Mitsui & Co. and Animoca Brands to Drive Web3 Innovation in Japan’s Digital Landscape

Indonesia's cryptocurrency regulatory body is urging the government to reconsider its tax policies concerning digital assets. Officials from Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (Bappebti) argued last week that the imposition of double taxation on crypto transactions warrants a reevaluation. That’s according to a report which appeared in local news source, Bisnis Indonesia, a Jakarta-based daily newspaper. Currently, cryptocurrencies in Indonesia are classified as commodities, subjecting them to a value-added tax (VAT) of 0.11% and an income tax of 0.1%.Photo by Bisma Mahendra on UnsplashProposed changes in 2025Tirta Karma Senjaya, the head of Bappebti, the Indonesian Commodities and Futures Trading Regulatory Authority, highlighted that the classification of cryptocurrencies as commodities might undergo changes in 2025. This potential shift is due to the planned transfer of crypto oversight from Bappebti to the Southeast Asian country’s financial services authority, OJK.It had been speculated that the switch of oversight would potentially reclassify digital assets as securities. With that change would come a necessary adjustment to the applicable tax policy. Tirta suggested that given that cryptocurrencies are expected to be integrated into the financial sector by January 2025, he urged the Tax Director General to reconsider these tax rates. The regulatory body head added that it’s been over a year since the implementation of these rules. With that, tax policies typically undergo annual reviews. Accommodating crypto’s developmental stateAddressing an event in Jakarta, the regulatory body head emphasized the nascent stage of the crypto industry and its regulatory framework. Consequently, he advocated for providing the industry with leeway to mature until it becomes a substantial contributor to national revenue. In response to Bappebti's call for a reassessment of crypto taxes, Dwi Astuti, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, assured that the Ministry would consider input from both industry stakeholders and the public. "We welcome input from Bappebti and the public. It will certainly be discussed internally," remarked Astuti during a media interaction last week. 2023 crypto tax take slumpThe existing tax structure for cryptocurrencies has been in effect since April 2022, generating approximately $2.49 million in revenue in January 2024. In contrast, Indonesia recorded $41.2 million in crypto tax revenue in the previous year. However in 2023, the country witnessed a decline of 63% in crypto tax revenue compared to the previous year, despite Bitcoin's remarkable surge of approximately 160% during that period. Local crypto exchanges such as INDODAX had attributed the significant drop in trading volume throughout 2023 directly to hefty taxes, expressing concerns that it would drive users towards foreign exchanges. Hasan Fawzi from the Ministry of Finance highlighted the trend of decreasing crypto asset transaction values in 2023. Nonetheless, he noted that the number of crypto asset customers continued to rise, reaching 18.06 million users throughout the year. The crypto sector is seen as having a lot of potential in Indonesia. Last October data released by Bappebti suggested robust growth of the crypto investment landscape within the country. Over the space of a year, Indonesia had seen a 10.1% growth in the number of crypto investors. That data may not have been lost on the country’s politicians as in December, crypto featured as an election campaign issue.

South Korean crypto exchanges list USDTBithumb and Coinone, two of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, have recently listed Tether (USDT) — the USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Tether Limited — according to an article by local news outlet Kyunghyang Games on Thursday (local time). Both exchanges support Tether trading on the TRON network.Photo by DrawKit Illustrations on UnsplashTether gains momentum in South KoreaBithumb listed the currency today at KRW 1,316 in response to high investor demand. Meanwhile, Coinone, which listed Tether on Nov. 30 to become the first fiat-to-crypto exchange in the country to facilitate USDT/KRW trading, cited reasons such as Tether’s reliability and transparency, demonstrated by regular updates on its audits and reserves. The listing price was KRW 1,289.Industry sources anticipate that USDT/KRW trading in South Korea will eventually lead to reduced transaction fees and a simplified transaction process for domestic traders. Previously, in order to access most overseas markets where USDT is used as the default currency, users have had to sell their assets overseas first and then repurchase USDT to participate in trading.Simplified transactions are also expected to contribute to balancing pricing across different markets and reducing the Kimchi premium — a term used to describe the difference between trading prices of cryptocurrencies in Korea and in other foreign exchanges.Promotional eventsTo mark the occasion, Bithumb is offering a promotional event where 0.02% of the price of maker orders placed by Dec. 11 will be distributed to users in Bitcoin on Dec. 14. Maker orders are those that are placed at an asking price that differs from the current price, which means it is added to the order book instead of being matched or executed immediately. These orders add liquidity to an order book.Bithumb users can also make USDT withdrawals free of extra fees until Dec. 11. Coinone, on the other hand, requires a withdrawal fee of 1 USDT.According to CoinMarketCap, Tether has the third-largest market capitalization at approximately $90.1 billion as of this writing. The token’s trading volume in the last 24 hours was $49.3 billion.

Coinone’s recent addition of USDT/KRW trading pair expected to reduce Kimchi premiumCoinone, a major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, listed USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar on the platform’s Korean won-denominated market on Thursday (local time). Its listing price was KRW 1,289.Tether Limited, the company behind USDT, asserts that their stablecoin is “backed 100% by Tether’s reserves.” These reserves comprise a variety of real-world assets such as U.S. Treasuries, overnight reverse repurchase agreements, corporate bonds and precious metals. According to CoinMarketCap, USDT’s market capitalization stands at $89 billion, ranking it third in the cryptocurrency market, just behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.Photo by DrawKit Illustrations on UnsplashFirst to list USDT/KRW trading pairDespite the significance of USDT in the cryptocurrency market, Korean exchange users have faced the limitation of not being able to purchase the stablecoin using Korean won, although these exchanges did offer markets denominated in USDT. This limitation has prompted Koreans to turn to foreign cryptocurrency services for acquiring USDT. With Coinone’s latest move, the platform has become the first to facilitate USDT/KRW trading among the nation’s five fiat-to-crypto Korean exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax.Regarding this development, Kwon O-hoon, Managing Partner at the law firm Cha and Kwon, told local news outlet Decenter that there seem to be no particular legal concerns with the crypto exchange’s engagement in USDT transactions. This perspective stems from the absence of stablecoin regulations in the country.Reducing the Kimchi premiumAccording to Decenter, crypto experts anticipate that the introduction of USDT/KRW trading will help in reducing the Kimchi premium, a term referring to the discrepancy in cryptocurrency prices on South Korean exchanges compared to those in foreign exchanges.For instance, according to data from CoinNess, the average price of BTC on Korean exchanges is around KRW 51,177,250. This is about 2.34% higher than its average price on foreign exchanges, which stands at KRW 50,005,909. This difference means that users on Korean exchanges need to pay an additional KRW 1,171,340 to buy one BTC, compared to what they would pay on international platforms.However, the newly added trading pair will streamline transactions between exchanges, making it simpler for investors to engage in arbitrage. This ease of transfer is expected to lead to more balanced pricing across different markets, reducing the Kimchi premium.In light of this development, Jo Dong-hyeon, CEO of blockchain company Undefined Labs, said various institutions and blockchain projects will likely find USDT increasingly useful as a store of value, given USDT facilitates easy transfers between different exchanges.