Taxes have been a hot topic in the cryptocurrency world this year.
Many countries have been trying to figure out how to tax crypto
assets, while traders have been figuring out how to lever them to
write off losses. As bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies enter the
mainstream, tax reduction strategies are starting to emerge.

Governments Belatedly Address Bitcoin Taxation
As cryptocurrencies have entered the collective conscious and
adoption has grown, governments have been trying to figure out
how to tax them. Most recently, the U.K. government released a
sprawling crypto tax advice document. Her Majesty’s Revenue and
Customs (HMRC) reveals in the document that individual investors
will be liable to pay capital gains tax each time they sell crypto
assets such as BTC for profit. HMRC ruled that investors would
not be allowed to classify their investment in cryptocurrency as
“gambling”, which is tax-free when it comes to winnings.
At the beginning of the year, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said
her government would be looking at bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
“very seriously” because of their potential to be “used by
criminals.”

Elsewhere in Europe, the European Union has been advised to
devise common cryptocurrency rules – and that includes tax.
While Switzerland has decided to do away with regulation, the
Swiss Federal Council has stated that it wants “the best possible
framework conditions so that Switzerland can establish itself and
evolve as a leading, innovative and sustainable location for fintech
and blockchain companies.” In Russia, while the government is
working out a regulatory framework, citizens are obliged to pay 13
percent tax on their crypto-related incomes.

This year in Asia, Korea said it is planning to tax cryptocurrencies
and initial coin offerings (ICOs), while proposals to lower taxes on
crypto in Japan were announced this month; currently the
government can take as much as 55 percent from cryptocurrency
transactions as miscellaneous income.

Taxation guidelines in the U.S. have generally been unclear. On
Dec. 21, lawmakers filed a bill to create tax exemptions for certain
cryptocurrency transactions. The state of Ohio also said it would
accept BTC from its citizens to pay taxes.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s government, generally considered to be
crypto-friendly, this year said income accrued from crypto
transactions must be declared – and said it would be cracking
down on tax-dodging cryptocurrency traders.

How Cryptocurrencies Can Help You Save on Taxes
While governments are figuring out how to tax cryptocurrencies,
there are actually ways in U.S. citizens can use them to their
advantage to pay less taxes. This is due to a 2014 notice by the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which treats cryptocurrencies as an
investment property, rather than a currency. Whenever you trade
cryptocurrency, the transaction is either a capital gain (where you
make money) or a capital loss (where you lose money). And any
losses this year could ultimately place you in a lower tax bracket.
The IRS allows taxpayers to deduct $3,000 in capital losses for
any given year from money earned from a day job. Losses beyond
that cannot be deducted until several years later.

As an example, let’s look at someone who bought $5,000 worth of
BTC this year. After turning that into $10,000 through trading, they
later lost cash due to a dip in the markets and took a big hit, losing
$8,000. They cashed out, walking away with just $2,000. They
would then be able to harvest a loss of $3,000 for the year which
would be deducted from their taxable income. If that person made
$50,000 in regular income, only $47,000 of it would be taxable.
In order to write off cryptocurrency losses as tax deductible in the
U.S., it’s essential to properly file, with exact dates, all
transactions incuding gains and losses. Certain online tools, such
as bitcoin.tax , can be useful in calculating capital gains and
losses. While 2018 has been a bad year for cryptocurrency
investors, the ability to write off thousands of dollars of bad trades
should provide some consolation.

https://news.bitcoin.com/

Andrew Bustamante, a former CIA intelligence officer, has
revealed that he has a number of concerns about blockchain
technology and its implications for national security. During a
Q&A session on Reddit, he detailed his thoughts on the
intelligence community and a number of matters relating to
technology.
In one subthread, Bustamante casually remarked on issues
surrounding blockchain technology. When asked what he
thought would become “the biggest threat to [American]
national security in the coming years,” Bustamante replied that
he had concerns about “blockchain technology”:

“No joke. Super powerful stuff, and the first one
to figure out how to hack it, manipulate it or
bring it down wins.”

