More power crunch.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/mu...iners-higher-power-prices-in-new-york/519275/

• New York regulators will allow municipal power providers to charge higher rates to high-load cryptocurrency mining operations, which are using large amounts of power and driving up prices for other customers.
• In upstate New York, there are at least three cryptocurrency companies operating, and in some cases, these customers account for a third of their local muni's load, according to the Public Service Commission.

...
And the issue is even more vital in small communities, he said, where there is finite amounts of low-cost energy. The decision follows a petition from the New York Municipal Power Agency (NYMPA), an association of 36 municipal power authorities in. The association represents customer-owned munis buying and distributing low-cost power, often hydroelectric, at no profit.

The lower cost of electricity is one of the reasons crypto miners have migrated to the region. But while their energy load might go unnoticed in a large urban area, regulators say in small communities the load is driving up costs.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...se-imagery-bitcoin-blockchain-illegal-content

German researchers have discovered unknown persons are using bitcoin’s blockchain to store and link to child abuse imagery, potentially putting the cryptocurrency in jeopardy.

The blockchain is the open-source, distributed ledger that records every bitcoin transaction, but can also store small bits of non-financial data. This data is typically notes about the trade of bitcoin, recording what it was for or other metadata. But it can also be used to store links and files.

Researchers from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany found that around 1,600 files were currently stored in bitcoin’s blockchain. Of the files least eight were of sexual content, including one thought to be an image of child abuse and two that contain 274 links to child abuse content, 142 of which link to dark web services.

https://fc18.ifca.ai/preproceedings/6.pdf

 

https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-hackers-shut-down-government-computers-in-atlanta-demand-bitcoin

Hackers have shut down key computer systems in the US city of Atlanta, Georgia and are demanding $51,000 in Bitcoin to reenable the affected systems, Fortune reports today, March 23.

Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the attack in a press conference on Thursday, March 22. She told members of the press that officials “don’t know the extent [of the attack] or if anyone’s personal data or bank accounts will be compromised. All of us are subject to this attack.”

 

https://www.fastcompany.com/40549479/students-are-using-their-loan-money-to-buy-cryptocurrency-study

Student loans aren’t just for buying textbooks, No. 2 pencils, and apples for bribing teachers anymore. According to a recent survey, as many as one in five college kids may be using their student loans to cash in on the cryptocurrency craze.
...
The Student Loan Report surveyed 1,000 current college students with student loan debt about whether they were asked whether they used their student loan money to invest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and found that 21.2% of them have Sallie Mae to thank for their cryptocurrency investment.

 

The TAXMAN.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018...-irs-50k-i-dont-have-because-i-traded-cryptos

A Reddit user who was "surprised" to learn he owed the IRS roughly $50,000 from his crypto-trading profits - money that he had not set aside when he cashed out his bitcoins at the height of the boom - complained in a viral post that crypto trading "ruined his life."

The alleged trader, who uses the screenname Thoway, explained that he bought eight bitcoins for $7,200 in January 2017 then cashed them out in December for about $120,000. Here's the catch: his altcoin investments quickly sunk, eating away most of his bitcoin profits. But unbeknownst to him, by selling his bitcoin, Thoway had inadvertently triggered a "taxable event".

 

The TAXMAN.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018...-irs-50k-i-dont-have-because-i-traded-cryptos

Sounds more like HE ruined his life and, like so many people, wants to blame his misfortunes and anything other than his own actions.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/30/cryptocurrency-and-taxes-what-you-need-to-know.html

Bitcoin had its coming-out party in 2017. With all the excitement and opportunities around cryptcurrency, it might be easy to forget about crypto taxation. Almost every bitcoin or other "altcoin" transaction — mining, spending, trading, exchanging, air drops, etc. — will likely be a taxable event for U.S. tax purposes.

Without a doubt, 2018 will be a landmark year for Internal Revenue Service enforcement of cryptocurrency gains. Taxpayers should stay ahead of the game rather than be reactionary. The IRS is always more lenient with taxpayers who come forward on their own accord rather than those that get discovered. Coming forward now actually could be the difference between criminal penalties and simply paying interest.

I'm sure the IRS will be looking at the blockchain for all possible taxable 'events' this year. The information in blockchain transactions is not private or completely anonymous.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608716/bitcoin-transactions-arent-as-anonymous-as-everyone-hoped/

 

Consider how sick it is anynoymus transactions.

Can you get anynomus bank account or rent a property, no you cant. Can you pass a border without a passport no you cant.

Its lies and makebelieve like if you print billions of money and give to all, people can go shopping

Theres no value added infact its so bad taking complicate hardware large amount of electricity and transactions have large fees and take a long time.

