NFT Yearly Report 2020, Fresh from the Oven!
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Rev. Rul. 2019-24 ISSUES (1) Does a Taxpayer Have Gross Income Under
26 CFR 1.61-1: Gross income. (Also §§ 61, 451, 1011.) Rev. Rul. 2019-24 ISSUES (1) Does a taxpayer have gross income under § 61 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) as a result of a hard fork of a cryptocurrency the taxpayer owns if the taxpayer does not receive units of a new cryptocurrency? (2) Does a taxpayer have gross income under § 61 as a result of an airdrop of a new cryptocurrency following a hard fork if the taxpayer receives units of new cryptocurrency? BACKGROUND Virtual currency is a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value other than a representation of the United States dollar or a foreign currency. Foreign currency is the coin and paper money of a country other than the United States that is designated as legal tender, circulates, and is customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in the country of issuance. See 31 C.F.R. § 1010.100(m). - 2 - Cryptocurrency is a type of virtual currency that utilizes cryptography to secure transactions that are digitally recorded on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain. Units of cryptocurrency are generally referred to as coins or tokens. Distributed ledger technology uses independent digital systems to record, share, and synchronize transactions, the details of which are recorded in multiple places at the same time with no central data store or administration functionality. A hard fork is unique to distributed ledger technology and occurs when a cryptocurrency on a distributed ledger undergoes a protocol change resulting in a permanent diversion from the legacy or existing distributed ledger. -
White Paper of Bitcoin Ultimatum Introduction
White Paper of Bitcoin Ultimatum Introduction 1. Problematic of the Blockchain 4. Bitcoin Ultimatum Architecture industry 4.1. Network working principle 1.1. Transactions Anonymity 4.1.1. Main Transaction Types 1.2. Insufficient Development of Key Aspects of the 4.1.1.1. Public transactions Technology 4.1.1.2. Private transactions 1.3. Centralization 4.1.2. Masternode Network 1.4. Mining pools and commission manipulation 4.2. How to become a validator or masternode in 1.5. Decrease in Transaction Speeds BTCU 4.3. Network Scaling Principle 2. BTCU main solutions and concepts 4.4. Masternodes and Validators Ranking System 4.5. Smart Contracts 2.1. Consensus algorithm basis 4.6. Anonymization principle 2.2. Leasing and Staking 4.7. Staking and Leasing 2.3. Projects tokenization and DeFi 4.7.1. Staking 2.4. Transactions Privacy 4.7.2. Leasing 2.5. Atomic Swaps 4.7.2 Multileasing 4.8. BTCU Technical Specifications 3. Executive Summary 4.8.1. Project Stack 4.8.2. Private key generation algorithm 5. Bitcoin Ultimatum Economy 5.1. Initial Supply and Airdrop 5.2. Leasing Economy 5.3. Masternodes and Validators Commission 5.4. Transactions Fee 6. Project Roadmap 7. Legal Introduction The cryptocurrency market is inextricably tied to the blockchain – its fundamental and underlying technology. The modern market is brimming with an abundance of blockchain protocols, algorithms, and concepts, all of which have fostered the development of a wide variety of services and applications. The modern blockchain market offers users an alternative to both established financial systems and ecosystems/infrastructures of applications and services. -
Blockchain and the Creative Industries: Provocation Paper © Ellie Rennie, Jason Potts and Ana Pochesneva, 2019
Provocation Paper Blockchain and the Creative Industries Ellie Rennie, Jason Potts, Ana Pochesneva RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub November 2019 This provocation paper has been prepared at the request of the Australia Council for the Arts, Screen Australia and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. Table of contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................3 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................4 1 The creative industries today ...........................................................................................................5 1.1 Policy responses to date ..................................................................................................................5 1.2 Challenges facing creative practitioners ................................................................................5 1.2.1 Time factors ......................................................................................................................................6 1.2.2 Business skills ...................................................................................................................................6 1.2.3 Disintermediation ...........................................................................................................................6 1.3 Environment .........................................................................................................................................7 -
Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation
Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation Third Edition Contributing Editor: Josias N. Dewey Global Legal Insights Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation 2021, Third Edition Contributing Editor: Josias N. Dewey Published by Global Legal Group GLOBAL LEGAL INSIGHTS – BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY REGULATION 2021, THIRD EDITION Contributing Editor Josias N. Dewey, Holland & Knight LLP Head of Production Suzie Levy Senior Editor Sam Friend Sub Editor Megan Hylton Consulting Group Publisher Rory Smith Chief Media Officer Fraser Allan We are extremely grateful for all contributions to this edition. Special thanks are reserved for Josias N. Dewey of Holland & Knight LLP for all of his assistance. Published by Global Legal Group Ltd. 59 Tanner Street, London SE1 3PL, United Kingdom Tel: +44 207 367 0720 / URL: www.glgroup.co.uk Copyright © 2020 Global Legal Group Ltd. All rights reserved No photocopying ISBN 978-1-83918-077-4 ISSN 2631-2999 This publication is for general information purposes only. It does not purport to provide comprehensive full legal or other advice. Global Legal Group Ltd. and the contributors accept no responsibility for losses that may arise from reliance upon information contained in this publication. This publication is intended to give an indication of legal issues upon which you may need advice. Full legal advice should be taken from a qualified professional when dealing with specific situations. The information contained herein is accurate as of the date of publication. Printed and bound by TJ International, Trecerus Industrial Estate, Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8RW October 2020 PREFACE nother year has passed and virtual currency and other blockchain-based digital assets continue to attract the attention of policymakers across the globe. -
Industry Report 2019 Loom Network - One Basechain to Rule Them All Table of Contents
LOOM NETWORK Industry report 2019 Loom Network - One Basechain to rule them all Table of contents Introduction 3 Loom Network’s goal 3 Loom Network’s performance 4 Token volumes 4 Daily active wallets 5 Number of dapps 6 Token price 7 Future roadmap 7 Conclusions 8 Key Takeaways • By positioning itself as truly cross-platform and the “universal Layer 2” protocol, Loom has gained increased adoption among the developer community • This has resulted in growing protocol metrics over the past months (DAUs, Token Volumes and number of deployed dapps) • There is a long list of Loom dapps currently in development (mostly games) • Great potential remains, but too early for reaching a final verdict over the protocols success 2 Introduction Scalability is one of the hottest topics in the world of blockchain and dapps. This is especially the case for Ethereum. It remains the most popular blockchain for deploying dapps, but from CryptoKitties in late 2017 to more recent issues with gambling dapps such as FairWin, it’s suffered from serious network congestion. Of course, there are different ways to solve such issues. The move away from a Proof of Work consensus as part of Ethereum 2.0 is one, but in the meantime, we’ve seen an explosion in the number of Layer 2 solutions such as Loom Network’s Basechain (previously called PlasmaChain). These allow developers to overcome scalability issues on a base layer by offloading operations to their own connected chains. In the case of Loom Network, its Basechain is a network of delegated Proof of Stake sidechains secured by more than 21 delegators. -
NFT Industrial Development Report Q1 2021
NFTNFT INDUSTRIALINDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTDEVELOPMENT REPORTREPORT Q1Q1 20212021 Sponsored and Written By Co-sponsored and Written By I. NFT Market History II. NFT Market Ecosystem Overview ConTEnT III. Major NFT Use Cases and the Bottlenecks IV. More NFT Applications NFT Industrial Development Report Q1 2021 NFT An NFT, i.e., Non-Fungible Token, cannot be divided, interchanged, or standardized. By contrast, an FT, i.e., Fungible Token, is interchangeable with other FTs and can be split infinite times. NFT and FT are blockchain-based technical protocol stan- dards in asset digitalization. In a wider context, NFTs also refer to the type of asset products with above features or the market itself composed of such type of assets. The NFT ecosystem took shape in 2020 and waged its first round of upsurges taking advantage of the DeFi boom. Since 2021, the NFT standard has been integrating with the traditional art finance, enter- tainment media, and other markets. Diverse forms of assets and promising application scenarios enable the ecosystem to keep expanding, showing an apparent spillover. Most of the current NFT applications are developed on Ethereum, leaving few market shares to BSC and other public chains that support NFT asset issuance and circulation. Overly high gas fees and network congestion on Ethereum have hindered the NFT ecosystem from developing steadily. The NFT ecosystem, therefore, starts to seek Layer 2 or sidechain solutions. For example, Polygon and other projects develop Layer 2 solutions to off-chain computational work; the platform-natured NFT project Sky Mavis is gradually migrating Axie Infinity into its sidechain Ronin; and Dapper Labs's CryptoKittie will also be migrated to Flow. -
