BitcoinInsider

According to a new study conducted by Crypto.com, the total number of global cryptocurrency users has surpassed 100 million for the first time ever. The study, which measured the cryptocurrency marketplace's size using onchain metrics, survey analysis, and internal data, recorded 106 million cryptocurrency users in January 2021. Compared to December 2020, the 106 million users represent a 15.7% increase in just one month. What's fueling the growth of the crypto market? According to Crypto.com's research, it comes down to bitcoin adoption momentum. Eric Anziani, Crypto.com COO had this to say to Bitcoin.com regarding the research's findings: Our study improves upon previously used methods to find a clear trend of growing cryptocurrency ownership. As more companies and merchants adopt cryptocurrencies as a treasury asset and means of payment, we expect 2021 to be a banner year for crypto mass adoption, bringing us ever closer to our vision of 'Cryptocurrency in Every ...

South Korea is reportedly bringing forward—yet again—plans for a tax on digital currency profits, which will see gains liable to a 20% tax, according to local media. Reporting on an announcement from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Korean Herald said profits from trading and holding digital currencies in Korea would be subject to the new tax from as early as January 1, 2022, as part of the country's commitment to establish a more robust legal framework for digital currency dealings. The tax is liable on gains of over KRW2.5 million, roughly equivalent to about $2,300. Any gains up to that level will not be liable for taxation, but must still be reported to the tax authorities at year end, as with other forms of income. The country had previously sought to introduce the tax in 2020, but encountered significant pushback from the digital currency community. Several delays in policy followed, including pushing a previous 2022 deadline back to 2023, until the latest announcemen...

Vladimir Zhuravlev, a Gravity Tech and Waves Association developer, notes that for several years, the Odyssey hackathon (held in the Netherlands) had offered opportunities for software engineers to collaborate on various projects. Zhuravlev revealed that this year, Odyssey was hosted online for the very time (due to COVID). The event's team tried to ensure that the hackathon would be a unique experience for all participants. They introduced a 3D online arena that connected all 105 teams, jedis and challenge hosts in one virtual space, Zhuravlev noted. He added: "The Waves Association was honored to participate in the event in several aspects. First, the Waves protocol was suggested as a building block with support from Waves Jedis: Rob van de Camp and Inal Kardanov. Second, the Waves platform was used for issuing awards to winning teams. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for digital art were created on Waves and sent to participants as a special prize." The Waves team took part ...

The Reserve Bank of India is exploring the need for a digital version of its fiat currency. In a recent outlook on payments in the digital era, the bank justified its earlier apprehension, but revealed that it's now open to the possibility of a digital rupee. The RBI has come to be seen as one of the greatest impediments to digital currency adoption in India. It has previously banned commercial banks from processing digital currency-related payments. This decision was overturned in March 2020 by the Supreme Court, however. In a new report, the regulator has now revealed it's warming up to the possibility of a central bank digital currency. The report stated that digital currencies have gained great popularity in India. Regulators in India have taken a keen interest, while at the same time being skeptical about the associated risks. It added: "Nevertheless, RBI is exploring the possibility as to whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat currency and in case ther...

Ripple's XRP has lost almost 40% of its value after the token price dropped from $0.51 on December 21 to $0.31 at the time of writing. The token's plunge appears to be the result of legal proceedings initiated against Ripple by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the time of writing, the fourth-ranked crypto token had seen traded volumes of $4.85 billion recorded in 24 hours. $1.3 Billion Lawsuit As data on markets.Bitcoin.com suggests, the sell-off of the XRP token appears to have been sparked by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse's warning that the SEC was about to launch legal proceedings against the company. A day later, the SEC announced the $1.3 billion legal action against Ripple and two of its executives for allegedly conducting an unregistered security offering. Meanwhile, as the XRP token continues to plummet, an angry Garlinghouse has accused the US regulator of being biased against Ripple while appearing to give a free pass to BTC and ETH. In its dete...

Trezor has warned users of its hardware wallet about a phishing scam it said was related to an earlier hack on one of its competitors. The company said the attackers claim a user's wallet has been disabled, before redirecting to a clone site to steal their credentials. In a blog post, Trezor revealed that the attackers have been sending its users emails claiming they need to pass verification due to new KYC regulations. It then provided a website that's a replica of wallet.trezor.io on which the users can supposedly verify their identity. This site requests the users to key in their recovery seed, giving the attackers full control of the wallet. Trezor reminded its users that they "will not be asked to enter their seed anywhere other than on their Trezor device." It also assured its users that all their funds are safe and that no Trezor customer data has been leaked. "We continue to operate under a policy where we anonymize all customer data from e-commerce with...

As Ark approachs the launch of MarketSquare, we want to give our community an inside look at some of the partnerships we have formed. These strategic partnerships will not only help make MarketSquare the new homepage for the decentralized web but will also create inroads between ARK and other projects looking to build and collaborate together. Today we would like to introduce you to Magic.Link! What is Magic? Magic is a developer SDK that can be integrated into applications to enable passwordless authentication using magic links - similar to systems used by Slack and Medium. Once a developer integrates Magic into their application a user is able to sign up or log in by doing the following: A user requests a magic link be sent to their email address. The user clicks on the magic link The user is securely logged into the application. #Saying Goodbye to Passwords You may have noticed that this process occurs without the need for signing in or registering with a password. The benefits of p...