Author: Cristian Lipciuc

Cristian Lipciuc is a blockchain journalist working with startup companies across multiple domains such as freelancing, app development & cryptocurrency. Cristian specializes in applied blockchain technologies, cryptocurrency integration, the adoption of new technologies by governments, and cybersecurity.

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Australia Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies DeFi

Sydney DeFi Project Marhaba To Provide Islamic Finance Using Ethical Practices

Based out of Sydney, a new DeFi platform called Marhaba will be working to explore ways to bring decentralised finance to over 2 billion Muslims in a way that does not contradict Islamic laws on usury and investments.

Marhaba – which means “Welcome” in Arabic – is a new DeFi platform started by Naquib Mohammed, after noting the moral dilemmas many Muslims face when thinking about getting into cryptocurrency.

“We are building a platform that aims at the inclusively of the community and a trusted place where faith-conscious Muslims can be onboarded without any hesitation or doubt.”

Solving Religious And Moral Dilemmas

Set of Elegant Ramadan Kareem Lantern or Colorful Lights in Islamic Pattern

Since Islam prohibits high-interest loans, aggressive derivatives and excessively risky investments, one can see how cryptocurrency may put devout Muslims in a bit of a pickle when considering whether to get into crypto and decentralized finance.

“In the Muslim countries, we found that 99% of the time, people ask: ‘Is this token Halal? Is this token Shariah-compliant?’ […] Question number two is: ‘Where do you buy this? The reason that Bitcoin is still under discussion by some scholars in the Islamic ecosystem is because nobody knows who the creator of Bitcoin is. If you don’t know who created it — that means the thing is under doubt.”

Additionally, artistic depictions can also be tricky to deal with due to religious laws concerning idolatry. However, as anyone familiar with mosques such as Nasir al-Mulk in Shiraz can tell you, abstract patterns are fair game – which allows for the creation of NFTs that do not conflict with Sharia Law.

Marhaba Finance aims to solve both of these issues by collaborating with Islamic scholars to create their platform according to the precepts of Islamic law. They will also launch a non-custodial “Sahal” wallet, which will allow for transfers and custody of “Shariah-screened NFTs and tokens”.

Ethical Wallet and Trading Platform

According to the whitepaper, the project will launch in 2021 both a “Sahal Wallet” and Ethical Trading Platform and other features through the Marhaba Decentralized Financial Platform (MDFP).

The project will launch the $MRHB ERC-20 token using Ethereum with a supply of 500 million tokens (see the whitepaper for token allocation).

The NFT marketplace is scheduled for launch later this year. With a sharia-compliant version of yield farming will also be coming to the platform – as well as ways to donate to charity, fulfilling another obligation to the five pillars of Islam.

The project is also supported by Blockchain Australia and Neo Legal to assist with crypto regulations.

Read more about Marhaba on LinkedIn.

Get involved on the Marhaba DeFi interest Form.

Categories
Blockchain Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrency Law

Report Shows the SEC Has Made $1.77 Billion As Crypto Regulation Heats Up

In a report recently published by Cornerstone Research, the US financial watchdog has stated that they’ve gathered $1.7 billion in crypto-related penalties since 2013.

This sum has been gathered from a total of 75 enforcement actions, 70% of which have been settled. Unsurprisingly, a significant number of these enforcement actions took place in 2017, right in the middle of the ICO boom.

Claiming Main Regulator Status

According to Simona Mola – the publisher of the report in question – the SEC’s actions have placed the organization firmly in the lead when it comes to crypto regulation.

“In the last seven years or so, the SEC has established itself as one of the main regulators policing the cryptocurrency space.”

While a number of these actions have resulted in a win for the SEC, other cases have not been quite as cut-and-dry – most notable among them being the ongoing Ripple court battle – who seems to be gaining the upper hand.

The main offences that garnered the interest of the SEC were unregistered securities offerings and fraud.

Unregistered securities offerings made up 69% of allegations made by the SEC, and fraud accusations were present in 52% of cases. 37% of cases laid out by the SEC accused the recipient of both.

