| Bitcoin | $37,697 | 7 day: +9.1% | | Ethereum | $1,709 | 7 day: +27.1% | | All crypto | $1.17T | 7 day: +14.6% | | Bitcoin dominance | 60.2% | 7 day: -3.6% | Prices as of 4:30 p.m. EST
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The U.S. Library of Congress has released a report surveying the global tax treatment of tokens obtained by mining, staking, airdrops, and hard forks across 31 countries. The report shows that, while several countries have provided guidance on bitcoin and other proof-of-work coins, only a few have addressed the taxation of tokens received from staking. Details: - The report does not constitute legal advice and does not represent the official opinion of the U.S. Government.
- Cryptocurrencies are variously treated by the surveyed countries as investment property, a financial instrument, an intangible asset or property, a financial asset, or a commodity.
- Italy, for example, treats exchanges of crypto assets like exchanges of foreign fiat currencies for tax purposes.
- The taxation of cryptocurrencies by nation is dependent not only upon its classification, but also on other factors such as how it is acquired or used.
- China is conspicuously absent from the report.
U.S. Library of Congress 
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Spanish cryptocurrency exchange 2gether said it will not be able to fully reimburse victims of a breach, despite raising €1.5M. The company will not be able to refund all of the stolen funds for 9% of users due to the recent increase in Bitcoin and Ether value. More from 2gether: - The company suffered a breach in July 2020 during which cryptocurrency funds were stolen from users.
- 2gether was able to refund 100% of the stolen Bitcoin and Ether cryptocurrency that was not previously converted into shares or 2GT tokens.
- For the remaining 9% of users, the company is offering, at most, 99% of the non-converted stolen funds and, at least, the value in euros that was lost in the attack.
- Otherwise, those users can wait until the company can afford full refunds or an alternative solution.
This story first appeared in Inside Security. Read the full issue here. Coindesk
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U.S. and Bulgarian law enforcement officers have seized the website used by the NetWalker ransomware group to leak stolen data. In addition, a Canadian national was arrested and charged for allegedly extorting more than $27M using the NetWalker ransomware. More: - NetWalker is a ransomware-as-a-service product founded by Circus Spider, which rents access to attackers in exchange for a percentage of the profits.
- Chainalysis, which assisted in the law enforcement probe, found that NetWalker has generated more than $46M in ransoms since it first began in August 2019.
- NetWalker has targeted healthcare organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, noted the U.S. Justice Department.
- Law enforcement seized around $454,530 in cryptocurrency as part of the NetWalker raid.
This story first appeared in Inside Security. Read the full issue here. Krebs on Security
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Spain's Tax Administration has released guidelines to help reduce tax evasion by crypto holders, requesting information from crypto exchanges to "strengthen international cooperation" and lawfully access crypto trading details. - The Spanish Treasury also mentioned concerns about technological advances facilitating crimes through cryptocurrencies.
- The Treasury noted, "Digital money and the trend to reduce the use of cash, has led to an increase in the use of cryptocurrencies as means of payment, so that by the end of 2020, there are already more than 6,500 cryptocurrencies in circulation."
- Dozens of the world's central banks are developing digital currencies, including the digital euro projects by the European Central Bank (ECB), in which Spain participates, and are working on various anti-money laundering protocols for cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin.com
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Most Coinbase customers can now find U.S. tax forms in their account for 2020 crypto gains. The IRS has sent warning mailers to delinquent U.S. tax residents and is on-schedule for its regular April 15 tax deadline. Context: - San Francisco-based Coinbase crypto exchange publicly announced on Nov. 24 its decision to change its U.S. tax forms issuances from 1099-Ks to 1099-MISC for customers earning interests on crypto lending products.
- The reason for abandoning 1099-Ks is that the form reports only the gross proceeds of crypto transactions, excluding the base price.
- Several Coinbase clients received a CP2000 notice from the IRS due to misreporting tax forms.
- Coinbase also laid down eligibility criteria to receive a 1099-MISC from the exchange; ineligible traders will have to deal with their situation without help from Coinbase.
- Note that IRS Form 1099-MISC does not resolve all cost basis issues for U.S.-based crypto traders who are ultimately responsible for their own tax reporting obligations.
- A crypto tax agency called CryptoTrader Tax suggested that tax filing 1099-K is not suitable for some crypto exchange tax reporting. Form 1099-K is ideal for platforms such as Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY), Uber (NYSE:UBER), and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT), where users are paid directly by a third party.
- Receivers of the IRS' CP2000 notice will have to resolve the situation with the IRS by proving their gain and loss reports. The IRS started its crackdown on misreported crypto trading taxes in 2019 and sent hundreds of warning letters to almost 10,000 U.S. cryptocurrency owners.
Coindesk
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- Hackers drained over $13.8M from the Dai (DAI) vault of the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Yearn Finance (YFI). DeFi projects accounted for half of all crypto hacks last year.
- More complaints about bitcoin's carbon footprint are circulating.
- Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fixed 36 security bugs in the latest stable channel update for Chrome 88 for desktops, including a critical bug that involves insufficient policy enforcement in Cryptohome.
- Estonia is planning to issue new regulations that will tighten the licensing of digital currencies. Oversight of this area will be reassigned from the Financial Intelligence Unit (part of the Police and Board Guard) to the Financial Supervisory Authority. It will also require some current crypto license holders to reapply for operating permits within the country.
- South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority issued a notice to investors, warning that if money is lost in crypto-related investments or scams packaged as crypto investments, it is "unlikely to get your money back and [you] will have no recourse against anyone" as crypto-related investments are not well-regulated.
- Lawmakers in the state of Wyoming have proposed a bill that would allow decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) to incorporate in the "Equality State."
- China's Blockchain Service Network (BSN) announced support for Cosmos (ATOM), rolling out a permissioned version of the interoperability blockchain.
- Ernst & Young announced an integration with China's BSN, offering its Blockchain Analyzer and Ops Chain to users in China and across the Asian Pacific region. This will enable regulatory-compliant access to the Ethereum network within China.
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 |  | Curated by Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, and bitcoin follower since $1, Aaron Wise. Temporarily listening to news squawk boxes in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia. |  | | Editor | Charlotte Hayes-Clemens is an editor and writer based in Vancouver. She has dabbled in both the fiction and non-fiction world, having worked at HarperCollins Publishers and more recently as a writing coach for new and self-published authors. Proper semi-colon usage is her hill to die on. | |
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