Summary:

• France announces a meaningful cut on gains from cryptocurrency trading
• Despite the Iranian central bank’s prohibition the country keeps developing its state digital currency
• CFTC Chairman points out key assets Bitcoin owns in part

A majority of main cryptocurrencies lost some ground during their first trading day in May, but underlying trends did not evolve at all. Looking through revelations regarding virtual currencies it’s worth paying special attention to the news coming from France where the State Council of Taxation announced a notable cut of financial penalties on gains from cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and so on. Furthermore, it signaled that a tax rate on gains from digital currencies will be substantially lowered from the current 45% rate to 19%. French Minister Bruno Le Maire hailed blockchain technology one month ago saying “it will offer new opportunities to our startups, for example with the Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) that will allow them to raise funds through ‘tokens,’ crypto-actives or not. It promises to create a network of trust without intermediaries, to offer increased traceability of transactions and, overall, to make the economy more efficient”.

Ethereum could be already set for a bounce as the cryptocurrency has managed to stay above its relevant support area. Source: xStation5

Despite the Iranian central bank’s prohibition the country keeps developing its state digital currency

Iran is placed among countries being the most interested in adopting blockchain technology in the Middle East, but the government and the central bank have been differing in many points thus far. Nevertheless, even as the Iranian central bank banned local banks from dealing with digital currencies the governmental entity has been developing its own cryptocurrency, which some suspect it may be used to evade international sanctions (the same step which Venezuela took). According to Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi, Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Minister, “Iran has developed an experimental local cryptocurrency”. He was also quoted by Reuters as saying “I believe that cryptocurrencies can have a significant impact on the country’s financial exchange model…However, first of all, research needs to be done in order to introduce this technology to the authorities.”

Ripple seems to send some bullish signs as the price has drawn two promising candlesticks. Source: xStation5

CFTC Chairman points out at key assets Bitcoin has in part

According to Christopher Giancarlo, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Bitcoin is part currency, part security and part digital coin depending on which regulatory regime we’re looking at. He also indicated that buying Bitcoin or other virtual currencies should be done rather in the long-term as a “buy and hold” strategy. CFTC chairman ended up his speech with a regulatory remark saying that it’s up to the Congress, not regulators, to to decide whether new policies should be evolved for these new asset classes.