The rapid rise in the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies is attracting the attention of not only crypto investors but also regulators who are seeking to create a legal framework for working with cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects.
Legal regulation of cryptocurrencies
Tax authorities around the world are interested in profiting from cryptocurrency rates, DAOs, and crypto loans. In this regard, they began to issue detailed instructions on what is taxable.
For example, the Israel Tax Authority (ITA) sent out a message to digital asset owners. The authorities remind that citizens are obliged to indicate all their assets, including cryptocurrency assets, for tax purposes.
Digital currency deposits are subject to a 25% capital gains tax unless the capital gains lead to a business venture. Also, ITA will ask cryptocurrency exchanges in Israel and other countries for information about Israeli accounts.
Switzerland in 2021 is preparing for the emergence of a legal framework for regulating the crypto industry at the state level. Companies and individuals in the Swiss canton of Zug, the local Crypto Valley, will be able to pay taxes in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
In December 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it would allow cryptocurrency-focused broker-dealers to operate for five years without fear of any restrictive measures. Provided they own and control the securities of customers' digital assets.
Registering a broker-dealer will allow companies to offer securities for trading in the United States, including security tokens. Regulatory certainty provides enhanced options for the use of cryptocurrencies. And consumers will have the confidence they need that their digital assets are safe and secure.
Since cryptocurrency is a new industry, there are still many unresolved issues in tax policy and legislation in general. And in 2021, work will be actively carried out on the development of more perfect laws in the field of the crypto industry.
The steady rise in the price of Bitcoin
The price of the world's first cryptocurrency in 2020 has grown significantly. And according to experts' forecasts, it will retain its growth potential. Analysts attribute the main reasons for the Bitcoin price hype:
- High demand from institutional investors. The instability of the existing financial system and the shortcomings of the usual payment instruments lead investors to the decision to form portfolios with assets that are independent of the politics and economy of a particular state. Due to limited emission and high demand, the price will only go up. Now Bitcoin is practically no different from the stocks of large companies.
- Bitcoin's twelve-year existence has led to a decrease in the number of coins in circulation, which explains the price increase.
- The planned reduction of coins (halving), which occurs approximately once every four years or over 210 thousand blocks, has led to a reduction in supply.
- Acquisition of 70% of all recently issued bitcoins by the payment giant PayPal.
It is an asset that anyone can buy. Analysts predict that 20-30% of the world's population will own bitcoins in 2-3 years.
In 2020, a record number of bitcoin wallets were recorded. Limiting the supply of coins is likely to keep demand high. Which will push bitcoin to further increase the price in 2021.
Most promising airdrops
The Uniswap Protocol Control Token (UNI) was a turning point in DeFi Ethereum. But cryptanalysts say that in 2021 we will see airdrops that will not only bring profit to their investors but also surpass the large-scale "air distribution" of Uniswap.
Among the airdrops expected in 2021, four are especially worth looking at:
dYdX
A decentralized derivatives exchange backed by influential investors, the dYdX airdrop could reach a market capitalization of more than $610 million as a result. The exchange has quite a significant volume, especially for a leveraged decentralized trading exchange.Honey
Honey Badger Hunt, a DeFi ecosystem that aims to create products that will speed up Bitcoin in the DeFi sector.Furucombo
The protocol is a "combination of other protocols", which is similar to Zapper. According to the official website, Furucombo is "a tool built for end-users to optimize their DeFi strategy with a simple drag and drop." It visualizes complex DeFi protocols in cubes while users customize the Inputs/Outputs and cube order. Collecting cubes in a bunch, Furucombo forms one transaction and sends it.Sora Network
Decentralized autonomous economy aimed at creating a supranational decentralized bank (DCB), with built-in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) tools. Shortly after the launch of the SORA 2.0, a snapshot of the ERC-20 XOR holdings will be created. And ERC-20 holders will be able to receive $ VAL tokens on the SORA 2.0 network. 94.57 VAL tokens will be transferred to ERC-20 XOR holders during the first year of the SORA V2 network.
Digital money
The increase in non-cash payments over the Internet in 2020, in part related to the coronavirus pandemic SARS-CoV-2, has sparked increased interest in digital money.
The US Federal Reserve and several banks in other countries have announced active work over the coming years towards the development and implementation of their own CBDC digital currencies. Already 80% of central banks are working with CBDC today.
The leader in this area is the People's Bank of China, which is piloting the digital yuan (DC / EP). In the last pilot phase, 4 million transactions were conducted using digital yuan ($300 million). China's digital currency electronic payment system will support Ethereum applications.
Traditional financial institutions such as DBS and Standard Chartered are actively offering their clients digital asset trading on their blockchain-based platform developed by PoC in collaboration with 12 banks. The participants in this project are ready to launch a platform for commercial use by central banks around the world.
Stablecoins will have further development. The value of a cryptocurrency backed by fiat money makes it easy to use and makes exchanging tokens easier. This, in turn, leads to an expansion of the scope of decentralized finance (DeFi).
DeFi's market capitalization has grown by 2,100% during 2020. And it will certainly continue to evolve to become more sustainable.