Riding The Wave News Summary #15
Welcome to Riding The Wave. If you have questions or feedback, please reply to this email. If you are new to the Newsletter, please check out what we provide on our about page and consider subscribing. Within the Newsletter, I provide News Summaries, Weekly Status Updates, & Deep Dive Articles on Specific Topics (Ex: How do I pick which coins/tokens to buy?). More details here
News
Table of Contents
Cryptocurrency news: IRS announces it won't tax crypto, but only in these cases
US lawmakers issue warnings about digital yuan as Winter Olympics kicks off
Bitcoin miners believe global hash rate to grow ‘aggressively’
Grammy-winner John Legend launches new music and art NFT platform
Tweets
Notable Mentions: How to Get the Hottest Crypto Jobs: Start by Working With a DAO
Cryptocurrency news: IRS announces it won't tax crypto, but only in these cases
In May 2021, Joshua and Jessica Jarret requested the IRS a refund of $3,293 of income tax paid in 2019.
The couple filed a legal complaint with the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
They obtained 8,876 Tezos tokens through staking, and they claimed to the court that any tokens gained through proof-of-stake should be considered "new property" created by the taxpayer.
The Jarrets argued the Tozen tokens obtained should not be taxed until sold or exchanged.
IRS has offered to refund the couple's taxes paid on rewards gained trading Tezos.
The precedent opens the debate in defining and taxing cryptocurrency assets.
According to Crypto & Blockchain journalist Kamran Rosen, "sources close to the matter say the couple (Joshua and Jessica Jarret) plans to pursue the case further in court to obtain longer-term protection. This would undoubtedly set a national precedent for the growing taking industry, currently estimated to be around $18B."
Small lawsuits like this are great as they force the government to start making decisions. Once a decision is made (like this staking decision) & the precedent is set it’s much more likely that when laws are made they will reflect what was previously decided giving Crypto more stability. It also makes it easier for the government to start making laws as once the precedent has already been set via a lawsuit they just need to reference it as justification for the law and go through the process to formalize the law.
Ted Cruz buys the Bitcoin dip
Rafael ‘Ted’ Cruz, the junior Republican senator from Texas, is putting his money where his mouth is.
According to a financial disclosure filed on Friday 4th Feb, Cruz bought between $15k and $50k worth of Bitcoin (BTC) on January 25th, using the River brokerage.
At the time, Bitcoin was trading between $36k and $37k, and over the subsequent days it has risen to a current price of around $41,600. Assuming he hasn't sold his bitcoins and incurred any short term capital gains taxes, his current profit on the transaction is in the region of $2,000 - $6,850.
Following the example of fellow Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Cruz spent much of the latter half of the crypto bull run aligning himself with the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, as his state benefited from an influx of Bitcoin mining companies and interest in the subject became more widespread.
This move is likely part PR, part investment. $15k to $50k sounds like a large number of funds but considering most Senators’ net worths (His net worth is in the millions link, another link) this is similar to you or I dipping our feet in the water. As crypto goes up in price and is pulled back into the media spotlight I expect many politicians and businesses to jump in with amounts that seem significant to you and me but are in reality token efforts when considering their available funds.
While this isn’t a bad thing overall it’s important to keep in mind what level of commitment they have as it points to how likely another bear and bull cycle is versus a break from that pattern.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Riding The Wave to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.