public and permissionless blockchains.
The NDA Act encompasses a wide variety of DLT operations, including apps that potentially benefit the public but are not yet garnering private sector investment. In public and private public blockchain ecosystems, rewards and tokenomics are crucial. Thus, the study will incorporate game theory, strategy development, and decentralized network management.
A portion of the research revolves around the utilization of DLT by federal agencies. It wants to utilize the technology for sharing info between departments in a privacy-retaining manner and in other contexts to offer transparency to citizens. There is also a plan to provide grants to conduct research into private sector and federal use cases.
Italy’s Senate Endorses Higher Crypto Tax for 2023
In the final days of 2022, Italy’s Senate endorsed the tabled budget for 2023, which included an upward revision of crypto tax to 26% on capital gains for total crypto asset transactions of more than €2,000.
The endorsed law describes crypto assets as “a digital representation of value or entitlements that may be digitally exchanged and maintained utilizing distributed ledger technology or comparable technologies.”
Earlier, cryptocurrency assets were regarded as overseas currencies in Italy and were subject to lower taxes.
The bill also necessitates taxpayers to voluntarily disclose their value of digital asset holdings at the end of December 31, 2022, and pay a 14% tax.
China Launches Nationwide Trading Platform for Digital Assets
China rolled out its country-wide secondary trading platform for digital assets a week ago, with the intention of aiding transactions related to intellectual property, digital collections, and copyrights.
The trading platform is expected to improve the governance of digital trade while fostering digital innovation. Beijing believes that the digital asset trading platform will ensure healthy growth of the digital market.
The platform, which is fully compliant on a national level, was developed by the government-aided China Technology Exchange and Art Exhibitions China in cooperation with blockchain developer Huaban Digital Copyrights.
Also, the digital asset trading platform will solely utilize the “China Cultural Protection Chain” for depository service and offer institutions and individual users with digital asset documentation, verification, depositary, copy protection, and rights monitoring services.
Furthermore, the platform will provide valuable services and data related to the metaverse and digital collectibles by joining hands with the “Digital Collection Home,” which is the first metaverse digital collection credit evaluation and aggregation system in China.
Private sector initiatives
BMW Implements Blockchain Integration with Binance and Coinweb
BMW, which revealed its intention to implement complete blockchain integration into its business operations, leads web3 rollout among car manufacturers. In this regard, the Germany-based car manufacturer has partnered with BNB Chain, the blockchain division of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance and the blockchain framework platform Coinweb.
As per the announcement, BMW also aims to introduce a blockchain-powered loyalty program for its Thailand clients after incorporating web3 into its platform. Even though several car manufacturers have stepped into the web3 space, the majority of them are centered on providing random non-fungible token drops.
An NFT is a blockchain-powered document that constitutes proof of ownership of a digital document such as a JPEG, digital avatar, or artwork. Notably, five years back, BMW started using blockchain technology to track its cobalt supply.
In the aforesaid initiative, BMW will be employing BNB Chain to process transactions while Coinweb will offer the framework necessary to incorporate blockchain into the company’s platform. Coinweb will also build an app that BMW clients will utilize for the royalty program.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
