Bitcoins - about to hit $5,000 per coin today!

[Bindare_Dundat]

https://decrypt.co/57720/ethereum-nft-market-primed-for-explosive-growth-in-2021

Ethereum NFT Market Primed for Explosive Growth in 2021

From virtual land to digital art, a comprehensive, new study delves into the booming market for non-fungible tokens.

A new report on the exploding market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) reveals that transactions tripled in 2020, reaching more than $250 million in total.

Known as NFTs, these unique digital assets, which exist on the Ethereum blockchain, can be anything from BBC-branded Dr Who trading cards and Ubisoft Raving Rabbids tokens to luxury art pieces.

The biggest sale to date is a set of plots of virtual land, which went for $1.5 million on blockchain game Axie Infinity last week.

The market saw astonishing growth last year, with use cases expanding, buyers vastly exceeding sellers, and plenty of traders making six-digit profits, according to the report, which was released today by leading NFT analysis firm NonFungible.com and foresight business, L’Atelier.

According to the data, the total value of all NFT transactions (which includes sales and all other transactions, such as “breeding” Cryptokitties, “minting” tokens, and renting virtual space) increased from over $62 million in 2019 to in excess of $250 million in 2020.

In 2020, NFT art sales alone grew by 2,800%, per the report, and big brands like Turner Sports and watchmaker Breitling have jumped aboard, making the asset class firmly mainstream.

“Traditional brands like Nike, Louis Vuitton, and Formula 1 are already spearheading the first generation of commercial uses for NFTs,” Nadya Ivanova, chief operating officer at L’Atelier, told Decrypt.

“We expect to see more brands entering and investing more resources in this space as they find new ways to engage virtually, and profitably, with their customers via NFTs,” she added.

The new report finds that NFTs are “primed to become a leading emerging asset class for the Virtual Economy in the years ahead, both in terms of their financial value and their practical uses, and a major driver of economic activity in virtual worlds.”

And major financial players are quickly moving in on this trend and  “seizing the opportunity to capitalize on a broader shift to virtual finance already evident in the rise of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance,” according to Ivanova.

I just don't get it. 1.5 million for virtual land? Wtf? Some people have way too much money.  As a matter of fact I think if you spend that kind of money on Pokémon cards and similar stuff as an adult, you should be forced to give away the same amount to some shelter or some shit.

Billionaire child mentalities. Go figure.

[SOMEPARTS]

This reminds me of when silver  was having a run. As I passed by a church, two old ladies were coming out and one said to the other that silver was $50. I knew then that it was near the top.😂

The whole gamestop/robinhood situation should be instructive for those that think they are "winning" against the house.

There is a reason that crypto is being allowed to exist by those that control the money supply. They have gone to war in the past over competition...real war. You have to ask yourself why is everything in finances fake right now...reset, ban cash, beta run for fedcoin, etc.

Several pages back I asked if the code for a certain crypto could be blocked at a high level of internet...ISPs etc. I researched that....it's port based so it can be. One law passed by govt and it's game over. I think that level of counterparty risk should be known, but tulipmania continues.

[Griffith]

https://cryptonews.com/news/eth-insanely-cheap-defi-to-rally-btc-dominance-to-drop-pante-9197.htm

ETH 'Insanely Cheap,' DeFi To Rally, BTC Dominance to Drop - Pantera Capital CIO

Even after its recent strong rally, the second-largest cryptoasset by market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH) is "insanely cheap" and can still rally 5-10x, while bitcoin (BTC) dominance willl go down due to ETH and DeFi assets, according to Joey Krug, Co-chief Investment Officer (CIO) at US-based major crypto investment company Pantera Capital.

"It’s an insanely cheap asset compared to anything else in the public markets with that kind of growth relative to its revenue multiple. It’s not entirely crazy to see Ethereum being able to 5–10x from here, especially when compared to traditional equities markets."

"We think that similar to the last cycle, Bitcoin dominance (BTC’s percent of overall market cap in the space) will eventually go down into the forties again. In our view, the primary beneficiaries are likely to be Ethereum and Ethereum based decentralized finance assets, as well as eventually DeFi assets on other chains like Polkadot later in the year."

The CIO said that DeFi assets are "only *4%* of the total cryptocurrency market cap."

