New crypto tax reporting obligations took effect on new year’s day
Here’s what you need to know and what we’re doing about it
We wish you all a very happy new year! Unfortunately, the new year also brings a new law that is not only unconstitutional but also virtually impossible to comply with...
While portions of the proposal may be workable, much will depend on how legislation is ultimately drafted
This week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sent a letter to the heads of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees following a briefing on how Hamas and...
It’s time to have the conversation: Is the Bank Secrecy Act unconstitutional?
Beyond the speech and privacy issues, the BSA is a sweeping delegation of law making power
Today we’re publishing another report on the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) entitled “Broad, Ambiguous, or Delegated: Constitutional Infirmities of the Bank Secrecy Act.” In our 2019 report, “Electronic Cash, Decentralized...
There’s a centuries-old standard that tells us when regulation of crypto is justified
We explain in a comment letter on the IRS’s proposed broker rules, but the standard applies well beyond
Today Coin Center submitted a comment letter in the Treasury Department’s ongoing rulemaking on the definition of “broker” for third-party tax reporting purposes. In brief, we argue that the definition...
A Simple Legislative Fix to Complicated Tax Rules for Personal Cryptocurrency Transactions
Congress should Create a De Minimis Exemption for Personal Cryptocurrency Transactions
Existing rules for the taxation of cryptocurrency can make even the simplest of transactions a confusing ordeal to track, record, and report. A legislative fix is needed for everyday transactions,...
Our comments in the new rulemaking will warn that the courts will not look favorably upon such an attempt to expand surveillance on Americans
Late last month the Treasury Department published a proposed regulation to define when a person in crypto qualifies as a “broker” under the tax code and therefore must collect personal...
New Tornado Cash indictments seem to run counter to FinCEN guidance
Our initial thoughts on a case that could potentially criminalize the publication of software code
Roman Storm and Roman Semenov have been indicted for, among other charges, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. We don't have all the facts but at first blush...
When does a sanction become a seizure? Lessons from the KindHearts case
Why Americans with funds locked in Tornado Cash smart contracts may have constitutional grounds to challenge in court.
While researching case law for our Tornado Cash challenge I came across a very interesting holding, KindHearts v. Geithner, that deals with the intersection of the Office of Foreign Assets...
The CANSEE Act is a messy, arbitrary, and unconstitutional approach to DeFi
It is effectively a ban on decentralized software development that cedes an innovative sector to the rest of the world
Yesterday Senators Reed, Rounds, Warner, and Romney introduced the Crypto-Asset National Security Enhancement (CANSEE) Act in the Senate. This bill comes as a surprise as it was apparently developed without...
How Congress should (and should not) approach DeFi
Prior restraint on merely publishing code is never the answer
Given that Congress is now considering cryptocurrency market structure legislation, we felt it was important to reiterate the distinction between activities by market actors that may be appropriately regulated, and...