Infrastructure Deal Puts Cryptocurrencies in Washington's Cross Hairs

[TomCADem]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: MSN/NY Times

WASHINGTON — In a hunt for funds to help pay for the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure package, lawmakers have turned to the cryptocurrency industry as a potential source of tax revenue and are proposing tougher scrutiny of digital transactions.

A provision of the package would require cryptocurrency brokers and investors to provide more disclosure about their transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. The aim is to bring more transparency to an opaque sector, which critics argue is a haven for money laundering and tax evasion. But the provision also underscores the realization in Washington that the $2 trillion industry is here to stay and offers a new opportunity to generate federal tax revenue.

By strengthening tax enforcement on such digital assets, the federal government could raise $28 billion over a decade, according to an estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzed the plan. While that would be just a small fraction of the $550 billion that lawmakers have proposed in new federal spending on infrastructure, it is among the few fresh sources of revenue included in the plan.

The potential for more federal scrutiny of crypto transactions is rattling nerves in the nascent financial technology industry, which has so far escaped the kind of rigorous oversight applied to traditional financial services.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/infrastructure-deal-puts-cryptocurrencies-in-washington-s-cross-hairs/ar-AAMLboP?ocid=msedgntp

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I am glad that there is going to be some oversight on cryptocurrencies, which really are not currencies. I am not really sure what purpose is served by crypto, except as means to evade the law or to speculate.

[msongs]

1. how bout a one cent tax on every stock/securities transaction nt

[TomCADem]

2. Why not just outlaw crypto?

How are you going to impose a tax on something that is designed to be anonymous. I guess you can try to tax when crypto is exchanged either for cash or used for a purchase, which I totally support, but given how much energy is consumed, and how it often used for illegal activities and money laundering, why not just ban it outright.

[Polybius]

4. Yeah no

You want me to lose all my Bitcoins that I was smart enough to buy in 2015 for $250 each?

[TomCADem]

6. Meh. It Crypto Is More Useless than Tulips, Iomega, Gamestop, Etc.

...At least with Tulips, you had a flower. Iomega, you had a floppy disk that could store a whopping 100 mb of storage. Finally, Gamestop is an actual store albeit one with an outdated business model.

But crypto? Each coin is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme.

[Polybius]

23. You don't buy things with it

I use it like a stock.

[TheFarseer]

24. Agree

There’s nothing good about crypto

[paleotn]

3. It's about time....

At the very least, that realm of criminality needs to be watched very, very closely.

[Mawspam2]

5. Bitcoins are like Beanie Babies...

...an unregulated fad. As we have already seen, it can be stolen or embezzled and the "owner" has no FDIC or SIPC protections. There is no "full faith and credit" afforded to this Ponzi vaporware.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Powell is late to the game so Congress is behind without adequate knowledge

But it's a start.

Wonder how much the GQP is plugged into crypto?

Crypto. Moving Massive Amounts of Money, Anonymously.

Perfect for Cheaters!

[JCMach1]

8. And DU once again shocks me by how they don't understand Crypto...

Or block chain technology...

Trying to put it nicely:

Educate yourself, please

[Thyla]

9. +1000

And I know it'll go down like a lead balloon around here but I think it's time to have a dedicated crypto section on DU.

You never know people may actually learn something.

[JCMach1]

13. We could dream, but the anti-Crypto crowd is pretty toxic

So generally, I just note the ignorance and move it along.

[Thyla]

19. Agreed

Still we could make it a safe space like the vegan section.

I reckon it would trigger nearly as many people.

[TomCADem]

21. TED Talk: The Money Flower and why Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme

Yup, I love the ad hominem attacks, rather than explanation. In all these posts, none of the anti-regulation crowd have been able to explain what function crypto serves and why it should remain unregulated.

Instead, every anti-regulatory argument consists of saying that crypto is too complicated and most people are too stupid or ignorant to understand, which is an argument that pretty every industry has made.

[JCMach1]

26. It's about the blockchain

...

https://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_how_the_blockchain_is_changing_money_and_business/up-next?language=en

[TomCADem]

29. Great. Encryption. So, what function does it serve?

So, according to that Ted Talk, blockchain is an encryption technology that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. That it the same thig that was discussed by John Oliver in his piece. Now, what function does crypto serve? I know that blockchain technology is used to maintain a digital ledger, which forms the foundation of crypto. The question is so what? Also, what does this have to do with crypto?

