Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: People, Culture and Tech
Controversial Bitcoin investor Brock Pierce has used cryptocurrency to buy a $1.2 million house in Amsterdam. The wealthy former child star, known for his role in “Mighty Ducks,” used Bitcoin as collateral to obtain a $1.2 million loan from Swiss FinTech Nexo for a home.
President Trump says director of the Office of Management and Budget—and Bitcoin enthusiast—Mick Mulvaney will come on as acting White House chief of staff when John Kelly leaves the end of the year. Mulvaney will stay on at the OMB where he was narrowly approved by the Senate by just two votes in 2017. With the government headed to a potential shutdown over a budget disagreement, who better to step in than Mulvaney, one of the architects of the 2017 government shutdown? At the time, he said, “What we just did this week was fine and passable, but not ideal. … I think a good shutdown would be one that…
A group of five nations have formed an international alliance to fight cryptocurrency-related tax crimes and money laundering schemes. The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, or J5, includes tax agencies from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Authorities from the five countries hope the collaborative effort will increase their success in combating cross-border tax crimes. “We will work together to gather information, share intelligence, conduct operations, and build the capacity of tax crime enforcement officials,” the group said on its new page on the IRS website, adding that J5 plans on piloting new approaches and conducting joint operations against offshore tax crimes. Cryptocurrency allows…
As popular as it is to trade cryptocurrency, it seems it’s even more popular to hide it from the government. The American tax deadline is nigh, so U.S. citizens are tabulating their finances for Uncle Sam to take his cut. But a survey of 250,000 people filing their taxes on a platform called Credit Karma reveals that only 100 of them are declaring capital gains income from their cryptocurrency holdings. It’s a safe assumption that most traders aren’t reporting jack squat. Bitcoin tredecupled in value (that is, it climbed in value more than 13 times) last year, helping to turn cryptocurrency at large into a $500 billion sector. Thomas Lee,…