"By the end of this cycle, we think they could potentially be 20%, or a relative outperformance of 5x," he added.

Also, he estimates that as the market gains confidence that DeFi is here to stay and isn’t a fad, multiples will go up too, and things will begin to be valued by price/revenue/growth in DeFi.

"I think multiples could expand 4–5x across the board from here. As the protocols get more liquidity and their valuations go up, they also become more useful," Krug said, adding that Pantera believes that DeFi "is the best opportunity in the crypto space since Bitcoin and Ether themselves."

[Mayday]

Does it matter? If it goes down,  its considered a loss, if it goes up ,ill have to pay taxes on the gains. Whether I stall on paying taxes or not by going into stable coins is irrelevant,  no? if you make money you'll eventually pay taxes. I've tried to find ways to lower the burden but haven't found anything to date.

Do you just plan on going from one coin to another? Aren't you planning on selling for dollars at some point?

Of course, I'm not an expert in this field so if anyone knows better I'm all ears.

Omemorerep would be good for this one I think.

A taxable transaction is an entry and an exit. A buy and a sell. It doesn’t matter if you sell ETH for BTC or XRP or USDT, a sell is a sell.

Once you sell, tax is due at the end of that financial year.

The only way to avoid tax on crypto is to send your coin from an exchange to a wallet and then sell to some random person for cash or product. Or use exchanges based in another country but that may still have challenges when you try to convert back to dollars and you will get flagged anyway.

Move to the Cayman Islands or Monaco?

Or do what I am doing which is to delay doing my tax return while I leave the tax payment in an offset account which will let me have zero interest loans.

[Bindare_Dundat]

A taxable transaction is an entry and an exit. A buy and a sell. It doesn’t matter if you sell ETH for BTC or XRP or USDT, a sell is a sell.

Once you sell, tax is due at the end of that financial year.

The only way to avoid tax on crypto is to send your coin from an exchange to a wallet and then sell to some random person for cash or product. Or use exchanges based in another country but that may still have challenges when you try to convert back to dollars and you will get flagged anyway.

Move to the Cayman Islands or Monaco?

Or do what I am doing which is to delay doing my tax return while I leave the tax payment in an offset account which will let me have zero interest loans.

Can you please go into more detail on this?

[loco]

[obsidian]

https://cryptonews.com/news/eth-insanely-cheap-defi-to-rally-btc-dominance-to-drop-pante-9197.htm

ETH 'Insanely Cheap,' DeFi To Rally, BTC Dominance to Drop - Pantera Capital CIO

Even after its recent strong rally, the second-largest cryptoasset by market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH) is "insanely cheap" and can still rally 5-10x, while bitcoin (BTC) dominance willl go down due to ETH and DeFi assets, according to Joey Krug, Co-chief Investment Officer (CIO) at US-based major crypto investment company Pantera Capital.

"It’s an insanely cheap asset compared to anything else in the public markets with that kind of growth relative to its revenue multiple. It’s not entirely crazy to see Ethereum being able to 5–10x from here, especially when compared to traditional equities markets."

"We think that similar to the last cycle, Bitcoin dominance (BTC’s percent of overall market cap in the space) will eventually go down into the forties again. In our view, the primary beneficiaries are likely to be Ethereum and Ethereum based decentralized finance assets, as well as eventually DeFi assets on other chains like Polkadot later in the year."

The CIO said that DeFi assets are "only *4%* of the total cryptocurrency market cap."

"By the end of this cycle, we think they could potentially be 20%, or a relative outperformance of 5x," he added.

Also, he estimates that as the market gains confidence that DeFi is here to stay and isn’t a fad, multiples will go up too, and things will begin to be valued by price/revenue/growth in DeFi.

"I think multiples could expand 4–5x across the board from here. As the protocols get more liquidity and their valuations go up, they also become more useful," Krug said, adding that Pantera believes that DeFi "is the best opportunity in the crypto space since Bitcoin and Ether themselves."

I am very positive about Ethereum. There are a lot of developers working on it. Yes they have a lot of issues to resolve and are working on getting it done. Cardano also has huge potential. I have both in my portfolio. I plan to branch out into a few other DEFI tokens. And eventually Bitcoin - when Ethereum makes up real ground with Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a store of value I agree. I should have loaded up on Bitcoin when Ethereum peaked at 15% of Bitcoin. I think it could go back to 10% at some point. 3.75% is a great opportunity.

