Biden’s 20% Billionaire Tax, Russia Accepts Crypto For Energy Export Payments

This episode is brought to you by Gate.io and Zignaly (Airdrop). Ukraine launched its NFT Museum to preserve the horrors of the war, while Russia is focusing on accepting crypto as a payment method for energy exports. In the US, Biden’s 20% billionaire tax may affect the crypto market flow. Followed by a Deep Dive on Vitalik Buterin persona that has always been fighting against people that underappreciated his qualities and mocked his ideals.

---

In today’s Headlines:

Ukraine Launched its NFT War Museum | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Unicredit To Refund $144 Million To A Bitcoin Mining Account | 1 |
Russia To Accept Crypto Payments For Energy Exports| 1 | 2 |
Rio De Janeiro Adopts Crypto & NFTs | 1 | 2 |
Biden’s 20% Billionaire Tax, To Start In 2023| 1 |

Sponsor: Zignaly (Airdrop)
Deep Dive: Vitalik Buterin: The Genius That People Make Fun Of | 1 | 2 |

---

Introduction:

Welcome back to the Gate.io Podcasts. I’m Peter, this is the show to get a neutral perspective on some of the latest headlines in DeFi, Metaverse, NFTs, and Big Tech. Today’s episode is sponsored by Astar Network and brought to you by Gate.io, a centralized exchange with a neutral stance on current events.

Before we get in, the information presented in this podcast is to help you stay up-to-date on the latest happening in the crypto space, and nothing presented hereby is financial advice. The news that I cover in this podcast will have the original source at your discretion. Stick by this podcast as I show you how to stay vigilant and learn to do your own research.

But, before jumping in, make sure to subscribe to this podcast or youtube channel and don’t forget to turn on the notification bell so you’ll not miss any info about the crypto space!

Now, without further ado.

---

Ukraine Launched Its NFT War Museum | 1 | 2 | 3 |

Ukraine and Russia To Discute Negotiations.
Ukraine and Russia have started a period of negotiations to find a way to end the conflict. Both the delegations are expected in Turkey, in Istanbul, where the talks should extend for almost the entire week. In the meantime, the Ukraine Ministry of Digital Transformation, announced the launch of the Meta History Museum Of War: a virtual collection of chronological events. The blockchain is the main tool that permits the country to immutably record all the war episodes, without the possibility to modify them, while also raising funds for the cause.

Ukraine NFT War Museum To Preserve The Correct War Timeline.
The NFTs are made by Ukrainian and international artists that want to preserve the memory of the conflict that currently afflicts the country. The main purpose of the project is to raise donations while spreading truthful information among the web. All the NFTs are created in chronological order to safeguard the correct timeline of the events: all of them depict how the Ukrainian population is experiencing the war: from the outbreak of it until the victory of the country, as declared by the project team. Also, all the funds are going to be 100% directly used by The Ministry Of Digital Transformation to support the army and civilians. Each digital artwork of the “Warline” collection will cost around $500 (0.15ETH) and it will be sold in chronological order, following the exact sequence of war progress, by also being paired with written thoughts about the conflict.


FAIR Platform Mint All The War NFTs.
The FAIR NFT platform, based on the Ethereum blockchain and Polygon system, collaborated within the project to mint all the digital artworks of the collection. The most interesting part is that all the images are hidden, which means that they will be revealed after the purchase is complete. In short, the NFT you receive is completely random. The choice is based on the project slogan: encourage people to donate, in order to unveil the truth. FAIR declared that the company wants to be involved in a mission dedicated to spreading transparency and fighting misinformation, by using the blockchain as core technology to defend all the events that may be forever compromised by the current mass-media campaigns.

UniCredit To Refund $144 Million To A Bitcoin Mining Account | 1 |

Unicredit’s Crypto Controversy.
Unicredit, the international banking group, has recently been at the center of crypto controversy because it threatened to close all the accounts involved in digital assets trading. The announcement made people revolt against the banking group, creating all sorts of Twitter posts aiming to publicly condemn Unicredit. Users started to threaten the bank in all sorts of ways: by closing accounts and discrediting all its services.The actions forced the financial institution to take a step back and withdraw the previous statement. However, the bank problems with the crypto space haven’t finished there.