On the Security of Electroneum Cloud Mining
This Selfie Does Not Exist: On the Security of Electroneum Cloud Mining Alexander Marsalek1, Edona Fasllija2 and Dominik Ziegler3 1Secure Information Technology Center Austria, Vienna, Austria 2Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications (IAIK), Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria 3Know-Center GmbH, Graz, Austria Keywords: Electroneum Cloud Mining, Cryptocurrency, Impersonation Attack, Image Manipulation. Abstract: The Electroneum cryptocurrency provides a novel mining experience called “cloud mining”, which enables iOS and Android users to regularly earn cryptocurrency tokens by simply interacting with the Electroneum app. Besides other security countermeasures against automated attacks, Electroneum requires the user to up- load selfies with a predefined gesture or a drawing of a symbol as a prerequisite for the activation of the mining process. In this paper, we show how a malicious user can circumvent all of these security features and thus create and maintain an arbitrary number of fake accounts. Our impersonation attack particularly focuses on creating non-existing selfies by relying on Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) techniques during account initialization. Furthermore, we employ reverse engineering to develop a bot that simulates the genuine Elec- troneum app and is capable of operating an arbitrary number of illegitimate accounts on one Android device, enabling the malicious user to obtain an unfairly large payout. 1 INTRODUCTION Rivet, 2019). Due to these effects, both Google and Apple prohibit cryptocurrency mining apps from their During 2017, the first and most popular cryptocurrency, application stores (Apple, 2019; Google, 2018), limiting Bitcoin, experienced an astonishing 13-fold increase in the accessibility of the average smartphone users to crypto mining. Despite this fact, several projects like value (Corcoran, 2017). -
COTW: Punks & Dunks: NFT Volumes Soar
COTW: Punks & Dunks: NFT Volumes Soar After a frenzied but brief start to the year, NFTs have come roaring back in recent weeks, with record sales volumes, soaring corporate and venture investment, and a general re-entry into the cultural zeitgeist. We review NFT basics, analyze recent trends, and posit what the future may hold in this week’s Chart of the Week. ● NFT Overview: Fungibility is the characteristic of mutual interchangeability, where one is indifferent as to which exact unit one has, and examples include US dollars, gold, and airline points. Non-fungible items, by contrast, are those that are solely unique and therefore not freely interchangeable, such as an original painting, land, and baseball cards. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that are stored on a blockchain (well, technically an ID number in a smart contract that points to the URL of a JSON metadata file is what is stored on the blockchain). As blockchain-based digital representations of ownership, NFTs bear typical cryptocurrency benefits, such as immutability, provable scarcity and provenance, standardization and interoperability, and programmability, and they make digital assets as real and as permanent as objects in the physical world. NFTs can represent ownership in unique items of value like digital art, domain names, intellectual property, and event tickets, can be employed in a variety of use cases like collectibles, gaming, media, music, and finance, and in the future will usher in new paradigms around content, ownership, value, and exchange. ● NFT History: Developers first began experimenting with NFTs through colored coins on the Bitcoin network in 2012, followed by Rare Pepe illustrations a few years later. -
Dapp.Com Store
Making the Blockchain Come Alive Removing the Barriers to Mainstream Adoption of Decentralized Applications WHITE PAPER Authors: Kyle Lu, Eric Jiang, Haoda Wang Date: November 15th, 2018 Version: Draft 0.6 This version and its contents are current as of November 15th, 2018 and supersede all previous versions of this white paper or any public statements made about Dapp.com and the Dapp.com token sale, and are subject to change. This English version is to be relied upon as the most accurate and up to date, as other language versions may have mistranslations or be outdated. Copyright © [Dapp.com] 2018 All Rights Reserved Abstract Five years from now, people will be using decentralized applications (dapps) as much as they use traditional apps. Sound far-fetched? Perhaps not. There is a rapid growth in the dapp market - the number of dapps built on Ethereum has increased by 80 times and the number of dapp users has increased by 30 times in the last 14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle months. But we’re still at the very beginning of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycletechnology adoption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle cycle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle Satoshi Nakamoto kicked off the Bitcoin and blockchain revolution in 2008. -
