Even though it is mandatory to declare BTC holdings abroad, the penalties are less severe. The Court of Justice of the EU annulled the Model 720 sanctions regime last month.

The Ministry of Finance of Spain recently amended the law requiring citizens to declare their holdings of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies on foreign exchanges. That rule imposed strict sanctions that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made illegal last month.

The socialist caucus in the Spanish Senate introduced a couple of minor changes that eliminated the sanctions against those not declaring their assets abroad. According to local media, Model 720 and the later Model 721 established those penalties.

Although the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, said they annulled the sentences, the declaration was still in force. In addition, she announced that the government department would rewrite the legislation before March 31^st. The CJEU had given them that deadline to edit the ordinance.

The Treasury of Spain advanced the procedures before the Senate, based on the Bill that modifies the Corporation Tax. Montero announced that they would change the sanctions against those not declaring their assets abroad, which date back a decade. However, the truth is that they eliminated that issue from the Spanish legal system.

The information return is still mandatory, and the sanctions in force will draw on the General Tax Law (LGT). For example, that rule imposes fines of up to 200 EUR for not declaring holdings of cryptocurrencies abroad. Besides, citizens have to pay up to 150 EUR for not doing it in the established period.

Tax economist José Antonio Bravo explained that the LGT would govern the penalties after the CJEU annuls the Model 720 and Model 721 sanctions regime.

The Treasury representative explained that the sentence would be four to five years for the tax crime and up to 10 for the aggravated tax crime.

A Clear Difference in the Changes in the Law and the Sanctions

There is a clear difference in the changes in the law and its respective sanctions with the previous version. Model 720, introduced by former Minister of Finance Cristóbal Montoro in 2012, imposed severe sanctions against those not declaring their holdings of assets abroad. That government department later copied that to Model 721, an identical piece of legislation, which added cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Those who did not declare their goods automatically in the established period received sanctions ranging from EUR 100 for each asset. There were also fines going from EUR 5,000 to EUR 10,000 for each item undeclared or erroneously declared.

The allocation of assets not declared by Spanish citizens added to that situation. Besides, the law imposed taxes of 150% on the taxes resulting from the imputation.

That led the CJEU to state that those penalties were too repressive. The fines could even cause the total amount to exceed 100% of the total value of the assets abroad. The organization considers that the sanctions regime infringed the principles of the European Union.

By Alexander Salazar

The analysts from the bank consider Bitcoin must face its volatility and its boom-bust cycles, which hinder institutional adoption. While Russian authorities announced they would treat cryptocurrencies as currency analogs, Ireland could ban retail investors from interacting with the industry.

American investment bank JP Morgan recently said that the actual value of Bitcoin (BTC) is about 12% below the current trading price. In that regard, the strategists from the entity estimate that it is USD 38,000, based on its volatility compared to gold.

The analysts from JP Morgan have stated that the biggest challenge that the pioneering cryptocurrency must face is precisely its volatility. Besides, they believe that its boom-bust cycles prevent the further development of institutional adoption.

Although that analysis refers to Bitcoin in the short term, the specialists are more optimistic in the long run. The leader of the strategists, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, places the long-term theoretical target for its actual value at USD 150,000, compared to USD 146,000 last year.

The Government and the Central Bank of Russia Will Treat Bitcoin as a Currency

In recent days, the Russian government and central bank announced that they reached an agreement on regulating cryptocurrencies. In that sense, they are currently working on a bill that they will release next week.

They will define in the draft law that cryptocurrencies are currency analogs rather than digital financial assets. They stated that people could only use them in the legal sector if the banking system or authorized intermediaries give them a complete identification.

Irish Central Bank Bans Retail Funds from Investing in cryptocurrencies

The Central Bank of Ireland recently made statements about cryptocurrency investments that could affect how retail investors interact with the industry.

In its annual Securities Markets Risk Outlook report, the bank said it was highly improbable to allow retail investments in the cryptocurrency market.

They specifically refer to funds regulated by Ireland, aimed at non-professional investors, including Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and alternative investment funds (AIF).

The former invest in securities, and the European Union regulates them. They target retail investors and represent about three-quarters of the funds domiciled in Ireland.

The Price of Bitcoin Is in the Profit-Taking Zone with a Ceiling at USD 45,000

Although the bulls want to confirm a pullback in the trend, analysts consider that the price is in a profit-taking zone. The latter said that they expect USD 45,000 to stand as a resistance.

The price action of Bitcoin continues to tempt investors. Besides, the concerns over the global economy and rising inflation raised warnings that the upcoming interest rate hikes by the Fed could further hurt the market.