However, untangling exactly what Bustamante meant by this
statement is not exactly straightforward. Admittedly, Reddit’s /
r/AMA subreddit has a casual atmosphere, but Bustamante’s
claim isn’t entirely without substance. So, what might
Bustamante have meant when he decided that blockchain
technology represents a threat?

Blockchain: Threat or Vulnerability?
Blockchain technology has frequently been described as a
threat to national security due to its capacity to bypass
regulations and its potential uses in terrorism, money
laundering, and crime. In other words, national security
concerns usually arise from the misuse of blockchain
technology by foreign actors.

Bustamante’s statement, however, seems to imply that a
significant failure in blockchain integrity is the problem at
hand. In other words, blockchain technology is a vulnerability
rather than a threat. And indeed, 51% attacks , price
manipulation , and multi-million dollar vulnerabilities have
already been exploited several times over.

But Bustamante’s fear that something could “bring down” the
blockchain suggests a more comprehensive threat. When one
user suggested that quantum computing was in fact the issue,
Bustamante concurred. Quantum computing could potentially
break the encryption schemes that are used to store
cryptocurrency — though it’s anyone’s guess if this is in fact
what Bustamante originally had in mind.

The CIA and the Crypto World
In any case, Q&A sessions on Reddit’s /r/AMA threads are
fast paced and should be taken with a grain of salt. Although
they feature verified participants with relatively high
credentials, those participants do not necessarily provide
definitive insights in every comment. Bustamante’s views
certainly do not represent the views of the CIA itself.
The CIA, perhaps not surprisingly, has been mostly silent on
the topics of the blockchain and cryptocurrency. At most, one
blogger has managed to coax the intelligence organization into
neither confirming nor denying that it has collected information
on Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

Former CIA members, on the other hand, are fairly active in the
blockchain sphere. Ex-CIA analyst Yaya Fenusie, for example,
writes regularly on crypto topics. Fenusie has expressed
concerns that cryptocurrency could be used to prop up
authoritarian regimes in Iran, but remains confident that crypto
does not pose a threat in and of itself.

Other ex-CIA members have also moved into the crypto world,
involving themselves with regulatory compliance and
investment platforms. These individuals, additionally, seem to
be more specialized in crypto-adjacent areas than Bustamante
is. Essentially, the CIA — despite its legendary status — has
produced former members with various areas of expertise, just
like any other large employer.

https://unhashed.com/cryptocurrency-news/

According to Daniel H. Gallancy, the CEO of SolidX Partners, it
was unrealistic to anticipate Goldman Sachs to run a Bitcoin
business before the year’s end.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Gallancy, who has been working with a
major investment firm in VanEck to introduce a Bitcoin exchange-
traded fund (ETF) in U.S. markets , said that investors prematurely
expected Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley, and other financial
institutions in the U.S. to provide Bitcoin custodial solutions and
operate digital asset exchanges.
He said:
"The market had unrealistic expectations that Goldman or
any of its peers could suddenly start a Bitcoin trading
business. That was top-of-the-market-hype thinking."

Goldman Sachs is a Bit Different
Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and many other large banks that were
rumored to launch Bitcoin-related ventures by the end of 2018
were most likely not going to aggressively enter a market built
upon an asset class that is still at its infancy.
But, Goldman Sachs, the $61 billion investment banking giant, has
been preparing to offer Bitcoin services to its clients for awhile.

As CCN reported in June, for the first time in the company’s
history, David Solomon, who is now the CEO of Goldman Sachs,
directly confirmed that the bank has been clearing some Bitcoin
futures for its clients with the intent of establishing a
cryptocurrency trading desk in the foreseeable future.

“We are clearing some futures around Bitcoin, talking
about doing some other activities there, but it’s going
very cautiously. We’re listening to our clients and trying
to help our clients as they’re exploring those things too.
Goldman Sachs must evolve its business and adapt to
the environment,” said Solomon in an interview with
Bloomberg TV in China.

