All posts by Gabriella Gordon

Changpeng Zhao (CEO of Binance), a global cryptocurrency exchange, met today with President Nayib Buukele of El Salvador, to discuss various investment opportunities through Bitcoin.

Binance is supporting El Salvador in its execution of Bitcoin as a legal tender, and the issuance bitcoin bonds.

Zhao tweeted that the meeting was ‘fantastic’ and added that they didn’t talk about bonds. “The word never came up. There is so much to talk. His tweet said #adoption.

This meeting is significant because earlier this week, Alejandro Zelaya, El Salvador’s Finance Minister, stated that the country had delayed its $1 billion bitcoin bond issue, originally scheduled for March 15-20. It was postponed due to unfavorable market conditions.

He had said, “I believe this is not the right time, there are moves on the planet,”

Milena Mayorga (Ambassador of El Salvador to America), and other investors were also present at today’s meeting.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego (a Mexican businessman who is also a Bitcoin holder) tweeted that it was a pleasure to meet with you President. He said, “It has been an honor to meet you today in El Salvador. Freedom is what will allow us to evolve as civilizations. #Bitcoin, I’m sure, is that currency. Hug and see you soon, thank-you! !!.’

El salvador was the first country to allow bitcoin legalization, in September 2021. The country also plans to create the first Bitcoin City in the world, which will be funded initially with bitcoin-backed bonds.

Zhao had previously praised El Salvador’s pioneering role in bitcoin adoption, and added that the presidency of Bukele would be regarded as heroic for its bold bet on future.

Bukele also voiced his dissatisfaction at the US Senate proceedings. On Wednesday, a Bill to reduce the risks to the American financial systems from El Salvador’s adoption (BTC), was passed out.

“Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that the US government would fear what we are doing here. He tweeted that the US government does not stand for freedom, and it is a well-known fact.

It is interesting to note that President Bukele tweeted last month that the bill had been introduced. He said, “OK boomers… You have zero jurisdiction over a sovereign, independent nation.” We are not your colony or your backyard, nor your front yard. Keep out of our internal affairs. Do not try to control what you cannot control.

According to an announcement posted on the Thai government’s website, Tuesday saw new tax relief in Thailand for crypto trading.

Finance Minister Arkhom termpittayapaisith, and Deputy Minister Finance Santi Prompat jointly revealed the results of the meeting. They confirmed that the cabinet had approved the crypto tax relief measures.

A news conference was held by the finance minister. It was revealed that traders will be allowed to offset annual losses with gains for tax due on crypto investments. Transfers of crypto tokens or cryptocurrencies will be exempted from the value-added tax (VAT), of 7%.

He also stated that the tax exemption will apply from April 2022 through December 2023 and include the trading of digital currency (CBDC), issued by the Bank of Thailand, as well as the retail central bank of Thailand.

The Thai Revenue Department released last month a guide that outlines the new tax rules for cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. An executive from a Thai cryptocurrency exchange said that the new tax rules were’much friendlier to both investors as well as industry’.

Thailand had previously proposed to impose a 15% tax on cryptocurrency transactions. After industry opposition, the plan was abandoned.

The country’s cryptocurrency trading market has seen a significant increase in the last year. According to a finance ministry official, the number of accounts for crypto trading in Thailand has increased from 170,000 in the previous year to around 2 million by 2021.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand announced last month its plans to create a digital asset trading platform.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in America,, has warned users to be cautious of scams that may accompany its ongoing giveaway, which was recently advertised in an advertisement.

Coinbase warns users about scam

Coinbase wanted to attract new people to the emerging crypto industry and offered $15 to anyone who signed up using the QR code it displayed during the Super Bowl.

Security is super important to us.

The only way to be eligible for our $15 BTC giveaway is to sign up for a Coinbase account by following this link – https://t.co/fKHisXZJJc

It could have been a fraud if it wasn’t from us.

– Coinbase (@coinbase February 14, 2022

This warning is vital because it warns that bad actors may use the ad to create nefarious plans to rob unsuspecting people of their money.

Similar scams have occurred when these con artists took advantage of major events.

Scammers used Elon Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance to scam more than $10 million in Bitcoin and viewers.

Coinbase is warning because the Super Bowl attracts a large viewership (estimated at 100 million), so the ad may be seen by many people.

Already there are signs that the ad had an enormous effect as the traffic spike on Coinbase platforms caused temporary downtime.

