Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Overbit News; the first story we're covering is recent good news for US investors.
A last-minute lobbying effort by the cryptocurrency business to amend language in the bipartisan infrastructure plan that was adopted over the weekend successfully reduced some of the IRS scrutiny that players in the sector will face.
The final legislative text included some changes to allay the concerns of the cryptocurrency industry, which expressed concern last week about new requirements that would classify the vast majority of sector participants as brokers and require them to turn over information to the Internal Revenue Service. The provision was expected to raise $28 billion over ten years.
After receiving backlash from cryptocurrency lobbyists, lawmakers altered that bill's provision to "clarify" rather than expand on the definition of a broker. The bill also omitted language that specifically targeted "any decentralized exchange or peer-to-peer marketplace."
The cryptocurrency industry has been adamant that stricter tax enforcement should not apply to crypto miners or creators of digital money or the "node operators" that keep the software behind transactions moving. Lobbyists continued to press senators for greater clarity to ensure that those parts of the nascent sector would be excluded from the law.
Industry lobbyists believe they have assurances from top lawmakers, such as Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, about the law's intent. However, they are still looking for similar assurances from the Treasury Department, which will have broad discretion to implement the law if it is passed and signed by President Biden.
As investors look to get more clarity on crypto regulations in the US, we'll head into our next story.
Closing out today's edition of Overbit News is a big headline out of the Bitcoin ATM world. One of the world's longest-standing Bitcoin ATM companies - LibertyX-was acquired by a Fortune500 company - NCR Corporation. "This is the first acquisition by any company, public or private, of a bitcoin ATM operator," LibertyX co-founder and CEO Chris Yim told The Block.
LibertyX was formed in 2013 and currently runs over 10,000 ATMs in the United States. As previously known as National Cash Register, NCR is a software firm that manufactures business-related devices such as ATMs, sales terminals, and scanners.
Tim Vanderham, NCR's chief technology officer, stated that the LibertyX acquisition would enable the company's customers to offer digital currency solutions, such as buying and selling cryptocurrency, conducting cross-border remittances, and accepting digital currency payments across digital and physical channels.
"The LibertyX solution will accelerate our ability to deliver these capabilities to the market rapidly," said Vanderham.
This will undoubtedly expand LibertyX's ongoing cryptocurrency banking operations, which began earlier in the year. In cooperation with LibertyX, Virginia-based Blue Ridge Bank became the first bank in the US to enable clients to purchase bitcoin through its ATMs earlier this year. The program is now available at 19 of the bank's ATMs throughout Virginia.
In the future, consolidation in the Bitcoin ATM space will undoubtedly be a fun trend to keep an eye on. As stated earlier, this has been a long-running industry in cryptocurrency with little-to-no consolidation yet. As more prominent players like NCR look to move into digital currency, there will undoubtedly be some shakeup in this sector.
Thanks as always for reading Overbit News.