How do you deal with capital gains? Ignore it?
I would have some... but I lost most of my private keys in an unfortunate boat accident.
Wow that blows... Sorry to hear that man
I think you missed the implied "wink wink"
EDIT: Also, he was illustrating the point of how easy it is to LEGALLY avoid taxes, provided you have lots of money. The more money you have, the easier it is to take advantage of legal structures specifically put in place to help rich folks avoid taxes. So that they can then donate to the political campaigns of those who put the legal structures in place.
Everything is going according to plan. Hmm, I see. But in that case, it doesn't really illustrate the point, because one doesn't have to pay capital gains on unrealized gains. It's when you convert to fiat that the capital gains will have to be paid. So if you claim to have lost your coins in a boating accident, one day you may want to convert them to fiat, and then you'll have some trouble explaining how you gained those coins. Maybe you cheated on income taxes? I can't see how that would be an advantage.
The thing is, since these exchanges operate within legal boundaries and the owners are known and probably documented by law enforcement agencies, we are somewhat safeguarded if our fiat were be stolen or abused by the owners of the exchange. There are systems in place in the real world which would combat criminal endeavours to steal our fiat. Bitcoin has none of those. It might all turn to shit tomorrow, that's the harsh truth of it all, and you wouldn't be able to do a damn thing to prevent it. Your coins might even get stolen from the exchange, and you wouldn't be able to do squat. You might be a "bitcoin believer", but i prefer to be realistic about this whole thing, and i think that's the smart thing to do as well instead of putting blind faith into all of this.
Most likely situation, if this were to happen: DOJ swoops in, seizes/restrains bank accounts, presses civil case to recover assets... then after several years, account holders get paid pennies on the dollar out of a remission fund. If you feel safe with fiat on the exchanges, don't. (Same goes for BTC, obviously)
This.