Kategorie: Crypto Business

• Metacask is set to auction the rare whisky cask starting 12 February, with the 35-year-old cask asking price debuting at over $3 million.
• The cask is held as The Macallan Distillery in Scotland.
• A digital art and NFT will be offered as part of the sale.

Metacask, a leading marketplace for spirits casks and bottles, is set to auction (link to auction is here) off a rare 1988 whisky cask from The Macallan Distillery, Scotland.

According to the CasperLabs blockchain powered platform, the sale is for a 35-year old rare Scotch whisky cask. 

The number #4178 cask comes with a 1/1 animated art dubbed ‘The Dragon’- a masterpiece by one of Italy’s most renowned artists Ruben Frosali.

Metacask’s highly anticipated cask auction

The 35-year-old whisky cask is debuting at over $3 million and its auction follows Metacask’s recent success with a 1991 cask sale, which fetched more than $2.3 million.

“Metacask auctioned a 1991 cask  ‘The Angel’s Share’ in 2021, now just over a year later, we’re back with another much-anticipated auction,” Metacask co-founder and CTO Nim Siriwardana noted in a statement.

The latest auction is scheduled for between 12 and 19 February 2023 on the Metacask marketplace. Bidding is open to USD while settlements will be in either bank transfer or cryptocurrency. 

As part of the sale, the buyer will get an audio-visual non-fungible token (NFT) of the original Ruben Frosali art, Metacask said in a press release. The NFT will serve as a digital deed,providing for not just ownership and provenance but also useful for price discovery.

Potential buyers might want to know that the whisky was last regauged at 51.2% alcohol by volume (ABV), with roughly 495 bottles remaining.auctionhere

The post Metacask to auction rare 1988 Macallan cask for $3 million appeared first on CoinJournal.

• German bank Deutsche Bank AG is said to be negotiating minority stakes in Deutsche Digital Assets and Tradias.
• A Bloomberg report on Wednesday claimed the deals are being led by Deutsche Bank’s asset management division.
• DWS Group has previously pointed out the benefits of blockchain to the bank.

Deutsche Bank AG, one of the world’s leading banking and financial services providers, has reportedly set its eyes on two German-based cryptocurrency companies.

A report by Bloomberg on Wednesday 8 February, 2023 revealed that Deutsche Bank’s asset management unit DWS Group is looking to acquire minority stakes in crypto-traded products firm Deutsche Digital Assets and crypto trading platform Tradias.

Bankhaus Scheich, one of the top securities trading providers in Germany’s banking sector, owns Tradias.

Sources say the DWS Group is currently negotiating deals with the two digital asset platforms and has previously sought collaboration with Mike Novogratz’s Digital Galaxy.

Deutsche Bank keen on blockchain technology

According to the Bloomberg report, the reported investments are part of Deutsche Bank’s crypto strategy, which includes plans to snap up a chunk of the crypto products trading market amid growing interest from clients.

Stefan Hoops, CEO of DWS Group noted during the bank’s recent earnings call that the crypto winter had probably created an interesting window of opportunities, particularly with crypto prices hitting levels seen in late 2022.

Hoops, who has previously talked about Deutsche Bank’s plans to utilise the blockchain for its products, hinted at a further push towards an overall crypto strategy. Indeed, the bank released a report in March 2021 noting that Bitcoin could be an important asset given the interest from institutional investors.

Deutsche Bank reported a profit of € 5.6 billion (just over $6 billion) in the financial year 2022, a 65% jump in profit before tax. It is the bank’s highest annual profit in 15 years, with the last time it reported such profits being in 2007.

Per the results, net profit rose to € 5.7 billion (about $6.11 billion) year-on-year, more than double the previous cycle. However, profits from asset management fell 27% to € 598 million (about $641 million).

The post Deutsche Bank eyes investment in 2 German crypto firms: report appeared first on CoinJournal.

• The Algorand Foundation has partnered T-Hub and  Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India.
• The partnerships form part of Algorand’s blockchain and Web3 investment goals in the country and globally.
• Algorand is looking to support local projects focused on high-impact blockchain solutions.

Algorand Foundation is looking to boost growth across Web3 in India, one of the countries with the largest cryptocurrency communities in the world.

In a press release seen by CoinJournal, the foundation that’s helping to grow the Algorand blockchain says they have sealed several major partnerships across India. 

Algorand’s Web3 goals for India’s growing population

The partnerships are part of Algorand’s blockchain investment roadmap amid the growing adoption of Web3 products, the Algorand Foundation noted, revealing one of the partnerships is with top India-based innovation hub T-Hub.

