At BlockFi, we want to increase the knowledge and awareness of the impact made by blockchain and crypto products. One topic most people don’t seem to be aware of, even as cryptoasset owners, is the benefits and implications of crypto taxes. We break it down for you to understand exactly what that means and how it could affect you this tax season.

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and should not be relied on or construed as tax advice or investment advice. It is best to consult with applicable professionals before making investment or tax-related decisions.

TLDR

1. Cryptocurrency is treated as property by the IRS. Trades, sales, and purchases using crypto are taxable events, subject to short and long-term capital gains/losses tax treatment.
2. Borrowing USD against your cryptoassets with a BlockFi loan is not a taxable event. This means you can access liquidity while keeping the same level of ownership and upside in your crypto holdings.
3. The after-tax cost of borrowing can be reduced if you use the proceeds of the loan to make certain types of investments.

Background — Crypto Tax Treatment in the US

In 2014, the IRS let cryptoasset investors know that “the sale or exchange of convertible virtual currency, or the use of convertible virtual currency to pay for goods or services in a real-world economy transaction, has tax consequences that may result in a tax liability.”

The IRS treats “virtual currency” as property, which means every trade you complete with cryptoassets is a taxable event. If you sell your cryptoassets to purchase goods (iPhone X or a 1965 Ford Mustang) or services (an event planner for your Grandmother’s 90th birthday bash or a developer to build an app for your business), it’s a taxable event. If you exchange your Ether for Bitcoin or vice versa, it’s a taxable event. If you liquidate your cryptoassets for USD, it’s a taxable event.

However, if you put up cryptoassets as collateral for a loan — which does not qualify as a trade — it’s not a taxable event.

A BlockFi loan allows you to achieve liquidity on your Bitcoin and Ether without triggering a taxable event. And depending on how you’re spending the money you borrow from BlockFi, you may be eligible for additional tax benefits.

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Due to the increasing popularity and value of certain cryptoassets, you have the potential to make a substantial return by purchasing Bitcoin or Ether for investment purposes. It’s important to understand how capital gains taxes work if your crypto investments increase in value.

A capital gain occurs when you sell a cryptoasset for more than you spent to buy a cryptoasset.

In some cases, capital gains taxes can add a substantial amount to your tax bill. When considering your capital gains tax costs you should consider the following variables: federal tax rates (which offer preferential treatment for long-term capital gains) and state income tax rates.

Federal tax rates and short vs long-term capital gains?

At the federal level, the amount of time you hold onto a cryptoasset has an impact on your capital gains tax rate.

If you have held assets for less than a year then they are subject to short-term capital gains rates which are the same as your ordinary income tax rate.

If you have held assets for more than a year then gains are subject to preferential, long-term capital gains tax treatment. The table below show the ordinary income and long-term capital gains tax brackets for the 2017 tax year (please note that tax rates in 2018 are different than what is listed below).

Source — https://www.fool.com/retirement/2016/12/16/capital-gains-tax-rate-for-2017.aspx

Some states also have income taxes which generally apply on all income and don’t have preferential long-term capital gains treatment. Let’s look at state income taxes for the three largest states — California, Texas, and New York. Texas has no state income tax, but we have included tax tables for California and New York below.

Source of CA data — https://www.fool.com/taxes/2017/04/27/2017-california-income-tax-what-you-need-to-know.aspx

Source of NY data — https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-new-york.aspx

New York City also has a city income tax which tops out at 3.876% for single filers earning more than $50,000.

If you want to see a breakdown of your capital gains tax rates based on your location and income, Smart Asset has a Capital Gains Tax Calculator that is a very helpful tool.

Example Calculation

Let’s look at a theoretical example for a New York city resident. Let’s assume that this taxpayer bought 10 Bitcoin on April 15th, 2017 for $1,000 each, for a total investment of $10,000.

Fast forward to March 2018 and Bitcoin has increased in value to $8,000 and her $10,000 investment is now worth $80,000. Since she held the Bitcoin for less than a year, it would be considered a short-term gain if she sold now. She would owe tax at her ordinary income rates.

Assuming she makes the average blockchain developer salary in NYC of $140K, she would owe an estimated $27,629 in tax, representing a 39.47% effective rate on your $70,000 gain.

Now let’s look at the same scenario with long-term capital gains at the same price. Your tax bill is significantly reduced to $18,089 due to the preferential long-term capital gains tax rates.