The value of BTC has hovered around the USD 43,000 support after rebounding by 20% from USD 37,000 over the past week.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 42,260 and has accumulated a profit of 1.5% in the last week. Its daily trading volume is above USD 19.76 billion, and its market capitalization is about USD 802.30 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

The value of BTC continues to rise in the Latin American market, with Colombia leading the countries with the best variation

The adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) in Latin America continues to rise. Despite the fall it had last week to within the range of USD 33,000, leading the market to a sharp decline, this asset managed to recover.

In the main LATAM markets, data shows that Bitcoin continues to rise. The evidence is the rise that this cryptocurrency has had in the past week. The cryptocurrency, over the weekend, broke immediate resistance at the 40k line again and crossed $44,000, up +5.9%, leaving a 30% gain from the Jan 24^th floor. , which shows the recovery of investors’ positions towards these digital assets.

Experts mention that this cryptoactive has shown signs of recovery, after spending five consecutive days above the USD 40,000 barrier, so the gaze of analysts is directed at the price of BTC above USD 46,000 since, for early 2021, the cryptocurrency was trading at that price.

What follows is a summary of the price of Bitcoin in the main markets of LATAM.

Argentina

The price of Bitcoin in Argentina rose by one million Argentine Pesos (ARS), compared to the last analysis carried out.

The cryptocurrency is valued above 9 million ARS, both for purchase and for sale, reflecting a negative variation of -0.88%, showing a slightly upward fluctuation of +5.83% in relation to the weekend trading price, according to crypto asset trading platform Ripio.

Colombia

According to the exchange of cryptocurrency operations Buda.com, the price of Bitcoin in Colombia is above 170 million Colombian pesos (COP), rising +14% in relation to the last study reported, and 15% compared to the price that closed seven days ago.

Chile

In the past seven days, The Chilean cryptocurrency market has experienced a variation in the price of BTC. According to the platform Buda.com, in the last 24 hours, the cryptoactive has had a slight rise of +1%, compared to the rise it suffered seven days ago of +21.6%.

The data shows that on this market, the cryptocurrency has a value of 36,418,137 Chilean Pesos (CLP), which represents a 24% increase.

Mexico

Compared to the last analysis carried out on the cryptocurrency in Mexico, it has suffered a decline. According to data presented by the Bitso exchange, the cryptocurrency in the last 24 hours has had a trading volume of 92.20 BTC and is trading at a price of 912,137.70 Mexican Pesos (MXN).

Venezuela

Although this is one of the LATAM markets with the highest adoption of cryptocurrencies, the value of the BTC has shown no variation in relation to the last analysis carried out.

The cryptocurrency current sale value is 258,085.30 Bolívares (VES) and for purchase, 19,438.50 Bolívares (VES), marking a difference gap between the purchase and sale of the digital currency of 238,646.8 Bolivars (VES).

The evidence suggests that LATAM has a potential for investors in cryptocurrencies. Developing countries worldwide seem to be enthusiastically embracing cryptocurrencies, as reported by the last cryptocurrency report from Finder, a financial product comparison website. The trend of consumers in emerging markets where they have turned to cryptocurrencies, can help protect savings that they might otherwise lose because of economic turmoil, or as it is currently happening, due to the effects of the world pandemic caused by COVID-19.

By Audy Castaneda

Bitcoin outperforms bears as $1,800 losses turn into even stronger gains at the start of Wall Street trade

Bitcoin (BTC) fell immediately following the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on Feb. 10, in a surprise move that deflated bulls.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked the BTC/USD pair as it fell $1,800 after January’s CPI hit 7.5%.

Despite being 0.2% higher than expected, rising inflation did not have the positive impact on risk assets like Bitcoin that characterized the past few months.

Given the pace of year-over-year price increases, analysts argued, the Federal Reserve may now have more impetus to start raising interest rates sooner.

Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe asserted that “US consumer price index (CPI) results are coming in at 7.5% year over year, expectations were 7.3% year over year. DXY is skyrocketing and risky assets are falling like Bitcoin and stocks.”

Trader and analyst Scott Melker, known as the “Wolf of All Streets”, was unimpressed by the market. On Feb. 10, he posted on Twitter that he thought, “Bitcoin was supposed to go up whenever they admit that inflation is bad, but instead people dump it because they are afraid the Fed will actually try to deal with inflation.”

