Looks like it's a case of you win some, you lose some where crypto taxes are concerned
in Asia today.
Welcome to the Daily Forkast. April 1st, 2022.
I'm Megha Chaddah of Forkast covering all things blockchain.
Doesn't matter where you are paying tax is inevitable.
And while Indian investors are none too happy with the new taxes they now have to pay tings
could be looking up in Korea, where President elect Yoon Suk Yeol's crypto campaign promises
under review.
We'll take a look at those stories, plus a whole lot more coming up.
Let's get you up to speed from Asia to the world.
Join thousands of NFT traders who already start their day on CryptoSlam.
Let's kick off with a controversial crypto tax law that's taken effect in India today.
Investors in the country now face a 30% tax on all gains made on cryptocurrencies.
The tax framework, which was passed by India's parliament just over a week ago, also forbids
investors from offsetting losses suffered from digital asset investments.
Meanwhile, a 1% tax deducted at source, or TDS, on every crypto transaction will also
be applied on July 1st.
The announcement by India's Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, of the new laws back in
February was met by a backlash from investors.
The hefty tax is expected to convert day traders to long term investors or even drive them
to regions with more crypto friendly regulations.
And over in China, pilots for the country's digital yuan project are expanding again.
While an official announcement has yet to be made.
Residents in five more Chinese cities are now able to sign up for digital yuan wallets.
Users of the Chinese social media platform Weibo in Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin and Quanzhou
all said they were able to open wallets yesterday, with one saying they got a ¥40 bonus for
doing so.
While reporters for local media in Guangzhou said they had been able to pay for groceries
with the digital yuan at Zhengjia Plaza Mall.
Though a list of the third batch of pilot cities has not been officially released as
yet, Chinese media reported that only users in pilot cities can open a wallet.
In its March work plan meeting, the People's Bank of China said pilots of the e-CNY would
be expanding this year.
Meanwhile, the historical transaction value for the digital yuan topped US$11 billion
by the end of last year.
You can find those stories and lots more at Forkast.News.
Over in South Korea, President elect Yoon Suk-Yeol is staying true to his campaign promises
on cryptocurrency regulation.
The presidential transition committee has started reviewing Yoon's plans for re approving
initial coin offerings or ICOs and raising the tax threshold for cryptocurrencies in
the country.
Meanwhile, South Korean banks may soon seek a green light for crypto operations.
Forkast's Danny Park takes a look at the developments.
The transition committee is now reviewing changes for the country's blockchain and crypto
sector in earnest.
The committee's economic affairs division has received suggestions from various groups,
including the Korea Blockchain Association, which are almost identical to what Yoon promised
in his campaign.
[We have already made] suggestions to different candidates during the presidential race regarding
the promotion of the industry and protection of investors.
And these suggestions [we made] by gathering the opinions of our member companies.
First is to allow initial coin offerings or ICOs under the premise that investor protection
measures are sufficiently constructed.
And second, raise the tax threshold for crypto gains from KRW2.5 million or over US$2,000
to KRW50 million or more than US$41,000 - which would align with the threshold applied to
stock gains.
The association says if the coming administration accepts the proposals, then it will yield
positive results for the industry.
If [the government allows] autonomy and creativity to blossom in the private sector, I believe
Korea could foster several companies [as successful as] Roblox.
In connection, we think Korea will create high-earning jobs for content creators and
developers, we expect more than two, three million jobs.
Meanwhile, the Korea Federation of Banks, or KFB, may soon request the incoming administration's
approval for local banks servicing cryptocurrencies.
In a leaked draft report, the KFB, which is the largest body representing South Korea's
domestic lenders, said banks should be allowed to pursue virtual asset businesses, including
crypto trading platforms, e-wallets and custody services.
The first draft of the report, aiming to deliver key opinions of the banking sector to the
presidential transition committee, was distributed to local banks for review.
However, a representative of the KFB told Forkast that the content in the leaked report
is not final, meaning that the banks may not push through with the request.
For Forkast, I'm Danny Park.
And finally, could the golden days for the NFT market be over?
Well, with the number of unique monthly buyers in March falling by over 30% from February's
figures, and those figures, remember, where a 6% fall from January's all time high.
We have entered bear market territory.
Forkast's Lachlan Keller takes a look at the health of the industry.
While some data is yet to be collected, figures from March so far show the lowest sales numbers
since July last year, with just over 600,000 unique buys in the month.
But while the significant decline may put some new investors off from entering the market,
one industry watcher says he isn't concerned about his long term health.
People are just kind of waiting and holding and seeing if the scene is changing a little.
I think they're waiting for something fresh.
So while there's definitely been a pullback from what we were seeing in January, February,
it doesn't feel like our traditional bear.
And if this is what a bear market is now, I think we're in for a really exciting bull
run, one that might not be something we've seen before, something really big.
Despite the downturn, some collections like the second series from the Popular World of
Women Collection, which falls under the umbrella of Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga labs
continue to do well.
We call them blue chips, which is funny to talk about an NFT as a blue chip, but there's
certainly blue chip brands again like Bored Apes or CryptoPunks and World of Women is
considered a blue chip.
And Cool Cats, CyberPunks.
Yeah.
So, so when those projects release, you know, a new family, a new collection, yeah your
NFT investors are comfortable with the brand, they trust the team, and they're definitely
willing to trust them with their agents.
The declining sales numbers contrasts with the broader crypto market, which has seen
steady growth in recent weeks until somewhat of a downturn into Friday morning Asia time.
Some have speculated that an inverse correlation has emerged between the two markets.
Petscher admits this makes sense superficially with more people willing to buy nfts when
the absolute value of ETH is lower.
However, he also says the market is still so new that it remains hard to figure out
what people are and aren't willing to do in the space.
In the meantime, after months of speculation, the largest NFT marketplace in the world,
Opensea, has confirmed it will begin supporting Solana based NFTs this month.
Petscher says that grants extra exposure to collections otherwise not listed on Opensea,
while investors will be grateful for having an alternative to paying high ETH gas fees.
Bringing cheaper options that that don't have those associated fees is a win for everybody.
It's good for growth.
It's good for the investors.
It's just good everywhere.
Every way I can I can look at this.
I think the more blockchains you can integrate into a single platform, the better all around
for all of those reasons.
Ultimately, this might technically be in a bear market, sales figures are still significantly
higher than during what was considered a bull run early last year.
For Forkast, I'm Lachlan Keller.
And that's The Daily Forkast, bringing you what you need to know in the blockchain world
from Monday to Friday.
From our vantage point right here in Asia.
For more, visit Forkast.News.
Until next time.