SA crypto startup enables users to earn interest on Ethereum and USDC -

SA crypto startup enables users to earn interest on Ethereum and USDC -

South African-born cryptocurrency exchange startup Luno has announced that its users can now earn up to 4% interest per annum on Ethereum and up to 7.6% on their USDC balances.

Luno enables users to earn interest on Ethereum and USDC

Added to the savings wallet feature, both of these forms of crypto’s interest are earned and paid in cryptocurrency to users.

Marius Reitz, General Manager for Luno Africa provides insight into what led to the crypto startup launching the new offer.

“Luno research last year showed that over a third of those surveyed (35%) were not earning any interest on their traditional cash savings at all, so growing savings options and making saving simple and accessible is a priority for us. The same research from last year found 54% are not earning interest through their current or savings bank account, with 40% lacking confidence in their local currency.

The highly successful SA crypto startup has created a secondary method through which its users can earn a passive income on cryptocurrency holdings and is reportedly double the interest rate offered by local banks on a flexible savings account.

According to Luno, users earn interest immediately and will receive monthly interest payments. Luno claims that there are no hidden fees, no fixed terms, and no minimum deposits. Users have 24/7 access to their crypto with the Luno savings wallet.

“Luno users can already earn up to 4% on their Bitcoin savings. The addition of two new cryptocurrencies to the savings wallet gives customers even greater flexibility and potential to earn interest as they grow their crypto savings. A high percentage of South Africans who own cryptocurrency do so for speculative investment purposes, with the majority holding their crypto for the long term. If your crypto investment strategy is holding your crypto long-term (HODLing in crypto speak), the savings wallet earns you additional interest for what you were already doing,” concluded Reitz.

Read more: SA crypto startup ranks sixth globally

Read more: SA crypto startup expands into Australia

Featured image: Marius Reitz, General Manager for Africa at Luno (Supplied)

Tax surprise looms for NFT investors who use crypto

NFT non-fungible tokens art and collectables illustration, use blockchain technology to create unique digital items for crypto art, crypto-collectibles and crypto-gaming. holly harry | iStock | Getty Images

The NFT craze may come with a painful tax surprise for buyers and sellers who use cryptocurrencies, according to tax experts. Sales of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have exploded in recent weeks, topping $500 million in 2021, according to NonFungible.com. Along with the sale of the $69 million Beeple NFT titled “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” at Christie’s last week, and the $3 million NFT sneakers, NFTs of everything from NBA highlight videos to Jack Dorsey tweets have created a vast new market of blockchain-based digital assets to buy and sell. Yet experts say buyers and sellers aren’t likely aware of an Internal Revenue Service tax rule that could come back to haunt them — and cost them a big chunk of their gains. It involves a steep potential tax on anyone who uses their highly valued cryptocurrency to buy NFTs, which experts say is most NFT sales. “People’s knowledge of this tax in the U.S. is very poor,” said Shehan Chandrasekera, head of tax strategy at CoinTracker, a platform for tracking crypto portfolios and taxes. “I just don’t think people know about it.” At issue is recent IRS guidance on using cryptocurrencies to buy an asset, including an NFT. As part of its principle known as “disposition of assets,” the IRS states that “if you exchange virtual currency held as a capital asset for other property, including for goods or for another virtual currency, you will recognize a capital gain or loss.” Chandrasekera said this has major implications for the NFT craze, which is largely being fueled by collectors using bitcoin or ether to buy NFTs. For example, if someone purchased a unit of ether for $100 in 2018 and it would worth around $1,700. If they used that ether unit to buy a $1,700 NFT, they might assume they pay no tax on the ether, since they’re simply using it to buy a good or service.

“EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” is a collage, by a digital artist BEEPLE, that is on auction at Christie’s, unknown location, in this undated handout obtained by Reuters. Christie’s Images LTD. 2021/BEEP | via Reuters

But under the IRS rules, the ether is a capital asset not a currency. So the holder would have to pay tax on the gain of $1,600 as part of the NFT purchase, since the act of exchanging it for another asset counts as a sale or “disposition.” So they would owe the IRS — assuming a top capital gains rate of 20% — a tax of $320. They might also owe state taxes, since many states like New York and California tax capital gains as income. (The rules around additional sales taxes in each state for NFTs are less clear.) “You’re not spending currency, you’re spending an appreciated asset,” Chandrasekera said. “So just spending it creates a taxable event.”

What a crypto executive wishes investors knew before buying bitcoin for the first time

Bitcoin is trending upward again, with the cryptocurrency briefly topping the $60,000 mark for the first time ever on Saturday. As recently as September 2020, one bitcoin was worth just over $10,000, and the recent rally has prompted more investors to get into crypto for the first time. But many new investors are jumping feet first into the volatile crypto market without being fully aware of what they’re getting into. CNBC Make It spoke with Adam Traidman, CEO and co-founder of BRD, a popular crypto wallet that boasts more than 7 million users, about the biggest mistakes he sees newcomers making, as well as some tips to avoid them.

They’re surprised by bitcoin’s volatility

Bitcoin is prone to major valuation swings as whales — the term for large institutional investors — buy and sell massive quantities. New investors should go in with clear eyes and brace themselves for major dips and spikes. Traidman says that anyone considering buying bitcoin should get familiar with its movements so as to not get scared into selling their holdings if they see a drop soon after they buy. “[When bitcoin broke] $50,000, a bunch of new people bought in, and then you had savvy whales who took their winnings and caused a pullback,” he explains. “And then some spooked investors sold, and the whales bought back in [at a lower price].” New investors should strive to be unfazed when they see major movements, whether they’re positive or negative, Traidman says. “Be aware that if you put in X amount of money, there will be a time when you open your wallet and are down 30%,” he says. “There will also be a time when you’re up 2x.”

They don’t go in with a plan and let themselves get greedy

One of the most important things a new crypto investor can do is know their goals. Too often, Traidman says, new investors get enamored by quick increases in the value of their holdings and decide to see if it goes up any more. Instead, they should sell if they hit their targets. “When you have a situation where your money is up 2x or 3x, you’ll think that it was too easy,” he says. “Stick to your guns and don’t get greedy. If your goal is 2x [growth], and you hit that, sell it and be thankful that you hit your number.” He adds that new investors often get caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations of the coin. A better strategy, Traidman argues, would be to “buy, hold and forget about it” for at least a year. “If you look at it every day, it can be nerve-wracking,” he says. “We crypto crazy people do that, but I don’t think it’s the right move for the average casual investor.”

They try to time the market

One of the biggest mistakes Traidman sees new investors making is trying to wait to buy bitcoin at the cheapest price possible, only to get upset if it goes even lower after they make their purchase. To avoid this, Traidman advises new investors to use the dollar-cost average strategy — buying a little bit of bitcoin every day at a wider range of prices — to build their holdings over time. “Don’t just go in and buy $5,000 worth of bitcoin,” he says, adding that it is more helpful psychologically to not have a single price at which you bought bitcoin that your brain fixates on. He adds that there’s no amount of bitcoin a person can buy that makes it a good or bad investment, and that investors should only buy as much as they’re comfortable losing if its value were to drop.

They get sucked into the world of altcoins