Bitcoin maintained its earlier gains in Tuesday trading, reaching as high as about $8,150 in morning action. Tuesday marked the third-straight day the No. 1 cryptocurrency by market value hovered above the $8,000 mark after a 15-day streak trapped below it.

Most other high-market cap cryptocurrencies traded into the green on Tuesday. Here are the stories you can’t miss in cryptocurrencies for Tuesday, April 17.

IMF Head Gives Bullish Boost

International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde said in a blog post that cryptocurrencies have significant power to cut down transaction costs while underlying blockchain technology could improve efficiency and safety in financial markets. “Crypto-assets enable fast and inexpensive financial transactions, while offering some of the convenience of cash,” Lagarde wrote. “Some payment services now make overseas transfers in a matter of hours not days … The underlying technology of crypto-assets-distributed ledger technology, or DLT-could help financial markets function more efficiently. Self-executing and self-enforcing ‘smart contracts’ could eliminate the need for some intermediaries.”

Pornhub Tanks Verge

Adult entertainment website Pornhub announced it will begin accepting anonymity-focused cryptocurrency verge as payment on its site. In a release, Pornhub said it was an effort to “keep current with our community’s payment preferences.” The statement continued, “Pornhub users will now be able to use verge, which allows for anonymous transactions by obfuscating the IP address and geolocation of its users so that they are untraceable, to pay for all Pornhub purchases – including Pornhub Premium, the company’s HD, on-demand streaming service.” The deal wasn’t initially good for verge’s price though, as investors appeared to be selling on the news. The token tanked as much as 7% in afternoon trading before paring some losses. Verge was on Tuesday the No. 21 largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Blockchain Taps Goldman Exec

Cryptocurrency wallet and data provider Blockchain has tapped a former executive from Goldman Sachs to run its institutional sales and strategy, according to Coindesk. Breanne Madigan previously lead the bank’s institutional wealth services, where she managed relationships with funds holding about $1.49 trillion in total assets. Madigan told Coindesk she envisioned her role as “helping more traditional investors gain unparalleled access to the future of finance,” and that she had previously worked with “many of the largest and best-known hedge funds.” Blockchain operates in 140 countries and has opened 24 million wallets. It previously announced it plans to triple its headcount in 2018.

Kraken to Suspend Service in Japan

Kraken, the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced it will shutter its services in Japan by the end of June amid growing costs with which the company hasn’t been able to keep pace. Kraken, which began operating in Japan in 2014, said the company and its employees “deeply regret suspending this long-standing relationship and hope to resume services for Japan residents in the future.” The statement continued, “However, at the present time, it is impractical to continue service for Japan residents. The decision involved careful consideration of revenue against the costs and resources required to maintain service.” Kraken noted that, as it grows quickly, resources have become scarce and, “after we have had a chance to better catch up to our rapid growth, we will consider the possibility of resuming service for Japan residents.”

One common retirement misconception is that your tax burden will be negligible compared to what it was during your working years.

But that may not come to be the case. Depending on the income sources you have available to you in retirement, you could face a sizable tax bill year after year as a senior. Here are just some of the ways you might get hit.

1. Traditional IRA or 401(k) withdrawals

Saving in a tax-advantaged plan like an IRA or 401(k) is a smart way to build a nest egg. But while traditional IRAs and 401(k)s offer an immediate tax break for contributing, as well as tax-deferred growth on your money, once you reach retirement, the withdrawals you take are taxed as ordinary income — meaning at your highest possible rate. The only way to get around those taxes is to save in a Roth IRA or 401(k) or convert your existing savings to a Roth-style account. Go the latter route, however, and you’ll be liable for taxes when you make that conversion.

More:Tax refund got you excited? Don’t count on it if your student loans are in default

More:IRS hit with computer glitch on tax day

2. Social Security benefits

Seniors who collect Social Security and don’t have much other income can often avoid taxes on their benefits. But if you have other income sources, such as savings or a part-time job, there’s a good chance your Social Security benefits will be taxed.

To see if this is the case, you’ll need to calculate your provisional income, which is your non-Social Security income plus half of your yearly benefits. If your total falls between $25,000 and $34,000 and you’re a single filer, or between $32,000 and $44,000 and you’re a joint filer, then you could face taxes on up to 50% of your benefits. And if your provisional income is above $34,000 as a single filer or $44,000 as a joint filer, you could be taxed on up to 85% of your benefits.

3. Pension income

Though many companies are doing away with pensions, if you happen to have one, consider yourself lucky. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that money will be yours free and clear of taxes in retirement. Payments made from pensions — both of the government and private sector variety — are generally taxed as ordinary income. However, certain types of military or disability pensions may end up being partially or completely tax-free.

