Crypto space hot news review dated 15.03.2021
From the new Bitcoin ATN, to the tricks of Iran in circumventing the oil embargo-news sites are simply overflowing with reports on events in the world of cryptocurrencies.
News digest of the past week
It is very difficult to cram everything that has happened in the world of cryptocurrencies in just one week into a small digest, but we will try to tell you about the most important ones.
Bitcoin: Just $ 60,000
Bitcoin crossed the $60K mark on March 13, 2021. And what about us? And we’re already thinking about $72K!
Now that BTC has passed the $60K value, many analysts believe that the bulls are targeting $72K, which is just below $100K.
The bulls managed to break through the main resistances at $ 58,000 thanks to consistent attacks supported by purchases of the asset by institutional investors. Will a jump above $60K will be followed by further parabolic growth due to market euphoria or by a serious correction with whales and miners who may be tempted to make money in the market is the question?
Bitcoin has fallen to $43K over the past week, after reaching ATH above $ 58,300. It took the bulls several days before they could get BTC back above 50K. The subsequent attacks on the level of $57 to $58 thousand gave hope for an increase to 60, and it happened.
However, Bitcoin’s recent major pullback requires caution. In the next few days, it will become clear whether we will see a solid recovery of the bullish rally in the near future.
Codenamed EIP-1559: An update that will reduce the ETH stock
A few days ago, Vitalik Buterin announced that Ethereum 2.0 is ready to go through its first hard fork with major changes. One of them concerns the management of transaction fees, the volatility of which will be reduced by implementing EIP-1559. Although it will run from July, the update is already causing controversy, especially among miners who are far from that choice.
Currently, any transaction made in Ethereum includes a commission that is paid to the miners for processing. The amount of these fees is set based on supply and demand and is likely to peak in the event of network bottlenecks. To put an end to this superiority, the EIP-1559 will implement a standard speed that will vary depending on market conditions. Thus, instead of miners, there will be a network that from now on will start setting the price of the operation, taking into account that they will be burned after receiving.
Tim Ogilvie, CEO of infrastructure company Ethereum Staked, welcomed the future application of this formula, which will end the era of exorbitant tariffs. It also sends a positive signal that the network will no longer be seen as intended only for one class, namely the rich.
Should we be afraid of a miners’ strike?
By burning the fees, and thereby depriving the miners of commission, the team behind this update inevitably angered them. With 26% of the hashrate under control, Spark Pool has already opposed this update, as well as Ethermine.org, which controls 21.8% of the traffic. For Oglivi, there is no doubt that the ecosystem is waiting for a long confrontation, in which the “miners” will defend their positions to the end.
“I don’t think the miners are here in the long run. I think they will fight, and that they will eventually lose. For them, this is almost impossible, and therefore they are going to take the most decisive action. How far are they willing to go? I can’t predict it.”
Thus, in the event of a miners ‘ strike, Ethereum may face another serious problem, not least.
How the IRS Hunts for Cryptocurrencies
At the official level, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) trains and hires specialists to find US taxpayers who have no idea that they are committing illegal actions with their cryptocurrencies, or do not disclose their income to the tax authorities, considering them invisible.
On March 5, the IRS announced with great fanfare its new hobby: an industrial tax evasion hunt program that cryptocurrencies will allow.
Operation Hidden Treasure is such a small and modest code name for this financial hunt, specifically designed to identify people who “use cryptocurrency to hide their income, or who are prone to fraud when filing a declaration, or even those who would like to do so.” This is what this absurd looks like.
And this operation is carried out by the Office for Civil Fraud Prevention and the Criminal Investigation Department, whose goal is to eradicate fee evasion by cryptocurrency owners.
Already, centralized U.S. exchanges must report tax information to the IRS when their customers ‘ accounts exceed a certain threshold or complete a certain number of transfers. The IRS wants to go even further: it structures its research on special crypto-financial transactions.
Specifically, it creates tools that can search for “signatures for tax evasion,” accurate indexes such as, for example, blocks of transactions executed just below the $ 10,000 threshold, or consistency comparisons between asset ownership declarations and the amounts of cryptocurrency purchases made by the taxpayer.
