Bitcoin
Canadian Tax Scams Beware: The CRA Is on the Hunt
(Kitco News) – As countries around the world struggle to find sources of revenue amid growing economic concerns, taxing the activities of cryptocurrency traders is increasingly becoming a point of focus, with Canada being the latest to launch a crackdown on cryptocurrency tax fraud.
According to a report from the National Post, the Canada Revenue Agency is currently seeking to collect CAD 54 million ($39.5 million) in unpaid taxes on crypto trading. But according to one lawyer, this number is just a “drop in the ocean” in suspected unpaid taxes linked to cryptocurrency activities in the 2023-2024 tax year.
Sahil Behal, director general of the CRA’s compliance branch, told the National Post that the agency has around 400 ongoing audits or examinations related to crypto assets, in addition to the 54 million CAD that has already been reassessed.
“Fifty-four million, that’s chump change,” said David Rotfleisch, managing partner of the Toronto firm Rotfleisch and Samulovitch. “I’ve had several clients with multi-million dollar (cryptocurrency) issues… and I’m just a tax lawyer. That’s a small number.”
Rotfleisch, a veteran tax lawyer and cryptocurrency expert, suggested that the agency should focus more on educating the public about the tax obligations surrounding cryptocurrency transactions to help clear up any confusion.
“Until last year, maybe a little before that, the CRA had almost nothing on cryptography. Crypto was a commodity, that’s it. They didn’t say how it’s taxed, that it needs to be taxed, you need to report it… no guidance from the CRA, and that contributed to that,” he said. “How will you know it’s taxable?”
Behal acknowledged this point, saying the agency knows there is much more work to be done to raise public awareness about tax obligations related to the emerging world of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (Bitcoin) or Ethereum (ETH).
The CRA commissioned a survey last year due to the “high level of ambiguity” surrounding crypto assets in Canada and found that a third of respondents did not have a firm understanding of their tax responsibilities.
Most cryptocurrency users scored around 50% on their knowledge of tax regulations, and more than 10% believed that withdrawing cryptocurrencies in government-issued currency was exempt from taxation.
For this reason, the 400 ongoing audits and examinations include 125 “intent to audit” letters that the CRA is preparing to send to Canadians it believes have not reported income earned through trading activities on Coinsquare, the largest cryptocurrency exchange. from Canada.
These taxpayers will have 45 days to contact the agency and declare any lost crypto-related income, Behal said. Doing so voluntarily will eliminate any penalties or interest payments due, but failure to respond within the allotted timeframe may result in a “full scope audit.”
“It’s one of those approaches we’re taking, recognizing that there’s a lot going on in this sector,” Behal said. “Canadians may not be aware of their tax obligations (and) being able to better manage risk and also support Canadians.”
He added that going forward, the CRA plans to change its compliance measures as the level of default risk changes, but admitted that the agency does not have “dedicated numbers in terms of what the level of default might be in this sector”. .”
According to comments made by Cathy Hawara, CRA’s assistant compliance commissioner, before the Senate finance committee last week, the letters were being sent to individuals the agency believed had unreported income after receiving a trove of transaction data. from Coinsquare through a legal request. called the Unnamed Persons Requirement (UPR).
“We are leveraging the data we obtained from a UPR regarding a specific cryptocurrency exchange and are beginning to contact Canadian individuals who we believe are involved in transactions and have not reported income on their returns to encourage them to do so , even leveraging our audit capacity… in cases of greater risk”, Hawara told the senators.
The CRA was able to use Coinsquare UPO to compare taxpayers’ existing returns to detect any discrepancies, Behal said, adding that the agency was considering issuing additional UPRs to other cryptocurrency exchanges until the government implements the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). in 2027.
This could help increase the 54 million CAD the agency currently aims to raise.
“UPRs are litigious in nature,” Behal said. “We want to be in a space where we can get more structured data directly from trusted sources, and the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework will get us there.”
Once CARF is implemented, crypto-asset service providers in Canada will be required to submit annual reports to the CRA, including information on the value of transactions involving crypto-assets and fiat currencies, exchanges between different crypto-assets and transfers of crypto-assets, and customer information , such as complete information names, home addresses, dates of birth and taxpayer identification numbers.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes. This is not a request to carry out any exchange of goods, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article accept no liability for loss and/or damage arising from the use of this publication.
