Autor Cointelegraph By Luke Huigsloot

GameStop doubles down on crypto amid a new partnership with FTX US

GameStop doubles down on crypto amid a new partnership with FTX US

Uverejnil používateľ | sep 8, 2022 |

Gaming retailer GameStop is partnering with United States crypto exchange FTX US to bring more customers to crypto and work together on online marketing initiatives. In a Sept. 7 statement, the gaming retailer noted that the new partnership will introduce GameStop’s customers into the FTX ecosystem, including its marketplaces for digital assets, while also seeing the retailer become FTX’s “preferred retail partner in the United States.”The partnership will also see certain GameStop retail stores carrying FTX gift cards. As of Aug. 31, there are 2,970 GameStop stores across the United States. In its Q2 earnings call, GameStop CEO Matt Furlong said the new deal is aimed at establishing something “unique” in the retail space. The deal we just announced with FTX is a by-product of our commerce and blockchain team, working hand-in-hand together to establish something unique in the retail world.GameStop did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership in its statement. News of the new partnership came on the same day that GameStop released its financial results for the quarter that ended July 30, 2022. Despite GameStop reporting a nearly 4% decline in net sales to $1.14 billion in the quarter, shares in GameStop managed to rise nearly 12% in after-hours trading following the news, reaching $26.84 per share. GameStop has significantly ramped up its Web3 efforts this year after unveiling an NFT and Web3 gaming division in January, as well as the launch of its NFT marketplace on Jul. 11 in partnership with Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution Immutable X.Furlong noted during the earnings call that the launch of its marketplace “supports GameStop’s pursuit of long-term growth in the cryptocurrency, NFT and Web3 gaming verticals” which they expect to be increasingly important for gamers and collectors. The marketplace is a “non-custodial, Ethereum Layer 2-based marketplace” which allows users to connect their own digital asset wallets, like the recently launched GameStop Wallet.Related: GameStop NFT daily fee revenue plunges under $4K as gloom infects marketsGameStop noted that sales attributable to its digital collectibles were $223.2 million in the quarter, representing a nearly 26% increase compared to the $177.2 million worth of sales in the prior year period. According to DappRadar, the marketplace has seen a volume of $21.26 million traded on it since its launch. Activity on the marketplace has slowed dramatically since its launch, with only $922,350 worth of activity occurring on the marketplace within the last seven days.

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Think tank launches ‘technical sandbox’ exploring United States CBDCs

Think tank launches ‘technical sandbox’ exploring United States CBDCs

Uverejnil používateľ | sep 2, 2022 |

A U.S. think tank has launched a “technical sandbox” aimed at advancing the exploration of a potential United States central bank digital currency (CBDC).In an Aug. 31 Tweet from Digital Dollar Project (DDP), the organization said the new program would explore “technical and business implementation” questions revolving around a U.S. CBDC. The organization noted that the initial participants of the sandbox include crypto-firm Ripple, financial technology company Digital Asset, software platform Knox Networks and banking solutions firm EMTECH. The ‘Technical Sandbox Program’ aims to give the federal government, policymakers, and the private sector a clearer understanding of how a potential CBDC would be rolled-out. This includes the potential implications to retail and wholesale, and international use cases such as cross-border payments. The U.S Federal Reserve has yet to decide whether or not it will implement a CBDC, but has been exploring the potential risks and benefits that come with them. They released a discussion paper examining the pros and cons on Jan. 20 this year but neglected to give any hints about its future plans.The report however suggested that CBDCs could act as digital money free from credit and liquidity risks, improve cross-border payments, help preserve the dominance of the U.S dollar, promote financial inclusion, and extend public access to safe central bank money. Potential risks found included a changed U.S financial system, more severe bank runs for other forms of money, reducing the power of monetary policy, operational resilience, and a difficult balance between transparency and safeguarding consumer privacy rights.Meanwhile, China’s own CBDC (the digital yuan) is quickly being rolled out across the country, while the same is occurring in Nigeria with the eNaira. The Bahamas and countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union have also launched CBDCs, and Russia is set to roll out its own in 2024.The FedNow service, an instant payment service set to be launched in mid-2023, aims to begin “technical testing” in September according to an Aug. 29 press release. FedNow is seen as a step towards an eventual CBDC.Davis Wright Tremaine LLP partner Alexandra Steinberg Barrage, a former FDIC policy expert tweeted her support for the program on Aug. 31. Barrage suggested that regardless of what your views are on a US CBDC, pilot programs and data are essential when evaluating new tech.No matter your views on a US CBDC (retail , wholesale), it’s important to evaluate tech approaches alongside varied and complex policy issues. W/out data, robust public/private-pship, & pilots w/consumers and intermediaries, we cannot sharpen our thinking. @Digital_Dollar_ https://t.co/xLy02IOz6b— Alexandra Steinberg Barrage (@alexbarrage1) August 31, 2022The Technical Sandbox Program is set to begin in October with cross-border payments being the initial focus for the early participants.The program is set to be released in two separate phases, including an educational phase and a pilot phase.During the educational phase, providers and participants will seek to understand the technology from both a functional and business perspective. Whilst in the pilot phase, the focus will be on identifying and testing specific ways in which CBDCs can be utilized.Related: Fed and MIT’s CBDC research: Distributed ledger tech has ‘downsides’The Digital Dollar Project is a partnership between the not-for-profit organization Digital Dollar Foundation and I.T consulting firm Accenture. The project DDP seeks to encourage research and discussion around a U.S CBDC, and released a whitepaper proposing a tokenized U.S digital dollar in May 2020.