Value of a BlockFi Loan

If you want or need liquidity now but have not held onto your cryptoassets long enough to take advantage of long-term capital gains tax rates, a BlockFi loan may be a valuable solution. BlockFi offers terms of up to twelve months, and your Bitcoin or Ether is securely stored for you. So, after paying off your BlockFi loan, if and when you do decide to sell your cryptoassets, you will likely qualify for long-term capital gains tax rate. Moreover, as a borrower you make interest-only payments throughout duration of the term with a balloon of principal at the end. You have the convenient option to make those payments using the collateral that you already posted if your LTV ratio qualifies. Another added feature is the option to refinance at the end of the term.

Depending on how you use the proceeds of the loan, there may be additional tax benefits. Certain investment-related expenses — like the interest on a loan from BlockFi — may be tax-deductible against your net investment income.

Wait…what does that mean? And what expenses are considered tax-deductible?

Net Investment Income = Investment Income — Investment Expenses

So, if you borrow money to buy assets — like equities, bonds, additional cryptoassets or other securities — for investment purposes, the interest paid on that loan becomes an investment interest expense.

Why? And what does this look like in practice?

The IRS wants to incentivize investments, and offering deductions for investment interest expenses is one way they do that. When determining the impact that this would have on your after tax outcome, you need to consider the size of your gain and short vs long-term tax rates plus the expected return from the assets purchased with the loan proceeds.

Consulting with a financial planner or tax advisor is a great way to make sure you understand the impact and consider all of the applicable variables.

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Conclusion

Cryptoasset activity is definitely taxable! There are a few variables that impact your tax rates that you should understand when making decisions. BlockFi loans can be a helpful tool in your overall investment strategy. Learn more about BlockFi loans at our website or other blog posts, how it works and loan structure example.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Crypto Tax Girl: http://cryptotaxgirl.com/
• BitCoin Taxes, Vijay Boyapati: https://medium.com/@vijayboyapati/bitcoin-taxes-78044aa903ac
• Investment Interest Expense: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/investments-and-taxes/what-are-deductible-investment-interest-expenses/L9TeFQAf9
• Capital Gains: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/01/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-taxes-cryptocurrency/#67edd871605f

Cryptocurrency Tax 101 — Intro to capital gains and crypto tax treatment was originally published in BlockFi on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Loan Example
Let’s look at an example of borrowing $10,000, collateralized by Ether.

We will use the following terms which are current as of March, 2018.

Interest Rate: 12%
Origination Fee: 2%
Loan to Value: 35%
Ether Price: $800
Monthly Payment: $102

To receive a loan of $10,000 you would need to post 36.07143 Ether as collateral.

The origination fee is added to the loan balance, so you would receive $10,000 to your bank account and have a loan balance of $10,200 with BlockFi. From there, you make 11 monthly interest-only payments of $102 and a final payment of your principal balance of $10,200, plus your last month of interest.

Loan to Value Ratio

Loan to value ratio is calculated as Loan Amount divided by Collateral Value. We lend at a 35% initial loan to value ratio because our risk modeling determined that this was a sufficiently conservative rate — in order to have a limited number of expected trigger events and provide our clients with breathing room in the event of market volatility.

If the price of Ether declines throughout the course of the loan, BlockFi may take actions to protect its position as a lender. There are two important Loan to Value trigger event — at 70% and 80%. The trigger event actions are as follows:

If a rebalance is required, customers will have a period of time, typically 24–72 hours to post additional collateral or pay down principal in USD to recollateralize their loan. If no action is taken, BlockFi will sell enough collateral to rebalance the loan to a 50% LTV. If during this period the 80% LTV trigger is hit, and a Partial Collateral Sale is required, BlockFi will sell enough collateral to rebalance the loan to a 70% LTV.

We will always keep you in the loop through automated communication via your preferred channel(s). Our platform monitors fluctuations in the value of your cryptoassets by the minute. Should prices drop materially, we have notification triggers in place to protect you and your cryptoasset position. You also have the option to collateralize your loan above our initial LTV at any time.

We’re proud to offer the best rates, most flexible structures and highest degree of security available in the cryptocurrency lending ecosystem.

If you have any questions or would like to learn a bit more about BlockFi, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of working with you! 💙 The BlockFi Team

Loan Structure and Example was originally published in BlockFi on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In this post, we will break down the benefits of a BlockFi loan, the steps to get a loan and important considerations in terms of the loan structure.

How It Works

When we started BlockFi, we knew we wanted to create a better, simpler lending process. That’s why we offer the fastest, most hassle-free application process in the market. Here’s a bit more about how borrowing from BlockFi works.

Applying for a BlockFi loan takes less than two minutes and no membership or tokens are required to apply and receive a loan offer.

