Daily Digest - 5th October 2022

Headlines

▌European Parliament Votes in Favor of Using Blockchain Technology to Modernize Taxation

The European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution to modernize the European Union’s tax process using blockchain technology, while the resolution calls for streamlining the rules for taxing crypto assets. The resolution seeks to determine what is a taxable event, and switching from cryptocurrency to fiat is seen as the most viable option. This and other potentially taxable events have not been clearly defined by the European Commission. The policy also calls for "simplified tax treatment" of small transactions. According to a European Parliament announcement, blockchain technology is also being promoted as a tax tool, identifying the technology’s potential to “automate taxation, limit corruption, better identify ownership of tangible and intangible assets, and thus better Taxing mobile taxpayers".

▌McDonald's Starts Accepting Bitcoin Payments in Lugano, Switzerland

McDonald's in the Swiss city of Lugano has begun accepting bitcoin as a payment method. Bitcoin Magazine shared a video on Twitter of ordering food at a local McDonald's, showing Bitcoin and Tether symbols on a checkout payment machine. In March 2022, the city signed a memorandum of understanding with Tether Operations Limited to launch a “Plan B” project. Under this plan, Tether created two funds. The first is $106 million for an investment pool for cryptocurrency startups, and the second is about $3 million to try to encourage cryptocurrency adoption in stores and businesses across the city.

Policies

▌U.S. Treasury Department: Crypto Asset Activity May Pose a Risk to the Stability of the U.S. Financial System

The U.S. Treasury Department warned on Monday that unregulated cryptocurrencies could pose risks to the U.S. financial system. The warning is part of the first major public report on digital assets issued by the Treasury Department’s Financial Stability Oversight Committee. The committee identified digital or "crypto" assets such as stablecoins and lending on the industry's trading platforms as "significant emerging vulnerabilities." The report concluded that crypto asset activity could pose a risk to the stability of the U.S. financial system and emphasized the importance of proper regulation, including enforcement of existing laws. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said government stakeholders must work together to make progress on the recommendations.

Cryptocurrency

▌Mastercard Is Launching a Crypto Fraud Identification Tool

Mastercard will launch a new product called Crypto Secure that helps banks assess the risk of crime associated with crypto merchants on its network. Crypto Secure is developed by blockchain intelligence firm CipherTrace, which was acquired by Mastercard in 2021. Crypto Secure uses “sophisticated” artificial intelligence algorithms to assess the risk of crypto fraud based on data from the blockchain, public records of crypto transactions, as well as other sources. CipherTrace helps businesses and government agencies investigate illicit transactions involving cryptocurrencies. Its main competitors are Chainalysis and Elliptic.

▌a16z Led web3 Protocol Golden to Complete $40 Million Series B Funding Round

Web3 protocol Golden has raised a $40 million Series B led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), bringing the total funding to $60 million. Other participations include Solana co-founder Raj Gokal, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann and Muse frontman Matt Bellamy. The new funds will be used to build a Web3 data platform, which is currently in the testnet phase and is expected to go live on the mainnet in the second quarter of 2023.

▌BNB Chain Accelerator Announces 27 Web3 Startups as Winners

On October 4th, BNB Chain announced the fifth batch of the “Most Valuable Builder” of its Web3 accelerator program, with a total of 27 shortlisted projects, covering DeFi, Music & NFTs, Gaming & Metaverse, Infra & Tooling, Security, and more. Seven outstanding projects of which will receive investment from Binance Labs, which co-leads the initiative with BNB Chain.