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Thailand’s Excise Department is planning to use blockchain technology to put into place a new system that will make it more efficient to collect taxes instead of raising them, according to a report by the Bangkok Post on Monday. 

The Excise Department, which is a part of the Thai Ministry of Finance, is responsible for collecting taxes incurred on the sales of products and goods manufactured and sold. 

According to the report, the fiscal target for 2021 is approximately 530 billion baht. The department will use blockchain technology to help identify the price, import duty, and tax liability of each imported product, according to department director-general Lavaron Sangsnit.

The idea is that the technology will make it harder for tax evasion to occur because the Excise Department, as well as the Revenue Department and the Customs Department, will share a single database to conduct tax audits, he added. 

The Excise Department started planning its implementation last year in order to create a blockchain-based system for assessing the tax returns of oil exports, which account for two-thirds of the total revenue collected by the department. 

© 2020 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.

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy said Monday that it plans to raise $400 million via senior convertible notes — and use the net proceeds of that process to buy bitcoin.

Per a press release from MicroStrategy, the firm will raise “$400 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2025 (the “notes”) in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).”

“The notes will be unsecured, senior obligations of MicroStrategy and will bear interest payable semi-annually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year, beginning on June 15, 2021. The notes will mature on December 15, 2025, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted in accordance with their terms,” the firm continued.

What’s more, those the net proceeds of the note sale will be used to buy bitcoin.

The firm said:

“MicroStrategy intends to invest the net proceeds from the sale of the notes in bitcoin in accordance with its Treasury Reserve Policy pending the identification of working capital needs and other general corporate purposes.” 

The move comes just days after MicroStrategy revealed that it bough $50 million in bitcoin, with its holdings now just north of 40,000 BTC. 

© 2020 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.

Crypto exchanges received nearly 159 million Web visits in November, according to data from SimilarWeb, with Binance and Coinbase scoring significant month-over-month gains.

According to the data, Binance saw 44.74 million visits in November, compared to 31.46 in October — a 42.2% gain. 

Coinbase drew in some 37.48 million visits in November, a 64% gain compared to October’s 22.86 million, per SimilarWeb.

Crypto exchanges such as Kraken, Upbit, BitFlyer and Bitstamp saw increases whereas others, such as OKEx and BitMEX, saw declines. OKEx’s decline is perhaps expected given that it moved to suspend user funds withdrawals in mid-October and resumed them on November 27.

© 2020 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.