German Inflation Rate Jumps, Kazakhstan Mulls Higher Tax for Bitcoin Miners, Binance in Italy + More News

 

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

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Economics news

• The annual inflation in Germany is expected to be +7.9% in May 2022, according to DeStatis, the country’s Federal Statistical Office. In April 2022, the inflation rate was 7.4%. Prices increased 0.9% in a month, they added.

Mining news

• The government of Kazakhstan said that it will seek to hike tax rates for Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto miners – as long as it can receive parliamentary approval. In an official release, the nation’s finance ministry said that a “bill is currently being considered” by MPs, which seeks to “increase in the rate of [tax] payment” for miners. The ministry added that in the first quarter of the financial year, miners had paid over USD 15m in tax – with most of that revenue coming from miners based in the capital Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana).

Adoption news

• Crypto exchange Binance announced that Binance Italy obtained regulatory approval in the country through registration as a Cryptocurrency Service Provider with the Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM), the Italian body for Agents and Brokers, dedicated to service providers offering virtual currency and digital wallet services in Italy.
• Digital asset custodian Anubi Digital said it has registered to the virtual currency operators list maintained by OAM. According to the registry regulations, Anubi Digital will transmit to the OAM data on transactions carried out on the Italian territory on a quarterly basis.

Investments news

• Asian bank Siam Commercial Bank announced that its venture investment arm SCB 10X deposited a portion of its uninvested funds into decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Compound (COMP)’s USD coin (USDC) yield-generating product for institutions.
• Esports organization Galaxy Racer partnered with the metaverse project Quint, investing USD 25m in the project’s native QUINT token as well. The partnership will also see the crypto company become the esports organization’s “Native Ecosystem Token Partner”, they added.

CBDCs news

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, proposed a three-step graded approach for rolling out a central bank digital currency (CBDC) “with little or no disruption” to the traditional financial system. The stages would include proof of concept, pilots, and the launch, while the RBI said it is now in the process of verifying the feasibility and functionality of launching a CBDC.

M&A news

• The global industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) announced a merger with the market standards association for the adoption of crypto and digital assets, Global Digital Finance (GDF). The combined association will have nearly 500 institutional members and 178 ambassadors, operating across 95 jurisdictions and disciplines, they added.