New Money, New Problems
To live and die in the immutable records of Satoshi.
2017 was the year that brought cryptocurrency to the masses, but is it a thing, now? It has been surmised that the only way we will see the legitimization of a cryptocurrency is if people begin to use it for trade; purchasing real things rather than just using it as a investment tool.
On December 16, 2017, the price of a single Bitcoin surpassed $19,000 US dollars. In 2010, these things were valued below 10 cents a piece.
Along with the masses, the government has jumped on the bandwagon, expressing their interest in implementing all manners of regulation so as to make sure there is a proper system in place to oversee the medium, keeping it safe for consumers. Some view this forthcoming regulation as bad, while some view this as good. Bad because government oversight was one of the things cryptocurrencies promised to free us of. Good because, with a proper structure of governmental oversight, we will begin to see an adoption by the masses, who were apprehensive prior to the aforementioned endorsement.
A new currency, they said. Free from the control on a centralized organization, they said.
Increased government oversight has led to the issue of taxation on cryptocurrency assets. The IRS views cryptocurrencies as property, which means that all transactions need to be declared with either the gain or loss of value achieved by the holder. Cryptocurrency banks are being ordered to disclose their records, showcasing owners of cryptocurrencies, and all of their holdings. When these individuals or organizations look to convert their cryptocurrency to Fiat currency, they are ordered to pay tax on the amount that has been converted(though, there are some ways around this… i.e. purchasing goods or services directly with the cryptocurrency, effectively avoiding the conversion to Fiat, bypassing the need to pay a tax on USD because it was cut out of the equation.)
We live in a increasingly interconnected world. Globalization is a continual process. We have seen it on all fronts. It has brought us lower prices and more efficiency, but it has also brought about increasingly hostile and competitive conditions for workers all over. When it comes to money, with Fiat currencies, we have been using a system that was developed prior to the internet. It is incompatible with the global economy. As such, the globalization of money is for the most part, guaranteed. This globalization of currency is being ushered in by the cryptocurrencies becoming known by individuals all over the world. While they may not quite be where they need to be for global adoption, they hold a lot of promise, and are definitely on the path of viability as replacement of currency. As the internet becomes more of an essential part of the human experience, it only makes sense that a storer of value designed to work with, and enhance the experience of, the internet becomes the norm.
