Taxes And Other Things To Remember This Year
As we look out to 2018 and the things that are likely to influence cryptocurrency acceptance, governments role is one of those gnarly issues we face. So many countries with different issues practically guarantee there will be no unanimity.
Already the US ranks as the most regulated of countries. The Treasury Department has the most extensive Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti money laundering regulations of any country in the world. It is little wonder that so many of the global exchanges do not accept accounts from American citizens. Unless something changes, the legitimate desire for customer autonomy could impede Bitcoin and others.
Consider this, if any retailer from Amazon to Munchies Frozen Yogurt store wanted to accept Bitcoin in payment, would they have to verification that their customers country of origin and if they were compliant with KYC etc?
Our Friends At The IRS
The IRS is already flexing it considerable muscle. In a November court judgment,
Coinbase was forced to hand detailed personal information for more than a million customer accounts. After much legal dancing the order was limited to those that conducted Bitcoin transactions from another Bitcoin user worth $20,000 or more. The final ruling appears consistent with the legitimate prevention of money laundering. Nevertheless, this example shows the IRS clearly overreaching.
Cryptocurrencies And The Gig Economy
The new US tax law promises to lower overall tax rates. At least that is the headlines claim.
Last May a CNN Report identified 34% of American workers as part of the Gig economy. These are natural recipients of cryptocurrency for payment of services. It is only a guess but the vast majority of these folks are sole proprietorships or limited liability corporations.
Meanwhile, under the new tax law, corporation taxes fall from 35% to just 21%. This provides a huge incentive for gig workers and anyone accepting cryptocurrencies to reorganize into a C Corp. to maintain.
Like Kind Exchanges Are History
What are “Like Kind Exchanges”? Lets say you bought a slug of Bitcoin back in 2013 for $13.33 and held it to its record $20,000. For our purposes let’s say your Bitcoin is now about $400 million. You wisely assess risk and decide to diversify into an equal amount of Ether, Ripple, Litecoin and a handful of others.
The operative words are “equal amount”. In the good old days before 2018, you differed about $80 million in capital gain taxes. That is no more a valid strategy. Like kind exchanges for securities are history.
Obviously, this change in the tax law rewards long term investors while penalizing short-term swing traders. All of which brings us to one of our favorite long-term investment topics: SilentNotary.
SilentNotary ICO Is Underway
The SilentNotary ICO is underway with our whitepaper and full details available at SilentNotary.com
If you are new to the process, here are a few key points.
An Unmet Need
We live in a world today where trust is being challenged more than ever. SilentNotary is a digital notary that saves and certifies documents, emails, chats, audio- and video recordings while securing authenticity using blockchain technology.
A Large Addressable Market
There are over 2.3 billion people worldwide dependent on trust whose everyday lives would be improved using SilentNotary. These are not one time users, these are repeat customers. This is only the B to C market
Think Business to Business markets like Insurance, Artists, Contractors and Blockchain Land Registrations for governments and cities. There are tens of thousands around the world.
Hard Driven Management
The highly experienced Silent Notary team now totals 16 and growing. These are not just developers, but product designers and marketing specialists. This of course is in addition to experts in legal and finance.
SilentNotary created Lightstamp, an IP patented technology that eliminates the possibility of data falsification. This simply means SilentNotary can offer the greatest security, a key to building the highest level of trust.
James Waggoner
