Lugano, Switzerland, has struck a collaboration with stablecoin issuer Tether in order to establish BTC, USDT, and Lugano's homegrown LVGA Points as potentially legal tender within the city.

The measure goes well beyond the acts of a handful of other Swiss municipalities that have been readily accepting crypto for tax payments for some time. Much like El Salvador, Lugano aims to have all of its companies smoothly utilize crypto for daily transactions as well as allow crypto for taxation purposes.

In related news, Mayor Michele Foletti of Lugano stated that the recent agreement with Tether will go a long way in assisting the city scale up its fintech activities and future growth.

Mayor Foletti added that in recent years, Lugano has been deeply engaged with crypto and blockchain technology, which includes the work on LVGA Points citizen payment tokens, NFTs, and various other blockchain advancements.

What Are the Practical Uses for Crypto?

Youve probably heard a lot about cryptocurrency. After all, the concept lives and dies on hype, so it wouldnt exist if no one was talking about it. Its probably the case that youve heard its a great investment and that if you invest your money will grow. But then what? Do you simply pull your money out again and transfer it back into USD? It seems like, for a currency that prides itself on not needing to use the banks, it needs to use the banks.

Not necessarily. It turns out, even in these early days, there is still a lot you can use direct cryptocurrency for. Travelling, cars, assets, all have some form of embracement of crypto. If you are also lost in trying to navigate the crypto world, take a look at our guide to practical reasons why you should get involved.

Buying a Lambo or Tesla

Being the pioneer of cryptocurrency itself, its no surprise that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is hinting that he will soon be accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for his self-driving cars. He has been a vocal supporter of crypto, bringing it to the attention of the masses, for all the ups and downs that come with it, and has always touted crypto as the way of the future.

Hes done so well in fact that Lamborghini are getting in on the act. This isnt due to the owners accepting it as a payment method, but rather crypto luxury marketplace, De Louvois, which allows those with enough crypto to purchase sports cars using Bitcoin.

Travel the world

For the Millennial with an ongoing wanderlust craving, you can now even see the world with Bitcoin. At the moment, travel agents like CheapAir and Destinia are accepting the currency to book flights, hotels, and rental cars, but more are expected to get on board. And those who want to stay in an apartment can look to CryptoCribs to book a place with Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Plus, the local currency will be accounted for, with the growth of the Bitcoin ATM market exploding allowing travelers to withdraw the local currency in a lot of major cities around the world. So you dont need to worry about a conversion rate once you get there.

Gambling

A lot of online casinos have also embraced cryptocurrency. You will see a lot of payment options on all casino websites, but more and more of them are embracing crypto as a means of depositing into the site.

You can also withdraw from the site with crypto, sending an extra chunk of change to your e-wallet. Due to the lack of red tape around the payments, crypto is faster at sending you your money, so it has become popular amongst gamblers.

Be paid to post

So being an influencer is nothing new. People all over the world are being paid to post on social media with the help of affiliate marketing, but now they can be paid in cryptocurrency. Blogging platform Steemit allows its users to receive cryptocurrency financial rewards for posting their content on the site, and thereby growing the platform. Its a win-win for influencers and the site.

Steemit has pointed out it would rather offer their users crypto than to collect data to sell to third parties like Facebook and Instagram are known for, which has made it very popular in emerging markets, and of course the users of the site.

Superior transfers

The higher amount a transaction is, the more time and cost it will take to process. Transactions of traditional money have to go through the bank, and all the red tape that comes with that, whereas cryptos decentralized currency has the ability to bypass the bank and its policies.

This means that there have been massive transactions made with hardly any fees or time. For example, Litecoin recently oversaw the transaction of 99 million LTC, which took two and a half minutes and cost $0.40 in fees.

These transfers are also usually private, with Mondero, Zxahs, and PIVX all offering anonymous transactions to their traders. Plus, you can earn interest on Bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies with yield farming. You can lend your crypto out for interest and occasionally fees to gain some return on your investment.

And of course, as mentioned, you can now get your crypto from an ATM, instantly converting it into the national currency you need wherever you are.

Invest in start-ups

Nowadays, everyone is starting a business. With the invention of the internet, it is more realistic than ever to do it yourself and get something out there youve wanted to see.

Well, now that will be easier to manage when anyone in the world can now be an investor, so says the peoples currency. Crypto has made it a lot easier to get around the red tape that come with stocks, which are a primary resource in getting a new business off the ground. This is what has given it the reputation as the peoples money, allowing for a lot more investment and innovation to land on the market.

