On Wednesday, Solana Labs unveiled the launch of token extensions, marking a noteworthy advancement in the SPL Token standard. The blockchain network’s token extensions aim to provide a suite of solutions for businesses transitioning to distributed ledger technology, emphasizing security, compliance, and ease of use.

Solana’s New Token Extensions Set to Boost Blockchain Adoption

According to the announcement, Solana-based token extensions are designed to cater to a wide range of industries, including stablecoins, real-world assets (RWAs), and payments. These extensions offer features like transfer hooks, transfer fees, confidential transfers, permanent delegate authority, and non-transferability. Each of these features serves a specific purpose, from providing control over token interactions to ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks.

Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana Labs, highlighted the significance of this development. “Token extensions build on the characteristics that make Solana the ideal destination for developers,” Yakovenko stated. “Solana is the first network to offer this level of integrated developer and user experience in a single token program. We’re already seeing the potential to build using token extensions via deployments from some of the most recognizable names in crypto.”

According to the press release, companies such as Paxos and GMO-Z.com Trust Company Inc. are early adopters of these new token extensions. In late December 2023, Bitcoin.com News covered Paxos’s expansion of its stablecoin offerings onto the Solana blockchain. Additionally, Circle disclosed the introduction of its EURC stablecoin on Solana during the same month. Furthermore, GMO Trust declared the launch of the first regulated Japanese yen stablecoin, alongside a U.S. dollar stablecoin, on the Solana platform.

“The Solana network is the blockchain of choice for enterprise-grade companies looking to enter the Web3 space,” Sheraz Shere, the head of payments at the Solana Foundation remarked. “Companies like Visa, Worldpay, Stripe, Google, and Shopify have already seen the performance advantages inherent to the Solana network and have launched solutions and applications that are only possible on Solana.”

Shere added:

With token extensions, we are expanding what is possible for enterprise adoption of blockchain by natively enabling features that matter to large regulated enterprises.

Solana (SOL), the native cryptocurrency of the layer one (L1) blockchain, has experienced a 3.3% increase in the past 24 hours. However, SOL’s performance over the past week shows a decline of over 10%. In the last month, SOL has seen a 22% decrease in value compared to the U.S. dollar.

Despite this recent downturn, six-month data reveals a significant upswing for SOL, with a 246% surge during this period. Having slipped from the top ten rankings during the crypto winter, SOL has reclaimed its spot among the leading ten, now standing as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

What do you think about Solana’s token extension announcement? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revised the question about digital assets included on income tax forms. Moreover, the tax authority has added the question to four additional tax forms. “The question must be answered by all taxpayers, not just by those who engaged in a transaction involving digital assets in 2023,” the IRS emphasized.

IRS Adds Digital Asset Question to 4 More Tax Forms

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced Monday that the digital asset question on income tax forms “was revised this year to update wording.” Moreover, the question has been added to four additional tax forms. The IRS also reminded U.S. taxpayers that they must “answer a digital asset question and report all digital asset related income when they file their 2023 federal income tax return, as they did for their 2022 federal tax returns.”

The tax authority detailed that the digital asset question varies depending on the form, “with appropriate variations tailored for corporate, partnership or estate and trust taxpayers.” On Form 1040 for reporting U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, the question reads:

At any time during 2023, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?

The IRS defines a digital asset as “a digital representation of value that is recorded on a cryptographically secured, distributed ledger or any similar technology.” The tax authority specifically mentioned that common digital assets include convertible virtual currencies, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The IRS emphasized:

The question must be answered by all taxpayers, not just by those who engaged in a transaction involving digital assets in 2023.

In 2022, the digital asset question on Form 1040 was slightly different. It read: “At any time during 2022, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award, or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, gift, or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?” In 2021, the digital asset question simply read: “At any time during 2021, did you receive, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any financial interest in any virtual currency?”

Besides Forms 1040 (Individual Income Tax Return), 1040-SR (U.S. Tax Return for Seniors), and 1040-NR (U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return), the digital asset question now appears on four other tax forms: 1041 (U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts), 1065 (U.S. Return of Partnership Income), 1120 (U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return), and 1120-S (U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation).

