Bitcoin spenders can now use the lightning network to shop at e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Crypto payment processing startup Moon announced today that any lightning-enabled wallet can now also be used through Moon's browser extension. Before this lightning feature, roughly 250 beta users already used Moon to spend crypto on e-commerce sites by connecting the browser extension to exchange accounts like Coinbase.

The Singaporean government’s taxation agency is proposing to remove goods and services tax (GST) from cryptocurrency transactions that function or are aimed to function as a medium of exchange.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) published last Friday an e-Tax draft guide for treatment on what it calls the “Digital Payment Tokens,” seeking to exempt any entity dealing with such digital assets from GST liabilities.

If the draft guide passes into legislation, starting from Jan. 1, 2020, the following changes will take effect to “better reflect the characteristics of digital payment tokens:”

The IRAS said the e-Tax guide is still in its draft form and that the Ministry of Finance will be holding a public consultation from now until July 26 on the “legislative amendments for digital payment tokens.”



(Picture sourced from: pexels.com)

The draft guide also sets out detailed parameters on how digital payment tokens are defined, which should have all of the listed characteristics below:

a) It is expressed as a unit

b) It is fungible

c) It is not denominated in any currency, and is not pegged by its issuer to any currency

d) It can be transferred, stored or traded electronically

e) It is, or is intended to be, a medium of exchange accepted by the public, or a section of the public, without any substantial restrictions on its use as consideration.

“Examples of digital payment tokens are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, Ripple and Zcash,” the IRAS added in the proposal.

Notably, the agency specified that stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to have a value pegged to a fiat currency, may not qualify to be GST exempt.

“Any digital token that is denominated in any fiat currency or with a value pegged to any fiat currency will not qualify as a digital payment token,” the IRAS said in the draft. “For example, a digital token pegged to US dollars will not qualify as a digital payment token.”

Article sourced from internet.

The sharing economy, the poster child of the new digital age we live in, is evolving at an unprecedented speed. As of 2017, 2 in 5 Americans have participated in the sharing economy in some form, and 35% of Americans view it as offering better value than traditional businesses. Ridesharing, rental, peer-to-peer lending, co-working, freelancing, fashion, and other platforms have rapidly become multi-billion dollar companies and are confidently building up familiarity and trust for collaborative consumption among users all over the globe.

The phenomenon of the sharing economy is closely tied to, and takes full advantage of, another product of the Internet and big data age - the referral economy. Just like people are willing to eliminate the middlemen from their purchases of products and services, they are increasingly tuning out traditional advertising and media noise when making purchasing decisions. Modern consumers are anything but shy when it comes to broadcasting their opinions through social outlets, and are treating recommendations of their peers as the most reliable source of advice. According to Nielsen, 83% of people trust referrals from their family, friends, and acquaintances, while only 48% trust online ads.

Both sharing and referral economies were obviously made for each other, and marrying them within one major online ecosystem is an ideal situation for consumers and merchants alike. Especially if this ecosystem implements an additional role of a promoter, who doesn't have to provide or consume products and services and can benefit solely from bringing in referrals. A great example of such ecosystem is Global Rewards City, a profit-sharing platform based on Bitcoin. GRC implements a tiered loyalty system that pays off in digital assets rather than points. The basic principle of the platform is that service or product providers agree to share a percentage of their profit from each purchase or non-consumption activity their customers perform. This way, merchants attract more consumers; and consumers benefit every time they spend money or efforts while interacting with merchants.

The uniqueness of GRC is that it's a global network where every user can choose to play one or more of the three roles: be a merchant, a consumer, or a promoter. As a merchant, you don't have to be a large corporation trying to attract customers to shop at their website; GRC, due to its unified rewards that are paid out in Bitcoin, works equally well from small offline shops as well as freelancers offering their services. As a consumer, you are offered multiple ways to increase your loyalty score and earn rewards, which are not limited to spending activities; you may choose to participate in market research, answer surveys or simply watch ads. As a promoter, all you have to do is refer new users to the ecosystem, and this alone will make your score grow, which may yield more rewards.

Let's take a closer look at why tiered loyalty programs are the most effective in stimulating user engagement in the sharing economy. In May 2018, a study called “Loyalty Programs in the Sharing Economy: Optimality and Competition” has shown that “sophisticated loyalty programs that reward suppliers via stepwise linear functions outperform simple sign-up bonuses.” In layman's terms, rewarding users continuously through a tiered loyalty program, where rewards are accumulated proportionally to consumer activities, shows the best results. Global Rewards City's loyalty program does exactly that: it introduces a multi-level system of self and team scores that are directly tied to profit percentages that users are getting. All users, regardless of their roles, are constantly encouraged to be more involved and raise their scores. GRC successfully arranges a perfect marriage between the sharing and referral economies that yields smart, engaged participants who profit from their everyday activities and monetize their social networks.

You can check out GRC at GlobalRewardsCity.com