Daily Cryptocurrency Briefing, 18. September 2017

Japan is the New China

Japan has overtaken China since the exchange ban to account for about 50% of bitcoin all bitcoin trades.  Meanwhile, China now accounts for a measly 7% of bitcoin trades which is a huge decrease from before the bitcoin exchange ban.  This goes to show the benefits of decentralization as the China ban did not decimate bitcoin’s fiat price.

US Introduces Bill New Tax Bill

The new bill introduced into the US House would reduce the tax reporting requirements of bitcoins.  The bill aims to have users only report bitcoin transactions of over $600 to tax authorities.  The bipartisan bill is aimed at people that make small cryptocurrency transactions that are not investments.  The US currently classifies bitcoin as property, so all price increases are taxed as capital gains. The reporting of cryptocurrency taxes has became a huge deal in the US with many lawsuits occurring that try to unmask tax evaders.

Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin is holding steady at the price point of $3700 after dropping to $3000 following the Chinese ban on exchanges.  There was even a person who believed $3700 was a fraction of the value of bitcoin and that the price should actually be $25,000 by 2022.  Tom Lee, a veteran of Wall Street, doubled down on his prediction on CNBC’s Fast money even as bitcoin was down over a thousand dollars from its high of $5000.

Mayweather Back At It Again

Floyd Mayweather, arguably the highest paid boxer in history, promoted another ICO on Twitter.  The ICO is for a company called Centra which aims to create a cryptocurrency debit card.  This is the third ICO being promoted by Mayweather who surprised the world with his love of ICOs and cryptocurrency.  This endorsement comes at a time when many world governments are cracking down on ICOs due to many being scams or worthless.  China has been the latest country to crack down on ICOs by completely banning them in the Chinese market.