The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 47: Tax on digital currency profits, Southeast Asia updates, and the 7th CoinGeek Conference in Zurich

There’s no stopping governmental bodies from going after digital currency traders and their earnings.

In Australia, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has issued a warning that digital currency profits are not tax-free. According to the ATO’s data analysis, more than 600,000 Aussies have invested in digital currency in recent years. The ATO is expecting that almost 300,000 taxpayers to report their digital currency capital gains or losses in their 2021 tax return. 

“This year, we will be writing to around 100,000 taxpayers with cryptocurrency assets explaining their tax obligations and urging them to review their previously lodged returns,” Assistant Commissioner Tim Loh said. 

Loh said a big myth is that people think so-called “crypto” is a currency, rather than an asset, which is how it is classified by the tax office. He was “alarmed” that people may think digital currency operates in an anonymous digital world that provides them with a license to ignore their tax obligations.

Meanwhile in the United States, a similar effort is underway. The Biden administration plans to get tougher on tax cheats—and digital currency is an area of concern.

Recently, the U.S. Treasury proposed a plan that would require businesses and exchanges to report to the IRS any digital currency transactions with a market value of $10,000 or more. This is a step towards better regulatory rules and policies in the U.S. that will help the country determine value and use cases of digital currencies in the real economy. 

Moreover, according to the Treasury Department, the digital currency economy contributes to the U.S. “tax gap” which is the difference between tax paid and tax owed. The White House estimates a $7 trillion dollar gap over the next decade and they would like to close that by going after digital currency traders that are avoiding paying their taxes.

Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, governments are also gearing up their efforts in the space. 

Thailand, the Land of Smiles, plans to make not much people in the DeFi space happy. The country is now looking into decentralized finance (DeFi) in their latest effort to regulate the digital currency industry.

The country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that any activities related to DeFi may require a license from the financial regulator in the near future. The commission specifically stated it will target DeFi protocols that issue tokens.

In Indonesia, plans for a CBDC is in motion. The Bank of Indonesia’s announcement comes amid surging uptake of digital payments in the country. The country is the latest global central bank to indicate a move towards a state-backed digital currency. 

And in Singapore, DBS Bank, a multinational banking corporation has launched its first-ever security token offering (STO) by issuing a digital bond. Institutional or accredited investors signed up to the DBS Digital Exchange (DDex) will be able to access secondary markets for DBS’s digital bond. The bank hopes its offering will pave the way for other issuers to launch STOs via the DDEx platform.

In the BSV ecosystem, the Handcash Hackathon for non-Bitcoin developers is finally happening online from June 14 to 28 with a current prize pool of $5,000.

Visit hackathon.handcash.dev to learn more and sign-up. 

Next week, the 7th CoinGeek Conference is kicking off in Zurich, Switzerland. Expect big announcements, giveaways, and opportunities to earn BSV from June 8 to 10. You can watch and participate online and interact with other attendees by signing up at Coingeekconference.com.

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