While Bitcoin has revolutionized the digital currency and decentralized finance space, Bitcoin has often been followed by its dark past. Its wide use on the dark net and its association with Silk Road has lent it a slightly shady reputation. Despite the long demise of the Silk Road, the cryptocurrency continues to be beset with money laundering and terrorism concerns.

Recently, Gary Alford, famous for his involvement in the Silk Road case, attended a panel discussion on crypto-crimes. Now a cyber-crime coordinator, Alford stated that the IRS plans to keep a tab on crypto-currency investors who are avoiding taxes on crypto-earning.

The panel, first covered by Forbes, quoted Alford as saying,

“We’re usually behind the curve — history is made and then we react to it. But in this case, we are ahead of the curve. We were there on ground zero, and we were waiting for the rest of the world to catch up to what we already knew.”

The IRS agent added,

“We already are aware that there were cases to be made, we just didn’t know if we were at the point where we can bring it for criminal prosecution. We believe we are at that point now. If we had 12 jurors and told them someone made all their money in bitcoin, we believe that they would understand.”

Alford also stated that the IRS will start becoming more stringent with the release of new guidelines on cryptocurrencies. Under these regulations, anyone sending and receiving digital currency worth more than $1,000 will have to give details of the sender and the receiver, to the overseeing agency.

Back in 2017, the IRS had collected data from Coinbase to keep a track on people who were buying and selling cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. $20,000 worth of cryptos were transacted by 14000 accounts on Coinbase. However, only 800 of them had revealed Bitcoin gains in their tax forms.

The post U.S Internal Revenue Service prepares to take stringent action against cryptocurrency tax evaders appeared first on AMBCrypto.

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