There is some very big news for early investors in Block.one: The cryptocurrency startup will return as much as 6,567 percent in less than three years. That is $6.6 million for a $100,000 stake.
“Block.one is very much the odd one out in the crypto market,” said Tom Shaughnessy, co-founder of Delphi Digital, a crypto research firm in New York, according to Bloomberg.
Some of Block.one’s earliest investors include Peter Thiel, Alan Howard and Louis Bacon.
In other news, the U.S. Copyright Office is denying that it has officially “recognized” anyone as the inventor of the world’s most popular crypto.
On Tuesday (May 21) it was reported that the agency had awarded self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor Craig Wright registrations for a white paper and early computer code related to the cryptocurrency.
“As a general rule, when the Copyright Office receives an application for registration, the claimant certifies as to the truth of the statements made in the submitted materials. The Copyright Office does not investigate the truth of any statement made,” the Copyright Office wrote in a press release. “In a case in which a work is registered under a pseudonym, the Copyright Office does not investigate whether there is a provable connection between the claimant and the pseudonymous author.”
Federal authorities are investigating a group that reportedly includes the former chief executive of Riot Blockchain — although it is unknown which companies and what activities are being looked into.
The criminal case is being handled by the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco, according to the transcript from a civil Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) case obtained by CNBC.
The news follows an SEC announcement that it had charged 10 individuals and 10 associated entities — including John O’Rourke, former CEO of Riot Blockchain, and Barry Honig, who was once the largest shareholder of Riot — in a scheme that generated more than $27 million from alleged unlawful stock sales.
And the Central District Court in Israel has ruled that bitcoin is an asset and subject to capital gains tax (CGT).
The ruling is in response to a case centered on blockchain startup founder Noam Copel and the Israel Tax Authority. Copel of DAV.Network purchased bitcoins in 2011 and sold them in 2013 at a profit of 8.27 million Israeli new shekels ($2.29 million). He argued that the crypto should be treated as a foreign currency and not be taxed.
But Judge Shmuel Bornstein explained that bitcoin as a cryptocurrency “could cease to exist and be replaced by another digital currency. Hence, it cannot be considered a currency, especially for tax purposes,” according to CoinDesk.
As a result, Copel needs to pay 3 million NIS ($830,600) in taxes, as well as costs of 30,000 NIS ($8,306). He can, however, appeal the ruling.
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