Unicredit To Pay $144 Million Damage To A Crypto Mining Company.
Recently, the Banja Luka’s court, a city from Bosnia and Herzegovina, has condemned Unicredit for having closed Bitminer Factory’s account and asked the banking group to pay $144 Million for the economical damage the bank brought to the mining company. A news that emerged as a consequence of the 2021 budget report published by Unicredit itself. The company, with a registered office in Italy, declared that it is asking for a refund because it is hugely economically afflicted by the bank’s decision. Bitminer also added that the action has been made without any justified reason and it also affected its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) linked to a start-up project that should have been focused on renewable energies for the mining system.

Unicredit Lost The First Round.
Even if the sentence against Unicredit’s action has come from an official legal institution and the first round has been lost, the banking group doesn’t seem to be willing to pay and accept the court’s judgment. Rumors declare that the bank is currently preparing an appeal because even the Bosnian jurisdiction relies on different rounds which make Unicredit to be optimistic that the order to be canceled in the next couple of weeks. The latest controversy around the bank seems to play a vital role on its services and development, being afflicted since 2007 by a tremendous drop in stock prices, dropping from a $220 value to a $11 one.

Russia To Accept Crypto Payments For Energy Exports | 1 | 2 |

Russia Wants Unfriendly Countries To Pay Oil & Gas Sales In Ruble Currency.
Russia, as a war consequence, has been affected by international sanctions that caused an inflation of the ruble and a financial disaster of all its economic sectors. As an answer to the limitations that EU and US imposed on Russia, Vladimir Putin has decided to seek payment in rubles for gas and oil sales, from all the countries that have taken part in the sanctions against his country.

The President also mentioned that he will keep supplying “unfriendly” nations with energy resources, with the only request that the payment be done via Russian rubles in order to fight the devaluation of the national currency. A decision that should improve the ruble price that has currently lost more of 20% of its value this year.

Bitcoin May Also Be Used To Pay Energy Export Services.
Pavel Zavalny, member of the Russian Duma and Head of the Committee on Energy, has recently declared that the country is studying alternative payment methods for the energy exports. According to what he declared, China and Turkey have already been asked to make payments in rubles, while also being allowed to pay in Yuan and Lira, respectively. Zavalny has also added that countries may also pay in Bitcoin, showing that the country is deeply involved in using cryptocurrencies as an alternative payment method.

Cryptos May Allow Russia To Save Its Economy.
Analysts and David Broadstock, senior researcher at the Energy Studies Institute in Singapore, are convinced that crypto payment may be an extraordinary advantage to Russia, in order to fight international sanctions. Bitcoin is seen to be a safe financial spot also because its value keeps growing despite global tensions, making it a possible option to restore the economy of the country.

However, there are still a lot of concerns over this decision, because it’s considered as a way for Russia to escape the sanctions imposed by international institutions. In any case, the payment request that President Vladimir Putin asked to foreign countries has started a global revolt, with nationalities that would like to oppose it. Moreover, it should also be considered that 40% of the European Union’s energy consumption accounts depend on Russian gas and that’s why member countries are trying to find an agreement or another way of importing the needed resources.

Rio De Janeiro Adopts Crypto & NFT Services | 1 | 2 |

Rio De Janeiro’s Citizens Will Pay Real Estate Taxes Via Cryptos.
Rio De Janeiro, the Brazilian metropolis, announced that the city is going to jump into the crypto space, by allowing its citizens to pay real estate taxes by using digital currencies, starting from 2023.
According to the city hall’s declaration, Rio’s citizens could pay the IPTU tax, the one on real estate services, directly Via Cryptocurrencies.

However, in order to simplify the procedures, the city is going to hire companies able to instantly convert tokens by mentioning that Rio is going to receive 100% of the payments in national currency.

Rio De Janeiro Looking To Become A Major Crypto Hub.
Eduardo Paes, Rio’s Mayor, announced that the city aims to fully support and recognize the new digital market by allowing people who are currently investing in cryptocurrencies to make use of them and legally contribute to the wealth of the city.

