Canada is starting to ask people about their crypto investments. Forbes reports the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is auditing cryptocurrency investors by sending them questionnaires.
The 13-page questionnaire asks Canadians to describe their involvement in the crypto industry over a series of 54 questions. Many of the questions are specifically written to explore potential money laundering.
That question is very much in line with what seems to be the beliefs of CRA Project Oversight Director Jared Adams. He responded to a Twitter thread on January 31 regarding how to avoid bank restrictions with Bitcoin Core (BTC) with the response, “washingmachine.gif,” implying the group was discussing money laundering.
The CRA described their intentions with the following statements:
“The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) understands that a vast majority of middle-class Canadians pay their fair share, but it remains committed to ensuring that without exception, every taxpayer abides by the same tax laws.
“The CRA is also committed to helping taxpayers understand their tax obligations when using digital currencies, and to remind them that using digital currency does not exempt consumers from their tax obligations.”
Canada has taxed cryptocurrencies since 2013, but only established a cryptocurrency unit under the CRA in 2017, right around when the market was hottest.
The CRA are well within their rights to try and snuff out potential tax avoidance and money laundering with this type of inquiry. Bitcoin was made to be the world’s new money, and despite how long it was used in illicit transactions, the nature of the blockchain is to be public and immutable, and thus transparent to governments and the world. The government might simply want to increase their tax revenues, but that’s their right.
As the developers of Bitcoin SV (BSV), the only crypto to follow the Bitcoin whitepaper, have noted, it’s time for crypto to grow up. If Canadians are using mixing services and tumblers, methods of obscuring their transactions, to hide their money from the government, they aren’t only doing Bitcoin wrong, they are being bad citizens.
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