Bitcoin (BTC) Mining stocks like Riot Platforms (RIOT), Marathon Digital (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) retreated in pre-market trading as BTC retreated.
RIOT, MARA and CLSK all fell more than 2%, while other crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) fell 1.5%.
Bitcoin sell-off continues
Crypto-linked stocks retreated as Bitcoin resumed its downtrend on Wednesday. After rising to $63,750 on Monday, BTC is hovering at $60,0000 and it is unclear whether it will recover.
More importantly, Bitcoin is dangerously close to the crucial support at $58,273, which is the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The next support level for Bitcoin is $56,426, representing its lowest level in May.
Bitcoin Price Chart
If Bitcoin drops below this price, it will be a sign that the bears have prevailed, which could take it to the $50,000 level, if not below.
This decline happened after a whale deposited nearly 2,000 Bitcoins to Binance in two separate transactions. While this isn’t always the case, deposits to exchanges often happen when holders are exiting their positions.
The whales’ action coincided with a period in which the German government continues to sell off its Bitcoin holdings. It transferred $52 million worth of coins to exchanges on Tuesday.
As a result, data from CoinGlass shows that the volume of Bitcoin balances on exchanges has started to increase. The volume rose to 2.49 million on Tuesday, from last month’s low of 2.47 million.
Bitcoin balances on exchanges
Bitcoin Mining Companies at Risk
If the Bitcoin sell-off continues, it will put Bitcoin mining companies like Marathon, CleanSpark, and Riot Platforms at risk. These companies have tended to have a close correlation with Bitcoin in the past.
This drop is happening a few months after the halving event, reducing the amount of Bitcoins that miners receive.
To compensate for this drop, most of these companies have added their mining equipment. CleanSpark has reached a hash rate of 20 EH/swhich helped her mine 445 coins in June after mining 417 coins the previous month. She did this after purchasing 5 mining sites in Georgia.
Digital Marathon mined 590 coins in June, down 40% from the same month in 2023 and flat from May.
Riot Platforms, on the other hand, focused on acquiring Bitfarms, a company that mined 189 coins in June.
U.Today – Amid an ongoing sell-off in the cryptocurrency market, Michael Saylor, a prominent advocate and president of MicroStrategy, made a statement on X (Twitter) that reverberated across the crypto space: “Just Bitcoin.”
This two-word tweet comes as the cryptocurrency market faces significant sell-offs as the price of Bitcoin plummets.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, began its decline in Tuesday’s trading session, hitting $63,223 at one point before falling further.
Losses deepened on Wednesday as investors considered remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, with Bitcoin hitting intraday lows of $59,509. At the time of writing, BTC is down 2.85% over the past 24 hours to $60,274.
According to data from CoinGlass, the sell-off has resulted in a significant amount of cryptocurrencies being liquidated in the past 24 hours, totaling over $166 million. However, this has not deterred Saylor’s confidence in Bitcoin, as he reiterates his longing for the crypto asset in his tweet.
Cryptocurrency market crashes
Cryptocurrencies fell on Tuesday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank needs to see more progress on inflation before cutting interest rates, which are now at 5.25%-5.50%. Powell revealed at a monetary symposium in Sintra, Portugal, that the United States is moving closer to a disinflationary path.
“We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably downward toward 2% before we begin the process of tapering or easing policy,” Powell said.
Market losses deepened after Wednesday’s economic releases that indicated the labor market is cooling. Recent data showed weaker-than-expected private payroll growth in June, but weekly jobless claims were higher than economists had forecast. The latest figures come ahead of the highly anticipated June nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
As the cryptocurrency market goes through a period of uncertainty, the coming days and weeks will be crucial in determining the direction of BTC’s price.
Rumors that the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 will use cryptocurrency that has been circulating for more than a year now—and they’re spinning again.
