OTC’s Weekly Retrospect 01/05–05/05/2023

Each week we bring you a round-up of the most important Bitcoin and virtual asset-related stories making waves in the cryptosphere.­­­­

Major news stories this week;

1. Biden Wants 30% Crypto Mining Tax, But Can It Work?
2. Dubai crypto regulator awards first broker-dealer MVP operational license
3. Bitcoin Set New Record of Daily Transactions the Same Day the U.S. Government Quietly Engineered a Bank Buyout
4. Mastercard Launches Crypto Credential Service for Cross-Border Transfers
5. Hong Kong SFC to Issue Crypto Exchange License Guidelines in May

Story Summaries;

1. Introduced in President Biden’s 2024 federal budget, the proposal for the Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) excise tax would tax up to 30% of crypto miners’ electricity costs — in 10% increments spread over three years starting January 2024. The tax, expected to raise about $3.5 billion over 10 years, is geared toward combating climate change.
2. BitOasis, a Middle East-focused crypto exchange based in the United Arab Emirates, has received the first broker-dealer minimum viable product operational license from Dubai’s crypto regulator, the company said on Monday.
3. On Sunday, as the U.S. government worked behind the scenes with two major banks to engineer the latest financial rescue plan, the Bitcoin network hit a new all-time high for the number of daily transactions processed. There were more confirmed transactions than it ever had in its 14-year history, beating the previous record set during the 2017 bull run. Today, JPMorgan Chase has acquired First Republic after the distressed bank’s assets were seized by regulators, becoming the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.
4. The executive in charge of crypto products and blockchain at Mastercard (MA) said the payment processing company is bringing out a service designed to ensure transactions between users’ wallets are verifiable and compliant, beginning with transfers of digital assets between countries.
   The set of verification standards uses technology from CipherTrace, the well-known blockchain analytics platform Mastercard agreed to acquire in late 2021.
5. Hong Kong plans to allow retail investors to trade major tokens like Bitcoin and Ether in a new licensing regime for crypto platforms due on June 1. The city aims to develop a digital-asset center to burnish its role as a financial hub.

And that’s all for this week’s news! Wishing you a great weekend ahead!