Crypto Ads Dominate Super Bowl

Many crypto-related ads were displayed during the highly anticipated Super Bowl match between Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. Their main purpose was to attract more investors to the emerging industry.

Advertisements featuring crypto themes were created for firms such as FTX and eToro.

Regulators Draw a Line on Crypto Ads

Regulators around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about crypto ads. Regulators tend to say that most crypto-related ads fail to highlight the risks associated with the asset class.

In an effort to limit the types of ads their citizens are exposed too, Singapore, Spain and Britain have, among other things, launched many crypto ads regulations.

As regulators continue to be attracted to crypto spag it means that many crypto ads will change the tone and language from what we already know.

MicroStrategy took a $146.6million impairment charge for its bitcoin holdings in the fourth quarter 2021. This was six times higher than the same period last years, resulting in a net loss.

Based on the most recent earnings statement Tuesday, this loss contributed to the company’s operating expenses which rose by 125% to $248m in the fourth quarter.

A firm’s impairment charge is a decrease in the carrying value for a particular asset.

MicroStrategy’s non-cash impairment charge for digital assets reflected the decline in bitcoin’s price relative to when it was bought. According to applicable accounting principles, an asset’s purchase price can be reduced if its value drops below the amount it was purchased. This is a common practice that applies only to high-cost assets.

The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company saw digital asset impairment losses of $831 million for the year compared to $71 millions in 2020.

Since August 2020, when the firm acquired bitcoins, it has suffered around $901 million in impairments.

MicroStrategy reported December 31 that had 124,391 Bitcoin at an aggregate cost $3.8 billion and a value $2.9 billion.

The 660 bitcoins that MicroStrategy bought Tuesday for $25 million in cash, at an average price $37.865 per coin, are not included. MicroStrategy currently holds 125,051 Bitcoins.

Bloomberg data shows that MicroStrategy took impairment charges in six quarters starting from the time it acquired bitcoin. The firm was unprofitable in five quarters. The firm was profitable in eight of the nine quarters before adding bitcoin to its balance sheets.

In January, Bitcoin had its worst month since its 2018 cryptocurrency winter. The asset traded at $38,000 and lost 18% in January, well below its November 2021 all-time high of $69,000.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently asked MicroStrategy to review its crypto accounting methods. This means that MicroStrategy cannot strip bitcoin’s price swings out of its non-GAAP accounting measures presented to investors.

Phong Le, MicroStrategy’s Chief Financial Officer, stated during the Tuesday earnings conference that he agreed with the agency’s ‘that on an going-forward basis any non-GAAP financial measure we may present in the future filings should maintain the impact of bitcoin impairment losses.

He stated that MicroStrategy’s non GAAP financial measures have not been changed in its strategy, operations, GAAP financial statements or SEC filings.

“Our noncash bitcoin impairment fees will continue to be subject to market volatility bitcoin prices,” Le stated. We will again recognize impairment charges in the first quarter 2022 due to the significant fall in bitcoin’s market price in January 2022.

Uruguay received its first cryptocurrency ATM. It is currently installed at Punta del Este in the south-east of the country. Inbierto and Urubit were responsible for the development of the cryptocurrency machine. The first focused on the software, while the latter developed the hardware.

Inbierto CEO Adolfo Varela stated that the machine’s goal is to build trust in the country’s cryptocurrency market. Most crypto commerce takes place in peer-to–peer markets, which are not regulated and cannot be processed by banks. The possibility of falling prey to scams is eliminated with a cryptocurrency ATM. Varela is positive that they will continue to expand their crypto ATM network throughout the country. He said:

We plan to keep growing in Maldonado and Colonia, Montevideo, and we hope to have coverage across the entire national territory by the end. We have been able to make arrangements for other countries to install it.

Only five cryptocurrencies are supported by the installed crypto ATM (which also includes two national tokens: ferret token, urubit and bitcoin), binance coin ( BNB), binance USD (BUSD). Because they depend on the Binance Smart Chain to process transactions, the companies have not added Ethereum support to their machines. Varela explained that Ethereum’s fees would discourage users from using the machine and so BSC integration was chosen instead.

Regulating a Gray Area in the country

Although cryptocurrency regulation is still a grey area in the country’s laws, the central bank issued a statement last October declaring that these assets are not illegal or legal and that citizens can use them, while being aware about the risks.

The Central Bank of Uruguay issued December a document outlining a plan for regulating crypto assets. It proposes to review existing laws and make changes to include them within various regulations. Instead of creating a new virtual asset law that covers all of these assets, it will instead create a virtual asset law.