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Union Bank of Philippines to Offer Cryptocurrency Trading and Custody Services

One of the largest banks in the Philippines, Unionbank, is launching cryptocurrency trading and custody services. “It’s a way of preparing our banking business for the future,” said a Unionbank executive.

Philippine Unionbank to Offer Cryptocurrency Trading and Custody Services

Union Bank of the Philippines (UBP), also known as Unionbank, plans to offer cryptocurrency trading and custody services, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Unionbank is one of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, with more than US$15 billion in assets under management (AUM). The bank is one of the first financial institutions in the Philippines to adopt cryptocurrencies.

Cathy Casas, head of the bank’s blockchain and application programming interface group, explained that the average Filipino investor currently holds about 1% to 2% of their personal assets in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. She added that if the markets are “stable”, investors would have between 3% and 5% in 5 years.

The Unionbank executive estimates that around 5% of the local population has become interested in cryptocurrencies. He added that many cryptocurrency investors are young, some of whom earn virtual gaming tokens from playing to win.

On Thursday, Metaco, a security software and infrastructure provider for the digital asset ecosystem, announced that Unionbank is rolling out its digital asset management services. Metaco added that Unionbank is implementing services on the IBM Cloud.

The bank first announced that it was testing a crypto custody service in August last year, noting at the time that crypto assets are here to stay. Casas noted that the bank’s digital asset custody service will include tokenized securities.

The central bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), has warned against investing in cryptocurrencies. The central bank warned that cryptocurrencies could “pose a danger to the financial system,” citing their vulnerability to illicit activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

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The Biggest Crypto Scams of 2021 and How to Avoid Them in 2022

One of the most played shows of 2021 entering the crypto scene in the form of a new token, to many it seemed like an investment opportunity too good to miss. However, what actually happened was an opportunity too good to be true. The token reportedly had its pre-sale in October and apparently sold out in “a second”, according to its whitepaper. The Squid Game Token was even praised by media giants Forbes and Yahoo, and its value sensationally reached an all-time high of nearly $3,000 within a few weeks. Despite this, problems soon began.
Buyers were quick to complain that they were unable to sell the tokens they purchased, not to mention that the token was never officially associated with the Squid Game to begin with. This inability to sell the Squid Game Token was due to its creators having built a mechanism into the token that prevented holders from selling, beyond the few that the scam was intended to benefit. This was simply a media and pop culture enriched version of a typical pump-and-discard scheme, where the value of a token intentionally increases through social media promotion and FOMO tactics, and ultimately collapses when some whales sell their property for personal purposes. win.

Africrypt rug handle

South African Bitcoin investment firm Africrypt was run by two brothers, Raees and Ameer Cajee. Claiming to be one of the largest and most successful commercial AI companies in Africa, they have amassed $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin among their clients. Then they disappeared and their investors’ money disappeared from the Africrypt platform. Initially, they told customers that they were victims of a hack. However, the brothers remain missing and are being sought for arrest. Africrypt investors are still trying to recover lost funds.

Poly Network Invasion

Ironically, one of the biggest crypto heists ever carried out was one where the funds were returned to their owners. In August, a hacker found a flaw in the Poly Network DeFi platform that allowed them to steal over $600 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, the hacker contacted Poly Network and informed them that his intention was always to return the funds. At first, the pirates restored almost half of it, but eventually returned the final portion of the stolen coins.

How not to be scammed in 2022

Few individual crypto wallets will be targeted by elite hacking groups like Poly Network; however, the average crypto wallet user needs to have a certain level of vigilance when dealing with day-to-day cryptographic operations on their own. The attacks occur on a much smaller scale, but generally imply that the user falls into the trap, such as clicking on a phishing link in a DM or in an email from someone who has passed as a person or trusted entity In space. Beware of convincing communications that use the same logos, profile pictures, and names you already know and are familiar with, such as fake interactions with MetaMask. In 2022, the NFT artist RXSE had a Coolman NFT stolen from her wallet and sold it for 1.3 ETH because she was a victim of a “Fake Metamask”.