However, the crypto space has come a long way since the days of “unfortunate hacks” on crypto exchanges and high-profile rugpulls.

As crypto-related startups are finding new ways to finance themselves aside from IPOs, regulatory authorities will allegedly look for ways to allow these new companies to find their footing in order to promote innovation, according to Cornerstone Research VP Abe Chernin.

“While the SEC will continue to focus on fraud, there is an increasing expectation that the new administration develops a clearer regulatory approach and pursue greater interagency coordination to foster innovation in cryptocurrency markets.”

Although a certain amount of regulation is necessary in order to keep earnest investors safe from unscrupulous blockchain projects, it’s important that fraud allegations be investigated on a case-by-case basis – a little communication can often clear things up.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrency Tax Europe Investing

Bitcoin Trading Tax In Hungary Drops 50% In 2022 COVID Program

Hungary has had a year rougher than most due to the ongoing pandemic. Looking for ways to attract capital in an effort to get back on their feet, they’ve decided to slash taxes on crypto by half.

While Australia is looking at targetting crypto investors, Hungary is taking the opposite approach, by reducing its crypto taxes.

Crypto Taxes Down To 15% in Hungary

In a video posted on Facebook, Hungarian Finance minister Mihály Varga announced that the taxes on capital gains made through cryptocurrencies would be cut from 30.5% to a mere 15%.

Currently, cryptocurrencies are taxed as “other income” in Hungary, as regulations around Bitcoin and other cryptos are less developed than in other EU states.

However, this tax cut would make Hungary one of the most attractive destinations in the EU for crypto investors, alongside countries such as Germany, whose legislation rewards you for HODLing – if tokens are held for more than a year, cryptocurrency is no longer subject to taxation.

Crypto Tax Rates by Country Comparison

Here’s how Hungarian crypto taxes will measure up to other countries:

AustraliaSubject to CGT rates – up to 47%
USASubject to Property Tax – can be up to 37% in the first year
New ZealandSubject to rates for individuals and businesses
Germany0% if held for over a year – 0 tax if transaction is worth less than 600 EUR and tokens were held for less than a year
Hungary30.5% currently, soon to be reduced to 15%
Italy26%, provided profit is over 51,645.69 EUR for 7 days in a row
Spain19% to 23%
Belgium33%
Denmark55%
Israel30%
UKSubject to UK CGT – Income tax may also apply if trades are done frequently
Argentina15%
France33.33%, to be reduced to 25% in 2022
NetherlandsSubject to progressive income tax
Crypto Tax Rates Per Country

While Hungary may not be as far on the road to crypto adoption as states like Estonia, the country is taking important steps toward becoming crypto-friendly, which should attract fintechs and investors from around the globe.

If you’re in Australia and need some help with your Tax then check out the following guides:

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Bitcoin Crime Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

Man Pays Hitman In Bitcoin To Kill His Wife

Hitman or assassin holds pistol with silencer in hands
Hitman or assassin holds pistol with silencer in hands https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-hitman-assassin-holds-pistol-silencer-hands-image77972286

A man from Tennessee attempted to hire someone to murder his wife, paying in Bitcoin. Fortunately, his plans have been ruined by the BBC, who promptly informed the authorities.

A Nefarious Crypto Plot

According to FBI Special Agent Clay Anderson, Nelson Replogle allegedly paid Bitcoin to someone in an effort to get rid of his wife. The recipient contact came from a murder-for-hire forum, buried in the more obscure corners of the Internet.

After finding a person allegedly willing to carry out the crime, things were set in motion. The hit on his wife Ann was supposed to be carried out while she was on her way to the veterinarian with their pet.

It is not known how staff members of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) learned of the plot, nonetheless they informed the authorities. The sheriff of Knoxville, TN in turn involved the FBI. Investigations quickly led from the crypto transaction, identified to have happened on Coinbase exchange, to Nelson Replogle – separate warnings have been sent to both him and his wife.

Crypto Transactions Not So Anonymous After All

Cryptocurrency transactions seem to have a degree of anonymity depending on the specific platforms and procedures used. Commercial exchange services require their customers to comply with KYC (Know-Your-Customer) regulation.

