EU Passes Data Act to Enable Smart Contract Kill Switch

European Union (EU) legislators have consented to proceed with the contentious European Data Act, which has drawn censure from the crypto sector before. The action, intended to motivate the more extensive utilization of data assets to prepare calculations, would adjust the EU’s standards on savvy agreements to incorporate a kill switch alternative that would permit them to be securely finished. Obviously, this goes against the fundamental thought of trust in savvy contracts.

The European Commission recently proposed a legislative plan for a digital euro, with the intention of making it a widely accepted and easily accessible form of payment. The statement highlighted the importance of allowing individuals to acquire digital euros through their banks, so as to guarantee convenient access and prevent people from being excluded. The plan also includes provisions for free basic digital euro services, privacy safeguards, and offline payments.

The outlook for crypto in Europe is not entirely negative, particularly at the regional level. For instance, the National Council of Slovakia recently passed a law amendment that will reduce the personal income tax on profits from the sale of crypto held by an individual for a minimum of one year to 7%, a considerable drop from the present sliding scale of 19% or 25%. Additionally, payments of up to 2,400 euros ($2,600) acquired in crypto will not be taxed.

Coinbase seeks dismissal of SEC suit, claims extraordinary abuse of process

Coinbase, the American cryptocurrency exchange, has submitted a motion to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) complaint in the ongoing legal dispute. In a legal document presented to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Coinbase questioned the SEC’s interpretation of securities laws, implying that the agency had overstepped its legal bounds.

The motion to dismiss asserts that even if the facts in the lawsuit are accurate, the plaintiff does not possess a valid legal claim. Coinbase’s legal team declared in the filing: “Even if the SEC is correct that the assets and services it identifies are within the scope of its existing regulatory authority, this [legal] action should be dismissed on independent grounds as it infringes upon Coinbase’s due process rights and is a remarkable misuse of process.”

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Kraken ordered by court to disclose user data to IRS

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has mandated that crypto exchange Kraken supply the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with account and transaction data. The IRS asserted that it requires this information to decide if any of the exchange’s users have not reported their taxes correctly. Kraken is obliged to give the IRS details about users who have conducted transactions of more than $20,000 in a single year, including names (real or pseudonyms), birthdates, taxpayer identification numbers, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other documents.

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Crypto ‘regulatory approach isn’t needed now’ in New Zealand

Ian Woolford, Director of Money and Cash at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), declared that “no regulatory measures are needed at present”, though more vigilance is necessary. Alongside Woolford’s statement was a summary of 50 responses to an earlier RBNZ paper on crypto and decentralized finance. It appears that the RBNZ is waiting to observe how other jurisdictions regulate crypto before taking its own steps. Meanwhile, the country ranks 108th out of 146 in the Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index.

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