Welcome to your weekly dose of crypto news! The past seven days (August 26-September 2) looked red for the crypto market. Several major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) fell by more than 10%, and for the first time since July, the total market capitalization is back below €1 trillion.

Actually, there is not only a crypto market crisis, but worldwide finances are not doing well either. Inflation continues to rise and new (bizarre) inflation predictions are even being made. For example, inflation in England is expected to reach 18% next year.

Fortunately, the crypto sector continues to deliver and, beyond the price trend, there are still positive developments. For example, paying taxes with crypto is now possible in a certain province in Argentina. That and more is discussed below in the weekly crypto news review!

Residents of Mendoza can now pay taxes with stablecoins

After another move toward widespread crypto adoption in Argentina, citizens from Mendoza province can now pay government levies and taxes using cryptocurrencies.

In a Saturda statement, the Mendoza Tax Authority (ATM) described the new crypto payment service as fulfilling "the strategic objective of modernization and innovation," allowing "taxpayers to have different means to meet their tax obligations."

The service officially began operating on August 24, but at this stage it will only accept stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) for tax payments.

Citizens can pay through the portal on the ATM website using a crypto wallet.

Once the user selects cryptocurrencies as a payment option, the system sends a QR code, with the equivalent amount of stablecoins converted into pesos by an unspecified online payment service provider.

When ATM receives the payment, a receipt is sent to the taxpayer.

Crypto increases in popularity in India

Earlier this week, KuCoin released a survey regarding the new developments in India's blockchain and cryptospace. The so-called "Into The Cryptoverse Report India" shows that the number of crypto investors in the country is in the range of 115 million as of June 2022.

These people have traded or held crypto assets in the past six months, the study claimed.

KuCoin's India study presents a youthful crypto investment landscape in the country. It says 15% of India's population in the 18-60 age group is already investing in crypto, while another 10% of the same group are crypto-curious consumers who plan to invest in the next six months.

The demographic profile of crypto investors is getting younger, as 39% of all Indian crypto investors are between 18-30 years old in Q1 2022, up 7% from the previous quarter.

Helium developers propose leaving own blockchain for Solana

Internet of Things (IoT) blockchain network Helium could switch to the Solana blockchain following a new HIP 70 governance proposal launched Tuesday.

Helium's core developers said the need to "improve operational efficiency and scalability" was necessary to bring "significant economies of scale" to the network.

The Helium network works by users installing a Helium Hotspot to provide decentralized 5G wireless network coverage to Internet users in their area. Helium uses a unique consensus mechanism, proof-of-coverage, to verify network connectivity and issue HNT tokens to Helium Hotspot providers when coverage is verified.

The proposal comes as Helium developers have stressed the need to resolve a number of technical issues to improve the network's capabilities.

Many members of the Helium community have responded positively to HIP 70, believing that integration into Solana will greatly benefit developers.

Ryan Bethencourt, partner of Web3 backer Layer One Ventures, told his 16,000 Twitter followers that the proposal is "huge" for Helium and Solana if the recommendation is approved.

The HIP 70 vote is scheduled for September 12, which will be made available to HNT token holders at heliumvote.com. Voting will end on September 18.

Instagram and Facebook users can post NFTs from their digital wallet

Facebook and Instagram users can both post non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, and digital collectibles to their accounts by linking their wallets.

In a Monday update to a May 10 blog post, Facebook's parent company Meta said the social media platform's roughly 2.9 billion users would have the ability to share digital collectibles and NFTs. The announcement followed an August 4 update in which Meta said Instagram users in 100 countries would be able to post digital collectibles minted on the Flow blockchain or from wallets supporting the Ethereum or Polygon blockchains to their accounts, estimated between 1 billion and 2 billion users as of the second quarter of 2022.

Once again, this was the main crypto news of the week. Earlier this week we also wrote about Google Trends and crypto. Read more in the article "The 5 most googled questions about crypto".