That might be the reason why the FBI managed to retrieve a lot of data related to the transaction, including name, photos and bank account of Mr Replogle, as well as a confirmation from the Internet Service Provider that the connection happened from his home.

On the contrary, the identity of the hitman remains a mystery at this stage – possibly due to using a personal wallet, disconnected to exchanges requiring KYC and detached from personally-identifiable information.

Criminal Activities Using Bitcoin

Stories like this one show once more that cryptocurrencies could be used for illegal activities, for example involving drugs or guns. Criminals however don’t seem to always know how blockchain technologies work.

It seems also worth mentioning that the portion of the crypto market used for such purposes is relatively quite small and has dropped significantly over the years.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News DeFi Scams

DeFi Company Rari Capital To Reimburse UpTo $26 Million After Getting Hacked For 2600 ETH

Hacker binary attack code
Hacker binary attack code https://unsplash.com/photos/iar-afB0QQw

Last weekend, Rari Capital was hit with an attack that left them down by 2600 ETH – which was around 60% of all user funds in the Rari Capital Ethereum Pool.

A DeFi company that automates yield farming by rebalancing users’ funds and pools, the attack seems to have been carried out by “evil contract” exploits affecting the HomoraBank contract.

However, Alpha Finance Lab itself seems to not have been affected.

The hacker’s message

Currently in possession of an ETH wallet recently emptied into Tornado.Cash Proxy transactions, the hacker took the time to leave a tongue-in-cheek message to the recently attacked DeFi firm.

However, the message also seems to indicate that Alpha Homora’s security prevented Rari from taking yet another $6 million in losses.

In an update by the founder of Rari Jai Bhavnani, holders of the DeFi firms tRGT token will be able to claim reimbursement in RGT – up to a total sum off all reimbursed losses of $26 million.

While it was indeed initially meant to scale the team, all of the protocol contributors have elected to give that 2M $RGT back to the DAO with the ask of using the newly acquired $RGT to reimburse lost funds and reward those that helped in the war room.

Jai Bhavnani, founder of Rari Capital

The price of RGT dropped steeply after the attack, losing nearly half of its value. Reportedly it has been proposed that the reimbursement funds will be taken from the developer incentive stash held by the DeFi company, in possession of 1% of all RGT.

Categories
Australia Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Dogecoin

The Kid LAROI Makes A Cameo In Musk’s Doge Tweets

After hitting the number one spot on Australian music charts in 2020, Aussie rapper The Kid LAROI also hit the trending section of Twitter by popping up in one of Elon Musk’s many Doge-related tweets.

Guest on SNL and Doge Tweets

The tweet came shortly before the rapper from Sydney was due to appear on SNL along with Miley Cyrus, in an edition of the show hosted by Elon Musk.

The original image – conspicuously missing the mischievous Shiba Inu – was posted to Miley Cyrus’s Instagram shortly before the edit made it to Twitter.

With Doge, Without You

Before getting tweeted with the mascot of Dogecoin (DOGE), The Kid LAROI and Miley Cyrus reportedly met through Omer Fedi, the co-writer and producer of his hit single “Without You”.

We met through Omer because we’d been working together, and we talked about maybe doing a remix of “Without You”. Omer came to me and was like, ‘Hey, would you want Miley to do the remix?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that would be dope’. So, we just linked up, met in the studio, she cut the record and then we went and hung out and had a little party. She’s cool as f—. I remember when my cousins used to force me to watch Hannah Montana, so collaborating with her was pretty cool.

The Kid LAROI [source]

Reaching international stardom through his singles Let Her Go and Go – both of which made the Hot 100 billboard – The Kid LAROI is also the youngest Aussie solo artist to gain the number 1 spot on the ARIA charts through his 2020 mixtape.

Categories
Cryptocurrencies Investing Payments

Startup Pays Contractor In Crypto, Then Requests It To Be Returned After It Mooned

A freelancer who was paid in cryptocurrency in August 2020 was recently left stumped by the CEO of a startup he had worked for, who requested he return the crypto and invoice the company in USD at the original rate.

