I agree that crypto taxation is a debate, because the government really wants to get the benefits of cryptocurrency. But because
cryptocurrency is largely decentralized, it is difficult for governments to impose taxes on cryptocurrency users. In the end, the
government took steps to legalize centralized exchanges, especially local exchanges. Because the government sees chances are
many crypto users convert their crypto asset to fiat, to spend cryptocurrency. Then with centralized exchanges the government
can impose crypto taxation, which starts with the application of KYC for users centralized exchanges. And that is not a problem for
me, at least I can spend the crypto that I have generated from trading.
Exactly. Taxing crypto becomes a highly difficult task to achieve because of its decentralized design. The only way governments will be able to tax crypto successfully is by relying on centralized exchanges to comply with KYC laws. Once the person's identity is verified, transactions can be easily traceable for taxation purposes. Believe me, that if everyone started using decentralized exchanges more thoroughly, it would've been a nightmare for mainstream governments. My guess is that if that happens, they will declare crypto to be illegal.
Still, people are becoming more dependent on centralized infrastructure everyday. This means that crypto will continue to be taxed as long as the majority of people continue to use centralized exchanges in the industry. If you truly believe in the future of crypto and Blockchain technology, it's best that you use crypto assets directly for goods and services. This way, you cannot be taxed as you're not converting them to Fiat. Once you sell your coins for cash, you'll be subject to taxation just like it's the case with any other asset in the mainstream world today. For crypto to be truly untaxable it needs to be recognized as a currency. But governments will never allow that to happen.
The IRS taxes crypto as property and honestly, I'm not sure if they're totally off base. Bitcoin price fluctuates meaning with potential increases, you make profits. If you do the same with the stock market investing in a mutual fund, you're going to pay capital gains taxes off the profit you make so it's not much of a difference. You own a home that's increased in value over 10 years and you sell it? You pay the same capital gains tax as a stock sale.
Bitcoin is essentially akin to gold, and no one views gold as a currency.
Good point. But even if Bitcoin resembles gold, it's far more than that. Bitcoin can also be used as a currency if fees weren't that high, and prices would've been stable on the market. After all, Bitcoin was designed to be a "peer-to-peer electronic cash system". Governments will never recognize crypto to be a currency as they want a "piece of the pie". They'll want to tax everyone's crypto holdings for their own benefit. Personally, I don't have anything wrong with doing my duty as a citizen paying taxes. But taxing crypto, greatly defeats its purpose of eliminating the middleman from the system. One fact about crypto is that the same is decentralized, and largely distributed across several countries around the world. I find it odd that some governments tax crypto since the same is global. In other words, crypto is outside the jurisdiction of a single country or region. People might as well move to another country where crypto is not taxable, for their own benefit.
We'll see how everything works out for mainstream governments as they try to tax decentralized cryptocurrencies worldwide. With several privacy solutions in the industry, availability of decentralized exchanges, and the use of atomic swaps, it might become impossible to tax everyone using crypto in the mainstream world. Just my thoughts