The world of NFTs is shifting again, with non-fungible tokens coming to Instagram, token-related taxes coming to Singapore, and the creators of the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club collection introducing their primary token.
It was a choppy week for cryptocurrencies and the US stock market, which swung between gains and losses amid the first interest rate hike in four years. Bitcoin rebounds to over US$41,000 shortly after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell assured that the US economy was strong enough to weather its tightening monetary policy. The largest cryptocurrency had hovered below the US$40,000-mark before the rebound. It is still down 12% this year.
ApeCoin has entered the crypto chat. Holders of the wildly popular (and valuable!) Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs will soon be able to get their hands on the ApeCoin, which will be the primary token for access to new products and services, including gaming. The coin was not created by Yuga Labs, the people behind the NFT collection, but by ApeDAO. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and FTX’s Amy Wu are among those on board.
Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that NFTs are coming to Instagram in the “near term.” His confirmation came months after the head of Instagram himself, Adam Mosseri, said that his team was “actively exploring” the NFT space. Zuckerberg did not give away a lot of details during his talk at the SXSW conference. However, he did expressed hopes that users would be able to mint NFTs.
Singapore’s Finance Minister Lawrence Wong has announced taxes on NFT transactions. This will most likely hit those who earn income from those transactions and from NFT trading. As Singapore does not have a capital gains tax regime, such gains arising from NFTs will not be taxable.