Rio’s Secretary Of The Economic Development added that the city thinks bigger and that’s why the Brazilian metropoly wants to fully increase its growth in the digital sector and improve the economy of the city. Paes also mentioned that Rio is planning to allocate 1% of its treasury reserves to cryptocurrencies, trying to make the city an important hub for the global blockchain community and encouraging the adoption of cryptos in the country.

However, Rio doesn’t stop there. It also wants to spread the NFT community all over the city, by convincing markets like art, culture and tourism to make use of its technology and potentiality. This is one of the reasons why Brazil’s Central Bank, Banco Central do Brasil, is monitoring AAVE as a possible project to work with to create The Brazilian CBDC, otherwise known as The Digital Real.

Even if it’s currently too early to talk about the development of the Brazilian digital currency, it can’t be denied that the crypto community in Brazil is growing steadily with an increase in Bitcoin and other cryptos investments.

Biden’s 20% Billionaire Tax, To Start In 2023 | 1 |

US Billionaire To Pay A Minimum Of 20% Tax Of Their Total Income.
Biden and his administration has decided to propose a 20% minimum tax to billionaire families, the ones whose wealth is worth $100 Billion or more. The Democrats want to set a bill that can guarantee to the US an income of at least $360 billion as an extra tax income, over the next 10 years, by targeting rich people like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. According to economist calculations, Amazon’s founder would be required to pay $35 billion while Tesla’s CEO an amount of $50 Billion.

US Citizens Pay More Taxes Than Ultra-Rich People.
Biden’s administration declared that the aim is to make rich people truly contribute to the wealth of the country and make them pay more taxes than the amount required for the common citizens, as reported by the Washington Post.

Currently, many billionaires are able to pay less taxes than the average US citizen because the federal government doesn’t tax unrealized gains from investment portfolios. Allowing rich people to become richer. According to The White House Office of Management and Budget and Control and Council of Economic Advisers, 400 billionaire families paid an average of 8% of their total revenue in the period between 2010 and 2018: a rate lower than the one paid by millions of Americans citizens.

Crypto Market May Be Affected By The Tax Proposal.
The Democrats don’t want to make any exception: the bill requests billionaires to pay 20% taxes to all their total income, even on unrealized gains such as higher stock prices. The proposal could also aim at cryptocurrency trading and investments, possibly threatening the market flow.

Cryptocurrencies continue to be considered by many institutions as a way to launder money and evade taxes. And this is a reason why Biden’s administration is already seeking an eye over the crypto space, trying to implement regulation over digital assets, especially stablecoins.

---

Sponsor | Zignaly

Before I continue with today’s deep dives, I must tell you about today’s sponsor, Zignaly, a fintech company that intends to become the leading crypto trading bot provider in the market.

At present, cryptocurrency trading has gradually evolved from a vague concept to become a much relevant and potent skill. However, the basic requirements of trading, which include capital, trading knowledge, and time, might not be easy for every trader. Therefore, the need for automated trading computer programs, also referred to as trading bots, has arisen.

Zignaly is such a kind of an automated trading bot that eases the processes of manual trading by representing a trader to execute trading commands without excessively demanding inputs from the user. This implies that Zignaly allows users to trade external crypto signals from trusted signal providers even when the user is unable to execute such commands.

Founded in 2018, Zignaly has provided a platform with a unique performance-based profit-sharing model to ensure fair profit distribution and created a win-win ecosystem where investors, traders, exchanges, and Zignaly can profit.

The main feature inside Zignaly is the Profit Sharing, which is an evolution of Copy Trading. While Both services are basically to get automated crypto trading, Copy Trading refers to the operation being done on your own exchange account, and this implies that you are always one step behind the trader. However, by choosing Profit Sharing, you are co-investing together with the trader while enjoying some advantages over the normal Copy Trading.

