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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, has reportedly launched the pilot for the digital rupee for the wholesale segment on 1 November. The pilot will include nine banks, including the State Bank of India, the biggest bank in the country. The use case will be to settle secondary market transactions in government securities at lower transaction costs. The digital rupee is expected to increase efficiency in the interbank market. The central bank also plans to launch digital rupee for the retail segment within a month in select locations.

The Monetary Exchange of Singapore (MAS) has reminded all authorized cryptocurrency exchanges in the country to conform to financial sanctions against Russia, following the research finding showing that pro-Russia groups raised funds through crypto donations and more countries’ financial authorities have imposed sanctions on Russia. The statement makes Singapore align with the international response to Russia. The latest European Union sanctions prohibited cross-border crypto payments between Russians and the EU, which included a total ban on all crypto-asset wallet, account, or custody services, irrespective of the amount of the wallet.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance said on Twitter that the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) would integrate its central bank digital currency (CBDC) into its distributed blockchain network BNB Chain. The country is reportedly being the world’s top three destinations for Bitcoin mining. Zhao said he looked forward to further development of use cases by the bank to “bridge the gap between traditional banking and the crypto ecosystem.” The crypto exchange has been granted a permanent license from the Kazakh Financial Services Authority early this month.

Australian Federal Budget 2022 has been released on 25 October. It states that Bitcoin would continue to be classified as digital asset rather than foreign currency for tax purposes, which would remove uncertainty following the Government of El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender. Therefore, Bitcoin investors are subject to capital gains tax treatment when they profit from selling the asset. However, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be treated as foreign currency.

Hong Kong-based crypto investment platform Q9 Capital has reportedly obtained provisional virtual asset approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). The provisional approval allows Q9 Capital to set up offices in Dubai and offer digital asset exchange services to pre-qualified investors and financial companies. After obtaining a full operating license, it could provide services to qualified investors and financial service providers. James Quinn, a managing partner of the crypto platform, said the company will comply with the regulatory framework in Dubai and continue building partnerships to expand the firm’s presence in the region.

Luxembourg-based crypto exchange Blockchain.com has reportedly partnered with Visa to launch a crypto debit card that enables users to use their crypto as a form of payment in shop that accepts Visa debit cards. The card is only issued to US residents at this stage. The news comes after Visa’s recent partnership with crypto exchange FTX to roll out a debit card to 40 countries worldwide. The crypto exchange announced on 26 October that there would be no sign-up or annual fee. The users could also earn a 1% rebate for all payments using crypto. Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith revealed in an interview that the card already had 50,000 signed on a waiting list.

Spain has reportedly had more crypto ATMs than El Salvador currently, making it the third-largest crypto ATM hub that accounts for 0.6% of the world’s total crypto ATMs. The figure is also the highest in Europe, which represents 14.65% of the crypto ATM installed in the continent. However, global crypto ATM installations have recorded negative growth since September 2022, with an average of around seven crypto ATMs being installed daily.

The Non-Bank Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) of Botswana, has reportedly granted a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license to the African crypto exchange Yellow Card on 29 September, making it the first crypto exchange to obtain a VASP license in Africa. The exchange is authorized to enable its customer to buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether and the Tether with the country’s fiat currency. Chris Maurice, the CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card, believes that the license could provide a greater opportunity for the company to expand its client base across Africa.

The amendment to the Financial Services and Markets Bill which was proposed to expand the law’s power to regulate the financial promotion and other activities of crypto assets has had its second reading in the House of Commons on 7 September. It is believed that the new bill could clarify the powers relating to financial promotion and regulated activities that can be relied on to regulate crypto assets and their related activities. Most crypto-related businesses currently fall outside of the UK’s regulatory perimeter, though they are required to apply for a license starting next year.

US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase states that the adoption of USDC has been more conservative outside of the US. According to its research, there is currently 3 times more USDC bought with USD than non-USD currencies. The exchange attributes such a cautious attitude to the expense of converting the local currency into USDC. USDC is currently the second-largest stablecoin and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. The exchange aims to remove the barrier and increase the international adoption of USDC by waving commission fees for customers using any fiat currency to buy or sell USDC on its platform.

South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has declared that the definition of the financial product under the Financial Advisory and Financial Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS) will be extended to crypto assets on 19 October. A Crypto asset is defined as a digital representation of value that is not issued by a central bank, but could be electronically traded, transferred and stored with the application of cryptographic techniques and the use of distributed ledger technology. The declaration means crypto asset service providers have to obtain licenses to provide crypto services in the country, which is described as an onerous procedure by the local press.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released its draft 2022 IRS tax forms, including a section for US taxpayers to report certain transactions of digital assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and virtual currencies. Digital assets are defined as any digital representations of value that are recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology. Assets which fall under this category shall be considered for federal income tax purposes. The taxpayers are required to disclose activity on Digital Assets of Form 1040 or 1040-SR, including receiving as a reward, award or payment for property or services or sold, exchanged, gifted or disposed of a digital asset in 2022. Any disposal of digital asset held as capital asset in 2022 requires the person to calculate the capital gain or loss and report that gain or loss on Schedule D of the Form, while an individual receiving any digital asset as payment for services or selling digital assets to customers in a trade or business shall report the income in the same way as other income of the same type.