For economist Lyn Alden, however, the cash savers are the ones who feel the real pain with inflation. Alongside a chart, he noted that “Official inflation currently has its largest gap over short-term interest rates since 1951.”

BTC price recovers above $44,000

As soon as Wall Street trading began on February 2, Bitcoin not only reversed its losses, but it hit a higher high of nearly $45,400. BTC/USD also avoided a recent support retest, with $42,000 still less to see a retest.

Previously, Cointelegraph reported on the likely resistance zones now in play for the bulls to battle to continue higher.

“A Bitcoin uptrend in the face of macro uncertainty would be quite powerful. It changes the TradFi court narrative with BTC as a risky asset to a mere story of global adoption and ensuing game theory. I have to wonder how many macro brothers have unloaded inventory for now,” analyst William Clemente, added recently via Twitter.

Clemente has also asserted that “I can’t think of any other asset I’d want to hold during times of geopolitical uncertainty than Bitcoin.”

Market analyst Lark Davis believes that BTC has retested as it is still trading above the 50-day moving average.

Davis had previously pointed out that the price above the 50-day moving average was bullish, but its viability depended on how the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) planned interest rate hike would play out. He mentioned that, “50 day moving average resumed for Bitcoin. The last two times we crossed this line, BTC was up 54% and up 47%. If history rhymes, then we could see BTC rallying into the 60k range in the coming weeks.” He noted on Twitter, “The last two breakouts of the 50-day moving average lasted 40 and 46 days until we saw spikes form for the price of Bitcoin. So, new high for BTC at the end of March?”

Meanwhile, market insight provider Santiment claims that “Bitcoin mega whales have accumulated significantly in the last 7 weeks. Addresses with 1,000 BTC or more added a combined 220,000 BTC to their combined wallets since December 23, the fastest accumulation we have seen since September 2019.”

By Audy Castaneda

Exchange Stablecoin Reserve Hits $27 Billion as Bitcoin Approaches “Fair Value” of $50 Billion

Stablecoins emerged to combat the volatility of conventional cryptocurrencies by pegging their value to that of a (traditional) fiat currency like the US dollar or a physical asset like gold. As long as a stablecoin associates with an asset whose value remains stable, that coin will as well.

That helps explain why cryptocurrency exchanges now have more stablecoins on their books than ever before, in a new sign that investors are waiting to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins.

Data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that this week total exchange stablecoin reserves have surpassed 27 billion for the first time. CryptoQuant data analyzes a total of 43 derivatives and retail trading platforms.

Exchange users accumulate stablecoins in their accounts

After reaching a previous peak in late December, stablecoin reserves fell in early 2022, as the BTC/USD and altcoin markets fell in tandem to multi-month lows.

In recent weeks, however, the trend has reversed, with exchange users sending more to their accounts than at any time in history through Feb. 9.

Therefore, the liquid capital for potential deployment in cryptocurrencies from exchanges has never been greater.

As for the BTC reserves in the 21 exchanges monitored by the company, the trend is one of the continuous withdrawals, even after the Bitcoin spot price has increased by almost 50% since the third week of January.

On February 9, exchanges had 2.361 million BTC available.

Supply Shock model leaves $5,000 gains open for BTC

A supply shock is an unexpected event that changes the supply of a product or commodity, resulting in a sudden change in price. As demand for BTC persists through recent gains, popular analyst Willy Woo argued that the current fair market value of Bitcoin is $50,000.

Pointing to his Supply Shock Valuation metric, Woo showed that although it had declined in January, it was still above spot price movements even after recent successes.

On Twitter a couple of days ago, Woo stated that “I put it at $50k, would love to see their models, assuming they have any.”

The Supply Shock determines the market price of Bitcoin when supply was at similar levels at a given time.

“In market conditions when the Supply Shock is within recent historical levels, it is possible to model a fundamental price. We simply go back through the previous times the market had a similar Supply Shock and then find the set of prices recently allocated by the market,” Woo explained at a presentation of the tool last year.

Stablecoins have increasingly become popular, as they derive their value from some underlying external asset, like the U.S. dollar or the price of gold. That makes them different from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which is tied to being “mined” by computers.

Investors will continue to use stablecoins as a means to keep money in their digital wallets that is less volatile than Bitcoin, giving them one less reason to need a bank account.

In a recent paper, Katherine Foster and other researchers highlighted that stablecoins have the potential to facilitate secure and convenient transactions without volatility at a lower cost than mobile money held in a wide variety of non-bank wallets.

All of this points to the idea that stablecoins offer advantages and are likely to stay in future days to come.

By Audy Castaneda