FX.co ★ News of the world of cryptocurrency: legalization of digital assets in Ukraine, the rise of Shiba Inu and apocalyptic forecasts from JPMorgan

On Thursday, the deputies of Ukraine voted for the updated law "On virtual assets". The adopted document is intended to ensure the regulation of transactions with cryptocurrencies and their legal use in the territory of the state.

The law "On virtual assets" takes into account the amendments of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. According to the new document, the National Commission for Securities and Stock Market (NKTSBFR) and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will be responsible for digital assets.

Thus, the National Bank of Ukraine will control digital assets secured by currency values, and the duty of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission will be to consider cases of violations in the use of cryptocurrency.

Zelenskyy must sign the adopted document no later than ten days later. The new law "On virtual assets" will come into force after the Verkhovna Rada approves changes to the Tax Code affecting the taxation of the digital currency market.

The day before, JPMorgan chief strategist David Kelly said that against the backdrop of raising the base rate and tightening monetary policy by the Federal Reserve, the global cryptocurrency market will permanently and significantly decline. The result of such a protracted fall, the expert believes, will be the complete end of the era of "crazy speculation" in the digital asset market.

The analyst explained that initially interest in virtual coins arose due to the incentives of the US Fed against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced participants in global financial markets to move from low-profit bonds to risky assets.

In the event of an increase in key rates in the near future, Kelly is sure that traders will stop investing in "crazy ideas" and redirect their investments into assets with real economic returns.

Recall that following the results of the US central bank's January meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, announced a possible increase in the base interest rate in March by 50 bp.

In January of this year, the cost of BTC instantly fell below $43,000 after the release of the minutes for the Fed's December meeting.

Bitcoin traded at $42,000. According to the world's largest virtual asset data aggregator CoinGecko, the global cryptocurrency market capitalization is $2 trillion.

On Thursday, the Shiba Inu altcoin soared 80% from its January lows to trade at $0.000030. Last week, the token showed growth to the highest level of the end of December 2021 – $0.000035.

Traditionally, the value of the SHIB coin-meme completely depends on the interest of the crypto market participants. And now it is unusually high. Thus, the main incentive for the growth of the altcoin was the creation of the ShibaSwip ecosystem with a decentralized exchange and marketplace.

In addition, the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment is growing day by day. Today, users of the largest online platforms Amazon and eBay can pay for ordered goods using SHIB.

On Wednesday, the listing of the meme coin was announced by the Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Foxbit. Foxbit has a customer base of around a million customers, making it one of the leading crypto exchanges in the region.

Analysts of the virtual asset market predict that by the end of 2022, the value of Shiba Inu could grow by 30-50%. However, for a spectacular jump, the coin needs to settle above the key level of $0.000040.