Moonday Mornings: Bitcoin hash rate pumps while Iran says trading is illegal

Hello and welcome to another Monday and with that, another Moonday Morning – where we take a look at the weekend’s top cryptocurrency and blockchain news.

Here’s Hard Fork’s selection of last weekend’s top stories:

1. In a progressive move, Singapore’s tax agency wants to remove goods and services tax (GST) from cryptocurrency transactions that function as a medium of exchange, CoinDesk reports.

2. In an interview with Tasnim News Agency, Nasser Hakimi, the Central Bank of Iran’s deputy governor for new technologies, said Bitcoin trading was illegal. Hakimi also issued a warning about pyramid style network companies which promote the cryptocurrency.

3. Bitcoin’s hash rate reached its all-time high on July 5, The Block reports. The data shows that Bitcoin’s hash rate surpassed 74.5 million tera hashes per second — representing a 109% increase of year-over-year.

4. Last but not least, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky surveyed 13,434 consumers in 22 countries, and found 81 percent had never bought cryptocurrency.

Just 10 percent of respondents said they fully understood how cryptocurrencies work, and some 35 percent considered them a fad.

Well there you have it. Another weekend in the cryptocurrency world, and nope – Bitcoin still isn’t dead.