France Version of Sorare Lose NFTs
Mark Kennedy & Manuel Olumorin
May 24, 2023
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New Tax Guidelines Rattle India's Online Gaming Platforms
France Nerfs Sorare
The Sneakies
New Tax Guidelines Rattle India's Online Gaming Platforms
Navigating the ever-evolving maze of web3 gaming taxation rules can be daunting. Just recently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in India released awaited guidelines for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for online gaming platforms.
Hold on... What's that about?
These guidelines help clarify how to compute the net winnings for online gaming platforms under Rule 133 of the Income-tax Rules 1962. Sounds neat and handy on the surface, doesn't it?
But here's the catch.
Online gaming platforms are now growing concerned about the impact these taxation rules might have on their user base. You see, with every benefit comes a drawback or two.
And the specifics?
According to the guidelines, the net winnings of an online gamer will be calculated by subtracting the sum of total deposits during the financial year and the opening balance at the start of the year in the user account from the amount withdrawn during the year.
In other words, the more you withdraw, the more your net winnings shrink, and the higher your taxable amount may rise.
The silver lining
The CBDT has set a threshold of INR 100 for deducting tax for winnings from online gaming. That means online gaming platforms will not be required to deduct TDS for a user if the withdrawal of net winnings does not exceed INR 100.
A bit of a relief for those playing on a smaller scale, wouldn't you agree?
Lootbringer’s take
While it's great to see tax clarification coming into place for online gaming platforms, the potential impact on user bases can't be overlooked.
We have to remember that gamers don't just play for fun. They play for profit too. If the tax guidelines make it harder for them to earn, we might see a dip in platform activity.
For now, this is isolated to India, but as we know, governments copy each other’s playbooks at some point. 👀
NFT Regulations in France: Sorare's Hoop-Jumping for a Nerfed Experience
Imagine unlocking a secret level in your favourite game, but it's just a treadmill going nowhere fast.
That's what's happening to Sorare players in France. Saddled with NFT regulations tighter than a triple-knotted shoelace, Sorare's solution is, well, something of a facepalm moment.
Square pegs and round holes
Sorare is buddying up with the French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) to find a way to fit square pegs into round holes—aka onboarding French players according to the country's NFT regulatory playbook.
While it's a short-term solution and currently only live for Sorare: Football, it's set to roll out for Sorare: MLB on May 26, 2023, and eventually Sorare: NBA in the fall.
Here’s what players in France will go through
Players in France have to submit a phone number and proof of residence to access the game.
After providing their info, they will not be able to compete with the NFT versions of the digital cards that come with unique rarity traits.
Instead, they get the vanilla version with lineups composed of non-blockchain versions of the cards that have similar qualities as Sorare’s NFT-based cards.
Lootbringer's take
This is like serving unleavened bread. Sorry French folks, hope you get some yeast NFT back in your Sorare.
The Sneakies
The new standard for NFT interoperability, ICS-721, has been integrated into Cosmos, allowing users to transfer and track NFTs across different blockchains without the need for a bridging protocol. This opens up fresh horizons for NFTs in sectors like gaming, social platforms, and web3 identity protocols.
Blockchain startup Openfort seals its $3 million seed round with Newman Capital, eager to revolutionize web3 gaming with its programmable wallet service.
Ledger continues managing its PR nightmare by sharing its “path forward.” They shared that they made the decision to accelerate their open-sourcing roadmap, including core components of the OS, and Ledger Recovery, so external parties can audit their code.
Another web3 game heading to the Epic Games Store as Defimon announced its heading there later this year.
Tweet of the Day
This may be one of the first signs of early adoption of web3. I do know @KarateCombat has an interest in gaming, but this is massive for sports too. Let’s highlight it 🧵👇
1/7
— Jonah 🎮 (@RealJonahBlake)
May 23, 2023
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