Good grief, it’s Monday. And what a wonky weekend it was for crypto prices.

The big guys spent the weekend wandering about like they’d escaped from an assisted living facility and gone in search of somewhere warm to sit down and maybe a cup of tea if they’re lucky.

Bitcoin fell as low as US$22,000 ($31,880), but has recovered slightly (and slowly) to US$22,600 – it’s flat this morning, but up 8.45% for the week.

Ethereum lost its momentum a few times over the course of Saturday and Sunday, also ending the weekend down, falling to US$1500 at one point to rally to US$1600 this morning, where it’s up 2.5% this morning, and a positively peachy 18.8% for the week.

But the US$1600 mark seems to be something of a hard glass ceiling for Lady Ethereum to smash through. It’s taken a few solid runs at it over the past seven days, all to no avail.

crypto ETH
ETH Prices last 7-day via coinmarketcap

It’s a similar story for the other majors, prime example being XRP which tracked BTC’s movements, fell to US$0.35, climbed to US$0.365 and has meandering into Monday at US$0.36c.

Big movers over the weekend included the likes of BOND, which saw some massive spikes to the US$23-US$24 mark, before an equally dramatic fall to US$21.2, where it’s hovered since.

There’s other stuff happening, so let’s see if we can get through an issue of this caffeine-fuelled beast without mentioning Elon Musk.

 

Crypto decides to summer in the Bahamas

There’s been a recent rush from a number of players in the crypto space to open up shop in The Bahamas, and Coindesk is reporting that trading giant Susquehanna International Group is next in the queue at the airport.

It’s a no-brainer for the crypto firms to move to the small island nation, given its relaxed lifestyle, fabulous beaches and endless opportunities to not pay tax. How idyllic.

We’re guessing they’ll be re–thinking the move if crypto mining’s climate-spanking energy drain isn’t sorted out soon, as huge chunks of The Bahamas are scheduled to be swallowed by the ocean in just 25 years.

 

Zipmex may have been handed a lifeline

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex might have found a answer – maybe – to its near-fatal liquidity problem, which saw the exchange slam the door shut on investor withdrawals.

It is just the tiniest glimmer of hope for investors whose hard-earned is now stuck in “We’ll get it to you next week, mate – honest!” financial limbo. No doubt they’ve got their fingers crossed that when the potential buyer opens the books to do due diligence, it dosn’t die laughing on the spot.

Decrypt reports that Zipmex is following in the footsteps of a number of exchanges that are struggling through the cold of a brutal crypto winter, including Celsius, Babel Finance and CoinFLEX.

Zipmex has multi-million dollar exposures to Celsius (US$43m) and Babel (US$5m)… Oh, what a tangled web they’re all trapped in.

 

Is zero-fee trading the way of the future?

The good people at Forbes have an interesting read on Binance’s recent foray into the world of zero-fee trading, noting that the move could be a positive one for the company as exchanges struggle in the face of shrinking userbases through the downturn.

According to Forbes, Binance has been able to offer the new incentive thanks to it holding back from the flashier end of the crypto business world, by not sponsoring major sports teams or – thank the heavens – getting Matt Damon to smirk his way through a flashy commercial that makes everyone want to gouge their eyes out.

 

A gentle reminder not to get molested by the tax man

And, lastly, a timely reminder from Fairfax for anyone who managed to make money with crypto last financial year, that the ATO is on the prowl for any undeclared profits.

Our good friends in the tax department – for some unfathomable reason – treat crypto as property rather than currency, which means any gains you’ve made need to be declared as such, and you’ll need to pay full-whack capital gains tax on it.

Also, there’s a solid chance that if you’ve been using staking as a way to keep your crypto generating money, you may be in for a bit of a shock come tax time.

The Sydney Morning Herald is citing the example of an investor that made $200,000 staking Terra, pushing him into a higher tax bracket – and when Terra sank to the bottom of the sea, it left him with no funds to pay his now-enormous tax bill. Ouch.