Zignaly launched the Zigcoin in April 2021, ZIG is the token that powers the Zignaly ecosystem and is tagged as the first-ever NFT-based insurance protocol as the token is NFT-based and would be used to pay for fees within the Zignaly protocol. At the beginning of this year, ZIG was listed on Gate.io.
Zignaly is also the first social investment platform that allows experts and investors to interact in a mutually beneficial environment. As of now, over 350 professional traders are serving 350,000+ users who have allocated $120M in crypto assets and 4 Billion in trading volume.

19,000 $ZIG tokens are reserved for 95 podcast listeners from Mar 31 to April 7. Stay tuned!

---

DD | Vitalik Buterin: The Genius That People Make Fun Of | 1 | 2 |

Internet As A Tool To Spread Ignorance & Cruelty.
Most of the time, the Internet is a cruel tool that lets people act cowardly. It can be considered like a cage where social and moral values frequently lose significance, being replaced by harassment and ignorance which take the leadership.

Vitalik Buterin is a 28 years old brilliant mind that co-founded Ethereum, the crypto project that aims to free people from today’s Big Tech’s control: by building an open-source and decentralized Internet. The young man has fully immersed himself in the development of the project, by being transparent during the entire growth of the platform, while struggling with colleagues that were aiming only on making profits.

Few People Respect Buterin’s Ideals.
Profits and decentralization are probably two of the main attributes that define today’s Ethereum. The platform has educated unbanked people to join the financial system, while also allowing others to build start-ups that become multi-billions companies. Here users can also develop games, create digital paintings, make music, invest, and meet each other into the metaverse.

However, Buterin, even if he has seen his world building a new sphere of multi-billionaires, allowing others to launder money and making global institutions to discute new taxation papers, he has always focused on his main purposes: creating a fairer digital system and fighting all its negative sides. Even if Buterin has always made clear which kind of person he is, the Internet doesn’t make any difference between those who have bad intentions and those who fight for humanitarian rights.

Cyberbullying: A Threat To Young Users.
Our digital devices allow us to write and act from the shadows, we can hide our names and our faces, making us feel braver than we truly are. This is the cause that led to cyberbullying being born and its increase during the last couple of years. People have started to feel free to judge and critique others based on simple assumptions, because they can hide behind a display to feel safe.

This is a problem that seriously threatens users, especially the younger ones. According to DataProt, students are almost twice as likely to attempt suicide if they have been cyberbullied, while the 37% fall in social anxiety. These are numbers that show how much digital harassment can compromise people’s lives: marking a trauma that can harm forever the growth and behavior of an individual.

Mocking A Person Is Easier Than Admiring His Accomplishments.
After Vitalik Buterin had taken an interview with Time Magazine, where he expressed his concerns over Ethereum’s growth, he started to be shamefully mocked on Twitter. Comments were truly a filthy set of words thrown against the young man with the simple purpose to make fun of his figure. The bad words attracted Vitalik’s attention and, in order to highlight how people cruelly behave behind a display, he shared the comments with his followers.

Fortunately he has a solid community that supports his persona, and encouragement for the young developer had spread all over the web. Buterin, even during his career, has always fought for achieving his ideals, opposing those who wanted to make Ethereum a business or to use it as a tool to sell data to corporations.

Profits were what made people go against Vitalik’s purposes, they have embraced the way of egos and jealousy and built a social shock around the 28years old genius. Many of them did little to Ethereum’s development and were part of the team just for financial purposes.

All these episodes show how people have wanted to make use of Buterin’s persona just for personal goals, without appreciating his qualities nor respecting his ideals.

Is Ethereum The Only Gift That Vitalik Gave Us?
Vitalik has experienced many challenges both from the working environment and from users around the Internet, still, the young man hasn't lost his path and he’s still faithful to his project.

Buterin is credited with the creation of Ethereum as a major accomplishment, but many do not realize that the young man has been able to build a world capable of offering thousands of jobs, regardless of race, sex or age and demonstrates that even if he’s being victim of insults and discredited, he keeps being focused on delivering us a world freed from any control and where freedom of speech is one of its core attributes.

Listen the whole episode：

1: Biden’s 20% Billionaire Tax, Russia Accepts Crypto For Energy Export Payments
2: Biden’s 20% Billionaire Tax, Russia Accepts Crypto For Energy Export Payments