The goal, according to the announcement, is to tap into blockchain technology to help offer employment and other solutions to India as it moves towards becoming the most populous country in the world.

As noted, T-Hub counts over 600 corporate partners, a brand magnate that includes names such as Intel, Meta, AWS and Microsoft among others. Algorand hopes to leverage the partnership to support projects looking to build high-impact and scalable blockchain solutions.

“The partnerships we are formalizing this week with India’s most respected institutions and organizations are reflective of the reliability, scalability and real world utility of Algorand’s blockchain technology,” said Anil Kakani, the India Country Head at the Algorand Foundation.

Algorand’s mission in India and around the world is to enhance sustainability, Kakani added, with the focus being on improving access to key services. These include education, financial services and health care – goals that can be greatly advanced through critical applications across Web3.

Other partnerships Algorand Foundation announced are with the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the Indian School of Business and the Clinton Global Initiative. 

Notably, Algorand is now the technology partner of the Global Resilience Fund, a $50 million fund from the Clinton Foundation.

The post Algorand targets Web3 adoption in India with major partnerships appeared first on CoinJournal.

• The Sandbox has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

• The partnership will see the two entities work on metaverse projects.

• The Sandbox is yet to reveal details explaining the scope of the agreement.

The Sandbox partners with Saudi Arabia

Sandbox co-founder and COO Sebastien Borget announced via LinkedIn a few hours ago that the metaverse gaming platform has entered an agreement with Saudi Arabia.

However, the complete details of the agreement were not provided. While revealing this latest partnership, Borget said;

“It was a true honor to sign our MOU partnership ceremony between The Sandbox and the Saudi Arabia Digital Government Authority (DGA) during the leap2023 conference, and we look forward to exploring, advising and supporting mutually each other in activations of the Metaverse!”

The Sandbox’s co-founder and Saudi Arabia’s DGA signed the MoU while attending the ongoing Leap Tech Conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. The tech conference began on February 6th and is set to end on February 9th. 

Borget pointed out that while he could not provide further details regarding The Sandbox’s agreement with the Saudi Arabian government, more information would be provided over the coming weeks. 

SAND rallies following the partnership news

This latest cryptocurrency news has seen SAND, the native token of The Sandbox ecosystem, outperform the broader crypto market. At press time, the price of The Sandbox stands at $0.8943, up by more than 23% in the last 24 hours.

The Sandbox has been a major metaverse project in the cryptocurrency space in recent years. However, it is yet to achieve massive adoption as the metaverse ecosystem is still in its early days. 

The Sandbox is a virtual space where users are allowed to create their own mini-universe within the game. 

In 2021, The Sandbox raised $93 million in a Series B round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund. The company was also reportedly seeking to raise another $400 million, which would bring its valuation to roughly $4 billion. 

The partnership with Saudi Arabia doesn’t come as a surprise due to the fast-rising adoption of web3 in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and the United Arabs Emirates are leading the way in this regard thanks to the policies and investments related to web3, crypto, and the metaverse, they have been rolling out. 

The post The Sandbox and Saudi Arabia to collaborate on metaverse projects appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Binance Tax allows users to calculate taxes on up to 100,000 transactions.

• The service is currently available to users in Canada and France.

• Binance wants the tool to help its users keep up with their tax obligations.

Binance Tax is now available to users in France and Canada

Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced on Monday, February 6th, that its Binance Tax tool is now available to its users in France and Canada.

In its blog post, Binance explained that the new tool is designed to help users calculate the tax obligations on their crypto transactions. This latest cryptocurrency news comes as more governments around the world look to ensure they don’t miss out on revenue from the crypto industry.

While explaining the tool, Binance wrote that;

“In one click, you can now import your Binance transactions into our calculator and obtain a simple yet comprehensive estimate of your tax obligations depending on your jurisdiction.

Binance Tax is still in an early launch phase, and as such, its algorithm does not yet cover all the types of transactions within our vast ecosystem. Binance users should adjust accordingly in their final tax report.”

Binance Tax can report up to 100,000 transactions

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange added that the Binance Tax tool is free for its users in Canada and France to use. The tool supports up to reportable 100,000 transactions, ensuring that most users will capture their cryptocurrency transactions on Binance during a select period.

However, Binance explained that the product is still in its early stage and might not support some products. 

The crypto exchange added that Binance Tax provides detailed information on the transactions users make on its platform. The information helps users file their taxes, including but not limited to: spot trades, crypto donations, and even blockchain fork rewards.

While the tool is only available to users in Canada and France at the moment, Binance could roll it out to its users in the United States and other parts of the world in the coming months or years.

The post Binance introduces Binance Tax for calculating taxes on transactions appeared first on CoinJournal.