News Updates July 24, 2022

1. Bitcoin must close above $21.9K to avoid fresh BTC price crash — trader

Traders paint clear cut-off points for Bitcoin price action as the week draws to an end near crucial moving averages.

Bitcoin (BTC) found strength at $22,000 into July 24 with bulls still aiming for a solid green weekly close.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD halting a weekend drop at $21,900 to return towards the $23,000 on the day.

The pair held a trading range closely focused on key long-term trendlines, which analysts had previously described as essential to reclaim.

These included the 50-day and 200-week moving averages (MAs), the latter particularly important as support during bear markets but which had acted as resistance since May.

2. Here Is How Bitcoin Can Drop to $19,000, Analyst Explains

Disclaimer: The opinion expressed here is not investment advice – it is provided for informational purposes only. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of U.Today. Every investment and all trading involves risk, so you should always perform your own research prior to making decisions. We do not recommend investing money you cannot afford to lose.

According to a Blockware analyst Will Clemente, a pivotal moment for Bitcoin has arrived on the market, as the first cryptocurrency might fall back below $20,000 if it drops from the range it has been consolidating at for the last 5 days.  As the chart shared by Clemente suggests, Bitcoin is currently holding at the 200 WMA support line and the highlighted price range, which are the only two things keeping it from plunging back to the $19,000 level. 

A drop below $22,000 might launch the digital gold back to the price level the market has not seen for the last two weeks. The main issue with the current state of BTC is the lack of short-term support zones that will protect the cryptocurrency from falling into the abyss once again.  Luckily, technical analysis is the only thing suggesting that Bitcoin is losing its grip on $22,000. Inflow data and the trading volume are still ascending, which are direct signals of continuous support provided to the coin by bulls. 

A drop below $22,000 might launch the digital gold back to the price level the market has not seen for the last two weeks. The main issue with the current state of BTC is the lack of short-term support zones that will protect the cryptocurrency from falling into the abyss once again.  Luckily, technical analysis is the only thing suggesting that Bitcoin is losing its grip on $22,000. Inflow data and the trading volume are still ascending, which are direct signals of continuous support provided to the coin by bulls.

3. More Ukrainians May Turn to Crypto After the New Fiat Restrictions

* The National Bank of Ukraine recently made new regulations on fiat currency in reaction to the country’s economy’s shifting fundamentals.

* The apex bank depreciated the UAH by 25% against the US dollar.

* The founder of a Ukrainian crypto exchange believes the new regulation may surge the interest of Ukrainians in cryptocurrencies.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has made new regulations in reaction to the country’s economy’s shifting fundamentals due to a protracted armed war with Russia. On July 21, the monetary authority put new restrictions on banking activities using the national fiat currency and depreciated the Ukrainian currency, Hryvnia (UAH), by 25% against the strong dollar.

Banks can only sell non-cash foreign currency to their customers per the new regulations for private individuals, provided they deposited the sums for at least three months with no provision for contract termination.

The NBU has reviewed the initial 50,000 UAH ceiling for withdrawals from payment cards with a weekly limit of 12,500 ($340). It also cut the peer-to-peer transfers abroad from cards issued by Ukrainian banks from 100,000 UAH (approx. $2,700) to 30,000 UAH ($800). And the limit for cross-border settlements with hryvnia cards has been set at 100,000 per month.

Kirill Shevchenko, governor of the NBU, reaffirmed that all measures put in place since the conflict’s start are short-term and to enable the economy to survive. 

The latest NBU restrictions may lead to a surge of Ukrainians’ interest in cryptocurrencies, opined Mikhail Chobanyan, the founder of the Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna, in a news blog. He said, “We expect an increase in turnover and use of cryptocurrencies. In Europe, 100,000 hryvnias is nothing,” the entrepreneur added.

Chobanyan further pointed out that the new restrictions would make it harder for volunteers to do their jobs because most of the aid is acquired using cards from Ukrainian banks that private individuals hold.

“Now we will completely switch these flows to crypto,” said Chobanyan, who described the central bank’s policy as aggressive and warned that Ukrainian banks and the state budget would be the losers.