External experts-subcontractors are hired to train internal agents in blockchain technologies. It’s about showing them how to analyze and deanonymize crypto transactions to identify, track, and quantify them.
James Lee, the head of the IRS Criminal Investigation division, insisted during this public presentation on the consequences for tax evaders: “People have a duty to know that willful non-compliance will entail consequences, and this is prison.”
The paradox and insanity of such a decision is that the department and the government forget the reality:
First, the procedure related to the taxation of cryptocurrencies is currently notoriously opaque.
Secondly, many users do not know how to pay taxes related to cryptocurrencies, as the regulators themselves have not decided on this completely.
11% of Bitcoin Hashrate for Evil America
After announcing the installation of mining machines at three power plants five months ago, the romance between Iran and Bitcoin continues. This repeated interest is certainly a huge support for crypto. Much more than a Tesla treasure trove.
You may ask, who is pushing the government of this state to show interest in Bitcoin? Joe Biden. The newly minted White House tenant has plunged into the waters of international geopolitics, and his personal meeting with Iran has already soured.
The fact is that Tehran refuses to sell its oil for dollars, which is unacceptable for Washington. In the end, the American empire is entirely based on the fact that the whole world bows its back and agrees to buy oil exclusively for dollars (the “petrodollar”system). This defiance in the face of American monetary insatiability means that the Islamic Republic must live under an embargo.
Only China has dared to venture into a ” maximum pressure campaign” Donald Trump, sending their tankers there. Hence the economic war that Beijing and Washington have been waging for 4 years. But it is clear that Joseph Robinette Biden will not achieve more success than his predecessor (and it is unlikely that he wants it).
And the recent bombing of Iranian militias on the Iraq-Syria border was not a very diplomatic invitation to negotiate. As a result, Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, recently said that some of Biden’s actions are “worse” than those of his predecessor. This diplomatic outpouring is full of meaning when we know that Trump ordered the assassination of Qasem Suleimani, a very popular army commander.
On March 7, Joe Biden even extended the “state of emergency against Tehran”. Decree (1995), which expired on March 15. It was extended for another year. Thus, it is safe to say that the United States will continue to prohibit Iranian banks from using the SWIFT network, which makes Bitcoin an excellent way for the Islamic Republic to plant another pig in America.
With the exception of China, all countries are afraid to buy Iranian oil or face the wrath of the United States. To make matters worse, some countries are also wary of selling goods to this country.
Trading primary Bitcoins (never moved on the blockchain) may encourage some companies to circumvent the US financial embargo. The rewards are worth the candle, as the Iranian market is a market with 80 million consumers.
The think tank Center for Strategic Studies put it all eloquently in a recent very interesting 23-page article:
“Newly mined Bitcoins are not easy to track. Domestic companies will use new BTC, which are preferable to the existing ones, for their international exchanges. The country is required to target 11% of the Bitcoin hashrate”.
The Great female void in the world of cryptocurrencies
If representatives of the fair sex are rarely found in IT, then even less often they are found in the crypto space, Dapps, blockchains or consulting companies specializing in blockchain technologies.
What can be done to change a situation where women are the exception, conspicuous by their absence from this nascent industry? Some initiatives appear and take shape here and there. In Germany, a committed enthusiast launched an initiative in September 2020 to offer enhanced opportunities and rights to the beautiful half of humanity in the blockchain space.
It all started with Philip Sanders, director of the Blockchain Center at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, who, like many others, made this sad observation. In a field where 95% of the people involved in the activity are men. To be clear, this is only 5% of women.
By telling this to the audience, who confirmed his point of view, and suggested that he go beyond this observation and create an appropriate response.
Very quickly, this idea took shape, and an informal team, a team of volunteers sharing the same vision, developed an 18-week program to help women integrate more quickly into the blockchain ecosystem.
Thus was born the DLT Talent Program, a free international empowerment program developed for women by them.
The goal is clearly stated: This training aims to guide women towards entrepreneurship, technology, regulation, or investment in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
At the end of 18 weeks of co-curricular workshops, discussions, interviews, feedback, and networking, participants will have the opportunity to reflect and position themselves for their future in the crypto world.