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Celsius files to reopen withdrawals for a minority of customers

Celsius files to reopen withdrawals for a minority of customers

Uverejnil používateľ | sep 2, 2022 |

Beleaguered crypto lender Celsius Network has filed a motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court yesterday to allow customers with digital assets held in certain accounts to be withdrawn. There’s a catch, however, as the motion will only apply to Custody and Withold Accounts and for custodied assets worth $7,575 or less in value. Celsius has structured their Custody and Withhold Accounts, which essentially serve as storage wallets, in a way that still enables users to maintain legal ownership of cryptocurrency. This ownership however is not extended to assets held in accounts that offer annual crypto earnings or borrowing services (Earn and Borrow accounts).The community response to the motion has been mixed, with creditors happy that Celsius Network has conceded funds held in its “Custody Program and Withhold Accounts likely do constitute property of their estates.” However, as tweeted by BnkToTheFuture.com CEO Simon Dixon — the community believes the amount Celsius wants to release is far short of what is equitable.#Celsius currently stating that those that were moved to custody 90 days before filing should be withheld. Custody is now $210m & they want to release $50m. They want to reserve the rest for clawbacks. They believe all earn funds belong to #Celsius OPINION This is illegal bank https://t.co/efGb3XPU2b— Simon Dixon (Beware Impersonators) (@SimonDixonTwitt) September 1, 2022As Dixon points out, only $50 million of the $210 million held by 58,300 users in custody accounts is set to be released, with all funds above $7,575 which were transferred from the Earn Program and Borrow Program into Custody and Withhold accounts not included within the released amount.The $7,575 amount is referred to as the “statutory cap” and Celsius is unable to avoid transferring amounts less than this total upon creditor requests as per section 547(c)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code.  The filing also mentions that an additional $15.33 million is held in Withhold Accounts by approximately 5,000 customers as of Aug. 29.To attain that $50 million figure, Celsius lawyers have distinguished between “Pure Custody/Withhold Assets” and “Transferred Custody/Withhold Assets,” with “Pure” assets those which were not transferred from the Earn or Borrow Programs. This division of funds has not been well received by community members.In response to a Sept. 2 Twitter post from Celsius, countless community members have made it known that they want nothing short of all their funds back. Kirkland (your counsel) already asserted Custody assets are not the property of Celsius. Doing anything besides releasing those assets in full is a complete violation of your TOS, as is your creation of new tiers out of thin air like “Pure Custody” which has no legal standing. — johnnyBuz (@jBuzMSC) September 1, 2022

Celsius states that assets locked in the Earn and Borrow Programs are likely property of their estates, with transfers of these assets to Custody or Withhold accounts being described as “a transfer of the Debtors’ property to customers.Within the filing, Celsius states that the “relief sought in this Motion may not be supported by every customer or stakeholder, and that it may not go as far as some Custody Program customer and Withhold Account holders may wish.” It suggests the motion is merely a “first step forward, and not the last word on, efforts to return assets to customers.”Related: Celsius bankruptcy proceedings show complexities amid declining hope of recoveryThe motion comes just one day after an ad hoc group of 64 custodial account holders filed a complaint alleging that title to custody assets “always remains with the user” as per the accounts’ terms of use, with the group seeking to recover more than $22.5 million worth of assets.A hearing on the motion is scheduled to be held on Oct. 6, and as it stands, users have had their assets locked up on the platform for more than two months.

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Ethereum Merge and the hefty tax bill you could be in for

