News Updates September 06, 2022
1. Bitcoin Price Analysis—BTC Will Likely Break Rangebound Action After this Week’s Macroeconomic Events
*Bitcoin continues to trade inside the established 10-day range between $19,575 and $20,500
* BTC/USD will likely break this range at some point this week
* The market is looking for further clarification from the Federal Reserve, which has speeches lined up for the week
Bitcoin continues to trade inside the range established over the last 10-days between $19,575 and $20,500. There have been few attempts at the upper angle of the range, with multiple attempts at the bottom edge over the week. The lower boundary of the range is supported by a short-term downside 1.272 Fib Extension that has withstood five attempts so far.
It seems the range-bound trading is largely a result of the market waiting for more indication on the macro side of the economy. The past few months have been plagued with concerns over inflation and rising interest rates.
Toward the end of August, U.S. Fed chairman Jerome Powell revealed a more hawkish stance on the economy, indicating more short-term pain is incoming until inflation starts to return to the 2% target outlined by the Fed.
Well, we might have some more clues about the Fed’s next move with the following macroeconomic events coming up shortly:
Alongside the United States Unemployment Claims on Thursday, the market is anticipating speeches from both the FOMC and the Fed during the week. In addition to this, there is also the ECB press conference which might shake the market.
It is likely that BTC will break out of the current range after these events have transpired. Judging by the Fed’s previous hawkish stance, there is no reason to assume their position will change, and we should expect a downside break of the range.
Adding further to the negative picture, Bitcoin Dominance just hit a 4-year low.
2. Crypto assets are no longer niche and regulators need to catch up — IMF
Recent failures of crypto issuers, exchanges and hedge funds are major motivators behind better crypto regulation.
The past few years have seen crypto assets moved from being “niche products” to having more of a mainstream presence, prompting the need for more comprehensive regulation of the space, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a new report authored by IMF capital markets director Aditya Narain and assistant director Marina Moretti, officials noted that crypto assets have firmly shifted away from being “niche products” to ones used for speculative investments, hedges against weak currencies and payment instruments.
The authors added that this, along with recent failures of crypto issuers, exchanges and hedge funds have “added impetus to the push to regulate.”
*Australia’s new government finally signals its crypto regulation stance*
Even staunch crypto skeptics have started to fall in line with the idea of regulation over any widespread ban, with U.S. congressman Brad Sherman becoming the latest to change his tune after admitting the market “has too much money and power behind it,” to ban it now.
3. Over 3,600 crypto-related U.S. trademark applications filed in 2022 beating entire 2021
As the cryptocurrency industry grows, so does one significant component of it that is increasingly being used by businesses and people looking for new ways to communicate with their customers.
In particular, cryptocurrency-related trademarks in the United States have so far surpassed 3,600 between January 1 to August 31, 2022, according to the data published by trademark and patent attorney Michael Kondoudis (The Law Office of Michael E. Kondoudis) on September 6.
Interestingly, the total amount of crypto trademark filings was 3,516 for the whole of 2021, which is significantly less than the exact number of patents so far this year filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at 3,899. Given that data is up until the end of August. It’s reasonable to assume that more applications will be made over the next four months.
After reaching a high point in March, when the number of new trademark applications in the United States was at 604, the number of new trademark applications has been on a steady decline every month ever since in tandem with the cryptocurrency market, culminating in August with a total of 329 applications.
4. Crypto Is ‘Key’ to Cracking Down on Crime, Says Europol
According to experts, blockchain networks allow investigators to easily follow illicit funds and recover stolen assets converted into crypto.
While Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are being increasingly used by criminals, the open nature of blockchain technology provides also provides authorities with a "key" new way to tackle organized crime.
This was the general consensus among crypto specialists and financial investigators who last week gathered for the 6th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies in The Hague hosted by Europol with the support of the Basel Institute on Governance
According to the speakers, who represented European regulators, law enforcement, and experts from crypto exchange Binance, as well as blockchain sleuths Chainalysis, CypherTrace, and TRM Labs, the use of cryptocurrencies is expanding ”into practically every country and sector,” facilitating new forms of crime.
5. Australian Treasury consults public on Bitcoin foreign currency tax exclusion
The public has been provided with 25 days to share their opinion on the proposed legislation.
Australia’s ministerial department of Treasury reached out to the public to seek consultation regarding draft legislation that would exclude cryptocurrencies from being taxed as a foreign currency if passed.
In a press release, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones highlighted the Australian government’s intent to exclude crypto assets from being regarded as a foreign currency for tax purposes. However, the legislation would have no impact on the collection of capital gains taxes on crypto held as investments.
The public has been provided with 25 days, from Sept. 6 to Sept. 30, to share their opinion on the proposed legislation.
If signed into law, the legislation will see the amendment of the existing definition of digital currency in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act — effectively excluding crypto assets from the definition of foreign currency. GST is a broad-based tax levied on goods, services and items sold or consumed in Australia.