Return Sevenfold Gains

According to the freelancer – who went by the name Crypto Confused when writing to The Moneyist, a column dedicated to financial advice – his advertising and market research activities for the company were billed in an unspecified cryptocurrency that has since grown by 700%.

He has since been contacted by the CEO of the small company who contracted his services, stating that since his services had not brought the company any direct revenue, he should return the cryptocurrency and rebill the company in USD.

According to Crypto Confused, the company was still struggling to find clients despite the services he and others provided.

“Please note that there have been several other people trying to sell the company’s solutions. It is a startup and so far, they are still trying to generate their first dollar in sales. The purpose of the contract was to generate sales and it included a commission component, but the understanding was that I would bill hourly for cold calling and emailing people, generating proposals, setting up meetings, participating in and leading pitches, etc., with the goal of generating revenue.”

In the letter to The Moneyist, he stated that he has known the CEO in question professionally for years, and this wasn’t the first time he had tried to change the terms of a job.

Crypto Confused asked for advice on how to respond to the situation – and was advised to not send back a single satoshi.

“No. Alas, no. No, thank you. Absolutely not. Ask me again in 2121.”

Leaving aside the possible legal ramifications of the CEO’s laughable request, it’s worth asking: would he have written the same email if crypto had tanked instead?

Although the contract with the unnamed company did state that payments could be made either in USD or in cryptocurrency, at the end of the day payment was made in crypto – and there’s no reason to take a net loss due to terms that the employer probably regrets now. A contract is a contract is a contract.

Categories
Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Investing Payments

Bitcoin Price Surging In Argentina As Inflation Reaches 42.6 Percent

Bitcoin prices are surging in Argentina and latin-america, as inflation continues to rise in Agentina since 2014.

The Argentine Peso hasn’t been doing well as the currency has been going through inflationary spikes with brief returns back and forth for years. Now the latin-amricans are turning to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to combat the loss of purchasing power.

Argentina Government Laws Limiting Savings In USD

It’s common practice in Argentina to keep savings in USD – but the government limits purchases of USD to $200 a month, which is sending many looking for alternative ways of storing value – and for many in South America, the answer is crypto.

According to Marcos Zocaro – an Argentinian expert in digital assets said that “older clients who used to be afraid of making a fixed deposit with a bank but are buying cryptocurrency without fear of risk”.

And according to Maximiliano Hinz – the director of Binance South America “The number of user accounts for investing in ‘cryptos’ has multiplied by ten in Argentina since 2020”.

The cryptocurrencies of choice are not limited to BTC and ETH either – many Argentines are also buying up stablecoins such as USDT and DAI.

Latin American Companies Buying Bitcoin

We have also recently seen the Biggest Latin American E-commerce Firm MercadoLibre Bought $7.8 Million Bitcoin in Q1 as more companies add Bitcoin to thier balance sheets.

Categories
Banking Bitcoin Crypto News Investing

Bitcoin Set To Be Supported By Hundreds of USA Banks This Year

NYDIG is an American based intitutional financial services company planning to bring crypto services to hundreds of American banks by the end of 2021.

Banks are asking for bitcoin because they can see their customers sending dollars to Coinbase and other crypto exchanges.

Yan Zhao, president of NYDIG

The annoucement on 5th May, details a partnership with technology company Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) to bring Bitcoin custody and trading services to banks via the FIS Digital One Mobile user-friendly interface.

Founded in 2017, the company is a subsidiary of asset management firm Stone Ridge (currently valued at $10 billion). NYDIG has declared that the demand for crypto in bank accounts is growing – and that they’re prepared to answer it.

“As demand for bitcoin as a store of value continues to grow, FIS is focused on enabling our core banking clients to respond to growing market demand and better serve their customers,” said Rob Lee, head of Global Core Banking and Channels, FIS. “Unlocking these capabilities for financial institutions of all sizes levels the playing field for banking with bitcoin and can drive further innovation.”

Rob Lee, head of Global Core Banking and Channels

The Road Ahead for USA Crypto Banking

Smaller banks, such as California-based community bank Suncrest, have already agreed to try out the NYDIG platform.