[obsidian]

Can you please go into more detail on this?

X2

[Mayday]

It’s nothing fancy.

In my country we have to lodge our tax return. I can delay my lodgement for say 1-2yrs without any issue.

let’s say I owe $1M from an asset sale. Instead of lodging on time I delay that for 1yr. I take out a loan which has an offset account attached (money in the offset deducts the interest eg 100k in offset subtracts 100k from the principle therefore I get 100k with no interest attached) and then I use money elsewhere for what is effectively an interest free loan. Do that for 1-2yrs without any major
Problems. If you start to go over that the tax office will charge interest which is generally at a market rate.

In saying that you still need to be careful what you do with the tax money so you don’t lose it.


Some people in 2017 sold their BTC into ripple or something else thinking they avoided tax. Next thing they get a 5M tax bill from the tax authorities who have their sale details from the regulated exchange. To make it worse some of them were in coins that crashed and the tax year refreshed so they couldn’t declare their losses against the 5M so they wound up having a paltry amount instead of the 5M.

If you have small tiny amounts it probably isn’t a problem. 5k they may not look into. The risk is if they do flag you then you repay the tax PLUS a fine which might be larger than the tax.

[Bindare_Dundat]

It’s nothing fancy.

In my country we have to lodge our tax return. I can delay my lodgement for say 1-2yrs without any issue.

let’s say I owe $1M from an asset sale. Instead of lodging on time I delay that for 1yr. I take out a loan which has an offset account attached (money in the offset deducts the interest eg 100k in offset subtracts 100k from the principle therefore I get 100k with no interest attached) and then I use money elsewhere for what is effectively an interest free loan. Do that for 1-2yrs without any major
Problems. If you start to go over that the tax office will charge interest which is generally at a market rate.

In saying that you still need to be careful what you do with the tax money so you don’t lose it.


Some people in 2017 sold their BTC into ripple or something else thinking they avoided tax. Next thing they get a 5M tax bill from the tax authorities who have their sale details from the regulated exchange. To make it worse some of them were in coins that crashed and the tax year refreshed so they couldn’t declare their losses against the 5M so they wound up having a paltry amount instead of the 5M.

If you have small tiny amounts it probably isn’t a problem. 5k they may not look into. The risk is if they do flag you then you repay the tax PLUS a fine which might be larger than the tax.

But wait one moment. If you didn't realize the gains in dollars how can you be taxed on any of it? I cant pay taxes in xrp or buy anything else with xrp ,so how can the tax collector collect tax on a crypto currency that hasn't been converted to dollars and still.sits on an exchange?

Or did you mean to say they cashed out their xrp and had to pay taxes, because that seems to make alot more sense.

I'm still not sure what loans youre talking about with offset accounts? Can you give some examples? Thank you.

[obsidian]

[Mayday]

But wait one moment. If you didn't realize the gains in dollars how can you be taxed on any of it? I cant pay taxes in xrp or buy anything else with xrp ,so how can the tax collector collect tax on a crypto currency that hasn't been converted to dollars and still.sits on an exchange?

Or did you mean to say they cashed out their xrp and had to pay taxes, because that seems to make alot more sense.

I'm still not sure what loans youre talking about with offset accounts? Can you give some examples? Thank you.

See this is where a heap of people got wrecked thinking that because they didn’t exit to fiat then it technically has no value.

We are trading on regulated exchanges, not at a garage sale.

It is all reported and tracked. Everything has a value. If you purchased XRP with your BTC at 12pm Sunday then at 12pm a Sunday your BTC was valued at $48,500 on the exchange and that is it’s sell value for tax purposes.

People got utterly wrecked thinking by not going into fiat they avoided taxes. You get a tax bill because you exited the asset which can be tracked and assigned a value to your purchase price. It doesn’t matter what you move into whether that is fiat, crypto, tether, gold because the time you exit your holding is when it is assigned a value in currency and tax is applied.

The only way around the system is to keep out of the system. Or buy stuff with crypto and send it to a wallet but even then the wallet to wallet transfers will be banned shortly as the price increases.

Like I have said here many times, if you want BTC to 1M then you need regulation in order to get the wealthy to come and play. Regulation is a bull flag!

