Category: cryptocurrency exchange

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Michael Saylor Selling $216 Million of Microstrategy’s Shares, Plans to Buy More Bitcoin

Microstrategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, is selling $216 million of his company’s shares, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The pro-bitcoin executive intends to use some of the proceeds to acquire additional bitcoin for his personal holdings.
Michael Saylor Plans to Buy More Bitcoin for Himself

Microstrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR)’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, plans to sell 315,000 shares of his company’s common stock worth $216 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Jan. 2.

Microstrategy previously disclosed Saylor’s plan to sell up to 400,000 shares of company stock over four months. In its November 10-Q filing with the SEC, the Nasdaq-listed firm explained that the pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan, triggered by a stock option that expires on April 30, 2024, involves daily sales of 5,000 shares contingent on a minimum price condition.

During Microstrategy’s Q3 2023 earnings call on Nov. 2, 2023, Saylor explained that he plans to use some of the proceeds to buy more bitcoin for his personal account.

“I was granted a stock option in 2014 with respect to 400,000 shares, which is going to expire next April if I don’t exercise it by then,” the executive chairman began. “For almost a decade now at my request, the company has only paid me a $1 salary and I’ve chosen not to be eligible for any cash bonuses.” Saylor continued:

Exercising this option will allow me to address some financial obligations as well as to acquire additional bitcoin for my personal account.

While Saylor has not disclosed how much bitcoin he owns recently, he said in October 2020 that he personally owns 17,732 BTC. Meanwhile, his software intelligence firm publicly reported holdings of 189,150 bitcoin as of December 2023.

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Bitcoin Spot ETF: Bitwise Closes Ranks with $200 Million Initial Fund

Competition among Spot Bitcoin ETF issuers is intensifying as the period for possible approval of these funds approaches. Asset manager Bitwise is the issuer currently making waves as it could potentially overtake the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, in terms of seed funding for its respective ETFs.

Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Could Receive $200 Million Seed Funding

Bitwise’s latest amendment to its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that the asset manager has secured investor interest for its ETF to receive $200 million at launch. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted its importance, saying it “exceeds” BlackRock’s initial fund of $10 million.

The analyst noted that Bitwise actually seeding its ETF with such an amount could be a “huge help” in the early days of the run. It is believed that the SEC will likely approve the pending ETF applications simultaneously. As such, Bitwise’s ability to create shares worth $200 million could give the asset manager an edge in terms of meeting client demands.

Bitwise had already demonstrated its intention to lead from the start following the launch of its commercial Bitcoin ETF. This move could help the asset manager gain a lot of interest in their Bitcoin ETF even before launch. This way, the public sees it as the first option at the time of launch.

Notably, Bitwise did not mention who the authorized participant (AP) of its ETF would be. The AP would act as an intermediary between the investor and the ETF issuer, as they are responsible for creating and redeeming ETF shares. While Bitwise has not named its AP, other issuers such as BlackRock have included it in their latest S-1 filing with the SEC.

BTC ETF Issuers Show Their Hands in Latest Wave of Registrations

Bitcoin ETF spot issuers have made some notable additions in their most recent and final amendment to their S-1 filings. These inclusions also give an idea of the strategy these issuers may seek to adopt to attract investors to their funds. In the case of Fidelity, the asset manager will seek to attract investors with its relatively low fees.

Balchunas noted that Fidelity’s “sponsorship fee” of 0.39% turns out to be the lowest so far among other issuers that have disclosed theirs. Interestingly, Invesco is adopting a more attractive strategy, as it revealed in its latest amendment that it will waive fees for the first six months and the first $5 billion in assets.

The Bloomberg analyst mentioned that fee wars will continue to exist in the Bitcoin spot ETF arena as issuers look to outdo each other.

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Canadian Crypto Exchange CatalX Temporarily Suspends Trading and Withdrawals

Catalyx, a Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform, announced a security breach on Thursday. It involves the loss of crypto assets in the exchange’s custody.

Crypto Exchange Security Breach

CatalX CTS Ltd., operator of the cryptocurrency exchange, said in a press release that the security incident is suspected to involve an employee.

The events disrupted normal trading and withdrawal activities on the Canadian platform.

It said: “Due to the loss, all cryptocurrency and fiat currency withdrawals from the Platform and all trading activities on the Platform have been temporarily suspended.”

Termination order details

Based on the December 21, 2023 injunction order, the Alberta Securities Commission announced the confidentiality of the admitted evidence.

