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Kraken has filed a pre-registration undertaking with the Ontario Securities Commission as it works towards becoming a registered Restricted Dealer in Canada.

The Supreme Court of Denmark ruled that profits from the sale of bitcoin constitute a taxable event, upholding a previous ruling by the Danish High Court.

The Supreme Court considered two instances of profiting from bitcoin. The first involved an entity that acquired bitcoin from a third party and the second involved miners who earn bitcoin as a reward for securing the network. The Court ruled that both entities would have a tax liability if they sold their coins.

For people in the first instance, the court ruled that their bitcoin purchase was speculative in nature. As such, any sales by them should not be tax-free according to Denmark’s State Tax Act. As for miners, the Supreme Court ruled that their bitcoin acquisitions via mining constituted revenue and should attract taxes if they sell.

In 2018, Danish tax authorities identified 2,700 individuals owing taxes on bitcoin profits. At the time, it was reported that these individuals sold $8 million worth of bitcoin via a Finland-based exchange.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Cosmos-based blockchain Injective and development company Eclipse are launching Cascade, an environment that Solana applications can port to in order to access a wider crypto ecosystem.

It works like this: A Solana application can be deployed on Cascade, which is a Layer 2 network on top of Injective. Once it’s there, other blockchains in the Cosmos ecosystem will be able to interact with the application. This means that many more applications and blockchains will be able to use the application.

This is important because Solana applications are written in Rust, a programming language not used by many blockchains. As such, Solana applications are largely limited to its ecosystem only. By porting these applications onto Cascade — which is compatible with Rust — developers can use the same code and access a much wider crypto audience.

“This will not only empower Solana developers to deploy their dApps on Injective, but it will also create more opportunities for users to experience the best Web3 dApps in one integrated network,” said Injective Labs CEO Eric Chen.

The Cascade rollup is compatible with Rust because it is designed to work with the SeaLevel Virtual Machine (SVM), a computing environment that enables developers to deploy Rust-based Solana apps on other blockchains. It’s this integration that allows Solana smart contracts to run natively on Injective, despite their differing technical architectures. 

Once on Cascade, applications will be able to access the wider Cosmos ecosystem through the IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocol. This is an infrastructure layer that lets anyone send tokens and messages between Cosmos-based blockchains.

Using optimistic rollups technology

Cascade will rely on optimistic rollups, a scaling technique typically used by blockchain networks to aggregate multiple transactions into a single transaction, reducing the number of transactions that need to be processed on-chain. The reason for relying on rollups in this case is not to achieve scalability but rather ensure that the interoperability between the differing technical architectures remains secure.

With Cascade, Rust developers will be able to transfer their code from Solana to Cascade and run it on the Cosmos ecosystem. After each specific period, bundles of transactions can then be settled back to Solana using rollups for added security. 

To initiate this project, Injective and Eclipse have started a private testnet, granting selected Solana developers exclusive access. These developers, proficient in Solana tools and the Rust language, can write and deploy their applications in the Cosmos ecosystem via Eclipse without learning Cosmos-specific tooling.

“The SVM environment will drive a tremendous amount of developer activity, and we are excited to bring it into the Cosmos ecosystem for the first time alongside Injective,” said Neel Somani, founder of Eclipse Labs, on the launch of Cascade.

Eclipse Labs had recently revealed plans to deploy a similar rollup-based blockchain called Polygon SVM letting Solana developers to deploy on Polygon, a popular Ethereum sidechain.

Eclipse is not the only project working on expanding Solana apps to other blockchains. Nitro, another blockchain project, is developing a network to deploy and execute Solana apps on Sei, a blockchain set to launch soon on Cosmos.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

UNICEF, an agency of the United Nations that provides relief and humanitarian aid to children, is testing concepts for a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). 

“Right now, we’re building a DAO prototype to fairly distribute power and communication for a globally distributed digital public good,” said UNICEF blockchain lead Arun Maharajan in an interview last week at Paris Blockchain Week. 

Digital public goods (DPGs) are types of open-source software, models and standards that can be used by can countries to build digital infrastructure as an alternative to private proprietary solutions. 

The early stage pilot, which is being built on top of the Layer 2 solution Polygon, hopes to enable easier communication between stakeholders of a DPG when discussing possible new features to the project.

“In a sense, it’s a closed DAO for each DPG to get all the stakeholders on board” he said. “Right now we are looking at team members but I think it’s percievable that it could even include end users or other stakeholders so that really the community around that DPG gets together and decides together what needs to happen.”

Still, UNICEF has trialed the open-source voting tool Snapshot for potential governance proposals, he added. This is one way it would function much like your run-of-the-mill decentralized organization.

The ultimate goal would be that such projects could use the DAO to fund any new features voted on by the community. 

Curious about crypto

The DAO concept is part of a larger endeavor in crypto for the organization, which set up the UNICEF CryptoFund to receive donations in bitcoin and ether in October 2019. 

Functioning as part of a wider venture program, the crypto fund enables startups that UNICEF deems to be providing technologies that innovate for children to receive funding in either bitcoin or ether. In particular, it looks to help the startups it backs to become certified as a DPG via the Digital Public Goods Alliance. 

Four donors have contributed so far, including ETC Labs, Animoca Brands and Huobi Charity. 

“As we have for our private donors, we have the exact same due diligence process for our crypto donors, so you cannot have anonymous donor donations in crypto”, said Sanna Bedi, who manages the UNICEF CryptoFund. 