With regard to pull-pull and pump-and-dump schemes, the fundamental care to be taken before investing in a project is research, and a lot. However, delving into the origins of smart contracts and the intent behind their creators (if you can find out who they are) can be challenging without the necessary technical knowledge.

To help give the DeFi community an edge when it comes to carrying out the extensive research needed on the tokens and their respective projects, a company called RiseUp has developed a BSC token and technology called “Rug Screener” to fight crypto industry fraud. . Rug Screener provides investors with the information they need to know about a project to help them decide whether or not it is safe to invest in it. By aggregating cross-platform research tools, RiseUp’s RugScreener can quickly provide potential investors with information about any smart contract, such as contract details, who is the creator of the contract, project liquidity and much more. Rug Screener even has a scoring system that warns the user if it thinks the project is unsafe.

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NFT Investors Owe Billions in US Taxes, Here’s How the IRS Plans to Collect Taxes

Over time, non-fungible tokens (NFT, for its acronyms in English) have been shown to be one of the most popular sectors of cryptocurrencies, and now the EE government. UU Finally, I could be ready to take part in this sector at its peak. According to a Bloomberg report, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials have announced their plans to begin cracking down on NFT investors and creators who are evading tax payments.

NFT investors raise concerns over unclear tax laws

According to data from Chainalysis, the NFT market is currently around $44 billion. And according to tax experts, buyers and sellers of NFTs – that is, creators and investors – are facing billions of dollars in unpaid taxes. Not only that, but they also face rates of up to 37% and the IRS has now confirmed that it is preparing to crack down on tax evaders.

While there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming crackdown, NFT enthusiasts can prepare to be blown away when tax filing season begins later this month.

For what it’s worth, token taxes as of now are not clearly defined, leaving NFT investors with no clue as to whether they owe taxes or how they should calculate them in the first place.

For example, an investor and creator of the NFT, Adam Hollander, called the situation an “absolute nightmare” as he himself had to review several months of transactions.

But speaking of the unclear tax terms when it comes to NFTs, San Francisco tax attorney James Creech says:

"You cannot report profit or loss because the IRS has not provided guidance that meets your expectations."

Federal Revenue Investigators prepare to receive numerous tax cases in 2022

In the meantime, the IRS has hinted that it is fully prepared to begin handling these cases with NFT taxes.

Interim Executive Director of Cyber ​​and Forensic Services for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division Jarod Koopman said:

“Subsequently, we will likely see an influx of potential NFT-type tax evasion cases or other crypto-asset tax evasion cases.”

With so much money at stake, the IRS may have no choice but to clarify the rules and make things a little easier when it finally starts cracking down on defaulters.

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BBTV in Canada will start paying its customers in cryptocurrencies

BBTV Holdings Inc., a leading monetization company, has launched a new program known as Pay to Crypto that will allow creators to receive payments directly in digital assets.

BBTV Holdings to pay content creators in digital cash

Cryptocurrencies creators can be paid in include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dollar Stablecoin. This is the first offer of its kind and is being offered to creators at a competitive price. BBTV Chairman and CEO Shahrzad Rafati explained in an interview:

Web3 is already a big part of the creator economy, from social tokens to NFTs to cryptocurrencies. This is just one step BBTV is taking to pioneer Web3 solutions for creators in this emerging segment of the creator economy. Receiving some or all of your monthly earnings in crypto helps creators further diversify their income. Content creators have expressed interest in joining the Web3 revolution and we are very proud to lead the way as their strategic partner. We are excited to offer Pay to Crypto, leveraging Netcoins as a strong platform.

BIGG CEO Mark Binns also added his two cents, stating:

Cryptocurrency is a powerful way for creators to participate in the Web3 economy. Whether you're an early adopter or making your first foray into crypto, converting your payments from USD to other currencies changes the narrative of what your payments can do. BBTV is an excellent showcase of the scalability and capability of the Netcoins platform for anyone interested in cryptocurrencies, not just in Canada but around the world.

