Kenya considers tax on crypto, NFT transfers and online influencers

Kenya’s lawmakers are considering the introduction of a 3% tax on cryptocurrency and nonfungible token (NFT) transfers and a 15% tax on monetized online content, according to a newly introduced bill. Introduced to the Kenyan parliament on May 4, The Finance Bill, 2023 would enact a digital asset tax on “income derived from the transfer or exchange of digital assets” which also included specific language for NFTs. The bill will undergo five rounds of readings, committees and reports by the National Assembly, if passed, it will then be passed to…

Circle clears ‘substantially all’ minting and redemption backlog for USDC

Stablecoin issuer Circle has announced it has cleared “substantially all” of the backlog of redemption requests for its stablecoin USD Coin (USDC). In a March 15 operational update, Circle said between the morning of March 13 to the close of business on March 15, it had redeemed $3.8 billion USDC and minted $0.8 billion USDC. Update: As of close of U.S. banking operations Wednesday, March 15, we have cleared substantially all of the backlog of minting and redemption requests for USDC. Get the details: https://t.co/5WEAgPps0E — Circle (@circle) March 16,…

‘Scammers dream’ — Yuga’s auction model for Bitcoin NFTs sees criticism

Nonfungible token (NFT) conglomerate Yuga Labs is facing some criticism from the cryptocurrency community, including the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, over how it plans to auction its new Bitcoin NFT collection.  On Mar. 5, Yuga opened bids for its “TwelveFold” collection which will see 300 NFT-like images inscribed on Satoshis using the Bitcoin-native Ordinals protocol, with 288 from the collection sent to the highest 288 bidders. The auction for TwelveFold has begun and will conclude on the block immediately prior to 3pm PT tomorrow, March 6th, 2023. Good luck.https://t.co/gvl8IHpekC pic.twitter.com/xGWU9jdCoO…

Elon Musk wants Twitter payments system built with crypto in mind

Twitter chief Elon Musk has reportedly instructed his developers to build the platform’s payments system in such a way that crypto functionality can be added in the future. According to a Jan. 30 Financial Times report, two people familiar with Twitter’s plans said that the payments feature will support fiat currencies to start but be built to accommodate cryptocurrencies should the opportunity arise. Twitter has long teased bringing payments to the social media platform — forming part of Musk’s stated plan to make Twitter an “everything app.” Buying Twitter is…

CoinMarketCap-led token airdrops ‘infected by fraud,’ crypto project claims

Two crypto projects have cried foul play over promotional airdrops conducted by CoinMarketCap (CMC) on their behalf, which they allege was “gamed” for the benefit of a small group of exploiters. These promotional airdrops — designed to be distributed to thousands of wallets to raise awareness of a crypto project — ended with the tokens funneling to just a handful of wallets, suggesting potential manipulation of the system. SATT token drop Blockchain advertising solution SaTT alleged to Cointelegraph that a promotional airdrop it paid CMC to conduct in Dec. 2022…

DeFi platform sees strong interest in halal-approved crypto products

Australian-based crypto platform Marhaba DeFi says there has been a strong take-up of Halal-approved cryptocurrency products on its platform, with aims to release a suite of new products which align with Islamic law by the end of 2022. Launched in 2020, the platform is focused on adhering to the rules of “Islamic finance” which refers to how businesses and individuals raise capital in accordance with Sharia, or Islamic law. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Marhaba DeFi founder and CEO Naquib Mohammed said active users of their non-custodial multichain “Sahal Wallet” have grown…

“Blue-chips” halve in value, free-to-mint “Goblintown” volume surges, Nike buys another ENS domain

“Blue-chip” nonfungible token (NFT) collections have seen their floor prices and market capitalization slide over the past 30 days, with some of the most well-recognized projects halving in value for these key metrics. Data collected on key Ethereum (ETH) NFT projects by DappRadar show the floor prices of established collections such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Moonbirds, are at most down around 55% over 30 days. The MAYC is the worst off of the four with the floor price diving 55% to…

Swinburne Uni brings Web3 firms to class

Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology has partnered with two financial technology firms which will provide its students exposure to the financial technology and cryptocurrency business world. The partnership is between Swinburne and small business loan provider Judo Bank along with Banxa, a payment service provider with a fiat to crypto platform whose clients include Binance, KuCoin, and Trezor amongst others. Students of the university’s Master of Financial Technology (FinTech) course will be “exposed to real life examples and cases across the spectrum of financial services,” Dr. Dimitrios Salampasis Swinburne’s Director…

Developing countries love the Metaverse, rich nations not keen: WEF survey

Excitement for the Metaverse and virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR) is much greater in developing countries than in high-income countries according to a survey conducted for the World Economic Forum (WEF). Market research firm Ipsos released the results of the survey on May 25 showing the concept is now widely recognized: 52% of more than 21,000 adults surveyed across 29 countries are familiar with the Metaverse and 50% have positive feelings about engaging with it in daily life. China, India, Peru, Saudi Arabia, and Colombia were the top five countries…

Robinhood to launch a Web3 wallet, LimeWire inks deal with Universal and more

Popular trading platform Robinhood is creating a noncustodial crypto wallet that will be compatible with multiple blockchains. The wallet will be a standalone application with the ability to store nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and connect to NFT marketplaces. A promo video released for the wallet shows a demonstration using Ethereum-based NFTs. Trade and swap crypto with no network fees. A web3 wallet from us. Get early access: https://t.co/qonXj80BEB pic.twitter.com/qLjByPA4ty — Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) May 17, 2022 The app is a significant step for the company in providing crypto services. Prior to January…