On Wednesday, a pseudonymous Crypto Twitter influencer named Gordon — apparently named after Gordon Gekko from the iconic 1987 film “Wall Street” —shared to his nearly 500,000 followers that “GTA 6 will allow cryptocurrency payments” and that “so far only Bitcoin, EthereumIt is USDT [are] confirmed.”
But in reality, no cryptocurrency has been confirmed for Grand Theft Auto 6, despite ongoing chatter about the rumors. Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two have made no such announcements this week on the subject, nor have they made any prior announcements, and official trailers and announcements have made no mention of cryptocurrency being included.
However, the tweet — which also included a fake trailer for the game — quickly went viral, with over 500,000 views as of this writing in a matter of hours. When Twitter users asked Gordon for his sources, he would jokingly respond that his “uncle works there” or say that previous reports on the matter were “old” at this point.
But really, nothing has changed since then. DecipherGG’s reported in previous rumors in May 2023, not even since the first official trailer — which initially leaked with “BUY BTC” stamped on itApparently by the leaker in question—premiered last December.
DecipherGG reached out to Rockstar Games for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Could Grand Theft Auto 6 implement a crypto element when it releases in 2025? It’s certainly possible, and if so, it would be a transformative moment for cryptocurrency adoption by the traditional gaming industry.
Take-Two Interactive has explored the space before, acquiring casual gaming giant Zynga in early 2022, when Take-Two founder and CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested there were “Web3 opportunities” that they could explore better as a team. Zynga has launched its first blockchain game on Ethereum, called Sugartownbut Take-Two has yet to get involved with other brands.
Rockstar Games, on the other hand, prohibited the use of cryptocurrency or NFTs on player-run Grand Theft Auto 5 servers in late 2022, following a rise in the use of NFTs to represent unique player-owned assets on modded game servers.
And given Grand Theft Auto’s satirical tone, the game may be more likely to criticize cryptocurrency and poke fun at caricatures of crypto fans and NFTs, for example, rather than trying to launch its own on-chain currency. But that’s all speculation at this point, as there are relatively few official details about GTA 6.
For now, at least, don’t believe the hype. While Rockstar Games hasn’t officially closed the door on cryptocurrency usage in Grand Theft Auto 6, it hasn’t confirmed anything about it either. However, it’s sure to remain a hot topic in the long run leading up to release, which is currently scheduled for fall 2025.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
Bitcoin
Crypto President Trump’s ‘Lesser’ Regulation Will Bless Coinbase’s Bitcoin Leverage, Expert Says – Coinbase Glb (NASDAQ:COIN)
Chris SenyekChief Investment Strategist at Wolfe Researchrecently expressed his opinion on the potential impact of a Donald Trump win the 2024 elections in the cryptocurrency market.
What happened: Senyek suggested that a Trump presidency could ease cryptocurrency regulations, benefiting companies like Coinbase Global Inc. COIN due to its importance Bitcoin BTC/USD Leverage.
“Trump would be less harsh on crypto regulation, and Coinbase would be a big beneficiary of that given its influence on bitcoin,” Senyek said during CNBC’s “Last Call” on Tuesday.
See too: Enhance Your Retirement Portfolio: The Benefits of Adding Cryptocurrency
Why does this matter?:Senyek’s comments come in the context of the former president Donald Trump‘s reported plans to participate at the Bitcoin 2024 convention, which could reinforce his image as a “Crypto President”.
Trump’s potential participation in the Bitcoin 2024 convention, a major event on the cryptocurrency calendar, could have significant implications for the industry.
Pratik KalaHead of Research in DigitalX Limitedhe has predicted a Trump victory in the upcoming elections, but warns that immediate cryptocurrency-friendly regulations may not be a priority.
A recent report by 10x Search explore the recent rise in Bitcoin price and its potential connection to Trump’s strong position in the 2024 election race. The report, titled “Is the Bitcoin Trump Pump Sustainable?”, highlights a 4% spike in Bitcoin’s price following the news that the president Joe Biden will remain in the race despite a poor performance in the presidential debate.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading 2.10% lower at $60,860.66, according to Benzinga Pro.
Read next:
Image created using photos from Shutterstock
This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari
News and market data brought to you by Benzinga’s APIs
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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