“Now we will completely switch these flows to crypto,” said Chobanyan, who described the central bank’s policy as aggressive and warned that Ukrainian banks and the state budget would be the losers.

4. Tax Collector Wants $55 Million From Collapsed Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme MTI — Liquidators Accused of Failing Their Duty

In a fresh twist to the collapsed bitcoin Ponzi scheme Mirror Trading International (MTI) saga, revenue collector South African Revenue Services (SARS) has demanded $55.3 million from the scheme’s liquidators. The revenue collector added that it wants the tax bill settled before the MTI liquidation process is finalized.

 *Liquidators Failing ‘as the Deemed Public Officers’*

The South African revenue collector is said to have lodged a claim of approximately $55 million against the now defunct bitcoin Ponzi scheme Mirror Trading International (MTI). The claim lodged with the Master of Cape Town High Court relates to two tax periods, the years 2019 and 2020.

According to a report by Moneyweb, the revenue collection body known as the South African Revenue Service (SARS) said it wants this tax bill settled before the finalization of MTI’s liquidation process. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, a total of $75 million was realized from the sale of bitcoins belonging to MTI that were recovered from forex trader FX Choice.

SARS, which accuses the collapsed firm’s liquidators of failing to carry out their duties “as the deemed public officers,” reportedly said it reserved the right to adjust its claim in the event additional bitcoins belonging to MTI were found.

In its filing with the Master of High Court, the revenue collector claimed that in addition to the late delivery of the income information, the liquidators failed to declare the $10.8 million and $398 million in income that was realized in the years 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Out of the $55.3 million that the SARS is demanding from liquidators, about $20.8 million is for the normal income tax, the Moneyweb report said. For understating incomes, SARS said it wants $34.5 million from the liquidators.

Also, when presenting evidence on behalf of SARS, Johan Matthews, from the revenue collector’s Illicit Economy Unit, reportedly argued that the revenue collector should be given preferential creditor status as per the Insolvency Act. If granted, this status bars liquidators from disbursing recovered funds until the revenue collector’s claims have been settled in full. SARS also said unless a return is submitted within 40 days after assessment, MTI liquidators will be not able to object or appeal.

The report also quotes the revenue collector explaining why it is not waiting for the completion of the liquidation process.

“Taking into account that the taxpayer [MTI] has been finally liquidated and that the liquidators are in the process of finalising the administration of the estate including the payment of interim dividends to proven creditors, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the taxpayer will not pay the full amount of tax and that the recovery of the tax may be difficult in future,” SARS reportedly said.

5. Latvian NFT artist faces 12 years in jail over ‘money laundering’, €8.7 million art earnings frozen.

A Latvian developer and artist identified as Ilya Borisov is facing up to 12 years in prison after authorities claimed that his non-fungible tokens (NFT) earnings of €8.7 million are proceeds of money laundering and crime on a large scale. 

 
Through his website dubbed Art is Crime, Borisov detailed how the government had frozen his bank accounts without communicating with him regarding the case. 

In the case timeline, the developer who earned the amount from 3,557 NFT releases noted that the case proceedings were launched in February this year, but he was only notified about the matter on May 9. 

“This decision was issued on February 10, it says that I should get a copy of it. I received it three months later, ”Borisov said. 

Lack of crypto regulation 
Due to a lack of clear crypto tax regulations, the developer stated that he contacted the Latvian State Revenue Service (VID) on how to legalize his income in cryptocurrency. Consequently, he ended up paying €2.2 million under income taxes across 2021.

6. The Big Influence of Global M2 Money Supply on Crypto Markets.

As crypto markets grow and mature, macroeconomic factors start to have a larger influence over them as is the case with traditional finance.
In the early days, Bitcoin and crypto market cycles were largely influenced by halving events. These happen approximately every four years, or every 210,000 blocks, when the block reward for miners is halved.

The next one is due on May 5, 2024, dropping the reward to 3.125 BTC from the current of 6.25 BTC.

However, there could be greater influences over Bitcoin and crypto markets in the form of the M2 money supply. This metric appears to be highly correlated with market movements over the past decade.

