I will be spending a little with Bitcoins.
I'll try Stike then. I just need something trustworthy that works.
I've seen good reviews of Kraken. Yeah, I don't think the US government is too keen on crypto currencies, but they're just going to have to adapt. There are already a few things online that only accept crypto, and I expect that will grow. I'm sure some people have already set up schemes where they can have a bogus transaction with some shell company, which is really money they've hidden in crypto. Meanwhile, that's a tax write-off for money you've actually kept. Not that I recommend that. Our lovely IRS does not take kindly to people evading taxes. That's a good way to end up in the klink. But I'd bet it happens. I'd bet right now some dude is faking transactions that actually hide his money offshore in crypto so that his wife can't get it when they divorce.
The only way the US lets crypto survive is if they can make lots of tax revenue off of it. So far they have not been successful because the exchanges for the most part have not voluntarily cooperated with the IRS. This is the first year they are required to report any transactions of $600 or more, and we the taxpayers are required to pay taxes on any earnings from these reported transactions. I believe this new law was passed with the intent of putting another nail in the crypto coffin. With more and more exchanges shutting down, and the government suing the ones that remain, it is just a matter of time, IMO. The government has planned a slow shutdown to avoid the turmoil of a Bitcoin market crash. Of course, this could change if the IRS starts collecting big revenue from it. Then they will prop it up to increase tax revenue.
Couldn't crypto simply continue in other countries against the wishes of the US government?
Sure, but China has already restricted it and if the US does as well that would be the two biggest markets. Bitcoin will probably continue to exist because it can't be completely removed given its architecture, but the US can make it very difficult for users to trade it or purchase it. It is already almost impossible to mine it. If you look at Bittrex, they just stopped allowing US citizens to use their platform. Without the US market, they folded.
I'm rooting for crypto to succeed. I like that there are currencies not controlled by any particular government. You could keep a crypto nest egg to protect you in case hyper-inflation ever happened like it did in Germany after World War I. You could, of course, invest in foreign currencies like the Euro or the Yen, but the governments controlling those could decide to tax the crap out of accounts via some kind of "wealth tax". Maybe they rob a bunch of your Euros, Yen, British Pound or whatever right when you retire. The IRS doesn't like it because they can't get their dirty paws on the crypto transactions. My thought is, if you as a US citizen earn some money in a foreign country, that's out of the IRS jurisdiction and they therefore have no right to any of it via tax. However, the IRS doesn't see it that way. If you're an expat living in some other country, the IRS still expects you to pay US taxes. I'm against that. My belief is, if you're living and earning money in another country, and all your assets are outside the United States, the IRS should have no right to tax you, even if you're still a US citizen. But they do anyway.
It’s a sign from God.
Avoiding paying taxes by deceit is a crime so good on IRS.
Until Bitcoin is ubiquitous for purchases, you’ll still need to convert it to fiat money somehow. That’s where they can stop it, if they want.
