Trait Sniper Weekly News 16 (19.09 - 25.09.2022)
Trait Sniper is excited to announce the release of its first NFT collection, TRAIT MINER. Last week, legal activity relating to blockchain and NFT was robust. The NFT sector continues to attract big players, yet debate remains. NFT Taxes imposed are another notable aspect. Let's take a look!
Blockchain Market
UK Introduces Law to Seize, Freeze and Recover Crypto
The British government said Thursday that it had filed a proposal to simplify for law enforcement authorities to seize, freeze, and recover crypto assets used for illegal operations such as money laundering, drug trafficking, and cybercrime.
"Domestic and international criminals have for years laundered the proceeds of their crime and corruption by abusing U.K. company structures and are increasingly using cryptocurrencies," Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, said in the statement. "These long-awaited and much-welcomed reforms will help us crack down on both.”
Even without the law, the authorities did not lack authority. In July of last year, the BBC reported that London's Metropolitan Police confiscated a record-breaking 180 million British pounds (US$200 million) worth of cryptocurrency related to international money laundering.
Interpol Officially Issues Red Notice for Terra’s Do Kwon
Interpol has issued a red notice for Do Kwon, urging that law enforcement authorities throughout the globe identify and arrest the founder of Terraform Labs, whose blockchain firm failed earlier this year, brushing away $40 billion in investor funds.
In recent weeks, South Korean prosecutors have intensified their investigation against Kwon, claiming earlier this month that the businessman was "not cooperating" and "clearly on the run," a day after Kwon hinted otherwise. Earlier this month, they asked that Interpol, the international police organization, issue a red alert for Kwon.
“We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions — we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months,” Kwon said in a tweet last week.
NFT Market
Trait Sniper First Launch Their NFT Collection - Trait Miner
In October, Trait Sniper is delighted to launch its first NFT collection - Trait Miner. Based on “The Merge” event, Trait Miner developed their story following two crucial elements in blockchain and NFT: miners and traits.
We will deliver a detailed article soon. There is some basic information about Trait Miner:
Main Info
Size: 2345
Whitelist mint price: 0.1 ETH
Public mint price: 0.15 ETH
Mint Date
Whitelist mint date: October 10, 2022, 11:00 PM
Public sale date: 12 hours after the whitelist mint
Due to the bear market with low volume trade, we will be over-allocated 3x~, which means there will be 6000 diggers for Trait Miner NFTs.
Official Links
Trait Sniper Twitter (Access hashtag #traitminer to keep track)
Trait Miner - Launchpad (Access to register whitelist spots)
Apple Will Allow Apps Selling NFTs on Its App Store
Apple is now allowing for apps selling NFTs to be installed and sold via its App Store. However, many focus on Apple’s hefty 30% cut of each transaction.
With usual marketplaces, such as OpenSea and Magic Eden, collecting a charge of little more than 5%, the 30% commission that the corporation is charging would certainly discourage project, app, and game owners from adopting the new feature.
However, a web3-based CEO, Gabriel Leydon, sees the positive side to the situation: “Everyone is focusing on apple wanting its 30% cut of each transaction without realizing this could put an ETH wallet in every single mobile game onboarding 1B+ players!” He added, “I will HAPPILY give Apple a 30% cut of a free NFT.”
In addition to the 30% transaction costs, the firm currently does not take cryptocurrencies. Because they do not want to, they only take conventional fiat currency, which only a few projects accept.
According to The Information, Magic Eden removed its service from the App Store after learning about the regulation. Even after being offered a 15% transaction discount, they rejected it.
US States Washington and Pennsylvania Introduce a Tax On NFTs
Washington and Pennsylvania are the first states to tax NFT sales in the United States. The decision was reached by state authorities at the beginning of the summer. Notably, collectors may also be required to retrospectively pay for NFT sales. However, their action requires more clarity.
In June, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue decided that NFTs are taxable. However, state authorities did not provide any more information or answers.
The Washington Department of Revenue published a statement on taxation guidelines one month later. Therefore, NFT vendors should record the location of each digital transaction.
Thus, the two states can take some of the revenues from selling NFTs. They may pursue NFT-related retroactive taxes dating back many years. This is because their new taxes principles are based on current financial legislation.
What’s more? This might be just the beginning. European Union’s legislators have been discussing NFT and crypto taxation for months. Accordingly, one of their options is to implement NFT market regulations across all EU states.