New wave of crypto acceptance
While the first months of 2018 have been rough for crypto community, and against all odds economist Kenneth Rogoff has said bitcoin will cost 100 dollars after a decade, many who still believe in crypto. Among them — suprise! — there are governments of world’s leading countries.
Wikipedia offers us a handy map that shows us the legal status of bitcoin around the world. Taking it and a bunch of fresh news from the last two weeks, I’m writing about the recent (and decent) governmental trends concerning crypto to prove that what we have now is a massive wave of crypto acceptance, which I belive will only grow bigger until it’s became a tsunami.
Let’s take, Germany, the «Bitcoin capital of Europe» since 2013.
On February, 27th 2018 German government issued a document that considers Bitcoin tax-exempt as long as it used as means of payment. Basically it makes it equal to the legal payment methods.
At the same time, a conversion from crypto to fiat or vice versa equals to taxable service.
Meanwhile, it’s been less than 48 hours till New York federal judge ruled that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies should be regulated as commodities.
Third in a triangle that pretty much sums up modern governments’ options for accepting crypto is Israel.
In the end of February Israel Tax authority announced that bitcoin and other crypto currencies should be treated as property, not as an asset. And should be taxed accordingly. Depending on whether you are in Israel holding crypto to gain profit or engaging bitcoin for business purposes, you will have to pay 25% or 42% as taxes. Can you guess which one is for which case? And please keep in mind 10 years tax holidays for new immigrants!
No matter how governments chose to legalise bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, try to limit its use by means of high taxes, and debate whether it should equal to commodity or legal mean of payment, the fact is fact: one by one, countries are making crypto legal, plan to conduct their own ICOs (also known as country-as-an-offering) and agree that crypto has come to stay and has already secured its place in countries all around the world.
