Regulations in Russia
In an exciting turn of events, Russia could just have given a massive boost to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. After much back and forth, the Russian government and its central bank have decided to regulate and recognize cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies will only function in the legal industry if they have complete identification through the banking system or licensed intermediaries. The new drafted law will be launched on February 18 to outline the regulations in detail.
A report published by a major daily newspaper in Russia stated that cryptocurrency transactions over 600,000 rubles (nearly $8,000) have to be declared, failure of which would be considered a criminal act, resulting in fines.
Cryptos gaining momentum
The crypto ecosystem is taking massive strides towards mainstream finance and acceptance. It can be established from the fact that the biggest crypto exchange in the world by volume, Binance, made a $200 million investment in the American magazine and digital publisher Forbes.
The deal will make the exchange one of the two most significant shareholders of the publisher, along with two out of nine director seats at the board.
The investment reflects the growing clout of the cryptocurrency sector as adoption and partnerships grow across industries. Interestingly, Binance filed a defamation suit against Forbes in November 2020 over a ‘leaked document’ that showed irregularities.
Samsung joins the Metaverse
In its ‘Unpacked 2022’ event, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone along with the Samsung Wallet. The phone was launched at a virtual Samsung 837X space in the Decentraland Metaverse with more than 100,000 attendees.
Apart from crypto adoption, Samsung is reportedly also making moves in the NFT space with native NFT support in its new TV line, allowing customers to purchase crypto art directly through a platform on its smart TVs.
India grabs the eyeballs
India managed to grab the eyeballs of the global audience after the announcements in the Budget. In response to a broad discussion of India’s 2022-23 Union Budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman noted that she was neither going to ban nor legalize cryptocurrency as an asset class.
Sitharaman added that the legislation around taxation still stands and does not imply the guaranteed legalisation of cryptocurrency trading.
The Indian government is continuing to weigh up its options. It concerns me that some investors, who thought their fears had been put to rest, will now be cast straight back into a state of uncertainty, awaiting further updates and decisions from the Indian lawmakers.
Top 5 gainers of the week
- Shiba Inu (SHIB): 28% up
- Elrond (EGLD): 25% up
- XRP (XRP): 24% up
- Unus SED LEO (LEO): 24% up
- Kadena (KDA): 21% up
Top 5 losers of the week
- Bora (BORA): 23% down
- Near Protocol (NEAR): 20% down
- Curve DAO Token (CRV): 17% down
- Mina (MINA): 17% down
- THORChain (THOR): 16% down