Innovations like ICOs and IPOs are allowing potential investors to provide start-ups with the funds they initially need and offer start-ups the chance to raise their own capital. They do this by selling a digital token for an established crypto like Bitcoin or Ethereum and the token is proxy linked to the growth of the business after it begins to trade in the secondary market.

In past cases, ICOs and IPOs have grown in value by over 1,000% and crypto fundraising has raised over $12 billion in two years.

A back up wealth

The problem with the banks is the vast amount of policies and regulations to wade through. How anyone gets anything done is a mystery.

When you hear about cryptocurrency and its decentralized system youll also hear talk of the peoples currency and Robin Hood, taking the socialist approach to appeal to the little man. This is because there is no need for the bank with cryptocurrency. It governs itself and sustains itself.

So, there is no need to worry about the possibility of your crypto assets getting frozen if you make some powerful enemies. It can serve as a valuable Plan B to your finances. Its not uncommon to be accused of a small financial hiccup and soon see your accounts wiped, so having a decent stash of Bitcoin or Ethereum tucked away that the banks cannot access is an appealing idea.

Earlier this week, CryptoPunk 5364 (currently worth about $200,000) was sent to Ukraine's Ethereum wallet, adding even more value to a contribution drive that has already gathered more than $33 million in cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

Michael Chobanian, the proprietor of a Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange who is assisting the Ministry of Digital Transformation with the contributions, indicated that a minimum of $14 million in donated crypto has already been spent on military gear and civilian goods such as gas, clothing, water and food.

In related news, Ukraine recently strengthened its crypto fundraising campaign by establishing a Polkadot wallet in response to Gavin Wood's offer of a $5 million personal donation.

Ukraines government has officially begun accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Tether (USDT) contributions to help them against the Russian forces and to survive the continuous onslaught.

The governments official Twitter page, as well as the Vice Prime Ministers, have hence both posted public addresses for individuals to donate in BTC, ETH and USDT in order to help with military and humanitarian efforts in the country.

In related news, The National Bank of Ukraine has instructed e-money issuers to halt issuance and replenishment of electronic wallets. The ruling additionally stated that e-money distribution was temporarily prohibited until further notice. In this case, the term e-money most likely refers to fiat currency maintained in digital accounts via services such as PayPal and Venmo.

To combat anti-vaccine mandate protests, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken the unusual step of invoking the Emergencies Act. Mr. Trudeau stated that the measures would be time-limited, fair and appropriate, and that the military would not be deployed.

To that end, the nation's banks maintain the authority to freeze personal accounts of anybody associated with the protests without requiring a judicial order.

No more business with the Freedom Convoy

The federal government of Canada declared that it has ordered various banks and other financial institutions to stop doing business with people aiding the Freedom Convoy, a trucker-led protest campaign against vaccination requirements that has expanded into a larger protest against COVID-19 regulations.

The actions are intended to deplete the demonstrators' resources by leveraging rules prohibiting terrorist financing. However, the move may have an unforeseen impact as various Canadian banks abruptly went offline after the announcement. Several banks experienced technical issues with transaction processing, and the Royal Bank of Canada admitted to having technical problems with its online, mobile banking, and phone systems.

Bank run imminent?

Whatever issues the banks were having appeared to be mostly rectified by the next day, but the disruptions sparked widespread suspicion that Canada was undergoing a bank run or that the institutions had been hacked. Moreover, additional bank accounts are expected to be deactivated in the coming weeks as part of the ongoing campaign to deprive demonstrators and their sympathisers of cash and crypto assets.

Still, despite reports that Canada is witnessing a panic rush on banks, there appears to be little actual evidence to support these claims. The spike in searches for bank runs, on the other hand, raises serious concerns that one may nevertheless occur.

It's uncertain at this time if individuals are shutting their bank accounts in droves, but it's worth noting that concern of a bank run can actually trigger a bank run to happen, although deposit insurance may soften the blow were this to happen.

Furthermore, it would not be surprising if many Canadians abruptly remove their funds from large institutions in the wake of such an event. In any case, we shall soon see if Mr. Trudeau accidentally exacerbated his and Canadians' difficulties by cracking down on seemingly nonviolent protestors and what kind of long-term impact this can have on the cryptocurrency atmosphere and market in the country.

