Something I have warned about for years is now unfolding and coming true. This is a trend that has taken years to reach this point, but inevitably, it was unavoidable. The IRS has begun to crack down on cryptos and those who use it.
Coinbase, after a year of battling a court order, as they valiantly tried to protect their customers, have lost and have been ordered to submit roughly 13,000 of their top clients account statements to the IRS.
These top 13,000 clients are what many would classify as "whales", and are the biggest fish, and thus the easiest target for the IRS to go after first...
Note that I said first. The IRS, smelling blood in the water is not going to stop here. For those who have tried to avoid the long arm of the law, by trying to hide under the thin veil of anonymity, the day is coming where they have to pay the piper.
This day was unavoidable, as I have been saying for years, Bitcoin is not truly anonymous and can be traced with a little effort. This is made that much easier when using a service such as Coinbase, in which you must legally submit documents to prove your identity. To think that the IRS was not going to poke and prod, when so much money is on the line would be foolish.
Do not take this as a total slamming of Bitcoin, or Cryptos as a whole, as I believe a decentralized currency, created by the free market, that competes alongside our currently horribly flawed fiat system has its benefits.
However, this is a foreshadowing of the vision that many central banksters and financial elites have in mind, when thinking about the future of digital currencies.
As has been mentioned numerous times as of late, more and more countries are pondering the idea of moving to a fully digital crypto style currency of their own. An idea that if enacted would give them horrific powers and abilities to control cash flows and thus your life as a whole.
This vision would be a nightmare scenario, and would make our current fiat based system look like the gold standard, as at least, at this time you have some control via physical cash.
Moving forward, we can expect the IRS to expand their reach and dig deeper and deeper into the crypto sector, attempting to squeeze more and more money out of those who have avoided their tax payments and not claimed their profits correctly.
For those who have been fortunate enough to experience a large boon from your recent ventures, be smart and protect yourself. Plan accordingly and pay your taxes if you must. The risk is simply too high moving forward and the government will not stop until they have turned over every stone that they can. The piper is calling, and they are not going to take no as an answer.
- As first seen on the Sprott Money Blog