4. Investment gains

Investment gains are taxable in retirement, assuming those assets aren’t being held in a qualified retirement account. However, you can ease the burden by holding investments for at least a year and a day before selling them at a price that’s higher than what you paid. This way, you’ll bump yourself into the long-term capital gains category, which has a far more favorable tax rate than short-term gains, which are taxed as ordinary income. Therefore, it’s wise to avoid them when possible.

5. Investment income

Not all employers offer a 401(k) plan but if yours does it is usually a good investment vehicle. (Photo: Getty Images)

Some people make money off their investments by selling them at a profit. Others, however, make money by holding on to their investments and collecting dividend payments on stocks and interest payments on bonds. The bad news? Dividend and interest income is generally subject to taxes. The good news? Qualified dividends are taxed at a more favorable rate, and most dividends tend to fall into this category.

Furthermore, if you invest in municipal bonds (those issued by cities, states, and other localities) instead of corporate bonds, your interest payments will be exempt from federal taxes. And if you buy municipal bonds issued by your home state, you’ll avoid state and local taxes, as well.

6. Bank account interest

Many seniors opt to keep at least some money in a savings account, where they don’t face the same loss of principal that exists with other types of investments. And even though today’s interest rates are far from generous, if you’re housing a large sum of cash in the bank, it could impact your tax bill. In fact, bank account interest is taxed as ordinary income, so once again, you’re looking at paying your highest possible rate.

This isn’t to say that you should unload your savings account. Quite the contrary — you need an emergency fund in retirement just as you do when you’re working. Just be aware of the tax consequences that might ensue.

Nobody wants to pay taxes, especially when you’re on a relatively fixed income. But if you prepare for what could lie ahead, you’ll be in a better position to withstand that financial blow.

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The Bank of Japan will likely find it easier to make its inflation target less binding if recent scandals throw Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from power, according to Takahide Kiuchi, a former board member at the central bank.

“If the unusually strong administration changes, the Bank of Japan could get a little more freedom,” Kiuchi said in an interview Tuesday. The BOJ has faced “considerable political pressure” these past five years, he said.

“If the Abe administration is replaced by another administration, it could become easier” to re-frame the inflation target as a medium- to longer-term goal, said Kiuchi, 54, who is now executive economist at Nomura Research Institute Ltd. in Tokyo. The BOJ, which is by law independent from the government, has said it wants to reach its price goal at the earliest possible time.

The BOJ’s policy path could come under fresh scrutiny as speculation intensifies over Abe’s future because of scandals that have prompted a series of public apologies and driven his poll numbers to near record lows. Kiuchi, who served on the BOJ’s policy board from 2012 to 2017, was one of its perennial dissenters, saying that achieving 2 percent inflation isn’t feasible and that trying to do so could have a negative impact.

Still Half Way

The BOJ has yet to hit its 2 percent inflation goal despite five years of bold easing

SOURCE: The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

NOTE: Japan's core CPI excludes fresh food prices. The figures are adjusted for the effects of a sales tax increase in April 2014 using a BOJ method.

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In a Bloomberg survey of 49 economists before last month’s BOJ policy meeting, 68 percent of those expecting the central bank’s next move will be monetary tightening forecast such a move in January 2019 or later.

While BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has repeatedly said he is committed to easy policy to reach the price goal, Kiuchi suspects that the bank is moving toward normalization, citing its reduced purchases of government bonds. If Abe steps down, the price-target change could come around next year, Kiuchi said.

Abe must win a leadership vote scheduled for September by his political party to stay on as premier. While Abe has said he would stay in his job and work to restore public trust in the government, a poll published by the Asahi newspaper on April 16 showed respondents would prefer to see former Defense Minister and Abe critic Shigeru Ishiba as the next leader. Ishiba said in an interview in June last year that it wouldn’t be good if the unprecedented easing policy continued indefinitely.

The BOJ could scrap its negative rate policy in late 2019, provided that the government delays a sales tax hike scheduled for October of that year, Kiuchi said. “What will likely come first is the termination of negative rates or a reduction in the purchases of exchange-traded funds,” he said.

See also: Kiuchi says BOJ will stay on ‘virtual normalization’ path

It may be in 2021 at the earliest when the BOJ begins to cut its corporate bond holdings accumulated as part of its stimulus, Kiuchi said.

Ahead of such changes, the BOJ may also redesign its long-term interest-rate target if there is little risk that that would cause the yen to rise, Kiuchi said.

One option would be for the bank to scrap its zero percent target for the 10-year government bond yield and make it a goal for the five-year yield instead, he said. The latter rate would be “far easier to control” partly because it’s less sensitive to developments in overseas bond markets, he said.

“This will depend on market conditions so it’s hard to tell when that could happen,” he said of the possibility of a change to the 10-year yield target. “But it will probably come ahead of the termination of negative rates.”

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