Indeed, financial markets throughout the world plummeted when Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine, highlighting growing fears that a lengthy conflict may devastate the worldwide economic system. Shares in IT titans Microsoft and Apple, for example, fell on news of the invasion along with global stock markets. Furthermore, Bitcoin (BTC) fell drastically when the conflict began before making a slight comeback.

Are things as bad as they seem?

Nevertheless, it's doubtful that the global economy would plummet to the rapid, frightening lows experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, when markets panicked about the unexpected stoppage of global supply chains and a fatal virus for which the public lacked prophylactic immunizations at the time.

Surprisingly though, Western European nations paid Russia for gas routed from Russia via Ukraine in a bizarre turn of events, even as Russian tanks occupied Ukrainian territory and war erupted. Investors quickly decided that this would not be the case for long.

Russia's conflict against Ukraine prompted the price of oil to skyrocket by nearly 10%, while other markets continued to drop. Simultaneously, European natural gas futures have risen by 50%, owing to analysts' fears about future Gazprom exports. The consequences might be far-reaching, as the increasing price of oil, for example, may result in high gas costs for automobile owners in the United States, something which President Joe Biden recently acknowledged.

In related news, a surge of crypto donations have been flooding into Ukraine which are helping cover costs related to medicine, drones, military equipment, and other needs. An increasing number of people are looking toward crypto assets and alternative currencies as traditional banking and financial systems continue to be under threat from the Russian onslaught.

What about inflation?

Inflation has startled experts and the Biden administration by reaching levels not seen since the early 1980s when COVID vaccinations unleashed waves of economic spending which supply-chain bottlenecks have been unable to keep up with. Concurrently, detractors have said that the Biden administration simply produced too much money too quickly, and that it will take time for it to be taken out of the system.

A war in Ukraine, no matter how brief, will thus undoubtedly disrupt supply networks even further. The battle may cause inflation to surge at greater levels than we anticipated only a short while ago. This means that the costs of energy, gas, food, and other basic raw materials might become considerably greater than they are now. Additionally, if prices rise amid mounting worries of a prolonged and unpredictable conflict, customers may hoard their monetary assets rather than spend them, thereby harming the economy even more.

Ultimately, one can only hope for a swift and decisive end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, global markets will try their best to hold on as things will undoubtedly get worse before they improve.

Donations of Bitcoin (BTC) to the Ukrainian army have skyrocketed since Moscow started a large-scale operation against Ukraine yesterday.

Currently, approximately $400,000 in BTC has been contributed to Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian non-governmental organisation that supports the armed troops.

The new batch of crypto donations builds on a previous trend in which hundreds of thousands of dollars have poured into Ukrainian NGOs and volunteer groups attempting to stave off a Russian invasion, with the contributions only increasing now that the country is officially under attack.

Many activists have used BTC for a wide range of purposes, including providing military weapons, drones, and medical supplies to the Ukrainian army, in addition to supporting the creation of a face recognition tool meant to ascertain whether someone is a Russian spy or mercenary.

Another organisation, the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance, has received about $100,000 in BTC, LTC, ETH, and a variety of stablecoins in the last year. Since 2016, Alliance activists have often carried out different cyberattacks against potential Russian targets.

Pro-Russian separatists, on the other hand, have been soliciting funds in BTC from the beginning of the conflict.
 

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is considering developing a new digital asset exchange connected with the crypto market.

The SET therefore intends to build its own respective digital asset exchange later on this year, which will potentially bring in additional exposure possibilities such as utiliy and investment tokens.

Although the SET's planned digital asset exchange will not be directly tied to crypto markets, the platform will nevertheless have some connection to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), among others.

Furthermore, the SET will also be openly linked to a crypto exchange, enabling investors to successfully convert their cryptocurrency assets into fiat prior to trading on the stock exchange.

During this year's Super Bowl event, Coinbase unleashed an unorthodox ad which was essentially just a QR code floating around the screen similar to how the old DVD screensavers used to work.

While it might seem like a strange strategy at first, Coinbase nevertheless experienced a massive 280% increase in app downloads following the ad and a whopping 300% increase in installations week-over-week.

Coinbase was not the only one to experience success at the annual event either. 3 of the top 5 applications whose marketing drove a significant increase in downloads were indeed crypto apps. Aside from Coinbase, crypto trading site eToro increased app downloads by 132% week over week on February 13th and by 82% on the next day.

Meanwhile, FTX, whose commercial featured 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' actor Larry David, reported a 130% increase in downloads week over week on February 13th, followed by an 81% increase on February 14th.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is attempting to capitalize on the cryptocurrency boom. As such, the nation is developing a licensing framework for digital asset service providers in order to legitimize the cryptocurrency economy and establish itself as a worldwide industrial hub.