Pay Toll with Coins: Looking Back on Fbar Penalties and Prosecutions to Inform the Future of Cryptocurrency Taxation
PAY TOLL WITH COINS: LOOKING BACK ON FBAR PENALTIES AND PROSECUTIONS TO INFORM THE FUTURE OF CRYPTOCURRENCY TAXATION Caroline T. Parnass* Cryptocurrencies are gaining a foothold in the global economy, and the government wants its cut. However, few people are reporting cryptocurrency transactions on their tax returns. How will the IRS solve its cryptocurrency noncompliance problem? Its response so far bears many similarities to the government’s campaign to increase Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs). FBAR noncompliance penalties are notoriously harsh, and the government has pursued them vigorously. This Note explores the connections and differences between cryptocurrency reporting and foreign bank account reporting in an effort to predict the future regime of cryptocurrency tax compliance. * J.D. Candidate, 2021, University of Georgia School of Law; M.S., 2018, Georgia State University; B.A., 2013, Wellesley College. Thanks to Professor Camilla E. Watson for her help developing this Note. Dedicated to Nadia Tscherny, Ph.D. 359 360 GEORGIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 55:359 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 361 II. WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY? ............................................. 365 III. THE IRS’S RESPONSE TO CRYPTOCURRENCY ................... 369 A. ADMINISTRATIVE ACTS ............................................. 369 B. LEGAL ACTION .......................................................... 372 IV. FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNT REPORTING ............................ -
Decentraland Whitepaper
White paper Decentraland A blockchain-based virtual world Esteban Ordano Ariel Meilich [email protected] [email protected] Yemel Jardi Manuel Araoz [email protected] [email protected] Abstract Decentraland is a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications. Land in Decentraland is permanently owned by the community, giving them full control over their creations. Users claim ownership of virtual land on a blockchain-based ledger of parcels. Landowners control what content is published to their portion of land, which is identified by a set of cartesian coordinates (x,y). Contents can range from static 3D scenes to interactive systems such as games. Land is a non-fungible, transferrable, scarce digital asset stored in an Ethereum smart contract. It can be acquired by spending an ERC20 token called MANA. MANA can also be used to make in-world purchases of digital goods and services. People are spending increasingly more time in virtual worlds, for both leisure and work1. This occurs predominantly in 2D interfaces such as the web and mobile phones. But a traversable 3D world adds an immersive component as well as adjacency to other content, enabling physical clusters of communities. Unlike other virtual worlds and social networks, Decentraland is not controlled by a centralized organization. There is no single agent with the power to modify the rules of the software, contents of land, economics of the currency, or prevent others from accessing the world. This document lays out the philosophical underpinnings, technical foundations, and economic mechanisms of Decentraland. -
The Anti-Money Laundering Act and Crypto Collide: Non-Fungible Tokens
MAY 18, 2021 The Anti-Money Laundering Act For more information, contact: and Crypto Collide: Non-Fungible Katherine Kirkpatrick Tokens +1 312 764 6918 [email protected] Matthew B. Hanson As NFTs gain popularity, buyers and sellers should +1 202 626 2904 [email protected] consider the potential issues related to federal anti- Daniel R. Kahan money laundering laws. +1 202 626 9280 [email protected] While non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) have existed for several years, the Steven J. Rizzi market for NFTs grew considerably during 2020 and into 2021, as a number +1 212 556 2269 of high-profile NFT sales grabbed headlines and well-known brands and [email protected] organizations began exploring the use of NFTs. Amid this continued growth Luke Roniger in adoption, and the expanding range of use cases, industry participants +1 512 457 2044 should make sure they are aware of the legal implications for issuing, [email protected] purchasing, and trading these new assets. Read Mills For now, existing laws and regulations will likely be applied to promote +1 202 626 2921 transparency and to address several aspects of NFTs, including the [email protected] potential investment value, the risk of speculation and volatile pricing, and potentially anonymous market participants. This article, which is the first in a multi-part series highlighting the legal and regulatory implications King & Spalding surrounding NFTs, explores the current state of play, potential risks, and Chicago, IL likely regulatory developments relating to NFTs and federal anti-money 110 N Wacker Drive laundering laws. Suite 3800 Chicago, IL 60606 WHAT ARE NFTs? Washington, D.C.