Although Goldman Sachs could clear Bitcoin futures with the
assistance of CME , CBOE, and other established futures markets in
the U.S. market, it cannot hold onto the cryptocurrencies owned
by its investors or invest in the asset class on behalf of its clients
without obtaining an approval to operate as a custodian.
In November, Justin Schmidt, a Goldman Sachs executive, said
that the bank has not been able to receive approval from local
financial authorities and in a period in which a bill pertaining to the
legal definition of digital assets is still pending, it is risky for the
institutions to provide services around the market.

“Custody is this foundational piece that is absolutely necessary.
Custody is part of an overall integrated system where different
parts need to work well with each other and safely with each other
and you have to be able to trust all the different parts in that chain,
from buying something to transferring it to storing it in for the
long-term,” Schmidt said at the time.

Can Investors Expect Bitcoin Services in 2019?
It could have been unrealistic to expect Morgan Stanley, Citigroup,
and many major banks in the global financial landscape to
abruptly begin providing services on top of Bitcoin, and many of
these institutions also likely saw a PR opportunity to alter their
public image as some innovative and forward-thinking
organizations.

However, some institutions like Fidelity and Goldman Sachs are
seriously considering the long-term prospect of the market and in
the long run, the two institutions could serve investors in the
digital asset market.

https://www.ccn.com/

* IOTA Foundation is collaborating with CYBERCRYPT in
hosting a competition, the rewards with be a prize pool of
€200,000.
* IOTA's native token MIOTA has been recovering inline with
the rest of the market of late, having gaining as much as 70
percent over the past five sessions.

IOTA Foundation will be collaborating with CYBERCRYPT A/S,
they are a world leading system provider in robust cryptography
and cyber security. This is part of a partnership in releasing a
new hash function, which is called Troika.

The purpose of Troika is to deal with all known cryptanalytic
attacks. They have also made it viewable to the public for their
own evaluation. This will be part of the competition for those
that can master it.

A hacking competition, hosted by IOTA and CYBERCRYPT A/S,
aiming at inviting cryptanalysts for to evaluate this so-called
Troika. The total prize reward is set to be valued at ‚€200,000.
Should any of the participants be able to crack it.

https://www.fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/

* After two months of decline, analysts have noticed
stability in Bitcoin hash-rates, even a slight
increase, indicating that miners might be returning to
the industry.
* The significant cost of electricity and mining
equipment were previously too much for Bitcoin
miners due to the low BTC value, which is why
many of them decided to leave the industry, and
hash rates dropped as a result.

Along with the Bitcoin price, Bitcoin’s Hash-Rate is
showing high volatility. After reaching a peak of 62
Exahash (10^18) per second on Sep. 25, we observed
two months of drastic decline down to 32 Exahash on
Dec. 7. This decline has halted in the last two weeks
and has stabilized around 35 Exahash, and in the last
few days, we are even starting to see the hash-rate go
up to 40-45 (40.6% increase). We could probably
correlate this to the recent rally of the entire crypto
market we have observed in the last week.

The importance of hash rate
Simply put, crypto mining is a process of performing
complex mathematical calculations. By doing this,
miners are searching for a specific number that will
“solve” a block and provide them with a reward in the
form of Bitcoin itself. At the moment, the BTC
blockchain rewards miners with 12.5 BTC Block
Reward per each block solved.

Every calculation attempt to solve these equations is
known as a hash. Meanwhile, the hash-rate is the
number of hashes that are done per second. When we
are talking about the Hash Rate of the Bitcoin network
we are talking about how many hash attempts are being
conducted per second in the entire network. All of this
is done through ASICs, which is short for Application
Specific Integrated Circuits. In short, this is the
equipment used for Bitcoin mining, which has become
extremely popular due to its ability to solve the
complicated equations required for mining BTC.

However, the process of mining Bitcoin is also quite
expensive. Even though mining rigs themselves are
very valuable, the mining process also consumes a lot
of power. This, in turn, means that miners have to deal
with exorbitant electrical bills. If Bitcoin’s price is high
enough, they can easily make a profit out of rewards
they receive and pay their bills at the same time.

