The cryptocurrency market remains rangebound with Bitcoin (BTC) hovering around $23,000. While preparing this report, Bitcoin was trading at $23,913, an increase of 3.40% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) gained 5.50% to trade at $1,673. XRP was trading at $0.4126, up 2.10% in the last 24 hours.
Major cryptos, which have gained ground in the past 24 hours, are VeChain (VET, $0.02490, 7.30%), EOS (EOS – $1.09, 2%), IOTA (IOTA – $0.2362, 3.90%), Internet Computer (ICP, $5.99, 0.10%), Stellar (XLM, $0.09255, 2.30%), Binance Coin (BNB – $320.09, 2.40%), Polkadot (DOT, $6.54, 4.50%), Avalanche (Avax- $21.64, 10.40%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $137.02, 1.70%), Cardano (ADA, $0.4070, 4.80%), Tezos (XTZ, $1.11, 3.60%), Solana (SOL, $25.31, 6.10%), ChainLink (LINK – $7.27, 4.50%), Polygon (MATIC – $1.23, 10.940%) and Shiba Inu (SHIB, $0.000012086, 2.30%).
Government level initiatives
BRØK Public Blockchain Stock Monitoring Initiative Enters Sandbox Phase
BRØK, the Norwegian government initiative to monitor ownership of unlisted stocks, transitioned to the sandbox stage in January. The major aspect differentiating it from similar solutions is that it uses a public blockchain. Particularly, it employs Arbitrum, a low-cost layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain.
Several countries across the globe have corporate registries where you can gather data about companies regardless of their size, including the unlisted entities. The records also include stockholder information but are usually one year old. For up-to-the-minute data, there is a need to get in touch with the company. In this regard, Norway’s corporate registry, which holds data from 380,000 firms, is no way different.
This forms the basis for establishing a blockchain platform to monitor any modification in ownership of any private stock and receive a current vision of the ‘cap table’ (detailing stock owners, the quantum of stock owned, and the date of purchase).
Another advantage of employing a blockchain is immutability. As enterprises only share snapshots of stock ownership once in a while, there is always a possibility of manipulating the cap table to avoid taxes related to share transfer. Therefore, without any surprise, the tax agency is a partaker in the initiative.
European Parliament Clears Draft Law on Banking and Crypto Compliance
The European Parliament’s Economics and Monetary Affairs Committee has cleared a draft law to enforce the Basel III laws on banking capital and liquidity needs. The draft law includes a single condition linked to cryptocurrencies i.e. compulsory need to maintain a balance sheet with euros equaling the value of crypto assets.
This specific interim rule should comply until the end of next year. It has been decided that the European Commission will be presenting a detailed plan by the June of this year.
Private sector initiatives
Swiss-Based Cité Gestion Bank Tokenizes its Shares with Taurus Solution
Using the Taurus digital asset solution, Switzerland-based Cité Gestion bank has tokenized its own shares. The bank has roughly CHF 7 billion worth of assets under management. Notably, Swiss-based Sygnum owns the credit of tokenizing its shares for the first time in the country. This happened at the end of 2020.
In the meantime, Taurus which offered the tokenization platform revealed that it had facilitated 15 tokenizations in 2022, with roughly 50% of them catering to institutions or regulated firms. The tokenization process was in accordance with standards created by the Swiss non-profit Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA).
Switzerland has forward-looking regulations on tokenization. In fact, the country has a distinct licensing regime for DLT trading facilities that permits straightforward access to retail investors and a sole license for the cryptocurrency exchange, custodial service, and settlement. Taurus has been licensed by the Swiss regulator FINMA to run a digital asset exchange.
Christophe Utelli, Cité Gestion Deputy CEO, “Our mission at Cité Gestion is to enable our customers to maximize the benefits of technological advancements in the capital markets, particularly the vast scope for rationalization and productivity advantages that distributed ledger technology provides in this space.”
Miscellaneous
Yves Saint Laurent Launches Two-Stage NFT Event
France-based luxury fashion firm Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) has rolled out a two-stage NFT event, referred to as “Black Opium: The Night is Ours.” The fashion house intends to unveil “YSL Beauty Night Blocks” NFTs in the initial stage and the second release is named “The Night Masters.”
NFTs will be provided to collectors in the US, the UK, Australia, and France when they buy a 2014-introduced Black Opium fragrance from the official YSL Beauty online shop, beginning January 30th.
Interested collectors need to download and install the official YSL Beauty wallet app to claim the NFTs based on the 2014-launched fragrance.
The YSL Beauty community has two categories of digital collectibles: the original and the ultra-rare. The theme for the ultra-rare Night Block will be selected by the YSL Beauty community.
The owners of YSL Beauty Night Block “Original” NFTs will be given the opportunity to attend the private sale for the forthcoming “The Night Masters” release. They will receive a gift voucher for future purchases, which can be redeemed via the official website. Additionally, these NFT holders will have a unique chance to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content with the Black Opium Master Perfumer. Owners of YSL Beauty Night Block “Rare” NFTs will also be able to enjoy rewards that are comparable to those available to holders of the “Original” NFTs.
The private sale starts on March 1, followed by the public sale on March 3. The series consists of 2000 “Original” NFTs and 14 “Rare” NFTs.
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.