Crypto uses blockchain technology, but blockchain technology is not just used for cryptocurrency. Now, if there was a company that was using blockchain technology not to market the latest crypto coin, but to develop a platform for sharing and maintaining the integrity of certain commercial transactions, then that is one thing, but again blockchain is not the same thing as crypto as noted in the Ted talk you linked.

So, thank you for linking that Ted Talk, which focuses on blockchain technology, which consists of far more then just crypto.

[TomCADem]

11. I Think Bernie Madoff Said The Same Thing

What function does crypto serve? How is it not just a ponzi scheme? I am sure Bernie Madoff tried to avoid questions by saying that it is too difficult to explain to people.

[JCMach1]

14. A 30 second Google attempt would answer those questions...

[TomCADem]

16. Correct. Google Crypto and Ponzi and you get 100s of results

So, I agree with you on that point.

Warren Buffet:

Paul Krugman:

Nouriel Roubini:

[JCMach1]

27. This is when my antennae go up when someone on DU starts spouting

Uber capitalists and RW cranks... Blocking

[TomCADem]

28. Pro-Regulation Paul Krugman and Nouriel Roubini are right wing? Learn something new everyday.

It would be nice if someone who was pro-crypto could explain what function does it serve. Instead, you just get a lot of hype and assurances that it is so complicated that they can't even summarize what function is served by crypto.

Also, Paul Krugram is Nobel Prize winnning, liberal economist. Nouriel Roubini is a well-known critic of deregulation and argued ahead of the 2008 mortgage crisis that deregulation would lead to a crash (which it did).

Yet, you argue that financial regulation is actually a right wing platform? Go figure.

[Thyla]

10. Bills should never be written by people that don't understand what they are putting on ..

Paper.

Impossible task and potentially unconstitutional. Good luck getting that passed in its current form.

On the plus side for me with Chinas mining industry in tatters and this bill which could potentially cripple US mining then the EU hash rates should be good.

[TomCADem]

12. It Is Good Thing That Congress Has Access to Staffers...

…and agencies that are filled with experts, because the idea that only members of Congress who are bankers should write banking legislation or that oil executives should write oil industry regulations is as silly as saying that we should rely on the crypto industry to regulate itself.

[JCMach1]

15. Classic case of ignorant overreach on regulation for bleeding edge tech

Glad the same people weren't in charge in the 1990's, we would still be using 300 baud dialup and DU would be an AOL forum.

[TomCADem]

17. Are you arguing that industries should just regulate themselves?

I am sure that Trump, the banking industry and petroleum industry would totally agree with you. Or, are you arguing that bitcoin has some underlying functionality like the internet or AOL?

For example, AOL provided email and content. What does bitcoin do? As a means of facilitating transactions, I think a basic credit card is more useful.

[Thyla]

18. Meh

By their own admission it was hastily added, final minute amendment. The scope of the wording is so unbelievably broad the true meaning could mean anything including breach of your 4th amendment.

Doesn't exactly sound like these experts know what they are on about just as it seems many social commentators don't. Like I said, if people don't understand it then it's probably best they don't commit to making themselves look silly in the process let alone try and pass laws that are impossible to implement..

[TomCADem]

20. Same Deregulation Arguments Are Made All the Time

For example, in this entire thread, not one anti-regulatory comment in favor of crypto can even articulate what function crypto serves in day to day life, which I think is telling. Instead, it is "go google it," which I did, and found several finance, economic and investing experts reiterating that it just a ponzi scheme.

Quite frankly, if it so tough to explain that you have to be an expert in technology to either use or understand, then perhaps most people should not be investing in something so abstract?

For example, real estate investing. You are buying land or buildings, which have utility because you can live in them, plant crops on them, etc. Stock investing is buying shares in corporations. See, easy.

But crypto? Even enthusiasts have no idea what they are buying, so they just replace explanation with enthusiasm like this guy:

[Deminpenn]

22. Why would anyone invest in "currency" that's not

legal tender? Why would a business take something that's not legal tender for payment?

[TheFarseer]

25. I want to hear more about

The “asset recycling”. I’m 100% against selling off our infrastructure. I’ve heard that is in the bill but no one wants to talk about it.

[JudyM]

30. Locking

Analysis and not yet important enough for LBN. Posting the final terms of the legislation once it passes would be great in LBN.