PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Bitcoin Daily: ECB Tightens Scrutiny On Crypto Transactions; Tax Bill Would End Double Crypto Tax

Bitcoin Daily

The European Central Bank (ECB) said in a report that fixing cryptocurrency asset data gaps still presents a sizable challenge for financial institutions as well as regulators, Cointelegraph reported.

And, since the risks and spillover effects of digital assets is related to the extent that the two areas are connected, it suggests that the ECB refine, as well as prolong, its numerical and non-numerical analysis of the emerging asset class.

The report also noted that the nature of activities related to digital currency is patchily-regulated and decentralized, which makes data collection efforts more complicated. And it pointed out that the lack of hard transaction information that encompasses off- and on-chain activity makes for a partial view of the market for digital assets.

However, the ECB said that it is a complicated task to statistically classify digital currency assets as they don’t represent a financial claim or liability of an entity that is identifiable.

In other news, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd (NC) has reintroduced the Virtual Value Tax Fix Act, Coindesk reported. The legislation would, in essence, stop the double taxation of digital currency transactions by amending the Internal Revenue Code from 1986. Budd noted prior to an introduction of the bill earlier in the summer that the code puts a 40 percent tax rate on transactions.

The bill comes after other legislation for digital currency before Congress. U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (MN) reintroduced the Safe Harbor for Tax Payers with Forked Assets Act of 2019 in July. According to the outlet, Emmer claimed that the bill would offer clarity on taxable events after airdrops and digital currency forks.

Budd’s legislation comes after U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s (NC) enthusiasm for digital currency — and bitcoin especially. According to Coindesk, Henry tweeted in preparation for the hearings on Libra, “I think there’s no capacity to kill bitcoin.”

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024