Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin Investment Bitcoin Wallet Crypto Mining cryptocurrency exchange Cryptocurrency Investment Cryptocurrency news Investment News

Japanese Virtual Intellectual Property Company Raises $10 Million to Accelerate Metaverse Business

Brave Group Inc., a Japanese virtual IP company, recently said that it has raised $10 million in new capital and that the company hopes to use some of those funds to boost its “customer solution services in the metaverse marketing business.” Two local companies, foreign investment funds and individual investors participated in Brave Group’s latest funding round.

Metaverse market growth

A Japan-based virtual intellectual property company, Brave Group Inc., said recently that it has raised $10 million in new funding, bringing the total raised so far to $18 million. The company will use the new capital to strengthen its existing business operations and “expand its customer solutions services in the metaverse marketing business.”

In a recent statement, Brave Group revealed that Japanese companies such as Dawn Capital and Osaka Gas Co. Ltd. participated in the round which also included “foreign investment funds and individual investors”. In comments following the announcement of the capital increase, Kazuhiro Ishikura, general partner at Dawn Capital, said:

As the boundary between real and virtual life disappears, the form of entertainment will also change and new IP content KOLs are expected to be born. As the metaverse market grows globally, we believe that Brave group content will be at the heart of the excited virtual communities that will emerge. We hope that the strength of the anime and manga culture that Japan has cultivated over the years will reach the world virtually.

Yuichi Sakamoto, senior general manager of Osaka Gas’ innovation department, is quoted as saying his company is ready to help Brave Group Inc. to “carry out lifestyles and businesses that respond to the New Normal”.

For his part, Brave Group Inc. CEO Keito Noguchi said that by raising $10 million, his company would now “maximize the impact of Brave Group’s intellectual property not only in Japan, but also around the world.”

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin Investment Bitcoin Wallet Crypto Mining cryptocurrency exchange Cryptocurrency Investment Cryptocurrency news Investment News NFT Investment

Cristiano Ronaldo and Binance Partner: Web3 for Football Fans

Cristiano Ronaldo stated that he would like to provide his fans with unprecedented experiences through the NFT.

Football star Cristiano Ronaldo has signed an exclusive multi-year NFT partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Binance. As part of this collaboration, football fans will be introduced to the Web3 ecosystem through NFT’s global campaigns.

In the announcement, Binance explains that as part of the partnership, several NFT collections will be created with Cristiano Ronaldo. They will be sold exclusively through the Binance NFT platform, with the first collection expected to launch later this year.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO and founder of Binance, praised Cristiano Ronaldo’s achievements in football, saying that the athlete “transcended the sport to become an icon in various sectors”. Zhao also said:

“Through his authenticity, talent and charity work, he has built an extremely loyal fan base.”

Zhao further stated that Binance hopes to provide Ronaldo fans with “unique opportunities to connect with Ronaldo” if they own pieces from NFT collections. Meanwhile, the football star also commented on the planned NFT releases. He said fans would certainly be happy about it. Ronaldo also commented:

“The relationship with the fans is very important to me, so the idea of ​​delivering unprecedented experiences through the NFT platform is something I wanted to do as well.”

In March, Ronaldo was rewarded with crypto tokens for his sporting achievements. The football star received JUV tokens for every goal he scored in his career. This is the official supporter of the Italian football club Juventus Torino.

Despite the current crypto winter, the Binance CEO expressed his optimism in early June. Zhao explained that this is the third crypto winter for him and the second for Binance. So, he said, the team knows how to navigate a bear market. In addition, he said that the exchange will take advantage of this as an opportunity to hire more available professionals during this period.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin Investment Bitcoin Wallet Crypto Mining cryptocurrency exchange Cryptocurrency Investment Cryptocurrency news HYIPs Investment News NFT Investment

Meta set to start testing NFT on Instagram Stories with SparkAR

Earlier this week, Meta also announced that it would join other tech companies in creating a metaverse standards body.

Instagram parent company Meta announced on Wednesday that it will begin testing NFTs on Instagram Stories using its SparkAR augmented reality platform.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said of the announcement, “We’re expanding our test so more creators around the world can display their NFTs on Instagram.” The company also mentioned in a recent article: “Creators and collectors will be able to share their digital collectibles on Facebook and Instagram after we begin rolling out the feature on Facebook with select US creators at a later date.”

Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook is set to support NFT in the future:

“Soon we will also be bringing this feature to Facebook, starting with a small group of creators in the US, so people can cross-post on Instagram and Facebook. We will also be testing NFT on Instagram Stories with SparkAR soon."

In May, Meta launched digital collectibles described by the company as “a new way for consumers and creators to share NFTs on Instagram.”

Earlier this week, Meta also announced that it would join other tech companies in creating a metaverse standards body. The group intends to build the next version of the web and develop a shared spirit for Web3 and the metaverse. Some of the companies that have joined the initiative are Adobe, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nvidia and Qualcomm; Apple was conspicuous by its absence in the package.