1. First, choose what type of cryptoasset — Bitcoin or Ether — you’re putting up as collateral, and either the collateral amount you would like to deposit or cash amount you would like to receive.
2. Provide your email address and click “Get Started”. We will send you an email to validate your email address and start your application.
3. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
   Note: You’ll need to provide some personal details and information on the nature of your loan including — name, address, DOB, phone #, SSN, source of your crypto being used as collateral, reason for loan, wallet public key, bank information.
4. After you review the information and submit your application, you will receive a loan decision or offer within 24 hours.
5. Once you review your offer and sign the loan agreement, send your cryptoassets to our secured storage address and we’ll send the funds to your bank account.
6. Make interest-only payments on a monthly basis, with a final payment of principal at the end of the term — which is a maximum of 12 months. We keep things flexible, so you also have the option to prepay or refinance at the end of the term. We also accept payments in cryptoassets — BTC or ETH — or US dollars for your convenience.

Benefits

A BlockFi loan is a term loan, where cryptoassets are used as collateral. BlockFi’s loans are general purpose loans, meaning they can be used for a variety of purposes including: to purchase additional investments — equities, bonds, real estate or other crypoassets — or to cover personal financial needs, including general expenses or paying off high-interest credit card debt.

A BlockFi loan offers several benefits to both individuals as well as corporations. Some highlights include:

• Liquidity
  With a BlockFi loan, you receive USD liquidity while still holding on to the upside potential of your cryptoassets. Rather than selling your cryptoassets to get USD, you can put Bitcoin or Ether up as collateral to get access to the fiat liquidity you want.
• Competitive interest rates
  We offer the best terms in the industry for borrowing USD against cryptoassets, including the lowest interest rates and monthly payments.
• Tax benefits
  Taking out a loan from BlockFi is not a taxable event on gains that have accrued in your cryptoassets. Additionally, interest charged on a BlockFi loan may be tax deductible against your net investment income depending on how you use the proceeds of the loan.
• Credit score impact
  Repaying your debts on time can have a positive impact on your credit score and a BlockFi loan will be reported to Transunion. Many lenders perform a hard inquiry when evaluating your application for credit, which can negatively impact your score. BlockFi does not pull a credit report at any time during the application process.
• Security
  BlockFi keeps your assets safe via a partnership with Gemini, a depository trust and licensed custodian that has institutional quality cryptoasset storage capabilities. You’ll be able to view the collateral posted in your BlockFi account at anytime.

A word about your collateral value

Loan to value ratio is calculated as Loan Amount divided by Collateral Value. We lend at a 35% initial loan to value ratio because our risk modeling determined that this is a sufficiently conservative rate — in order to have a limited number of expected trigger events and provide our clients with breathing room in the event of market volatility.

Our platform monitors fluctuations in the value of your cryptoassets by the minute. Should prices drop materially, we have notification triggers in place to protect you and your cryptoasset position. We will always keep you in the loop through automated communication via your preferred channel(s).

For more information on rates, loan-to-value ratios, and payments, read more here.

We’re proud to offer the best rates, most flexible structures and highest degree of security available in the cryptocurrency lending ecosystem.

If you have any questions or would like to learn a bit more about BlockFi, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of working with you! 💙 The BlockFi Team

BlockFi Loans: How It Works was originally published in BlockFi on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

New York, Feb. 13th, 2018 — BlockFi, a New York-based, fintech company whose first product is a loan for cryptoasset owners, announced today that it has raised $1.55 million from ConsenSys Ventures, Kenetic Capital, PJC, SoFi, Purple Arch Ventures and Lumenary.

The BlockFi team is comprised of veterans that have migrated from fintech and alternative lending in to blockchain technology. With the new capital raised, they are starting to bridge the gap between traditional debt capital markets and the cryptoasset ecosystem.

BlockFi is a secured lender, holding clients’ cryptoassets with a registered custodian and issuing loans in USD to their bank accounts. They are currently operating in a beta launch, lending in 35 US states to individuals, companies and institutions. For individuals, loan performance data is reported to major credit bureaus, which can have a positive impact on borrowers’ credit scores.

“Cryptoassets are natively digital and global by design, which creates opportunities that haven’t existed before from a lending perspective. By bringing institutional quality technology infrastructure, data science, risk management and operations to the cryptoasset market, we aim to be the leading lender in the cryptoasset market and a leading provider of low cost credit globally,” said BlockFi CEO and Founder, Zac Prince.

The cryptoasset market is growing exponentially. In just the last twelve months, the total market capitalization of all crytpoassets has grown from $10 billion to over $400 billion. Despite this rapid ascent, there is still room for massive growth within the industry when compared to traditional asset classes.