[obsidian]

https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-fundamentals-signal-2-000-eth-price-is-closer-than-it-seems

In the early hours of Feb. 15, Ether (ETH) price plunged to $1,660, followed by a 9% recovery within 10 hours. The move triggered $280 million in futures contracts liquidations, indicating excessive leverage from longs.

Although the initial anxiety regarding CME's ETH futures launch on Feb. 8 seems to have faded, sustained excessive transaction fees might have undermined investors' confidence. Nevertheless, the fundamentals behind Ethereum remain solid, indicating ETH price should promptly recover from eventual dips.

Even though the above metric might be interpreted positively, not every user can afford a $12 fee. A simple token swap on decentralized exchanges (DEX) can cost hundreds of dollars in gas fees, leaving small traders no choice but to abandon the network.

Multiple proponents are testing sharding and layer-two solutions to circumvent this issue, including Skale and Optimistic Network. Eth2 will use sharding to split the blockchain into several parts and increase the number of transactions the network can process at once.

Total value locked remains in an uptrend

The phenomenal growth of total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance projects can't be disregarded. The adjusted metric attempts to clean readings from ETH price increases, therefore providing more reliable data.

As depicted above, the 34% increase over the past 30 days falls in line with ETH's 38% gain in February. Regardless of the transaction fees, there is still value created by automated market-making pools and staking mechanisms.

To better understand whether the recent crash reflects a potential local top and subsequent downtrend movement, one needs further data. Besides price action and technical analysis, investors should also gauge on-chain metrics such as network use. An excellent place to start is analyzing transactions and transfer value.

Coin Metrics data shows the 14-day average transactions and transfers rallying above $9 billion in daily transactions, a 32% increase from the previous month. This significant increase in transaction and transfer value signals strength and suggests that Ether's price is sustainable at the current levels.

Exchange withdrawals indicate long-term holding

Although there is no consensus among analysts on the short-term price impact of exchange withdrawals, its effect is either neutral or bullish. The opposite movement, large continuous inflows, is the only bearish scenario, as it indicates holders' willingness to sell.


ETH/USD price (black) vs. exchanges ETH reserve (red). Source: CryptoQuant

From Jan. 1 to Feb. 15, roughly 600,000 ETH was withdrawn from exchanges. Regardless of if whales are transferring to cold wallets or putting Ether into the DeFi ecosystem, those coins are less likely to be sold in the short term.

Considering this movement happened while Ethereum made a $1,870 all-time high, the indicator indicates holders' confidence.

To conclude, based on both on-chain metrics and trading perspective, there are encouraging signals that $2,000 is within reach and that dips are being bought up aggressively.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

[obsidian]

Bullish on stablecoins??? For usage as a utility yes. For increase in value, NO. Their whole inherent value proposition is that they stay "stable" as an exact peg to a fiat currency. So their usage will go up, but their value will actually drop over time, Ie - it will over time cost more in a stable coin, to buy the same Bitcoin.

Eth is a utility. Not a store of value. That does not stop some confusing the two though and trading Eth like a store of value. Which is what we are seeing occur now, and markets get frothy.

You are Ethereum's Mr. Anabolic! 

If Ethereum hits $5,000 we can start a new thread similar to the Bitcoin one! 

[Mayday]

You are Ethereum's Mr. Anabolic! 

If Ethereum hits $5,000 we can start a new thread similar to the Bitcoin one! 

ETH to 5k-6k before year end.
ETH to 20k very early 2022.

Followed by a huge dump lol.

[Bindare_Dundat]

See this is where a heap of people got wrecked thinking that because they didn’t exit to fiat then it technically has no value.

We are trading on regulated exchanges, not at a garage sale.

It is all reported and tracked. Everything has a value. If you purchased XRP with your BTC at 12pm Sunday then at 12pm a Sunday your BTC was valued at $48,500 on the exchange and that is it’s sell value for tax purposes.

People got utterly wrecked thinking by not going into fiat they avoided taxes. You get a tax bill because you exited the asset which can be tracked and assigned a value to your purchase price. It doesn’t matter what you move into whether that is fiat, crypto, tether, gold because the time you exit your holding is when it is assigned a value in currency and tax is applied.

