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The Montana Senate passed a law to protect cryptomining from discrimination. Source:https://incrypted.com/montana-prinyala-zakon-o-zashite-kripto-majnerov/ Project 37-13 is designed to protect domestic mining and enterprises. It prohibits operators from introducing "discriminatory utility tariffs." And mining companies are protected from taxation on mined cryptocurrency. Supporters of the bill believe that the mining business is good for the state's economy. Mining creates new jobs and brings income to the budget. Of course, there were those who opposed the adoption of the law. Traditionally, their arguments have been that mining is bad for the environment and consumes too much energy. Despite the debate, the bill passed first the state House of Representatives and then the Senate. It was signed by Montana Governor Greg Gianforte on May 2. The law was authored by Dennis Porter and the Satoshi Action Fund. In general, Montana has become a popular region for cryptocurrency mining. Two factors coincided here — low electricity tariffs and favorable climatic conditions for equipment operation. It is important that the state approves the development of the crypto...

The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading draft law No. 8137 aimed at improving the procedures for the administration of taxation of controlled foreign companies (CFCs). The explanatory note to the bill states that it aims to make the administrative procedures for disclosure of information about controlled foreign companies simpler and more sophisticated, which will ultimately ensure a better balance between public and private interests. What is interesting? Notification of KIK Fines for failure to submit CIC notifications for the period from January 1, 2022 to the date of entry into force of the draft law shall not be applied. The fine for failure to submit a notice of CIC was reduced from 300 to 50 minimums (from 802 to 134 thousand). Please note that a fine has been introduced for late submission of the notification. For each day of delay, you will have to pay 1 minimum (2,684 UAH in 2023), but the maximum fine is no more than 25 minimums. That is, if the notification is overdue by 100 days, the fine will be a maximum of 25 minimum - UAH 67,100. The acquisition of ownership and/or control over KIK must be reported within 60 calendar days. Previously, there was no...

The Executive Board of the World Bank has approved Ajay Banga as President. Interestingly, this is the former CEO of Mastercard. He was Chairman Emeritus of the International Chamber of Commerce, serving as Acting Chairman for 2020-2022, and co-founded the Cyber Readiness Institute and served as Vice Chairman of the Economic Club of New York. Source:https://finbalance.com.ua/news/novim-hlavoyu-svitovoho-banku-stav-eks-kerivnik-mastercard "I sincerely congratulate Ajay Banga on his election as the president of the World Bank. Ajay Banga will bring to this important position the necessary leadership and management skills, experience of living and working in emerging markets, as well as knowledge in the financial sphere," said the head of the US Treasury Department. She also added that Ajay Banga is leading the World Bank at a critical moment in its existence: "Ajay understands that the challenges we face - from tackling climate change, pandemics and fragility, to eradicating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity - are deeply interconnected." The candidacy for the position of the head of the World Bank is proposed by the President of the United States, and...

Payments giant Mastercard has announced that it is working on a new set of Mastercard Crypto Credential standards with Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Polygon and the Solana Foundation. The main goal of the initiative is to strengthen the trust of consumers, businesses and governments in this sector. "Building trust in the blockchain ecosystem is the most important step towards realizing its full potential," said Raj Damodharan, Executive Vice President of Digital Assets at Mastercard. "A new set of standards ensures that those interested in interacting in the Web3 environment meet certain standards for the activities they want to do." The Mastercard Crypto Credential aims to create a set of common standards and infrastructure that will help validate the trustworthiness of interactions between consumers and businesses using the blockchain. While Aptos Labs, Polygon, Ava Labs, and Solana will help bring the standards to app developers in their ecosystems, wallet providers Bit2Me, Lirium, Mercado Bitcoin, and Uphold will begin using new tools as part of an initial project to enable cross-border transfers between the U.S. and Latin countries America and the Caribbean. "Together we will...