According to Patrick Sells – the head of banking solutions at NYDIG – the service would help cut down on the number of apps and accounts needed to purchase crypto.

What we’re doing is making it simple for everyday Americans and corporations to be able to buy bitcoin through their existing bank relationships. If I’m using my mobile application to do all of my banking, now I have the ability to buy, sell and hold bitcoin.

Patrick Sells, head of banking solutions at NYDIG

Yan Zhao – the president of NYDIG – also added that although banks seeing their customers’ accounts emptied in favour of crypto exchanges may have been the catalyst behind the rising demand for crypto banking services, NYDIG also sees this as a way to help any interested parties invest in Bitcoin, no matter how low the sum.

Most people can’t invest in things that institutional investors get to invest in. With bitcoin available through your bank to be purchased with as little as $1, now you have an attractive asset that’s available to be owned by anyone in any amount. We think that’s huge for economic empowerment.

Yan Zhao, the president of NYDIG

In practice, it looks like the banks involved in the project won’t handle the cryptocurrency themselves, just adding the option to their bundle of available services. Instead, FIS will use its vendor services to handle the link to lenders, with NYDIG managing the crypto side of things (custody and trade execution).

Banking Going Pro Crypto?

It seems not long ago Banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were dismissing crypto, even calling it a fraud – and now they have both recently started taking blockchain and crypto more seriously.

Below is a table of the recent cryptocurrency purchases by Institutions.

DateInvestorAmount
28 AprilNexon$100 Million
8 Apr 2021*Meitu$100 Million*
5 Apr 2021MicroStrategy$15 Million
18 Mar 2021Meitu$49 Million
12 Mar 2021*Purpose Bitcoin ETF AUM$900 Million*
12 Mar 2021MicroStrategy$15 Million
8 Mar 2021*Aker ASA$58 Million*
7 Mar 2021Meitu$40 Million
5 Mar 2021MicroStrategy$10 Million
Recent Institution Crypto Purchases List
Categories
Australia Blockchain Crypto News DeFi

Australian Blockchain Platform Fantom Surpasses 3 Million Transactions

Fantom 3 million transactions
Fantom 3 million transactions https://twitter.com/FantomFDN/status/1388144155520548865

Fantom (FTM) – an Aussie blockchain platform founded in 2018 – has just passed the important milestone of 3 million transactions.

Sitting at a market cap of $2 billion, with each token currently worth $0.71, the Sydney-based DeFi platform has witnessed a staggering growth within the past year, after slowly ramping up operations and getting the word out to eager investors.

Low Fees And Cross-Chain Consensus Compatibility

Technically speaking, the Fantom Blockchain brings a lot to the table. Built around an asynchronous and byzantine fault-tolerant (aBFT) consensus mechanism named Lachesis, it’s possible for developers building their projects for the Cosmos blockchain to ensure compatibility with the Fantom Blockchain as well. New projects can also be easily created on the Fantom blockchain itself.

Fantom is seamlessly integrated with MetaMask and boasts many well-known Ethereum dApps.

Although the low fees set in place by the platform are one of the main selling points, Fantom pride themselves on the speed of their transactions as well. The increase in Fantom’s network activities comes amid the “Go-Opera” network upgrade just a few days ago, which was also aimed at improving the network reliability, efficiency, and transaction speed.

According to Michael Kong (CEO of Fantom), the butterfly effect that helped Fantom reach widespread popularity couldn’t have started without the help of developers who saw Fantom as the best way to bring their projects to fruition.

We’re extremely excited to see developers building on Fantom and people using what they create. Initially, we saw household names from the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem deploying a second instance on Fantom; more recently, we witnessed a surge in people building natively on Fantom, which is a huge sign of confidence. Developers find it easy to build on Fantom, and people love the near-zero fees and instant transactions. The growing popularity created a network effect that pushed Fantom market cap past the $2 billion mark. It’s a major milestone for us.

Michael Kong, CEO of Fantom

The growth of Fantom doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon as it looks like the team behind it will take steps to ensure that their DeFi platform remains a force that can compete with older kids on the block.