The Treasury noted that the respondent’s personal information, including name and address, will be made public if not proactively opted out from the same.
The move to exclude cryptocurrencies as foreign currency is a direct result of El Salvador adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender. Australia plans to minimize the potential uncertainties related to taxing cryptocurrencies through this legislation.
*Australia’s new government finally signals its crypto regulation stance*
Mendoza, a province in Argentina, has started accepting crypto for taxes and fees. The Mendoza Tax Administration (ATM) stated that allowing crypto payments provide taxpayers an additional option to comply with tax obligations. In addition, the move fulfills its own “strategic objective of modernization and innovation.”
From Aug. 24, Mendoza residents can use the ATM’s website to pay taxes using any crypto wallets, including Binance, Bybit and Ripio. The system generates a QR code based on the cryptocurrency selected by the end-user, which then converts an equivalent amount of stablecoins to Argentine pesos via an undisclosed online payment service provider.
6. ETH and ERC-20 Deposits, Withdrawals Now Suspended on Binance.
Binance announced it has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals for ETH and ERC-20 tokens due to the Bellatrix consensus layer upgrade. It says it will provide updates once deposits and withdrawals have resumed.
Binance announced it has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals for ETH and ERC-20 tokens due to the Bellatrix consensus layer upgrade. It says it will provide updates once deposits and withdrawals have resumed.
According to sassal.eth, the Bellatrix upgrade has finalized: "The Bellatrix upgrade just went live on the Ethereum Beacon Chain. Next up is the mainnet merge, which will happen in less than 9 days. The Merge is coming."
At the time of publication, Binance is yet to give indications on whether deposits and withdrawals have resumed on the platform.
Aside from this current halt, Binance earlier announced that ETH and ERC-20 token deposits and withdrawals on Binance will also be momentarily halted at 12:00 a.m. UTC on Sept. 15 for the Paris upgrade. Additionally, Binance said that it will temporarily suspend BETH deposits and withdrawals starting at 12:00 p.m. UTC on Sept. 14, 2022, and ending at 12:00 p.m. UTC on Sept. 16, 2022.
7. Fake Ponzi Scheme Reportedly Raises $100K in a Bid to Boost Awareness.
A fake Ponzi scheme raised over $100K in less than a few hours, but there’s a catch.
Popular cryptocurrency influencer and a well-known member of the community – FatManTerra – took it to Twitter to reveal that he deliberately created a fake Ponzi scheme to raise funds.
The initiative supposedly saw upwards of $100,000 worth of BTC in investments.
The influencer said:
In two hours, I received over one hundred DMs. I raised 3.45% BTC from Twitter and 2 BTC from Discord – over $100k, with more requests flooding in by the minute.
The original tweet that promoted the fake scheme read:
Received access to a high-yield BTC farm based on a private carry trade operated by an up-and-coming fund. I’ve maxed out what I could, so there’s some leftover allocation and I thought I’d pass it alonge – priority will be given to UST victims. DM for more details if interested.
FatManTerra said that he is getting tons of messages and that it was “far too easy to scam people in crypto.”
Ultimately, he revealed that this was a fake scheme and that his goal was to raise awareness.
While I used plenty of buzzwords and put on a very convincing act on all platforms, I made sure to keep the investment details intentionally obscure – I didn’t name the fund and I didn’t describe the trade – no one knew where the yield was coming from. But people still invested.
The influencer also said that everyone who sent money has been fully refunded and that there hasn’t been any investment.
Risk-free high yields don’t exist.
Yet, some are calling him out for his tweets, arguing that he was actually trying to scam people and that he got cold feet in trying to do so.
8. Elon Musk Complains About Bots Impersonating Binance CEO.
In a recent tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk complained that the majority of his comments are filled with cryptocurrency bots. He attached a screenshot, which shows a bunch of fake accounts impersonating Changpeng Zhao, the head of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. The real CZ replied to Musk’s complaint, quipping that his tweet is the only real one. The centibillionaire’s tweet is not a coincidence given that he is currently enmeshed in a grueling legal battle with social media giant Twitter.
9. Indian police arrest alleged crypto trickster in US$31 mln scam.
Indian police in the state of Maharashtra have arrested a man on charges of cheating 1,441 investors in a fake cryptocurrency scam, according to a local media report.
The scam may be in excess of 2.5 billion rupees (US$31.2 million) and is spread across India, the report said.
So far, 24 investors who have collectively lost about US$55,085 have come forward, the report said.
“Magic 3x” and “SMP” are the two crypto names that the accused was using to dupe investors, according to the report.
The man was arrested in Thane, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Thane police, which tackles economic and financial offenses, had arrested the man, according to the report.
India is also investigating at least 10 cryptocurrency exchanges in the country for allegedly laundering more than 10 billion rupees (US$125 million).