“If we do get unsolicited funds, we actually burn them,” she continued. 

While the organization doesn’t take any equity in the firms it backs, it’s so far had seven exits and its portfolio companies have raised about $17 million in follow-on funding. 

So far it’s invested in 41 startups in registered UNICEF program countries. Maharajan cited a Nepali startup named Rumsan, a blockchain-based cash and voucher assistance platform, as an example.

Rumsan connects aid agencies with distribution entities to provide cash and vouchers for beneficiaries. The flow of the aid given can be easily traced via blockchain technology, said Maharajan. 

“Right now they are working with UNICEF Nepal in a field pilot that’s being wrapped up now,” he said. “They’re using the system to bring cash assistance to a couple of rural districts in Nepal, which are flood-prone.” 

The future of crypto at UNICEF

Bedi admits that running a crypto fund comes with its fair share of questions internally at the United Nations humanitarian agency. Still, she ultimately describes UNICEF as “flexible” and “willing to learn” in regard to blockchain technologies. 

“It’s really important for us to share what we’re learning and be very open about it, she said. “We don’t claim to have it all figured out, we haven’t — we’ve hit roadblocks many times and I think we’re very open about that.” 

Nevertheless, she stresses they’re not taking a move-fast and break-things approach to the technology. While she said she couldn’t share details of UNICEF’s custody arrangement, it wasn’t impacted by the recent crypto banking crisis like Circle’s USDC was for instance. 

When asked if the fund would ever include USDC as a donation option, Bedi was ambivalent, saying that they would be interested but it would have to “make sense from a market point of view.” 

“They are among the coins which have a larger market share,” she said. “Being one of the major players [in crypto] and depegging doesn’t give a lot of confidence in which coins are stable in the end.” 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Despite dozens of departures at all levels of the company, crypto payments hotshot MoonPay insists it isn’t laying people off.

In the past six months at least 40 staffers have either been let go from or have left the startup, according to several people familiar with the matter and The Block’s analysis of LinkedIn records. More strikingly, the average tenure of the more than 50 people who have departed MoonPay since the start of last year stands at no more than 10 months, according to The Block’s calculations.  

Yet despite this churn, MoonPay says its headcount has in fact grown from 190 to 279 full-time employees since March last year. And the company continues to hire, meaning there will be no reduction in headcount resulting from recent cuts.  

“MoonPay has and continues to smart scale the team,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ve hired new leaders and C-suite execs across the company and empowered them to build out new teams and structures.” 

The four-year-old payments firm rose to prominence over the last 18 months with a slew of PR-heavy stunts, most of them focused on NFTs. It launched a “white glove” concierge service to help a clutch of actors, TV stars and musicians buy Bored Apes and other high value NFTs. It also rolled out a service called HyperMint, intended to “onboard the next billion” to web3 through its NFT generating engine and partnerships with the likes of fashion brand Alo Yoga and TV network Fox.  

Its growth followed a blockbuster Series A fundraise of $555 million at a $3.4 billion valuation in November 2021, which included buy-in from the likes of Paris Hilton and Justin Bieber, alongside multiple venture capital firms. Co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright — who bought a $38.5 million Miami mansion just a few months after that landmark round closed — is often pictured rubbing elbows with celebrity clients.  

Yet behind the glitz, there are signs of internal tension.

MoonPay’s image curation

The company has let staff go in drips and drabs over the past six months, according to six people with direct knowledge of the matter. Three of those people said there have been no announcements about the cuts internally, while another three — all current or former employees — said MoonPay is hugely concerned with its public image and thought news of layoffs would tarnish it.

One went so far as to say that the “only thing” management cares about is “not to show negative coverage of the company in the media.” Another added, “MoonPay are very good at creating the narrative they want around things.”  

One platform it has not been able to control is Glassdoor, the workplace review site. MoonPay has earned a spate of excoriating reviews in the past six months, including complaints that “you will not get ahead no matter how hard you work.” MoonPay has a 3.3-star rating overall.

Cuts across departments 

Staff in numerous departments have been affected by the recent cuts, including those in the startup’s in-house design, engineering, security, product, account management and talent teams, according to The Block’s analysis.  

Top-level execs, once headline hires, have also stepped back from full-time roles at the business. Chief Technology Officer Akash Garg, who was hired from payments firm Block Inc., is now working in a paid advisory position with the company after eight months as a full-timer, a company spokesperson said. Numerous other people who faced the axe held “senior” or “lead” roles at the company.

In its defense, MoonPay says any job cuts are about promoting a culture of excellence. Soto-Wright told The Block in December that, “I’d like us to be like 300 Spartans… We want to be lean. We want to be financially disciplined. I don’t see us making huge increases in our headcount until we feel really confident about how the team is operating.” 

“The company is committed to performance management and only retaining the very best,” MoonPay’s spokesperson said. “So we’re always working to ensure we’re organized in the best way, maintaining a high bar for success and retaining a lean and scrappy mentality as we grow.” 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for March 30, 2023. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets.

Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade will unlock ether that has been staked since the Merge, potentially leading to selling pressure that market participants could ride out or take advantage of.

A proposal that is supposed to end tomorrow has received 100% of votes in favor.

Market makers selling the options may need to buy more bitcoin in the spot market to cover their positions if the cryptocurrency rises further.

The move follows interest in securities trading using central bank digital currencies.