The rules for cryptocurrencies seem to turn global in a few years. An International Deal against Crypto Tax Evasion was signed and will include 48 Countries. The deal will be valid in 2027. A total of 48 countries, including the U.K. and Singapore have pledged to implement a tax-transparency standard from 2027. This initiative aims to facilitate the automatic exchange of information between jurisdictions, specifically targeting tax evasion on cryptocurrency exchanges.
"The agreement - reported Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce - adds the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), to the organization's Common Reporting Standard (CRS), an information standard for the automatic exchange of information regarding financial accounts between tax authorities".
Final agreement on the CARF was reached in March 2023, following two years of negotiation. It will provide for the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities on crypto exchanges for the purpose of combating offshore tax avoidance and evasion. Exactly this statement announces the signatory jurisdictions’ intention to implement the framework in time to commence exchanges by 2027.
The decision to start using the Deal in 2027, is a deadline that will be used for implementation of global crypto regulation. And there will be also time for other Countries to join the Deal an also applies to the updates in the Common Reporting Standard with the aim of "swiftly transposing the CARF into domestic law and activating exchange agreements in time for exchanges to commence by 2027, subject to national legislative procedures."
Now by now, several nations with a sizeable interest in crypto, such as Turkey, India, China, Russia and all African countries, are not signatories to the statement. According to the release from the U.K.: "We invite other jurisdictions to join us with a view to enhancing the global system of automatic information exchange which leaves no hiding places for tax evasion," the statement said.
SOURCES: Coindesk, Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
SOUTH KOREA - A new collaboration in the metaverse field has just been announced. ZEP, South Korea’s premier metaverse platform, revealed a strategic partnership with the global Layer 1 platform, NEAR Protocol. This is a strategic decision and partnership. Mark Mi, Gaming Director of NEAR Protocol, underlined the significance of this partnership in expanding NEAR's ecosystem into the metaverse. The collaboration is set to expose NEAR users to diverse content across various domains. By integrating with dApps in content and gaming, NEAR aims to bolster ZEP's business growth in the Web3 space.
NEAR is a blockchain network optimized for large scale user-oriented service operations, offering a user-friendly interface and stability similar to Web2. With this new partnership the whole project is going to become a business model that will offer varied benefits to users and developers, focusing on developing Web3-related features. ZEP's partners, will be part of a community able to issue and distribute diverse Web3-based digital assets, enriching the user experience in the ZEP metaverse.
SOURCE: Cointrust, Blockchain News
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
USA - There's a X for everything. In its own social media, Elon Musk wrote about the launch of Grok, the new AI system proposed on market by Tesla tycoon. Elon Musk’s new AI company xAI launched this new chatbot to rival ChatGPT. Its launch led to hundreds of new AI-related tokens being created. Grok shows strengths in math and reasoning. Future capabilities will include audio and visual features.
Here's the X officially shared by the account xAI:
"Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask! Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor! A unique and fundamental advantage of Grok is that it has real-time knowledge of the world via the 𝕏 platform. It will also answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems. Grok is still a very early beta product – the best we could do with 2 months of training – so expect it to improve rapidly with each passing week with your help."
The launching of Grok was followed by the creation of nearly 400 “GROK” tokens. They emerged on crypto exchanges, with some surging over 1000% and reaching millions in market value and trading volumes shortly after launching. However, most GROK tokens were unofficial or scams, with developers suddenly removing liquidity and causing over $1 million in losses. Blockonomi wrote that: "Though influential in the crypto space, Musk stated none of his companies will create an official crypto token, so the GROK tokens are unrelated to xAI".
Musk has repeatedly expressed concern about the "civilization-destroying" potential of artificial intelligence. In a Twitter Spaces event last summer, Musk explained his plan to build a more secure Ai. Rather than explicitly programming morality into its AI, xAI will seek to create “maximally curious” AI, he said.
Grok is a chatbot from xAI, Elon Musk’s new artificial intelligence startup. The AI system, currently in beta testing, aims to provide witty and candid answers to questions while also making intelligent suggestions.
The launch comes as Musk is seeking to boost engagement and sales at X, which since his 2022 purchase of Twitter has lost revenue after many advertisers pulled spending over concerns about his relaxing of content moderation.
SOURCES: Financial Times, Blockonomi
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
The metaverse has still an unclear future and unspread market opportunities brought by the transition toward the web 3.0. We can say on the other hand that the metaverse will be certain a part of our future. One the most important approach to the metaverse are the digital twins. The reproduction of cities is a sector that will be implemented in the next ten years. According to Abi Resourch Rome, Seoul and Tampere are among the first cities to experiment the Urban Metaverse, bringing the digitalisation of services and infrastructures into the lives of citizens. Almost 700 cities in the world will have their digital twin in the metaverse whitin 2030.
