The cryptocurrency market rallied on March 9 after a US Department of the Treasury press release — which was subsequently removed — read that US president Joe Biden’s historic executive order calls for “coordinated and comprehensive approach to digital asset policy”,
“This approach will support responsible innovation that could result in substantial benefits for the nation, consumers, and businesses,” the statement added.
Bitcoin price soared and hit US$42,000 apiece on Wednesday, before declining to its current level of around US$38,000 as at March 14. Meanwhile, Ethereum rose to above US$2,700 apiece on March 9 before declining to its current level of US$2,500. Other coins such as Binance Coin, Solana and Cardano also saw price surges following the premature reveal, before declining.
Chart: Bitcoin 7-day price chart, credit CoinGecko
In Singapore, the prevailing income tax rules will apply to income derived from transactions of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong said in parliament on March 11.
See also: Digital Assets Association launches to connect tradfi and tokenised real world assets
He explained that the income tax treatment will be determined based on the nature and use of the NFT. “Generally, a person deriving income from NFT transactions or from trading NFTs will be subject to income tax on such income.
“A person may also derive capital gains from NFT transactions. As Singapore does not have a capital gains tax regime, such gains will not be taxable,” he added.
See also: Ex-Grab executive joins Winklevoss twins crypto firm Gemini as head of APAC
Photo: Coinbase
Nasdaq-listed Coinbase has blocked over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities engaging in illicit activities, its chief legal officer Paul Grewal wrote in a blogpost.
He clarified that the figure is not specific to the time period since the invasion of Ukraine. Most of these addresses are identified by Coinbase prior to the invasion and the company has not seen a surge in sanction evasion activity in the post-invasion context.
“Once we identified these addresses, we shared them with the government to further support sanctions enforcement,” Grewal said.
Cover photo: Bloomberg
