Posts From Dezember 2018

France rejects tax reduction for Bitcoin & Co

France has rejected a draft law designed to favour the taxation of crypto profits. This is the fourth time that an effort to reach a compromise on crypto taxation policy has been rejected. The French crypto community is frustrated. What are the reasons?

For the fourth time, the lower house of parliament has rejected the amendments to the French financial law relating to crypto taxes. On 18th December the French news platform Capital questioned Alexandre Stachtchenko, managing director of the blockchain association La Chaintech, about the decision of the French parliament.

The Bitcoin news

On 13 November, Bitcoin news reported on the proposed legislation according to onlinebetrug. The bill provided that profits from the sale of crypto assets would be taxed at 30 percent. The tax rate would thus be identical to that for capital gains such as bonds and shares. This could have been a strong sign of crypto-acceptance as the law would have raised Bitcoin & Co. to the same level as traditional investments. Also under discussion was the introduction of a tax benefit that would take into account whether the gain is from regular or occasional crypto transactions.

Another bill proposed to increase the annual transaction volume in the Tax Exemption Act from a total of 305 to 3,000 euros or up to 5,000 euros. However, the chairman, who rejected this proposal, was of the opinion that the current 305 euros were already „quite cheap“.

Terrible Bitcoin news

The French crypto community is more than unhappy about the government’s negative attitude. Also surprise would be a comprehensible reaction to this current decision, since France had been quite positive about crypto issues so far. Four years ago, Europe’s first Bitcoin news Center opened in Paris and next year Bitcoin news will even be available in tobacco shops. The government’s reluctance to treat crypto transactions more fairly from a tax point of view than traditional investments seems to push these advances into the background. Stachtchenko is particularly frustrated about the lack of justification:

„The most frustrating thing about all this is that none of the rejections were justified by the rapporteur or the minister. In short, the message the Community receives in France and abroad is terrible: ‚Take all the risks, we will not support you, and the money you earn to take the risks will go to the treasury‘. It’s dramatic.“

However, the decision-makers pointed out that they wanted to discuss the legislative proposals again once Bitcoin & Co. had gained more acceptance in the country. What sounds a bit like a circular end, Stachtchenko considers a delaying tactic. Until then it would be too late, France’s connection to the worldwide crypto trade would already be missed.

Privacy is not a crime

Privacy in the 21st century is dwindling. Information is tapped and evaluated everywhere, on Facebook, Google, Amazon and also Bitcoin. Much more serious, however, is the fundamental attitude that privacy is something superfluous – even offensive. A counterposition.

Bitcoin’s promise was not only to be decentralized and open, but also to bring privacy to users – the „anonymous hacker money“. Well, after almost ten years we know that this is not the case. In fact, Bitcoin is anything but private. Instead, every transaction is held in the blockchain forever.

The Bitcoin formula option

Bitcoin formula opened a new paradigm in 2008, which was not a scam according to onlinebetrug. it should be possible to establish a financial system independent of any state authority. For the first time, mankind was given a new option to withdraw from the Fiat banking system. This would mean an extreme loss of control for the established elite. The independence of money could kill many a government, as most state institutions rely on a money monopoly and the power to print money. Andreas Antonopolous describes the approach of the banking cartel in his latest lecture:

De-Anonymization of Bitcoin trader

As already stated in the Watch my Block: Bitcoin, Bitcoin trader is pseudonymous, not anonymous. Read more about it: https://www.forexaktuell.com/en/bitcoin-trader-scam/ This means that all transactions are made with unique pseudonyms. These are not a chosen name as in some chat rooms, but a seemingly random character string: the Bitcoin address.

At first glance, it is impossible to tell to which person a particular address belongs. However, you can see how much money an address „carries around with it“. It can be seen how large the transaction is and where the money goes. The only form of privacy in Bitcoin is that identities cannot easily be assigned to addresses. But this privacy is also dwindling.

„KYC“ is the abbreviation of the buzzword. By imposing a „know-your-customer“ policy, governments want to prevent both illegal money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The bank must know and verify its customers and store the relevant information. A government thus has a contact point for the prosecution of potential criminals.

Escaping the Global Banking Cartel

The KYC process has also become part of everyday life in the crypto world. No large stock exchange can afford to be uncooperative with states in this regard. Even the young Binance exchange recently gave in to regulatory pressure. Buyers of crypto currencies must pass through a monitored gate at least once. A connection to the Bitcoin address is established there and subsequent transactions can also be monitored. The more real identities become known, the further the de-anonymization of the entire Bitcoin block chain progresses. Like a jigsaw puzzle that is put together piece by piece. The idea of such a data collection and tracking is not a dystopian nightmare, but has been taking place for years.

Even if it is a state-independent financial instrument, it is therefore only suitable as money to a limited extent. Blackened Bitcoin can be censored by stock exchanges. Perhaps the transparency of Bitcoin is a reason for the apparent calmness of the regulators. It is now clear that chain analysis and the blockchain can be used to retroactively identify most, if not all, cash flows.