Pay to Crypto also includes a feature known as BBTV Fast Pay. While creators can finance their growth through innovative means, the company will also leverage its wide range of content to add gross margin and EBITDA to the company. Joseph Hogue – creator of “Let’s Talk Money!” – mentioned:

BBTV's crypto payment option is another service innovation from a partner I trust for out-of-the-box benefits. When converting USD payments to crypto, it took up to a week for the transfer to be credited to my digital wallet on another platform. Being paid directly in cryptocurrency saves me time and at minimal cost compared to multiple transfers from my bank to different wallets. Together with BBTV's Fast Pay accelerated payment service, the company is taking creator management to a whole new level to empower creators.

Help clients find new money

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, BBTV is a global media and technology company. The company’s goal is to help all content creators become more successful. Among the creators BBTV works with are global media brands and individuals.

The company seeks to provide end-to-end solutions to its clients that are designed to drive revenue while driving innovation, so clients can focus solely on content creation. As of January last year, BBTV had more than 600 million viewers worldwide who watched more than 50 billion minutes of video content.

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Coinbase Product Manager Predicts Big Advances For Ethereum In 2022

Ethereum is one of the prominent blockchains in the cryptocurrency industry that established smart contract technology. This has helped cement decentralized finance and checkmate third-party interference in cryptocurrency transactions. But in the past, their main challenge and drawback was related to scalability and speed in executing transactions.

As the months and years go by, Ethereum is making great progress in fixing scalability issues. This led to the deployment of the layer two version of the blockchain.

Related Article | Is Norton 360 Mining Ethereum on your computer? If so, they will take a 15% cut

As the new year begins, many people have shared their predictions and expectations for the cryptocurrency industry in 2022. Some of these people include investors, analysts, and industry leaders. Among the many comments is the latest post from Surojit Chatterjee, Chief Product Officer at Coinbase.

Chatterjee predicts big strides in Ethereum’s scalability. Sharing his predictions on Tuesday via a company blog post, the CPO expressed his confidence in Ethereum. He mentioned that the scalability of the blockchain would put it ahead of Web3 and the crypto economy.

Ethereum struggles to resurface | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

Furthermore, he was confident that there would be an improvement in the scalability of Ethereum. In addition, he indicated the possible traction for alternative layer one networks.

Also in his post, the CPO commented on the emergence of new top-tier networks based on social media and gaming. He explained that moving bridges from layer one to layer two will drive a huge improvement in scalability. Furthermore, he anticipated a situation where the industry is in a desperate search to improve the speed and usefulness of L1 and L1-L2 cross-bridges.

Benefits of Cross-Bridges for Ethereum Scalability

Using these bridges will facilitate the easy transfer of tokens from a layer one (L1) network like Ethereum to a layer two (L2) network like Arbitrum. In addition, it allows reverse transactions between bridges.

For companies like Matter Labs, 2021 saw their tremendous breakthrough. The company developed and implemented its level two platform based on the zkSync rollup package to achieve its great feat.

Overall, 2021 was a year of massive expansion for the tier two ecosystem, as all major platforms saw an increase in adoption. Tier two ecosystem tracker L2beat reports a nearly 11,000% increase in the total amount blocked last year. This brought the value in 2021 to $5.5 billion from $50 million in January 2021.

As for scaling technologies, Chatterjee chose zk-Rollups citing its attractiveness to users and investors. He explained that Zero-knowledge scalability compiles transaction data in batches. This will allow efficiency in its processing in the Ethereum L1.

Additionally, Coinbase CPO predicts the emergence of more privacy-focused apps. However, he mentioned that this would generate more attention from regulators, as there are restrictions imposed through KYC and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

Related Article | More green energy: Cryptocurrency mining saves a hydroelectric plant in Costa Rica

Chatterjee has other predictions, including increased industry regulations, safer DeFi, and more institutional participation in DeFi. Others are moves to Web3 by Web2 companies, more brand equity in metaverses, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).