What do you think about the IRS updating its question about digital assets and adding the question to more tax forms? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daniel Batten, co-founder of CH4 Capital, reported that bitcoin mining has reached all-time high levels of sustainable energy usage and emissions mitigation. According to Batten, 54.5% of the energy used for this activity is sustainable, and the industry is mitigating 7.3% of all its emissions directly, which constitutes a new record for any industry without offsets.

CH4 Capital Co-Founder Daniel Batten: Bitcoin Mining Is Getting Greener

Bitcoin mining is getting greener, according to a recent article issued by Daniel Batten, co-founder of CH4 Capital, a methane mitigation solutions provider. He estimates that, according to his calculations, the Bitcoin mining grid is now using 54.5% sustainable energy, being the only global industry that is majorly powered by this kind of energy.

In his Bitcoin ESG Forecast #003, Batten disputes the idea that Bitcoin mining is a fossil fuel-powered industry. He acknowledges that until Q3 2022, it was. However, after the Chinese mining ban was enacted, miners moved their operations to greener on-grid sites or sustainable off-grid locations.

Criticizing Cambridge’s model on bitcoin emissions as outdated, Batten stated:

There are no longer any independent models or studies using contemporary data that support the thesis Bitcoin is mainly powered by fossil fuels.

In addition, Batten’s research revealed that more Bitcoin miners were using methane emissions than previously accounting for, with undisclosed companies using vented gas to power their mining operations. The process, that uses methane to provide electricity for these operations, still leaves a carbon dioxide byproduct; nonetheless, Batten explained that methane is 84x more warming than CO2 over 20 years, and using it is better than letting it vent straight into the atmosphere.

22 mining companies are mitigating methane emissions, providing a direct offset of 7.3% of network emissions without relying on carbon instruments. While Bitcoin still produces more emissions than what the network mitigates, Batten stressed that it “can become the fastest industry to go greenhouse negative without offsets.”

What do you think about Daniel Batten’s revelations about Bitcoin’s environmental impact? Tell us in the comments section below.

UBS, a financial services company, predicts that 2024 will be fruitful for gold, forecasting a price increase of 10% over current market prices. According to UBS analysts, this price increase will be powered by a pivot in the current policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is projected to start cutting interest rates as soon as May.

UBS Predicts Gold Price Rise, Rate Cuts

UBS, a Swiss financial services company present in over 50 countries, has predicted a bullish year for gold. In a note released on Friday, USB analysts predicted that gold prices could rise to 10% over current market prices despite the price reduction that the precious metal faced in December.

The institution expects that gold might be able to reach $2250 per ounce this year, given that there are still different factors that could push the demand for gold. One is the possibility of a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut, that would awaken new interest in gold markets.

In this sense, UBS states that the “power of the Federal Reserve’s policy pivot should not be underestimated.” While there is still not a clear answer on the issue of when will the Federal Reserve start cutting interest rates, UBS expects a 100 basis points rate cut as soon as May. This would start “putting pressure on the U.S. dollar and real interest rates, which should spark fresh demand, particularly from exchange-traded gold funds.”

In December, the World Gold Council (WGC) anticipated a flat performance for gold in case of a “soft landing” scenario, which U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has already declared as reached.

UBS concluded that “ongoing macro and elevated geopolitical risks continue to justify holding exposure to gold for hedging and diversification purposes,” given that the asset is traditionally considered a crisis hedge due to its lack of credit risk and negative correlation to risk assets, according to WGC’s analyst Johan Palmberg.

What do you think about UBS’s prediction about gold prices in 2024? Tell us in the comments section below.

The number of global crypto owners surged 34% in 2023, reaching 580 million by December, a new report shows. In particular, bitcoin ownership surged 33% while Ethereum saw an even steeper rise of 39%. The report pinpoints the approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol as key drivers of bitcoin adoption growth, alongside strong institutional interest.

Number of Global Cryptocurrency Owners Jumped 34% in 2023

Crypto trading platform Crypto.com published its annual Crypto Market Sizing Report on Monday. The firm explained that the number of crypto owners globally has notably risen despite several macro headwinds, including monetary tightening by Western central banks to curb inflation, ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, and the pandemic’s lingering impacts. Crypto.com detailed:

Global cryptocurrency owners increased by 34% in 2023, rising from 432 million in January to 580 million in December.