“This market needs access to debt beyond fragmented, short term margin trading options in order to reduce volatility, facilitate scale and put the financial infrastructure for this ecosystem on par with other asset classes. We’re happy to have BlockFi as part of the ConsenSys family and see tremendous growth opportunities for their platform.”said Kavita Gupta, Founding Managing Partner at ConsenSys Capital and a member of BlockFi’s Board of Directors.

“We’re building a diversified financial institution for the future, designed to operate within a blockchain based world, and we’re starting it all with lending. We will have a positive impact on the trajectory of global credit availability and the cryptoasset market,” continued Prince.

About BlockFi

BlockFi, founded by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, is based in New York. BlockFi is a non-bank lender that offers USD loans to cryptoasset owners, bringing additional liquidity to the blockchain asset sector. BlockFi is changing the trajectory of digital financial markets with a mission to elevate these markets to a level of sophistication that meets the rapidly changing needs of both retail investors and institutions.

Learn more at blockfi.com

BlockFi Seed Round Funding Announcement was originally published in BlockFi on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Background

For the first time, a financial asset has been created that is both natively digital and global. A market around these assets and the technology that underpins them, blockchain, is growing rapidly. This innovation creates the opportunity for lenders to assign a global price to digital assets and underwrite risk similarly for borrowers, regardless of the country in which the borrower resides. As a result, there is an opportunity to extend low cost credit in markets where it previously was not available and grow access to a critical part of banking infrastructure that could expand global economic activity dramatically.

The inspiration for BlockFi comes from both the enormous market opportunity and social impact potential of cryptoassets. Similar to the founding stories of many other companies, the idea was sparked by a personal experience.

BlockFi’s Founder and CEO, Zac,was working with a bank in Texas to obtain a mortgage. He had taken out a loan with this bank before, and had started to invest in cryptoassets since his last application. In mid-2017, he prepared his second loan application and decided to include his Bitcoin and Ether holdings on his financial statement, figuring — why not?

The bank let Zac know that they had never heard of “Bitcoin” before and that the assets counted as nothing in terms of their view of his finances and assets.

As a matter of fact, they almost stopped working with him. Surprised, Zac asked, “Why?”

Because, when they did a google search on “the Bitcoin,” they determined that “Bitcoin is mainly used by money launderers and drug dealers.” Bitcoin was viewed by these bankers as a currency for nefarious activities — with no place in the traditional financial world and nothing like the status of fiat currency or other, traditional assets.

While this may be the view of banks today, BlockFi knows this is not our future. With a current market capitalization of over $300B, and fast growing mindshare among some of the world’s smartest financial and technical minds — the cryptoasset ecosystem is here to stay.

As cryptoassets have continued to grow in size and scale, so has the ecosystem of financial services to support them. This includes an increasing availability of leveraged trading options supported by a few exchanges, but there is no concept of debt or lending outside of this use case.

Introducing BlockFi

According to a Bank of America study from October in 2017, “If coins were taken as collateral by lenders, it would mark another big step forwards in mainstreaming the asset class. At present, we don’t think mainstream lenders will take coins as collateral, in the way they will with bonds, equities, arts and so on.”

Even the most established players in financial services acknowledge the need for a lending option in this ecosystem. But it needs to come from outside traditional sources.

At BlockFi, we’re building a diversified financial services business to meet the needs of cryptoasset market participants, and we’re starting with lending. Our first product is a USD denominated loan (read more here) enabling holders of Bitcoin and Ether to get dollars today, without selling their crypto.

Initially, we are launching our lending product to US citizens in select states. But, this is just the beginning.

BlockFi is positioned to be the leading global lender for cryptoasset owners — offering the best rates, most flexible structures, unsurpassed customer service and highest degree of security available in the industry.

In keeping with a tradition started by Tesla and followed by Coinbase, we want to share our Top Secret Master Plan:

1. Become the leading USD lender in the cryptoasset market
2. Use this traction to expand and offer low cost credit in global markets
3. Diversify into other financial products based on the needs of our customer base.

In order to make this vision a reality, we’ve brought together a team of experts with experience across financial services and lending platforms. Get to know our team here.

BlockFi is also supported by leading investors from the cryptoasset, venture capital and fintech sectors including Consensys Ventures, Kenetic Capital, PJC, SoFi, Purple Arch Ventures and Lumenary.

With the team and investors behind BlockFi, as well as the tools and capital to pursue our vision, we’re excited to get started!

Thanks,
The BlockFi Team

Learn more at blockfi.com

Introducing BlockFi: Loans Backed by Your Cryptoassets was originally published in BlockFi on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.