However, after an entire bearish year marked by two
market crashes, the price of Bitcoin is lower than it has
been in over a year while solving the blocks requires
more and more resources. Low BTC value means lesser
earnings from mining, which in turn means that miners
cannot generate enough profit to cover their costs.
Some of them even started experiencing losses, which
is why many of them decided to abandon the mining
industry, and entire mining farms were shut down.
Because of that, the growth of hash rates is significant
in the crypto industry, as it indicates that miners might
be returning.

The price of Bitcoin has grown by 30% in the last week,
increasing by $1,000. At the time of writing, Bitcoin
price sits at $4,235.69, after a 5.7% increase over the
previous 24 hours. The coin has also experienced
massive growth in its market cap, and the same is true
for the total crypto market cap, which grew by over $40
billion in a single week.

The rest of the market is also experiencing significant
increases, with multiple top 10 crypto coins growing
even more than BTC. Still, Bitcoin’s dominance is firmly
established, and with more than half of the total crypto
market cap in its possession, Bitcoin is unlikely to be
challenged by any other coin anytime soon.
The hash-rate, as well as many other measurements
such as difficulty, volume, tx price, etc., can give us
great insight into the Bitcoin and Crypto market
sentiment. And when we see this kind of changing trend
in one of them, this might indicate a more significant
changing direction for the whole industry.

https://cryptopotato.com/

Unfortunately noone will give me some crypto as gift this xmas but if I could choose I will choose crypto for sure and if I have to choose one coin I will choose Ethereum. I'm really confident that in 2019 Eth will give us many satisfations.

You never can tell. Christmas time is for sharing and someone
might just decide to give you the choice of choosing either crypto
or cash.

Kate Rooney, CNBC’s markets reporter, has revealed that two
congressmen are working on a bill to remove crypto from the
72-year-old U.S. securities law. The representatives, Warren
Davidson and Darren Soto, are calling it the “Token Taxonomy
Act” and will be presenting their ideas to the House within the
next few months.
Should the House pass the bill, cryptocurrencies and initial
coin offerings (ICOs) will no longer be under the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations.

History Repeats Itself
Comparing the state of crypto to that of the early internet,
Davidson stated that back then, Congress had to pass
regulations without over-doing it. The same must be done here
if we are to keep the crypto industry growing:
“In the early days of the internet, Congress
passed legislation that provided certainty and
resisted the temptation to over-regulate the
market. Our intent is to achieve a similar win
for America’s economy and for American
leadership in this innovative space.”

Of course, regulators are worried about consumer safety in the
cryptocurrency industry. 2018’s big blowup didn’t help with
things either, as many companies lost large investments of
Bitcoin and other cryptos in a short period of time.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts often state their disgust at the
government using such an old framework to regulate a modern
asset. As of now, the SEC decides which cryptos are securities
based on the “Howey Test” from 1946. Essentially, if “a person
invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect
profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party,”
then that investment is considered a security.

Fortunately for us, those in power are starting to realize that
cryptoassets are a little different from traditional ones.
Because of blockchain technology, there isn’t always an
interfering central authority. That, and platforms can expand
and improve over time. These investments aren’t necessarily
like a regular stock.
Kristin Smith, leader of The Blockchain Association, the first
group to lobby for blockchain technology at Washington,
agrees: “These decentralized networks don’t fit neatly within
the existing regulatory structure. This is a step forward in
finding the right way to regulate them.”
Suggested Reading : Learn about the best Monero wallets.

A Change of Heart
This news comes after SEC chairman Jay Clayton stated that
he would not update the Commission’s regulations for
cryptocurrencies. He believes that every ICO is a security
aside from Bitcoin and Ethereum, which should be registered
as commodities. The head of the Division of Corporation
Finance at SEC, William Hinman, echoed this, stating that ICOs
are securities because a central party is benefitting from
investments.

