Topic: Bitcoin Attorney Will Answer All Questions: - page 6. (Read 19920 times)

There's always someone around the corner looking to discredit someone    @JohnBitCo

AttorneyBitcoin/GDG- Nice to see you offering some helpful advice to the forum and for FREE?!!

Thanks again and Best Wishes in your practice.

I do not hide behind any screen Sir. You may see me in person at 7674 West Lake Mead #245 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128 or call me at 702 796 5221 anytime. I'm here every day of the week.

I'm really uncertain about the connotation you seem to give to "just to be clear." I was simply clarifying your advice. Certainly, I was not and am not going to be taking any of your advice as matter of fact. Of course I wouldn't as you are merely a "bitcoin" lawyer behind a screen somewhere who knows...

Really? How very cryptic. If you have anything you want to talk to me about please come to my office at 7674 W. Lake Mead Blvd. #245 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128 and say it to me face to face, man to man, or call me at 702 796 5221. I have no idea what you are referring to. My reputation is solid and I am an established 25 year attorney. If you have something to say come out and say it. Otherwise, please refrain from vague statements. And by the way, yes, please everyone research me. Unlike the statement above I put myself out there and am accountable for my statements and actions.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

Are you trying to pin me down to a legal conclusion? Tell me, are you going to point a finger at me if my advice turns out not to be 100% correct? If you are going to manage others money and be an investor then you need to hire an attorney so you can get your "Just to be clear...." answers. I give only general advice here.

In general, it's just not that simple. Sorry but we are in the real world and the real world is complex. That is why attorneys and CPA's devote much of their lives to understanding the complexities, then people pay them for advice they can rely upon.

I'm beginning to tire of readers who think they are somehow entitled to have all of their problems solved without doing their own research and paying their way to solve the more complex issues. I don't mind your general questions but your "Just to be clear...." is a sign to me that you are not willing to put your money where your mouth is, all the while wanting to make money from other people's investments in you.

IN GENERAL SIR, you need to be careful about the sources of your token income as well as declaring any income on your taxes once you have converted the tokens to dollars (hint...hire a CPA.) In addition you need to be mindful of state regulations as to money transmission.   

Another looming issue here is whether or not this new breed of crypto fund owner/managers needs to send out 1099's. When regulators catch up they may very well have to do so.

To all readers; these issues cannot be simplified to a few words. There are no magic solutions as these areas of regulation and taxation are constantly evolving.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
7674 W. Lake Mead Blvd Suite 245
Las Vegas, Nevada 89128
www.attorneybitcoin.com

Watch out, you might be starting something here
Taken from George's website:
This is a relatively small community and it only takes one or two harsh comments from credible players to hurt a business.

Now, seriously, he's giving free legal advice and fishing for clients at the same time. Just business. All fine by me. 

Just spoke with another member and you need to watch for his post here, this guy has a few things going on at his local area that you guys will find very interesting.  Take a look and do your own research on this attorney, especially in his local district

Just spoke with another member and you need to watch for his post here, this guy has a few things going on at his local area that you guys will find very interesting.  Take a look and do your own research on this attorney, especially in his local district

Thank you very much for the informative response. Just to be clear, as far as you know, it is legal to invest USD raised from a token sale into the US stock market as long as the fund is registered with FinCen and complies with AML/KYC regulation?

It is not illegal to take USD and invest in stocks for yourself. The source of your money should be legal of course. If you are investing cash for other people you then have legal and regulatory issues that must be addressed.

As to the underlying crypto hedge fund, this really depends upon the amounts of money and the persons you are dealing with. There are AML/KYC issues with FinCEN. There may be state money transmission issues is you are dealing in cash at all. Even if you are only dealing in BTC/ETH and the like you must protect yourself from AML issues by registering with FinCEN and making a good faith effort to collect identities where needed and to report when required.

You will of course be on safer ground as to money transmission laws if your hedgefund is opened with purely crypto and dividends paid purely in crypto and you are in a state that does not regulate that.

Finally you are going to have banking issues. But everyone has that.

I hope I answered your question.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
www.attorneybitcoin.com

First of all, thank you very much for hosting this forum. I find it very helpful.