Seoul is the first out of the gate with Metaverse Seoul, which it says can serve as a model for other cities. Local government leaders from Rotterdam and Tampere to Santa Monica and Dubai are among those that are now experimenting or creating metaverse plans.
Tampere in Finland is “serious about being a metaverse city,” says Teppo Rantanen, Executive Director for the city. He sees particular opportunities in areas such as mobility, healthcare, utilities and safety and security, as well as events.
With Metaverse Seoul, the city is acting as a first mover to not only establish the platform as a prototype but also promote it as an archetype for virtual municipal administration. Leading as a global smart city, Metaverse Seoul is set out to provide various public services while focusing on ‘freedom,’ ‘inclusion,’ and ‘connection’ as the three core values of the platform to establish a hyper-realistic community space of creativity and communication that is accessible to all users for augmented experiences:
Another research released last year by ThoughtLab found that of 200 global cities surveyed, 44 said they are making investments to ensure that their cities are metaverse-ready. Some cities are eyeing economic development opportunities, while others see potential for education, resident engagement and improving the accessibility of city services.
Harmen van Sprang, co-founder and CEO of the non-profit Sharing Cities Alliance, said that although the metaverse is in a nascent phase: “That’s also, I think, exactly the moment that we already should be talking about this.”
In the end the metaverse rapresents a new way of providing a wide range of services that can be enjoyed by citizens in a plastic way, without so many explanations. Everyone could see how thing works frome the "3D copy" and would be able to use services 24h per day thanks AI avatar. The city's digital twin can be used for cultural and tourist purposes and e-commerce platform for the showrooms of the future.
SOURCE: CITIES TODAY, RINNOVABILI.IT
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
SACRAMENTO - Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, approved Cryptocurrency Regulation Bill. The bill forces crypto companies to comply with licensing requirements, maintain financial records and give regulators the ability to conduct audits.
This law on cryptocurrencies will be active from July 2025 and will impose stricter rules on companies operating in the crypto sector. In the official communications eleased Newsom stated that the bill, entitled Digital Financial Assets Law, will make it mandatory for both individuals and businesses to obtain a Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) license to engage in commercial activities.
"Ambiguity of certain terms and the scope of this bill will require further refinement in both the regulatory process and in statute to provide clarity to both consumers, regulators and businesses subject to this new licensure framework - Newsom said - It is essential that we strike the appropriate balance between protecting consumers from harm and fostering a responsible innovation and I look forward to working with the author of the bill to achieve this."
California's DFPI bill is one of the most structured law on crypto worldwide and will contribute to create a regulatory framework for crypto assets. This will give the department enforcement and rulemaking authority over the sector, creating a licensing regime to follow for the cripto system in the States. The DFPI also gets an 18-month implementation period to ensure that the regulatory framework is thoughtfully tailored to address industry trends and mitigate consumer harm.
SOURCE: Coin Telegraph, Coin Desk
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
MARRAKESH - From today to 15th October in Marrakesh, Morocco, the meeting of Central Bank Governors will be crucial to create new fundamental statements for the crypto regulation. Finance ministers and central bank governors are all set to meet for the final time under India’s G20 presidency on October 12 and 13 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The roadmap for crypto regulations is expected to be one of the major key agendas during the meeting. India will seek to ensure that the issues that were part of the New Delhi Declaration are pushed thorugh, including a crypto regulatory framework - Cryptonews said.
Not later that one month ago at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that cryptocurrencies could not be regulated efficiently without the co-operation of all countries. Nirmala Sitharaman added: "India's (G20) presidency has put on the table key issues related to regulating or understanding that there should be a framework for handling issues related to crypto assets".
“Volume 2 of the report of this Expert Group will be released post the fourth G20 finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, on 12-13 October 2023,” the finance ministry said in a tweet.
The G20 declaration on crypto assets has sent a wave of optimism to local crypto platforms who have been waiting for clear crypto regulations for a long time.
Earlier, while delivering the keynote address at the Global FinTech Fest 2023, the Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Shaktikanta Das also urged fintech firms to establish a self regulatory organization themselves.
SOURCE: REUTERS, CRYPTO NEWS
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
LOS ANGELES - At the Meta campus in Menlo Park, Mark Zuckerberg announced all the company's news during the Meta Connect 2023. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg updated investors on his plan to build the immersive metaverse in first in-person conference since the start of the pandemic. As we analyze this important event, we believe that those new technologies will come along side with a new economy aim to create a web space to create a new finance model.
Zuckerberg showed his idea to navigate into a mixed reality working with artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality technologies. The company, which renamed itself Meta two years ago, unveiled the next version of its virtual reality headset, the Quest 3. It will cost $499 and will be delivered on the market October the 10th.
