UAE Exempts Crypto Transactions From Value-Added Tax Crypto transactions in the UAE are now exempt from value-added tax (VAT), aligning the industry with traditional financial services. The exemption, effective from Nov. 15, 2024, applies retroactively to transactions dating back to Jan. 1, 2018, as per the Federal Tax Authority's update.

On May 31, a judge in New York, the United States, said on Thursday that the jury that will decide the fate of Trump's "hush money" criminal case has made a verdict. Court officials did not say whether the jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business documents during the 2016 election to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. The jury is expected to announce its verdict soon. According to the report, the guilty verdict could upend the 2024 U.S. presidential race. If convicted, Trump is expected to appeal. Trump also faces three other criminal charges, but is not expected to stand trial before the Nov. 5 election.

South Africa will issue licenses to about 60 cryptocurrency platforms by the end of March, making it one of the first countries on the continent to require digital asset exchanges to obtain operating licenses, and the country's Financial Sector Conduct Authority said more than 300 crypto asset providers are seeking approval. The regulator has until Nov. 30 to allow exchanges to apply for licenses or risk enforcement action. [Bloomberg]

JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington said in a note this week that while ETH is poised to benefit from spot ETF speculation, investors' reaction to the dramatic events has been somewhat muted. Since BlackRock first filed its EthereumSpot ETF application on Nov. 9, the price of Ethereum has risen by 20%. But it follows BlackRock's Bitcoin jumped 55% after it first submitted its application for a BitcoinSpot ETF. According to the report, EthereumSpot ETFs are less "hyped" than Bitcoin, likely due to their lower Market Cap and lack of a "first-mover advantage" over Bitcoin. Perhaps the market has learned from the FOMO around BitcoinSpot ETFs, or it may be because the regulatory decisions around whether Ethereum are securities are too vague.

Gold Finance reported that Rekt FTX sought court approval to estimate its customers' crypto asset claims in U.S. dollars, according to court filings dated Dec. 27. The exchange clarified that this action is essential to prevent any obstacles in the Rekt process, adding that the liquidation of every claim related to digital assets is impractical and unnecessary and would unduly delay these Chapter 11 cases. As a result, FTX recommends estimating the value of Bitcoin at $16,871, Ethereum at $1,258, and SOL at $16. AVAX is $14.19, and the Stable Coin USDT, TUSD, and BUSD are a few cents less than the usual $1. FTX argues that its valuation represents a "fair and reasonable" value of these digital assets as of the Nov. 11 petition date. The motion drew criticism from FTX creditors, who described it as another theft and urged people to oppose the plan.

Listed Bitcoin miner Stronghold Digital Mining announced a $15 million securities purchase agreement with an institutional investor, which Stronghold said it used to expand its mining rig and drive its carbon capture program forward, Golden Finance reported. Earlier this year, the company entered into a partnership with Canaan's Cantaloupe Digital to enhance its Computing Power. The capital injection was made possible through the sale of 2.3 million SDIG Class A shares at an average price of $6.71 per share. In addition, Stronghold provided an update on the Panther Creek mining facility, showing that the site was operating at 60% capacity between Nov. 20 and Dec. 7, 2023.

PANews reported on December 13 that Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted that according to the public regulatory memorandum document, BlackRock met with the SEC trading and market department for the third time on December 11 local time to discuss the details of the BTC spot ETF. Rachel Aquirre, BlackRock's head of product at iShares USA, attended the meeting, which she did not attend on Nov. 28. Most of the remaining participants were lawyers. Analysts say everyone is waiting to see if they can convince the SEC to allow the physical creation model in the first round of approvals.

BlackRock's proposed changes to the structure of the spot BTC ETF will enable authorized participants (APs) to create new shares in the fund with cash (not just crypto), effectively opening the door for banks that cannot hold cryptocurrencies directly, according to Golden Finance. According to a related memorandum document from a meeting between the SEC, BlackRock and Nasdaq on Nov. 28, the cash used by AP in the process can be converted into BTC through intermediaries and held by the ETF's custodian provider. Growing optimism that spot BTC ETFs will soon be approved by the SEC could be a game-changer for the digital asset industry if they can attract large amounts of retail investor capital. Prior to this, it was widely believed that AP should be a large market maker with experience in the crypto space, such as Jane Street, Jump Trading, and Virtu, rather than a bank. But the change means banks can get a piece of the pie and expand their pool of liquidity providers.

According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency exchange HTX has suffered a net outflow of $258 million since resuming operations after a major hack. DefiLlama data shows that the funds left the exchange between the restart on Nov. 25 and Dec. 10, suggesting that some customers were upset about last month's security incident. HTX said it lost $30 million worth of crypto tokens in the leak and temporarily halted withdrawals and deposits after the attack.

In late November, Company X was granted three additional money transfer licenses in South Dakota (Nov. 27), Kansas (Nov. 28) and Wyoming (Nov. 30), bringing the total number of states where the company is allowed to make money transfers to twelve. The company has previously obtained money transfer licenses in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. All of these state permits were granted this year, beginning in New Hampshire on June 29. Arizona, Michigan, and Missouri were added in July, followed by Georgia, Maryland, and Rhode Island in August, and Iowa and Mississippi in September. These registrations are related to a business called "X Payments LLC", which was formerly known as "Twitter Payments LLC" and will operate a money transfer business in X.

According to Zuckerberg's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he sold Meta Platforms shares almost every day in November, according to Golden Finance. As of Nov. 29, he had sold a total of more than 560,000 shares. According to his Form 144 filed with the SEC on Nov. 30, Zuckerberg intends to sell another batch of Meta Platforms shares totaling 28,009 shares. According to calculations, the total value of Zuckerberg's shares sold amounted to $192.90 million.

PANews reported on December 3 that, according to The Miner Mag, a former couple in Minnesota, USA, was accused in a civil lawsuit of stealing electricity to power at least 26 BTC ASIC mining rigs since 2022. Minnesota electric utility North Star filed a lawsuit against the former couple on Nov. 20, seeking at least $50,000 in damages from the defendants and the return of all profits made by the defendants through the alleged theft of electricity.

PANews reported on December 2 that according to official data, Circle has issued 1.5 billion USDC in the past seven days, redeemed 1.4 billion USDC, and increased its circulation by 100 million. As of Nov. 30, USDC had $24.4 billion in total float and $24.6 billion in reserves, including $1.9 billion in cash and $22.7 billion held by the Circle Reserve Fund.

After Brazil's Senate approved new income tax rules on Nov. 29, Brazilians may soon be required to pay up to 15% tax on income generated by cryptocurrencies held on foreign exchanges, according to Golden Finance. The bill has now been passed in the Chamber of Deputies and is expected to be approved by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as his government initiates changes to the income tax rules. According to the bill, any Brazilian who earns more than US$1,200 (BRL 6,000) on transactions outside Brazil will be taxed, effective January 1, 2024. This change makes these funds taxed at the same rate as domestically held funds. Funds earned by the owner prior to that date will be taxed at the time the owner acquires them, while income from funds received before December 31 will be taxed at 8%.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said on the X platform that BlackRock met again with the SEC's Trading & Markets department yesterday to discuss the design mechanism of the spot bitcoin ETF and showed them a "revised" physical model design based on the staff's recommendations at the Nov. 20 meeting.