The only way around the system is to keep out of the system. Or buy stuff with crypto and send it to a wallet but even then the wallet to wallet transfers will be banned shortly as the price increases.

Like I have said here many times, if you want BTC to 1M then you need regulation in order to get the wealthy to come and play. Regulation is a bull flag!

That doesn't seem right. Not saying you're  wrong but if thats how the system works that doesn't seem proper.

If I want to exchange 1000 btc worth a total of $1000  for $ 1000 worth of xrp, no profit was realized. The same dollar value of coins was just exchanged  for another.  How could they tax when no gain was realized?

I cant exchange btc directly into xrp on my exchange. I need to convert to dollars and then buy xrp. I didn't take out any dollars from the exchange at all for that transaction.

I dont think they should be able to tax you unless you sold the xrp at a price that was higher than what you originally bought the btc for. That would make alot more sense. No?

[SOMEPARTS]

I dont think they should be able to tax you unless you sold the xrp at a price that was higher than what you originally bought the btc for. That would make alot more sense. No?

Unintentionally hilarious.

[Pray_4_War]

Bitcoin crossed over 50K just a few minutes ago.

[Bindare_Dundat]

Unintentionally hilarious.

   I'm actually trying 

[Griffith]

You are Ethereum's Mr. Anabolic! 

If Ethereum hits $5,000 we can start a new thread similar to the Bitcoin one! 

 

[Mayday]

  I'm actually trying

LOL I have absolutely zero idea how you came to the conclusion you did.

Step 1- Make profit
Step 2- get charged tax on profit
Step 3- pay tax bill

If you don’t make a profit you are not charged tax.

[Theoak*]

It’s nothing fancy.

In my country we have to lodge our tax return. I can delay my lodgement for say 1-2yrs without any issue.

let’s say I owe $1M from an asset sale. Instead of lodging on time I delay that for 1yr. I take out a loan which has an offset account attached (money in the offset deducts the interest eg 100k in offset subtracts 100k from the principle therefore I get 100k with no interest attached) and then I use money elsewhere for what is effectively an interest free loan. Do that for 1-2yrs without any major
Problems. If you start to go over that the tax office will charge interest which is generally at a market rate.

In saying that you still need to be careful what you do with the tax money so you don’t lose it.


Some people in 2017 sold their BTC into ripple or something else thinking they avoided tax. Next thing they get a 5M tax bill from the tax authorities who have their sale details from the regulated exchange. To make it worse some of them were in coins that crashed and the tax year refreshed so they couldn’t declare their losses against the 5M so they wound up having a paltry amount instead of the 5M.

If you have small tiny amounts it probably isn’t a problem. 5k they may not look into. The risk is if they do flag you then you repay the tax PLUS a fine which might be larger than the tax.

Australian?

[gib]

It is all reported and tracked. Everything has a value. If you purchased XRP with your BTC at 12pm Sunday then at 12pm a Sunday your BTC was valued at $48,500 on the exchange and that is it’s sell value for tax purposes.

The only way around the system is to keep out of the system. Or buy stuff with crypto and send it to a wallet but even then the wallet to wallet transfers will be banned shortly as the price increases.

I need to correct this. There are many, like myself, who based ourselves and our assets in tax friendly countries. For example, HK, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Malta, etc. Some of these locations expressly do not tax on capital gains. Others simply turn a blind eye to off-shore income.

But yes, if you are using regulated exchanges, and you are in a jurisdiction that taxes such gains as either income or capital gains, then yet your comments are correct.

[Bindare_Dundat]

I need to correct this. There are many, like myself, who based ourselves and our assets in tax friendly countries. For example, HK, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Malta, etc. Some of these locations expressly do not tax on capital gains. Others simply turn a blind eye to off-shore income.

But yes, if you are using regulated exchanges, and you are in a jurisdiction that taxes such gains as either income or capital gains, then yet your comments are correct.

What is amusing is being charged a capital gains tax on something that many people say will be made illegal one day it it gets too big and threatens the reserve curremcy.

[Bindare_Dundat]

Australian?

That's my guess. I'd still like to know what loans allow for an offset account, or is that vice versa?  Thats not very clear to me unless he means an offset account is some type of business account where you can take out a loan and use the gains from the crypto as a tax exemption on the loan gains?