Meta is not the only company looking to integrate NFT. It followed social media competitor Twitter, which brought NFT to its platform in January. Twitter’s NFT support allowed users to link ether-based wallets to their accounts and display their artwork as profile pictures. eBay recently acquired the Ethereum-based NFT marketplace KnownOrigin, expanding its foray into Web3. Even existing DeFi companies such as Uniswap are beginning to enter the NFT and metaverse markets with the recent acquisition of NFT aggregator Genie.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin Investment Bitcoin Wallet Crypto Mining cryptocurrency exchange Cryptocurrency Investment Cryptocurrency news Investment News

Bank of Spain has registered 17 cryptocurrency companies

The Bank of Spain has already included 17 virtual asset service providers in its own registry, in which cryptocurrency exchange and custody service providers must be included in order to operate, according to Spanish law. Three startups were listed last week, but the big names in the cryptocurrency ecosystem are yet to be registered.

CryptoRegistration of the Bank of Spain reaches 17 companies

The Bank of Spain’s Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registry reached 17 companies last week, with the addition of three more cryptocurrency businesses. The registry added several exchange and custody companies in June, including Jobchain Spain, Jobchain Austria, Criptan Trade, Eurocoin Broker, Lemacoin Crypto Solutions, Bitpanda and Vottun.

The registration of these companies accelerated in June, and most registered cryptocurrency exchanges are local companies that want to ensure they comply with Spanish laws. Since the bank opened its registration last year, it has added several crypto companies, starting with Bit2me, which was approved in February. The record now includes C.R. Technology and Finance, Bitcoinreport, Bit Base, Blox, Trade Republic Bank, Globalstar Technologies, Onyze Digital Assets, Bitgo Deutschland and BTC Direct Europe, in addition to the companies mentioned above.

Cryptocurrency registration is mandatory for cryptocurrency companies to operate in the country and was created in a change to a Spanish law that now requires cryptocurrency companies to follow certain guidelines to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

Big names still missing

While the registry has been very successful with local companies, forcing them to register their operations and implementing compliance tools for money laundering purposes, reception by major international exchanges has not been as successful. Names like Binance and other major exchanges are still off the list and are part of a list of exchanges currently in regulatory limbo.

Binance, specifically, has been named to a gray list issued by the Bank of Spain that includes cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country. The company was recently reprimanded by the CMNV, the country’s securities regulator, which ordered Binance to stop offering cryptocurrency-related derivatives, including futures contracts, to Spanish users of its platform.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin Investment Bitcoin Wallet Crypto Mining cryptocurrency exchange Cryptocurrency Investment Cryptocurrency news

South Korea postpones tax on cryptocurrencies for 2 years

The 20% tax on digital assets in South Korea, which was due to apply from 2023, has been postponed for another two years.

Tax announced in 2020

Before the announcement of the 2-year delay, the hefty 20% tax on crypto-asset earnings was due to go into effect on January 1, 2023. However, thanks to strong investor protests, the plan was pushed back to 2025. .on cryptocurrencies was first introduced in December 2020, when the government announced the 20% tax rate on cryptocurrency earnings above KRW 2.5 million ($1974.10). Under the initial plan, the tax was supposed to be imposed from January 1, 2022. However, the Democratic Party and the center-right People’s Power Party decided in November 2021 to defer it for a year.

Investors protest taxes

Despite the many delays, the January 1, 2023 timeline did not please investors, who claimed that the tax could harm a growing cryptocurrency industry in South Korea. Another argument they made was that the tax threshold (2.5 million KRW) was too low, especially considering that the proposed stock tax is levied on capital gains above 50 million KRW ($39,475.76). This was noteworthy as one of the promises made by the country’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol during his campaign was to tax cryptocurrencies to the same extent as other financial assets.

Minister defends postponement

Choo Kyung-ho supported the investors’ demand to defer taxes in May 2022, when he has yet to be confirmed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance. During a National Assembly confirmation hearing, Choo stated that a 20% tax on the cryptocurrency industry would be detrimental at this time. He proposed waiting for the market to mature and for legislation to guarantee transparency and investor protection before charging the tax.

Fiscal policies in the world

Taxing capital gains from cryptocurrencies has become a hot topic in many countries. While some countries want to lighten the industry as much as possible and have therefore deferred imposing a tax, others are eager to bank the profits through taxes. Germany, like South Korea, has maintained a more crypto-friendly tax policy after announcing zero taxes on held cryptocurrencies for more than a year. At the end of the spectrum, Portugal, known to be a crypto haven for its zero-tax policy, is reconsidering a tax on crypto profits. Investors in India are also saddled with the 30% cryptocurrency tax announced at the last budget meeting and are choosing to take their business abroad.