Battered And Bruised, Bitcoin Ponders IRS, FBI Scrutiny
A new report from Chainalysis shows US-based investors logged more than $4 billion in realized gains trading Bitcoin last year.
That's $4 billion, with a "b," and it was almost four times the next closest nation (figure below). Chinese investors managed $1 billion in gains despite official efforts to lean against crypto.
Obviously, I have no way to verify these figures, but Chainalysis outlined their approach. "We measure the on-chain flows to each cryptocurrency exchange, and approximate the
So, if U.S. investors logged $4b in gains in BTC in 2020, should we assume that they’ve lost $2b in BTC in 2021?
On a (somewhat) related note, El Salvador is on track to be the first country to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency (alongside USD)
Right. And how would that work if the US made it illegal (subject to Treasury sanctions) to convert Bitcoin to USD?
What does your hypothetical have to do with the previous reality?
Apparently you don’t follow my commentary on crypto very closely. It’s a reference to a previous article.
On review, my last comment might come off as antagonistic and I don’t mean it to.
I’m just trying to say that as long as we’re talking about Bitcoin and the narratives around it, the proposed formalized adoption by a nation seems like something worth mentioning.
El Salvador’s GDP is less than AMC’s market cap.
The race for quantum computing in the bussiness arena is somewhat public. Governments will keep their capabilities secretive. Many believe that quantom computing will easily open Crypto keys. Allegedly Bitcoin is working on preventing this and feel it is a problem 5 years from now. Who got the money back?
Long Google- for many reasons, including their quantum computing capabilities.
There’s been news showing that, apparently, the FBI/DOJ didn’t break anything. They just managed to seize the BTC b/c they were on a server whose owner felt inclined to cooperate with the FBI (or was within its jurisdiction)
Following the money remains one of the most basic, yet powerful, tools we have,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco in a statement on Monday
Because these transnational, organized criminal groups are facilitating these payments in cryptocurrency, and because of the transparency and traceability that cryptocurrency provides, you can actually more effectively follow the money and potentially mitigate and arrest illicit activity within this ecosystem, than you can with traditional finance and fiat currencies and payments.
Basically, when it comes to committing crimes, keep asking for your ransom in good ol’ USD. Way safer and more anonymous than the ooohh so criminal BTC.
I’ve been seeing more and more hype on Chainanalysis’ capabilities.
From direct personal experience – they’re fine for getting an idea of mass movements – such as a Silk Road – but they’re terribly for actual accuracy at the individual level. Daily bitcoin transaction data is about 60GB – so while searching 10 years of bitcoin activity is not impossible – Chainanalysis relies on voluntary participation by exchanges to identify ownership/(exchange location) of wallets.
The voluntary participation means certainly a significant percentage of wallets are not capable of being identified by Chainanalysis’ methods: cold wallets, non-participating exchanges, non-exchange online wallets etc. I have been told by federal LE folk that they cannot rely on the tool for prosecution – which is pretty damning.
Furthermore, most veteran (or criminal) users of crypto employ many wallets since there is no barrier whatsoever to create new wallets.
“There is no place beyond the reach of the FBI,” Deputy Director Paul Abbate said this week –
…other than foreign meddling and interference with our elections and commandeering and trying to conquer US democracy…
Sorry to burst your bubble JB, but big business with their lobbying have already done so “interference with our elections and commandeering and trying to conquer US democracy…”