UAE to provide federal licenses

Various government officials have stated that the UAE is preparing to provide federal licenses for digital asset service providers in order to attract some of the world's best crypto enterprises. The Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is therefore in the final stages of drafting a licensing system which could allow virtual asset service providers such as crypto exchanges to begin operations in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi reportedly reviewed the Financial Action Task Force's recent recommendations on overseeing cryptocurrencies, as well as the techniques used by the United Kingdom, the United States, and Singapore, in drafting the new laws. It eventually agreed on a hybrid structure in which the SCA along with the central bank will be in charge of regulation but regional financial centers would have control over daily licensing processes.

All eyes on the UAE

The UAE is the Middle East's third biggest crypto market, after only Turkey and Lebanon. It was also one of the world's most rapidly growing markets, with a massive 1,500% growth in activity from 2020 to 2021.

The planned federal crypto licensing framework would hence help the UAE compete with other financial hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong, which are also preparing to develop fully regulated cryptocurrency-friendly environments. Aside from licensing, the UAE wishes to foster a business-friendly atmosphere for crypto miners while taking into account the industry's possible environmental consequences.

Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, is already seeking to expand its footprint in the Middle East. The exchange stated in December that it has reached a deal with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority to fully identify the aim of advancing the establishment of a new industrial hub for global digital assets.

Additionally, the upcoming World Blockchain Summit shall take place from the 23rd to the 24th of March in Dubai and will feature leading crypto and blockchain projects, influencers and pioneers. Meanwhile, Crypto Expo Dubai will occur from the 16th to the 17th of March and will serve as the event where industry leaders and experts can network with one another and explore crypto-related business opportunities.

The SEC and Bitcoin (BTC) have been the topic of several conversations in recent years, and the most recent evidence shows that this will continue in 2022 as we grow ever closer to the inevitable shift to Web 3.0.

As such, the frequency of 13F filings mentioning Bitcoin by quarter drastically increased this year, while it reduced somewhat to 60 mentions in the second and third quarters of 2021. The number of times the SEC cited the flagship cryptocurrency in its filings for the fourth quarter that concluded at the end of January 2022 climbed by 158% to 155 mentions, which was a direct consequence of the increasing level of Bitcoin's increasing mainstream relevance, usage and global popularity.

Growing interest in institutional assets

It's worth noting that SEC filings can help determine institutional interest in crypto assets. Investment funds with a minimum of $100 million in AUM (Assets Under Management) which operate and conduct business within the U.S, for example, are obliged to make a 13F filing with the SEC every quarter, disclosing the holdings of each individual fund to the public.

Furthermore, it is not essential to publish all of a fund's assets as instead a subset of those investments inclusive of any and all positions in spot BTC must be reported. In contrast, trusts and various other crypto-based investment institutions were frequently referenced.

Increase in exposure to Bitcoin

GBTC (Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust) is the largest BTC trust by net asset value and it has become a popular method for institutions to gain exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency asset by market capitalization. With that being said, GBTC's BTC holdings increased dramatically between 2020 and 2021, paralleling the increase in the amount of investment funds which included BTC as part of their respective 13F filings during that particular time period.

GBTC holdings had in fact stagnated until late 2021, when 13F filings mentioning Bitcoin increased. Nevertheless, this represented the debut of Bitcoin ETFs like the ProShares' Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and Valkyrie's Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) last year which are now disclosed on 13F filings and account for a portion of the growth in specific organizations.

As a result, examining public SEC filings may be beneficial in gauging the growing presence of Bitcoin in the U.S economy, as well as help determine which direction the SEC and the United States government might take going forward. The rise of NFTs and the metaverse have also necessitated the need for increased regulation as DeFi is indeed here to stay.

Earlier in 2022, it was rumoured that Manchester City F.C. were aiming to explore the increasingly popular metaverse phenomenon as the next big thing in fan involvement.

The Premier League team had previously advertised for positions in their Strategy and Ventures department for potential candidates who could discover development prospects in the VR (Virtual Reality) sector.

According to various reports, Manchester City has therefore begun the process of constructing the world's very first football stadium within the metaverse with the assistance from VR pioneers, Sony.

In related news, Manchester United F.C. and Tezos, one of the world's most sophisticated and sustainable blockchains, recently announced a significant multi-year agreement that will see Tezos featured on the team's men's and women's training uniforms.