The order was granted pursuant to sections 33 and 198 of the Securities Act (Alberta) and requires a 15-day pause in the trading and purchasing of any securities or derivatives by the defendants. The order will expire on January 5, 2024, if not extended by the Commission.

Although the crypto exchange has ceased all trading and withdrawals, it is being audited by Deloitte.

Crypto Losses in 2023

However, this is not the first incident where a crypto company has lost funds due to an internal breach.

In early July 2023, reports revealed that crypto payments provider CoinsPaid suffered a loss of $37 million. The breach reportedly resulted from hackers gaining access to an employee’s computer through a misleading job offer. The employee was later tricked into installing a program that led to the theft of critical data.

In a separate incident, LastPass, a company specializing in password data encryption, faced a security breach in its cloud storage service due to employee credentials being compromised.

According to a recent De.Fi report, the decentralized finance sector faced losses totaling around $1.95 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, Ethereum emerged as the most attacked blockchain, suffering around $1.35 billion in losses in 170 violations.

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Binance launches new web3 AI gaming platform

Sleepless AI is a web3 and AI integrated gaming platform that offers a new interactive gaming experience. The platform allows users to interact with AI-based features in a gaming environment.

The platform will be available tomorrow and will allow users to stake BNB, FDUSD, and TUSD to earn AI tokens over a seven-day period. AI tokens will be able to be traded on Binance from January 4th, with several trading pairs available, including AI/BTC and AI/USDT.

The total supply of AI tokens is set at 1 billion, with 70 million designated for Launchpool rewards. The distribution is part of Binance’s strategy to encourage participation in the new gaming platform. The platform’s unique offering lies in the use of AI to create more interactive and personalized gaming experiences.

Users also have the flexibility to withdraw funds at any time and switch between the different funds available. Additionally, Binance’s BNB Vault and locked products are configured to support Launchpool, allowing BNB staked in these products to participate in Launchpool and automatically earn rewards.

BNB also saw a notable recovery in the market today, with the token rising to $296, its highest price in the last six months. The altcoin is up more than 11% today and 17.5% in the last week.

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Japan to introduce major cryptocurrency tax reforms in 2024

In a recent cabinet meeting held on December 22, the Japanese government finalized the draft cryptocurrency tax reform for fiscal year 2024. This reform comes with a significant change that affects companies that hold crypto assets. The change eliminates the period-end mark-to-market tax that previously applied to companies holding crypto assets issued by third parties (virtual currencies).

As a result, companies will now only pay taxes on profits from the sale of virtual coins and tokens, aligning with the tax system for individual investors. This change aims to ease the tax burden on companies involved in holding and operating crypto assets.

Japan ends cryptocurrency tax on unrealized gains

The revision changes the scope of application of the end-of-period mark-to-market adjustment under the Corporate Tax Law. Previously, companies recorded profits or losses based on the difference between the market value and the book value of crypto assets at the end of the fiscal year. The new policy excludes this valuation at market price if the asset is assumed to be held continuously.

The tax reform responds, in part, to a request submitted by the Japan Crypto Asset Business Association (JCBA) for the 2024 tax reform. The change will promote the growth of Web3, support domestic startups using blockchain technology and attract projects international.

Last year’s tax reform exempted only virtual currencies issued by companies themselves from taxes at the market price. However, growing calls for equal treatment for cryptocurrencies issued by other companies influenced this year’s review.

Will this boost cryptocurrency adoption in Japan?

The 2024 tax reform draft also includes plans to reduce income tax and residence tax by 40,000 yen per person starting in June 2024, tax reductions for companies, and the establishment of a new tax system for sectors strategic and innovation. This is likely to result in a substantial decline in revenue of 3,874.3 billion yen for national and local governments, making it the third largest decline since fiscal year 1989.

The bill requires approval from the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors.

This tax reform marks a crucial step in the introduction of separate taxes (20%) and loss carryover deductions, meeting the wishes of cryptocurrency investors. However, discussions regarding the calculation of profits and losses on crypto asset transactions, including the imposition of a flat tax on the conversion of crypto assets into legal tender, and the consideration of “pass-through” deductions for three years from of the following year, are left for future deliberations. . The development of the corporate tax system is expected to stimulate active discussions on future tax reforms in the crypto space.

Japan has always maintained a friendly approach to cryptocurrencies and therefore remains the preferred destination for cryptocurrency companies. The country has made crucial reforms in a timely manner. Earlier this year, Japan allowed venture capital firms to invest directly in cryptocurrencies.
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