News updates January 10, 2022

1. Kazakhstan Is Stabilizing, Government Claims as Crypto Miners Look to Future in Country

The situation across Kazakhstan, hit by anti-government protests in the first week of the year, is normalizing, central authorities claim. The country’s massive crypto mining industry, which faced an internet blackout during civil unrest on top of power shortages, now hopes that the country will nevertheless remain an attractive location for miners.

2. Kosovo Seizes Hundreds of Crypto Mining Machines in Crackdown

Police in Kosovo seized another batch of over 200 mining devices as part of raids that started on Thursday. The offensive against underground crypto farms was launched after authorities in Pristina banned the power-hungry minting of digital currencies amid an energy crisis in the country.

3. Indian Crypto Industry Seeks Tax Clarity in Union Budget 2022-23

An Indian industry association has written to the country’s finance minister seeking clarity on cryptocurrency taxation in Union Budget 2022-23. “The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Council should detail the applicability of taxation, else there will be confusion.”

Industry Wants Clarity in Crypto Tax Laws in Union Budget 2022-23

Indian industry association Indiatech has written to the country’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, regarding cryptocurrency taxation. The association represents major cryptocurrency exchanges in India, including Coinswitch Kuber, Wazirx, and Coindcx.

In its letter, the association asked the finance minister for clarity regarding crypto taxation in Union Budget 2022-23. The industry body also urged the government to amend existing tax laws to include crypto assets. Indiatech’s president and CEO, Rameesh Kailasam, told Ettech:

The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Council should detail the applicability of taxation, else there will be confusion.

4. Kenya Set to Scale Up Adoption of Cryptocurrencies in 2022

In his Africa crypto market predictions for 2022, Marius Reitz, the general manager for Luno in Africa, has predicted that Kenya will scale up the adoption of cryptocurrencies. To support this assertion, Reitz points to Kenya’s as position as the leader in the world’s peer-to-peer (P2P) traded volumes for the second year running.

5. JPMorgan Shares Predictions on Crypto Markets, Ethereum's Upgrades, Defi, NFTs

Global investment bank JPMorgan has published a report on the future outlook of crypto markets, including Ethereum’s upgrades, decentralized finance (defi), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The bank sees “the cryptocurrency markets as increasingly relevant to financial services,” its analyst described.

JPMorgan Outlines Future Outlook for Crypto Markets

JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington published a report on the 2022 outlook for crypto markets Friday. The analyst wrote:

The applications from crypto have only just begun. Web3.0, greater use of NFTs tokenization are in the line-of-sight for 2022.

6. Mike Novogratz Says Bitcoin Should Bottom Around $40K, Sees 'Tremendous' Demand From Institutional Investors

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz expects the price of bitcoin to bottom at around $38K-$40K. “I know big institutions who are going through their process to put positions on. They’re going to see those as attractive levels to buy,” he said.