Global Macro Investor founder and CEO Raoul Pal posted a chart comparing global deviation from the trend of M2 money supply compared to crypto market capitalization on July 22 to illustrate.

7. Inside the Crypto-Bot Ghost Towns of Telegram

Once, BitGo Cryptocurrency Exchange (an unauthorized channel aimed to lure customers of the genuine and legit crypto exchange named Bitgo, which didn’t respond to a chance for comment) played host to a vital membership of real-life humans, glorious in their aliveness. Members discussed trading strategies, unwittingly sent large sums of money to fake addresses, demanded urgently that moderators tell them why they had added them to the group—a kaleidoscope of charmingly dodgy retail action. No more

These days, the “BitGo” Telegram group features almost entirely spam-spewing bots. The bots speak only to one another, in circular riddles and unintelligible non-sequiturs. One asks how everyone’s day is going; another responds by asking if anyone will marry her, ASAP; another thanks Jesus and Satoshi Nakamoto for the opportunity to invest with BitGo; another asks what time it is. 

These are robo-shillers without humans to actually scam, save for the occasional confused person who wanders into their midst. It’s like watching an animatronic carnival show run amok.

Looking for a man who can support me,” announces a female bot named “Qingrong He” mere minutes before both solicitation and account disappear. She’s asked the same question a dozen times before; as usual, no gallant knight takes up the offer. 

“Karoline,” meanwhile, announces some good news: “I have received countless winnings from this platform, thanks to Agent Morrison, I don’t know how to pay you back,” she declares ungrammatically. In quick succession, four other bots congratulate her using automatically generated variations on the same response. 

Congratulations,” writes “Mark Kidd.” “There is something special about this investment platform. I’m happy when other investors invest and receive instant payments.” 

“Wow,” concurs “Alishia Bethe.” “My heart is full of joy and happiness at the moment, I have great respect for this company for their sincerity and honesty. Got my winnings back.”

8. Is your crypto exchange prepared to issue 1099-Bs? Here’s how to do it easily

In order to be prepared for this change, you need to know what exactly is coming quickly down the road for crypto exchanges and wallets, what kind of reporting will be required of you, and why it might not be a good idea to build those capabilities in-house.

Taxes are one of the few certainties in life, and big tax changes are coming for crypto exchanges and wallets very soon. Will you be ready for them?

While cryptocurrency owners have been required to report their crypto gains and losses on their income taxes for a few years now, crypto exchanges and wallets haven’t needed to provide information to the IRS on their customers and their transactions. But that’s all changing, as new federal regulations will require crypto exchanges and wallets to provide tax documents in the form of a 1099-B to their customers. And it’s not going to be an easy process.

In order to be prepared for this change, you need to know what exactly is coming quickly down the road for crypto exchanges and wallets, what kind of reporting will be required of you, and why it might not be a good idea to build those capabilities in-house.

 *What’s on the Horizon for Tax Reporting*

Despite cryptocurrency’s intention to be decentralized, federal tax regulations have caught up to crypto owners, who must report their crypto holdings as property and pay any capital gains taxes associated with it. However, unlike brokerage or barter exchanges, crypto exchanges and wallets haven’t had to report customer information, transactions, and gains or losses to the IRS, and issue a form to customers for their own tax purpose.

However, that has changed with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Infrastructure Bill, on November 15, 2021. The Bill expands required tax reporting for crypto transactions and starting in 2023, crypto exchanges and wallets will be required by law to generate and issue 1099-B forms — or something like it — to their customers, the Federal government, and each state that requires reporting. And with nearly 600 crypto exchanges out there — with the largest one running a $15.9 billion volume — there’s a lot of work ahead of them.

 *How to Prepare Your Exchange*

Crypto exchanges and wallets need to prepare for this new tax regulation end-to-end, from collecting customer information to tracking and attributing transactions to generating a form that complies with the tax law. What kind of information does a typical 1099-B contain? You can find a customer’s name, address, and social security number — and SSNs require their own process to collect and verify before 1099-B issuance can begin. It also contains a list of every transaction made, including what was sold, the date sold, the quantity, the gain or loss, and other important information.