As AP reported: "Zuckerberg told the audience of developers, employees and journalists that Meta is “focused on building the future of human connection” — and painted a near-future where people interact with hologram versions of their friends or coworkers and with AI bots built to assist them".
Talking about expection we can say that Meta keeps on believing that 3D is the future of online approach and web tools. Meta is exeperiencing a corporate transformation that will take years to complete. It wants to evolve from a provider of social platforms to a dominant power in a nascent virtual-reality world called the metaverse — sort of like the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D.
The company's transformation from 2D to 3D has been slower than expected and Meta’s main business remains advertising on its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Competition with TikTok remains Meta’s biggest challenge, said Insider Intelligence analyst Yoram Wurmser.
After cutting more than 20,000 job last November Meta didn't gave up on the metaverse and mixed reality division. The new investiments announced at Menlo Park tells that Zuckerberg is focusing on more technical hires such as experts in AI toward a long-term vision.
After the realease, last summer, of the next generation of its AI language free for research and commercial use, at Connect CEO unveiled an AI image generator named Emu, which creates images based on prompts from users. Users can download its new AI models directly or through a partnership that makes them available on Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure “along with Microsoft’s safety and content tools.”
Meta Connect 2023 let many discoverd how the web 3 revolution will work. We will have virtual odbjects that will be present in our phisical spaces, as long as we will wear VR/AR devices. So olognrams and virtual screens will appear in a room and fastly metl away whe we will take off VR/AR glasses, or in this case Meta Quest 3. This will change the way we experience the web and also the way it will be useful for our everyday life. From the shopping, to learning, form travel to healthcare. Those tools will help our senses to reach highest performances. This concepts are all in the beginning of Meta Connect introducing speech, where Zuckerberg underlined the company's mission and philosophy: "at Meta we are focusing on building the future of human connections. We build products to help people feel closer. And we do that because we believe that this strenghten relationships." The message Zuckerberg gave was that the phisical world around us is amazing and during the last decades we built digital worlds that together with phisical world create our real world. So the challange of mixed reality would be to unify those two kind of world, creating a new real world.
SOURCE: AP, REUTERS, META
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
CHINA - Digital yuan app adds Mastercard and Visa prepaid top-ups for tourists. The e-CNY app now allows tourists to top up their payment wallet using Mastercard and Visa with the "top up first, use later" option. The app, known as e-CNY, is currently in beta and is available to iPhone users in select regions of China and China-based Google Play Store users. With this new model users would be ble to create personal digital wallets for China’s state-backed digital currency. This update aligns with China’s efforts to promote the use of e-CNY for payments by international tourists, especially during events like the Asian Games and the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
Currently - Finance Feeds said - the e-CNY is being tested in 23 cities and regions in 15 provinces and provincial-level cities. However, officials say that the main purpose of the pilot program for the time being is to build confidence in the digital yuan’s reliability and ease of use.
SOURCE: FINANCE FEEDS
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
FLORENCE - What does the metaverse smell like? Metaverse and AI enter also the world of perfumes. The 21st edition of Pitti Fragranze, the Pitti Immagine salon dedicated to the world of international artistic perfumery, which took place at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence, has just ended. And beyond the new scents and events was also an opportunity to see the trend of a multi-faceted market. Numerous talks on new trends, the comparison between different generations had been the occasion to analyse the impact of Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse into the world of perfume. The web 3 is someway ready to influence also the perfumes market?
Artificial Intelligence at Pitti Fragranze was presented with Symbiotic Experience, a reinvented perception, an installation whose protagonists were 4 digital artists who work with AI to inspire the sillages composed for the occasion by 4 important noses: Alberto Morillas, Coralie Spicher, Serge Majoullier and Jérôme Di Marino. The result? A unique, immersive, synaesthetic experience, where physical and reinvented reality find a perfect point of union.
As in all thecnolgies, smell in the Metaverse may sound strange as smell is the only sense not perceived in the virtual world. But Pitti Fragranze tried to overcome this boundary with Agharti, the perfume of the Metaverse. The new Italian brand Agharti Scent Score has proposed four fragrances, all based on sustainable ingredients and enclosed in bottles inspired by the Metaverse. It's a sort of immersive experience in which the smell came form different elements of nature.
"The creative director, Barbara Loddo, owner of Aquacosmetics, imagined the stages of a journey towards the center of our planet in a magical world - reported Il Sole 24 Ore. Fragrances materialize from the four essential elements for life, starting with the green scent of the earth to arrive at the refreshing one of water, passing through the heat of fire and the lightness of air"
SOURCE: IL SOLE 24 ORE
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Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