Here in the UK we have contactless VISA you can spend in all shops from bank account by tapping. If you send from paypal its usually some minutes and then its visible in your online banking.

How could you get better or more comfortable I dont know but for sure theres people who must send large amounts international very often and dont want to be seen.

So the contactless payments we have and paypal to bank in a few minutes are crap we need replace with crypto which may increase in worth by 49000 percent or may flaunder by 40% some while thereafter, wait some hours in a shop + pay a fiver as fee + need some graphic cards at home with 2 kilowatts.

Freaks.

 

Consider how sick it is anynoymus transactions.

I think you are confusing a few issues. The concept, uses, advantages, and disadvantages of untraceable financial transactions is distinct from the issue of electricity or fees used to implement a particular anonymous currency scheme.

We already have and use untraceable financial transactions all the time -- they are called cash payments. In this regard, all that cryptocurrencies do is make cash transactions possible electronically. This has always been possible, and utilized, via Trusted Third Parties. The practical limits here, just with all TTP systems, is how much trust can you actually have in the TTP, particularly in the face of legal or physical coercion. The primary goal of a cryptocurrency system is to make this trust relationship unconditional. I don't think any system as actually achieved that, yet.

And, yes, it is possible to rent property or equipment anonymously via cash payments. It just requires that the party being rented from be willing to accept the risk that goes along with it -- which almost always means that the rental rate is higher than would be for a nonanonymous transaction. This is merely the premium paid for the anonymity.

The advent of cryptocurrency doesn't change the basics of this. If I have a property for rent and the renter wants to remain anonymous my risk is essentially the same whether I accept cash in an envelope or accept a BitCoin payment. In either case I have virtually no recourse if the renter causes damage and then skips town. The same is largely true if they rent it through shell organizations that are set up specifically to obfuscate the parties involved, except that I will probably believe that it is NOT an anonymous transaction -- until they tear the place up and skip town.

People pass borders without passports all the time, too. In some instances, they do so quite legally, though these circumstances are becoming rarer.

 

I love it ... short term profit tax rate. Waiting probably a month would have garnered the bitcoin collector the long term profit tax rate ... which is considerably less than the short term rate.

 

I love it ... short term profit tax rate. Waiting probably a month would have garnered the bitcoin collector the long term profit tax rate ... which is considerably less than the short term rate.

How much you want to bet that he actually knew full well his gains were subject to tax, but figured that he could avoid paying them altogether as long as he didn't declare the gain?

 

Hey, since it's anonymous, nothing gets reported ... right? Well, that theory is gone. Wait till those who cashed in some in less than the trigger amount, and failed to report it, the IRS will find them too. Then there is their basis, and if they don't know that, the IRS will assume the whole amount is profit.

Facebook should light up ... complaining about the scam they got caught in. Someone should have told them that the U.S. considers all world wide income as taxable.

 

The IRS is buying software to look for Bitcoin tax cheats.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3935924-IRS-Chainalysis-Contract.html
https://www.fpds.gov/ezsearch/searc...NG.COM&templateName=1.4.4&indexName=awardfull
https://www.coindesk.com/chainalysis-raises-16-million-for-real-time-crypto-compliance/

 

 

nsaspook,

What he is talking about is normal investments. Daytraders in the stock system also complained about this for years. FIFO ... first in, first out is the rule and yes, if you don't track every transaction, the taxable value is the sold value unless you have the cost basis. I guess he thinks it's easy to track stock as it split, converted to another business, et al.

This is nothing new. What is new, might be the IRS specifically mentioning bitcoins since some don't realize property is being exchanged.

Unlike your IRA where you can do a trustee to trustee transfer, but once the money is sent to you you have to place the whole amount, including the taxes removed, if you wish to get away with not having a taxable income.

Bitcoin, is property.

 

Is it really screwing Crypto traders, or does it just treat them on the same playing field as traders in any other investment instrument?

 

If you want some dry reading, here is 26 USC 1031 like property exchanges

 

If you want some dry reading, here is 26 USC 1031 like property exchanges

"Exchanges of livestock of different sexes. --For purposes of this section, livestock of different sexes are not property of a like kind."

Learn something new everyday.

 

"Exchanges of livestock of different sexes. --For purposes of this section, livestock of different sexes are not property of a like kind."

Learn something new everyday.

Every time I see something like this, it just drives home the point that the government is involved in our business at WAY to fine a level. I understand the rationale for the rule, but when people are having to track business transactions at this level of detail solely due to the tax implications, it is TOO MUCH.

 

@WBahn I will add to say, someone complained to their congress critter to add that tidbit to the U.S. Code. How many times have you heard someone say "There ought to be a law ..." Well, that's how we get to that point, by federalizing everything.