My question is, lets say I have a fund with which I raise money in Bitcoin, Ethereum or other altcoins. I issue shares of the fund to the investors who will then get dividends from my fund (think hedgefund) Can I use the money raised in crypto, convert it to USD and invest it on the stock market? In other words, are you aware of any regulation which prohibits you from investing in the stock market with funds raised from cryptocurrency?

Thanks a lot

For what its worth, I did hire a tax advisor who specializes in cryptocurrencies and we used bitcoin.tax to compute the gain on every trade imported from all the exchanges I use, and manually input for ICO's and mining. The person i hired had done research and their conclusion was that like kind if you were to file that way may slide under the radar but probably would not hold up in court. so we did the damn thing and i paid on gains for every trade whether it ended the year as fiat or not. it sucked but conscience is clear and the government is paid.

This is brilliant and the first time that I've seen a good answer on the crypto -> crypto currency conversion. Just to break this down further let's say someone does the following:

1) Acquire DCR (so cost basis is $10)  
2) Trades the DCR for BTC after 1 year
3) Trades the BTC for ETH within 1 week
4) After 1 week sells the ETH for $500

Using the concept of "like kind" transaction is the only taxable event (4), when you convert the crypto over to $ for a profit of $490? Also since the period from (1) to (4) is >1 year is it seen as long-term capital gains?

thanks!

I appreciate the question and example however I am not a tax attorney and am not a CPA. You will have to go to one of them to figure this one out. Best: GDG

Hello Mr. Greenberg J.D. I am planning on starting up a business using bitcoins by essentially making money through the good pricing and robust exchange of goods to btc (such as having a good ratio on btc to walmart card, or btc to said property etc). I live in a relatively small/medium (pop 300,000) town with a lot of good old boys and money. I want this to be legitimate as my family are rather neophytes in this very small and established community and I feel like me and mine still have dues to pay "before we're full members of the club", if you get my drift sir.

I have done some fair/surface amount of diligence into federal and state laws but it seems like everything is in its infancy stages with all three branches of government confused as to what to do and no judges wanting to determine important precedents yet. From my understanding you should report your BTC as property to the IRS but there is no commercial law.. how are my earnings taxed? How is this fair financially from my viewpoint when another federal judge defined BTC as "funds" (vague) and the currency itself is regulated by the futures trading commission. Wouldn't the FTC have the final say in what will happen next? And from an honest fiduciary standpoint if it's already being regulated as "digital currency" why should I be taxed on currency I've already earned fairly through my salary and file it as property? Honestly it sounds like a lot of passing the buck to me and there is no definitive legal framework even in place on any level.. federal or state.


Also on a more concrete practical note if I may get in a 2nd more simple question.. this business will essentially be providing a service. I will be providing my knowledge of the market as well as the BTC system to act as portfolio manager and broker. I am confident in this system and with amounts of more than $5000 I'm sure  me as well as my clients would like a legal retainer agreeing to some fixed amount of risk that kinda covers my end but also legally gives me some type of fiduciary responsibility with the man's money so that I am covered and in the event I make a profit of more than $100k or something like or lose whatever difference that ill guarantee that as to attract attention I would have proof of said responsibility for services rendered and that I'm doing everything by the book.

BTW you may have guessed but that state is GA... would registering it as an llc or something like that be MORE RISKY practically in that it would draw attention or less in that it would appear i have been completely transparent. 



You have some misunderstandings as to the characterization of BTC  It sounds like you want to do the right thing, provide a service, pay your taxes and comply with laws and regulations. It is true that regulation of crypto currencies is confusing. Virtual currency is a tough thing to understand and therefore, to regulate. I don't know your sources but you do not have to report your BTC to the IRS as property. It is only when you convert the same to fiat that you would declare the income. You should probably PM me before you go any further.

Best:

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
www.attorneybitcoin.com

This is brilliant and the first time that I've seen a good answer on the crypto -> crypto currency conversion. Just to break this down further let's say someone does the following:

1) Acquire DCR (so cost basis is $10)  
2) Trades the DCR for BTC after 1 year
3) Trades the BTC for ETH within 1 week
4) After 1 week sells the ETH for $500

Using the concept of "like kind" transaction is the only taxable event (4), when you convert the crypto over to $ for a profit of $490? Also since the period from (1) to (4) is >1 year is it seen as long-term capital gains?

thanks!