Last Friday, China’s State Council posted a statement summarizing a meeting in which top-level officials, including Vice Premier Liu He, called for a “crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior.”

• Beijing’s statement came one day after the Biden administration released a new tax enforcement proposal that would require cryptocurrency transfers over $10K to be reported to the IRS.

📝 How is Crypto Currently Regulated?
From The Balance: “At present in the United States, regulations regarding cryptocurrency are mainly only proposals and are based on the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) of 1970 and the Patriot Act.”

• In 2013, federal regulators defined cryptocurrency exchanges as money transmitters, subjecting them to clauses in the BSA and Patriot Act requiring U.S. financial institutions to actively identify, report, and deter money laundering and terrorist financing.

For tax purposes, cryptocurrency held as an investment is classified as property and is subject to capital gains taxes. Mining of cryptocurrency and payment for goods and services are both taxed by the IRS as income.

⏭️ What’s Next?
In December, federal regulators proposed a rule that would force banks and money service businesses to record the name and physical address of customers who transfer more than $3,000 worth of cryptocurrency per day. The measure has not yet been enacted.

• Last month, the House passed a bipartisan bill that would form a working group to evaluate how the U.S. currently treats digital assets. It has been referred to a Senate committee for review.

⚖️ Washington, D.C., Sues Amazon

The attorney general of Washington, D.C., filed a new antitrust lawsuit against Amazon yesterday.

• The suit alleges Amazon artificially inflated prices in the U.S. by forcing third-party sellers to sign an agreement explicitly prohibiting them from offering products at lower prices on other websites, including their own (known as a ‘most favored nation’ clause).
• The AG is arguing that this kind of arrangement created an “artificially high price floor across the online retail marketplace” as sellers rolled Amazon’s fees into their prices.

More: Amazon has pledged to fight the lawsuit. In a statement provided to media organizations, the company said: “The DC Attorney General has it exactly backwards — sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store.”

Images: NYT

Ultra-runner Zhang Xiaotao thought he was prepared for a challenging 62-mile mountain race in China last week – until, roughly 12 miles in, tragedy struck.

• Extreme hail and ice rushed down unexpectedly, blurring Zhang’s vision and eventually causing him to collapse unconscious in the freezing cold.
• Meanwhile, the race’s 171 other participants found themselves in similar predicaments. Twenty-one runners died, many of them after suffering from hypothermia.

Zhang awoke several hours later in a cave, finding himself wrapped in a quilt next to a fire. As it turns out, a local mountain shepherd named Zhu Keming had discovered Zhang and carried him to safety.

“Without him, I'd still be lying there. I'll never forget the new life that he has given me!"

Keep reading.

🧠 Brain Games…

Illustration: Jonas Wallén Wisely Digital

The early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is crucial to the treatment of the progressive memory loss condition.

• But the most efficient methods of diagnosing the disease - spinal fluid samples and PET scans - are expensive and not widely available, leading approximately 20-30% of patients with Alzheimer’s to be misdiagnosed.

Enter Lund University in Sweden: A research group affiliated with the school developed an algorithm combining data from a simple blood test and three brief cognitive tests to predict, with 90% certainty, which patients will develop Alzheimer’s dementia within four years.

Keep reading.

Which of these common bird species was once six feet tall?

A) Pheasants
B) Parakeets
C) Pigeons
D) Penguins

(keep scrolling for the answer)

Access merch, exclusive rewards, and even a weekend in Austin with the DONUT team by referring others to this newsletter. Simply:

1. Copy your unique referral link. 👇
2. Post said link on social media, drop it in your group chat, rent an airplane & fly a banner, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.

No link found!

D) Penguins

In 2014, scientists published an analysis of a 37 million-year-old fossil of a species of penguin, which they estimated stood over six feet tall from toe to beak tip, weighing as much as 250 pounds.