Ethereum Merge and the hefty tax bill you could be in for

Uverejnil používateľ | sep 1, 2022 |

Ethereum (ETH) hodlers that don’t play their cards right following the Ethereum Merge may be in for a hefty bill come tax time, according to tax experts. Around Sept.15, the Ethereum blockchain is set to transition from its current proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS), aimed at improving the network’s impact on the environment. There is a chance that The Merge will result in a contentious hard fork, which will cause ETH holders to receive duplicate units of hard-forked Ethereum tokens, similar to what happened when the Ethereum and Ethereum Classic hard fork occurred in 2016. Tax compliance firm TaxBit Head of Government Solutions, Miles Fuller told Cointelegraph the Merge raises some interesting tax implications in the case that a hard fork occurs, stating: The biggest question for tax purposes is whether the Merge will result in a chain-splitting hard fork.“If it doesn’t, then there are really no tax implications,” explained Fuller, noting that the current PoW ETH will just become the new PoS ETH “and everyone goes on their merry way.”However, should a hard fork occur, meaning ETH holders are sent duplicate PoW tokens, then a “variety of tax impacts may fall out “depending on how well supported the PoW ETH chain is” and where the ETH is held when the fork occurs. For ETH held in user-owned on-chain wallets, Fuller points to IRS guidance stating that any new PoW ETH tokens would be regarded as income, and will be valued at the time the user came in possession of the tokens. Fuller explained the situation may be different for ETH held in custodial wallets, such as exchanges, depending on whether the platform decides to support the forked PoW ETH chain, noting:”How custodians and exchanges handle forks is generally covered in your account agreement, so if you are not sure, you should read up.””If the custodian or exchange does not support the forked chain, then you likely don’t have any income (and may have missed out on a freebie). You can avoid this by moving your holdings to an unhosted wallet pre-Merge to ensure you get any coins (or tokens) resulting from a possible chain-splitting fork,” he explained.The performance of the PoW token can also impact the potential tax bill, according to an Aug. 31 Twitter post from CoinLedger Director of Strategy Miles Brooks. “If the value of the tokens goes down severely subsequent to the PoW fork (and after you have control over them) — which could be likely — you may have a tax bill to pay but potentially not enough assets to pay it.”Brooks suggested it may be in an investor’s best interests to sell some of the tokens upon receiving the forked coin, which can ensure that at least the tax bill is covered.7/ What can you do to prepare? If a ETH PoW fork does happen, you’re going to want to know if you’re eligible for the fork, because it may be in your best interest to sell some of these tokens when received to make sure you have enough for the associated tax bill!— CoinLedger (@CoinLedger) August 30, 2022There has been a growing push by Ethereum miners and some exchanges for a PoW hard fork to occur, as without a hard fork these miners will be forced to move to another PoW cryptocurrency. Vitalik Buterin suggested at the 5th Ethereum Community Conference held in July that these miners could instead go back to Ethereum Classic.Related: 3 reasons why Ethereum PoW hard fork tokens won’t gain tractionContrary to what is suggested in the associated CoinLedger article, the post-merge Ethereum will not be called ETH 2.0, but simply ETH or ETHS, with any potential forked token referred to as ETHW.Crypto investors should be wary of any tokens that claim to be ETH 2.0 post-Merge. The cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, which claims it was the first exchange to support both Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, has given its support to a hard fork and has already added trading for ETHW.Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit told Cointelegraph that in the event of forked tokens, Bybit’s risk management and security teams have criteria in place to determine whether a PoW token would be listed on their exchange. Bybit claims that exchanges already listing ETHW tokens are putting profits over user safety, and caution traders against moving their ETH to exchanges that are supporting the PoW tokens due to volatility and security risks.”We caution traders that the potential Ethereum PoW forks may be extremely volatile and entail increased security risks. Exchanges that are already listing tokens for potential PoW forks are putting profits over user safety.”

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Ripple's plan to tokenize Colombian land stalls amid new administration

Ripple's plan to tokenize Colombian land stalls amid new administration

Uverejnil používateľ | sep 1, 2022 |

A partnership between the Colombian government and Ripple Labs to put land titles on the blockchain appears to have stalled following the project being “deprioritized” by the new administration.The project was initially announced by the outgoing government’s Ministry of Information Technology and Communications just two weeks before the newly elected president Gustavo Petro was sworn into office. According to an Aug. 30 report from Forbes, the interim director of the National Lands Agency Juan Manuel Noruega Martínez said the project is not part of the agency’s strategic priorities for 2022, stating: “This isn’t one of the projects defined in the PETI [Strategic Plan for Information Technologies]”The shift comes as something of a surprise considering Colombia’s new president is thought to be friendly toward cryptocurrencies, and has previously tweeted his support for them.¿Y que tal que el litoral pacífico aprovechara las caídas de alta pendiente de los rios de la cordillera occidental para producir toda la energía del litoral y reemplazar cocaína con la energía para las criptomonedas?La moneda virtual es pura información y por tanto energía. https://t.co/65xdN2whuO— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 2, 2021The partnership, which included Colombia’s National Land Agency, Ripple, and software development firm Peersyst Technology aimed to tokenize real estate on the blockchain to improve property search processes, create transparent and cheaper property title management, and more efficient processing of financing and payments.Within the peace agreement in 2016 that officially marked the end of the Colombian conflict was a directive to formalize the property titles for small and medium rural properties. According to a 2013 report, only one of every two small farmers has formal rights to their land.This lack of formality deters farmers from investing in lands and prevents land from being used as collateral when seeking credit. A blockchain ledger for real estate aimed to solve this by providing landowners with security and an incentive to invest in their property.Related: Real estate leads securitized blockchain assets in 2022 — ReportThe registry was launched on Jul. 1 as tweeted by Peersyst Technology, after having been in development for a year.On Jul. 30, Peersyst tweeted that the first deed had been added to the ledger, with the land certificate looking like any other except for the QR code incorporated into it verifying the certificate on the blockchain. The QR code can be used by anyone to find the property deed’s location on the XRP blockchain.There have been no further updates relating to the joint project. Cointelegraph has contacted Ripple Labs seeking comment on any progress but has not heard an immediate response. 

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