Saturday 26 February 2022
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday plunged the crypto market into a state of instability. The development made the crypto market lose almost half a billion dollars in liquidations, with all coins in red, before recovery on Friday.

See below the crypto story and all the news you need to know, carefully curated by Technext.
Summary of the news

  • China criminalizes crypto fundraising
  • Ukraine receives bitcoin donations following crypto legalization 
  • NFT market valuation grows by 33.6% in a month
  • Brazil is about to follow El- Savaldor’s footstep in Bitcoin adoption
China criminalizes crypto fundraising 
According to a document issued on Thursday, the Chinese Supreme court has flagged crypto fundraising from the public as an illegal act, effective from 1st March. This comes as part of the new revisions to the interpretation of the nation’s Criminal Law, which was adopted last December. After banning cryptocurrency trading and mining, it has now declared crypto fundraising acts illegal within the country, and violators are likely to face jail sentences.

Violation of the new order will be punishable according to the amount involved. The Supreme court described 100,000 yuan (US$15,800) crypto fundraising as a ‘large amount’. However, over 50 million yuan ($7,917,029) will be deemed as ‘extremely huge' and the offenders are likely to face more than ten years in jail. 

This is part of the Supreme court’s effort to check against illegal fundraising and financial scams. The new order basically drives at “punishing illegal fundraising crimes in accordance with the law and maintaining national financial security and stability”.
Ukraine receives bitcoin donations following crypto legalization 
Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on Twitter last weekend that the Ukrainian parliament has legalized cryptocurrencies, adding that the new law would bring the sector “out of the shadows”. 

Following this, in the last two days, the Ukraine army has received over $4 million in cryptocurrency donations, according to crypto analytics firm - Elliptic, with over $3 million sent from a single donor. This shows the large support that people from all over the world are currently giving to Ukrainian forces.

These donations made to the Ukrainian armed forces are processed through decentralized blockchain networks, including Bitcoin donations and other virtual currencies. These transactions cannot be reversed and cannot also be intersected. Therefore, using cryptocurrencies could be one of the best ways to support and help the Ukrainian army.
NFT market valuation grows by 33.6% in a month
According to data by NFT analytics platform NFTGo, the total USD volume of NFT sales globally has dropped by 85% in the last 30 days. However, this negative data has not hampered growth of the NFT market. As press time, the NFT market valuation has grown past $16B, growing by 33.6% in the past month.

Tagged as the hottest sector in the crypto world currently, NFT has witnessed a meteoric surge in individual and institutional investors given their uniqueness, non-fungibility, rarity, and verifiability. Brands from different areas including gaming, art, sports, media, and entertainment have been filing Trademarks for the NFT space. Companies such as Adidas, Nike, Givenchy, Disney, McDonald’s, Pepsi, TIME magazine, Nvidia among others have projected NFT-related ventures.
Brazil about to follow El- Savaldor’s footstep in Bitcoin adoption
After almost 3 years of deliberation, Brazil’s Senate Committee on Economic Activities has, on Wednesday, approved the bill to bring regulatory clarity to their crypto space as well as clamp down on illegal activities. If the bill is passed, it would make them the largest Latin American country to do so.

The bill’s approval by the committee is the beginning of a process that could end with Brazil having clear regulations to direct everyday transactions using cryptocurrencies in the country. If approved in the Senate and lower house, the next step is to forward it to the President for assent into law.

Latin American countries seem to be keenly interested in cryptoverse. The most popular of them at the moment is El Salvador, which has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and launched a Bitcoin-backed bond. Earlier this year, Nayib Bukele - El Salvador’s president, expressed his belief that two more countries would adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2022.
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