When self-disclosure makes sense and why algae are now becoming smart

We hope you had a good day and now we want to give you some exciting information to take with you into the evening. t3n Daily is also available as a newsletter. Here are the topics of the day.

In the case of untaxed crypto profits, there is a risk of trouble with the tax investigation. Fines, professional ban or even imprisonment can be the consequences. But: Affected crypto investors could still save themselves from penalties with a self-disclosure. “A voluntary disclosure to the tax office protects you from the worst,” explained tax consultant Raphael Sperling in an interview with t3n. The Federal Fiscal Court confirmed in early 2023 that the tax office wants profits from crypto to be taxed.

In his opinion, people who traded cryptocurrencies in the years 2015 to 2017 and who have so far concealed their income in their tax returns should be particularly careful. Anyone who has taken precautions and can prove the times of buying and selling the crypto assets has nothing to fear “if mail should come,” emphasized Sperling.

The elite Harvard University has a special new professor: namely a chatbot. “CS50 bot”, as it is called, is deliberately used in the “Computer Science 50: Introduction to Computer Science” course. The chatbot, designed by Professor David J. Malan, aims to help students discover errors in their programming codes. The AI ​​also provides feedback and answers frequently asked questions.

However, the chatbot is specially programmed not to be too helpful. It’s about leading the students on the right track instead of giving them solutions. He’s taking on tasks that previously had to be done by overworked and underpaid support workers who could now get some relief. Because without people it doesn’t work yet: The answers of the machine are still controlled by the human staff.

In a few days the time has come: The Euclid space telescope of Esa will be launched into space at the beginning of July. The hopes that lie on the approximately 780 million euro mission are high. What is the universe like? How did it evolve and why do the laws of physics work the way they do? With the help of Euclid, there should be new insights into these unanswered questions.

Euclid also focuses on the search for dark matter in order to clarify questions about gravity. There is little evidence of the existence of this invisible form of matter. That should change with the help of the Euclid mission. After launch, the telescope will travel a whopping 1.5 million kilometers away from the Sun.

What do a Berlin startup and Vodafone have to do with smart algae? Both hope that this will improve the indoor climate. The Berlin company Solaga has developed algae walls and algae pictures for this purpose. At Solaga, end customers are either private individuals who buy algae pictures or companies that use algae walls to improve the office climate.

Vodafone’s sustainability team became aware of the startup and passed the case on to Vodafone’s IoT lab. In it, employees deal with the entire process of making things smart. In addition to sensors, Vodafone has now developed a new, external device that is positioned above the algae wall. Among other things, this measures the CO2 content in the room and the temperature. Microsoft also relies on algae to reduce its CO2 emissions.

Is a Big Takeover Happening in the Crypto Market? The two major crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase have been sued by US authorities. The primary concern is the categorization of certain cryptocurrencies. But the lawyer Alireza Siadat, who specializes in blockchain technology, does not rule out a takeover of Coinbase. “Especially big players like JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs are suitable for a takeover,” he told t3n.

Unlike Coinbase, Siadat does not suspect a takeover at Binance. “It’s more likely that there will be a restructuring so that Binance becomes a franchise,” he says. Banks or other companies could benefit from being a Binance franchisee. His conclusion is: “The next three months will certainly be turbulent on the crypto market.”

That’s it for today’s t3n daily. You can find much more about all aspects of digital life, working life and the future around the clock at t3n.de.