Specifically, “Bitcoin (BTC) owners grew by 33%, from 222 million in January to 296 million in December, accounting for 51% of global owners” and “Ethereum (ETH) owners grew by 39%, from 89 million in January to 124 million in December, accounting for 21% of global owners,” the report states.

“The main catalyst behind BTC’s adoption growth was the development in bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the introduction of the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol, which enabled non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and fungible tokens to be minted on the Bitcoin network,” the report explains.

Crypto.com further pointed out:

Strong interest from institutional investors also contributed to the increase in BTC’s adoption.

Regarding Ethereum, the report notes that “ETH’s adoption growth was mainly driven by liquid staking after Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade, which allowed the withdrawals of staked ETH after the transition to the Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 10, including one from Grayscale, which converted its bitcoin trust (GBTC) into an ETF. Since launch, Grayscale has seen major outflows while several other spot bitcoin ETFs, particularly Blackrock’s Ishares Bitcoin Trust, have seen significant inflows.

What do you think about the number of crypto owners globally? Let us know in the comments section below.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has admitted that a SIM swap attack compromised its X account, where a fake announcement about the approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was posted. “The unauthorized party obtained control of the SEC cell phone number associated with the account in an apparent ‘SIM swap’ attack,” the regulator said.

SEC Says It’s a Victim of a SIM Swap Attack

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided an update on Monday regarding the unauthorized access of its @SECGov account on social media platform X. The attack occurred on Jan. 9 and the SEC’s X account was used to post an unauthorized message claiming the agency had approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Notably, the agency had not approved spot bitcoin ETFs at that time.

The securities regulator detailed:

Two days after the incident, in consultation with the SEC’s telecom carrier, the SEC determined that the unauthorized party obtained control of the SEC cell phone number associated with the account in an apparent ‘SIM swap’ attack.

“Once in control of the phone number, the unauthorized party reset the password for the @SECGov account,” the SEC described. The regulator stressed: “Access to the phone number occurred via the telecom carrier, not via SEC systems. SEC staff have not identified any evidence that the unauthorized party gained access to SEC systems, data, devices, or other social media accounts.”

The SEC further shared: “While multi-factor authentication (MFA) had previously been enabled on the @SECGov X account, it was disabled by X Support, at the [SEC] staff’s request, in July 2023 due to issues accessing the account.” The regulator added:

Once access was reestablished, MFA remained disabled until staff reenabled it after the account was compromised on January 9. MFA currently is enabled for all SEC social media accounts that offer it.

The securities watchdog emphasized that the SEC staff continue to coordinate with several law enforcement and federal oversight entities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the SEC’s own Division of Enforcement.

“Among other things, law enforcement is currently investigating how the unauthorized party got the carrier to change the SIM for the account and how the party knew which phone number was associated with the account,” the SEC detailed.

A significant number of SIM swap attacks are targeting crypto investors. Besides the SEC, other notable victims of SIM swap attacks include Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Our guide explains how to avert a SIM swap attack.

What do you think about how the SEC got SIM swapped? Let us know in the comments section below.

PRESS RELEASE. Payu Coin ($PAYU) aims to become the premier platform bringing together meme coins on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Its strategic features set it apart in the competitive market which is often highly volatile and unpredictable with plenty of participants.

What Makes Payu Coin Stand Out?

Firstly, there is the efficiency of BSC. Payu Coin leverages the speed and cost-effectiveness of the Binance Smart Chain, ensuring rapid transactions and minimal fees, establishing it as a go-to platform for crypto enthusiasts.

Another standout characteristic when it comes to Payu Coin is the absence of tax deductions and transaction fees for buying and selling. This user-centric approach enhances the overall experience, making Payu Coin an advantageous choice for traders. Moreover, the platform’s extensive community presence on X, Telegram, Instagram, and TikTok not only fosters a sense of belonging but also showcases the project’s reliability and potential for future success.

Forging A Path To Success

Also, drawing inspiration from successful ventures such as $DOGE in 2020, $SHIB in 2021, $PEPE in 2022, and the ‘Bonk’ meme coins craze last year, Payu Coin aims to forge its own path to success in the financial realm throughout 2024. With a well-defined vision, Payu Coin has set specific targets going forward. The primary goal is to boost its market value to an ambitious level of $0.00000006048 by removing at least two zeros. Following this, the second milestone involves a targeted increase in the average price to $0.0000009072.

