Not doing anything to legalise or ban crypto at this stage: Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that banning or not banning crypto will come subsequently after consultations. “The government has sovereign right to tax profit made from crypto transactions, and the decision on banning or not banning will be taken based on feedback from consultations. I’m not doing anything to legalise or ban cryptocurrencies at this stage. We have only taxed the profit emanating from the transactions,” she said.
Crypto prices today: Bitcoin falls 1.5%, ETH down 3.2%
Bitcoin is currently trading at $43,311, a 1.5% decrease over the previous day. Ethereum is down 3.15% over the last 24 hours to $3,085. Solana fell 6% to $105.5, while Cardano is down 2.19% to $1.15. Polygon (MATIC) slumped 5.8% to $1.86. The global crypto market cap stands at $1.97 trillion, a 2.14% decline over the previous day.
Ransomware payments in Bitcoin and other crypto hit $600M in 2021: Chainalysis
According to a preview of the Chainalysis 2022 Crypto Crime Report, it’s identified $602 million in ransomware payouts for 2021. This is compared to $692 million for 2020. The Russian-based group Conti was the biggest ransomware strain last year in terms of revenue. Using a ransomware-as-a-service model (RaaS), Conti operators extorted over $180 million from their victims.
Twitter CEO sees ‘incredible amount of developer energy’ in Web3
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal spoke about Web3 on the Twitter Q4 earnings call. “If you think about the broader crypto ecosystem, which includes crypto, DeFi projects, and all the decentralized technology and applications being built on top of the biggest blockchains, what you notice is this incredible amount of developer energy—developer energy which is interested in solving problems”, he said.
YouTube eyeing the ‘incredible potential’ of NFTs and Web3 for future products
YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan published a blog post about the company’s upcoming plans for new products and features in 2022. He has cited an interest in Web3, blockchain, and NFTs. In his post, Mohan hinted at future Web3 integrations, citing the potential for NFTs to “allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans” and further monetize their YouTube content.
RBI governor asserts caution on crypto
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has once again voiced serious concerns against private cryptos. “Cryptocurrency is privately created and it is a threat to financial stability,” he said yesterday. He stated that investors should also keep in mind that crypto has no underlying, “not even a tulip”. The RBI chief was referring to the Dutch tulip bulb market bubble in the 17th century.