The sale, which includes long-term mortgages and securities, aims to reduce the mismatch between the bank's assets and liabilities. Source:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-25/first-republic-said-to-weigh-up-to-100-billion-in-asset-sales Potential buyers, including major US banks, could receive guarantees or preferred shares as an incentive to buy assets above market value, one source said. The day after First Republic reported earnings well below analysts' estimates, investors are fully aware of the challenges facing the bank. The lender is trying to bolster its balance sheet to avoid a FDC arrest and clear the way for a possible capital increase, the source said. The source added that the US government may need to assist in negotiations with some of the largest banks in the country to stabilize the lender while it is bailing out. This would be a much cheaper alternative than bankrupting the company. First Republic shares tumbled 23% in early New York trading on Wednesday, after falling on Tuesday halved its market value to $1.5 billion. In early March, the bank's value exceeded $22 billion. In addition to selling assets, the bank also plans to focus on loans...

Bitpanda Technology Solutions, Europe's leading investment-as-a-service platform, and Austrian-based Raiffeisenlandesbank have reached an agreement to explore ways to offer digital assets to their clients. Raiffeisenlandesbank, which also has a presence in Europe, breaks new ground in the development of innovative investment solutions. Source:https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/raiffeisenlandesbank-becomes-the-first-major-traditional-european-bank-to-move-into-digital-assets-in-partnership-with-bitpanda/ “In the spirit of absolute customer orientation, we support our customers as a reliable and strong partner. Personal advice is just as important as modern digital solutions,” said Michael Hellerer, CEO of Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien: “The Bitpanda deal aims to expand our product range with an innovative and secure aspect and make it easy for everyone to accumulate wealth.” RLB NÖ-Wien is set to become the first traditional bank in the European Union to include cryptocurrencies and other asset classes in its digital investment offering. Bitpanda will provide a SaaS trading infrastructure to achieve this goal quickly and securely. “We have created Bitpanda technology...

In March, Italy's Council of Ministers approved a set of general principles and criteria for future reform. Source:https://internationalwealth.info/offshore-tax/v-italii-nachalas-masshtabnaja-nalogovaja-reforma/ What changes might follow? complete overhaul of classical taxes (IRES, НДС и IRPEF); reduction in the number of deductions; refusal of criminal penalties for tax evasion associated with objective reasons beyond the control of the taxpayer. The government hopes the changes will make the system more manageable and make it easier to tackle tax evasion, which cost the country €90bn in 2020, according to the latest Treasury data.. Innovations will also affect the system of taxation of individuals. The Italian government wants to establish a single range of fiscal benefits and the same tax, regardless of the category of income received: wage labor; self-employment; business; real estate; agriculture; finance; other. Interestingly, it is planned to reduce the tax on income of companies and organizations from 24% to 15%. And it will be possible to receive a benefit if legal entities within two tax periods are...

The double tax treaty between Denmark and Russia has been in force since 1996. Now the Danish government has begun consultations to end it. Such a bill was introduced in Denmark on April 20, 2023. The decision is due to the fact that Russia was blacklisted by the EU. What does it mean? The inclusion of an aggressor country on the EU "black list" immediately limits its cooperation with international financial organizations. As of January 30, 2023, there were 12 countries and territories on the EU "black list": American Samoa, Anguilla, Bahamas, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu, and on February 14, 2023, the Council of the European Union updated the blacklist to include the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands and Russia. The agreement is expected to end in 2024. Tax Minister Jeppe Bruus commented: “This is contrary to the general considerations that Denmark usually pursues when concluding double tax treaties. Namely, that Denmark has an agreement with a country on the black list of EU tax havens. Therefore, after a specific assessment, the Government decided to terminate the agreement....

Recently, the EU Parliament approved the licensing of cryptocurrencies and the rules for transferring funds. Legislators voted for a new cryptocurrency licensing regime - MiCA. A separate law, known as the Funds Transfer Ordinance, has also been enacted, which requires crypto operators to identify their customers (in an attempt to stop money laundering). The vote followed debate in which lawmakers heavily supported plans to force cryptocurrency wallet providers and exchanges to seek a license to operate across the block and require issuers of stablecoins pegged to the value of other assets to maintain sufficient reserves. In a tweet, Mairead McGuinness of the European Commission called the vote "a first in the world" on cryptocurrency rules. “We protect consumers, ensure financial stability and market integrity,” McGuinness said. "The rules will start to apply from next...