In its initial phases, Payu Coin also aims to achieve a market value ranging between $30 million and $50 million. This initial success is seen as a crucial stepping stone towards the coin’s overarching objective of reaching a market value of $500 million. This milestone signifies substantial growth and widespread recognition within the cryptocurrency sphere. As Payu Coin navigates its path, these strategic goals underscore its dedication to making a lasting impact in the evolving landscape of digital currencies.

Is It Safe?

One of the most crucial aspects of any crypto-oriented platform is that of security. Hacks and digital exploits of various kinds are unfortunately commonplace in this burgeoning industry, which is precisely why Payu Coin has taken the bold step of relinquishing ownership, a move designed to secure the future by preventing the creation of new Payu Coins. This commitment to stability and predictability aims to instill confidence among investors.

In addition, with 80% of its total supply permanently locked on PancakeSwap, Payu Coin actively mitigates risks associated with rugpulls, ensuring a secure environment for investors. The platform’s unwavering commitment to security is further highlighted by its 100% trust rating from independent auditing organizations such as Tokensniffer, Quick Intel, Safu, Goplus, and Certik. The completion of KYC verification further solidifies its credibility. Apart from being available on PancakeSwap, $PAYU can also be bought via the MEXC and Bitget exchanges.

What Else Does Payu Coin Offer?

Payu Coin aims to break new ground in the crypto landscape through its innovative applications and ambitious objectives. Serving as a trailblazer in the industry, Payu Coin introduces a Web3-based transfer platform that facilitates seamless cross-border transactions globally. This platform supports a range of wallets, including PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, Skrill, EnPara, and Beem. Notably, PayPayu extends its versatility by accommodating 350 different cryptocurrency wallets, providing users with the flexibility to engage in transactions with a diverse array of cryptocurrencies.

Also, PayPayu collaborates with major meme coins, enabling users to effortlessly make transfers if they hold these coins in their wallets. The innovation continues with the beta testing of the PayPayu App for mobile payment systems, aiming to become the first meme coin facilitating mobile payments and integrating cryptocurrencies into daily transactions.

Looking ahead, Payu Coin has set ambitious goals for itself, aiming to achieve over 300,000 holders and a $50 million market cap by 2024. Plans include listings on major exchanges such as KuCoin, Bybit, Binance, and Coinbase, as well as expanding its social media community to 1 million followers and forging global collaborations with social media companies. The project has allocated a $500,000 budget for advertising and promotion in 2024.

About Payu Coin

Payu Coin emerges as a distinguished player amidst today’s ever-changing crypto landscape dominated by derivative tokens such as $PEPE, $DOGE, $FLOKI, $PITBULL, $QUACK, $HAMSTER, and $SHIBA. Having observed the transient prominence of Inu-themed tokens, Payu Coin now seeks to ascend as the definitive sovereign of the memetic coin realm.

In a deliberate departure from prevailing trends, Payu Coin has been strategically introduced without a presale, ensuring transparency and equitable distribution. With the elimination of taxes alongside the burning of the liquidity pool, $PAYU stands as a coin designed to serve the collective interests of its community, perpetually.

Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Payu Coin holds a cryptocurrency payment and transfer license in California, with intentions to secure licenses in several other states. Beyond its financial scope, the project also ventures into game development, seeking collaborations with major gaming companies to broaden the utility and reach of Payu Coin.

Ultimately,this distinctive memecoin encapsulates an inclusive opportunity for all participants, making it a compelling choice in the vibrant landscape of memecoins. Fueled by the sheer force of memetic influence, $PAYU beckons as a guiding beacon for enthusiasts.

For more detailed information and to explore Payu Coin, please visit the official website as well as its various social media channels for regular updates.

Social Links

Certik Audit;

https://skynet.certik.com/projects/payu

Payu Twitter;

https://twitter.com/payu_coin

Payu Instagram;

https://www.instagram.com/payu.coin/

Payu TikTok;

https://www.tiktok.com/@payu.coin

Payu Telegram;

https://t.me/payu_coin

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.