If approved, the Token Taxonomy Act would amend the
Securities Act of 1933 in addition to the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, which established the current securities laws.
Only this time, the bill would add a new definition for “digital
tokens.”
However, it’s important to note that digital assets will still see
regulation, says Overstock.com blockchain lobbyist Kristin
Smith. She continues, stating that the job would fall to the
Federal Trade Commission or the CFTC should this bill pass.
Also, this bill would cause the IRS to alter virtual currency
taxation.

The Token Taxonomy Act is the result of a roundtable with over
50 representatives this past September. Davidson hosted it,
and members included Fidelity, Nasdaq, State Street,
Andreessen Horowitz, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Parties spoke on companies struggling with ICO taxation—
especially regarding utility tokens. They argued that if these
regulations aren’t “crystal clear,” then the industry in the U.S.
could not flourish and these companies would move overseas.
The bill will need to be reintroduced next year, however, the
presentation causes much to think about, says Smith.”It
shows that there’s momentum on both sides. There’s interest
among bipartisan members, and lays groundwork for the next
Congress.”

https://unhashed.com/cryptocurrency-news/

Tron has a lot to offer, and Justin Sun is willing to prove it. The
creator of the popular blockchain that seeks to decentralize the
internet recently spoke with Inc. magazine and shared his views
on the reality of Tron and the current state of its cryptocurrency
TRX.

However, beyond this, what caught the attention of the
interviewers was the potential of this blockchain to change not
only the way value is transmitted but also to its capacity to
provide better data security and to create a decentralized internet
and promote decentralization of the economy.

Tron + BitTorrent: Introducing Crypto to 100+ Million Users
One of the critical points in the progress of the TRON roadmap
was the purchase of BitTorrent and the development of
integration between Tron and, so TRX is used as the native
cryptocurrency for BitTorrent. For Justin Sun,
Tron can significantly benefit from the number of
users that each day interact through BitTorrent, however, he
clarified that both projects are independent:
“One of the reasons we purchased BitTorrent, besides its
great team, is that we’ll be able to test scalability like no one
else, with 100 million monthly active users getting exposure
next year to blockchain …
TRON and BitTorrent will continue to work on separate
projects while orbiting each other and collaborating on that
goal of decentralizing the internet.”
The basic idea is to allow seeders to benefit economically by
transmitting content while leechers benefit from consuming such
material. Tron hopes to re-conceive how the public understands
the business of content distribution.

Research and Regulations: Building a Better
Future by Providing Clarity to the Crypto
Ecosystem

Likewise, Tron promotes a better quality of life for the world by
encouraging study and research in fields related to
cryptocurrencies and DLTs emphasizing its focus on TRX.
We think we stand out with our accelerator program because
it’s stable, more efficient and has lower fees associated with
it … The biggest issue really is educating developers
globally–first on ‘why blockchain?’ and second on ‘why
TRON?’ That’s why we recently launched the $1 million
(USD) TRON Accelerator DApp competition. By giving prizes
totaling that $1 million, the developer community gets to…
execute their ideas or projects on TRON.

Sun also told Inc. that Tron developers do not overlook the
important role regulations play in the ecosystem. To this end, the
man in front of Tron hired personnel specialized in legal
compliance and have maintained a permanent relationship with
his followers to promote transparency in every legal action
undertaken.
We are operating under the assumption that regulation will
come to the industry in many places … In many ways, it will
be necessary to legitimize the market and separate good
practices from bad. We recently hired a chief compliance
officer to make sure we’re always a good partner with our
community and with governments.

“Blockchain Needs Nurturing”
In addition, Tron’s successful development has allowed the Tron
Foundation to conduct various charity events. Recently, the Tron
Foundation donated 3 million dollars to the Binance Charity
Foundation, to promote projects that create meaningful solutions
in the area of global sustainable development. In this regard, Sun
said:
Blockchain is a collaborative environment; it needs
nurturing. We were thankfully in a good financial position to
serve as an example to others that long-term thinking and
support is what’s needed to boost the industry in general.

https://ethereumworldnews.com/