Even after a bruising sell-off, the digital assets market still enjoys a combined market cap of roughly $2 trillion – an amount that is very difficult to ignore. So it would only be a matter of time before regulators started making the moves, the United States Treasury Department is just the most recent one.
According to this report published by Reuters, the Biden administration is on a drive to beef up the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through its proposed “tax enforcement” policy. Apart from its plans to increase the work force twofold and invest $81 billion into the IRS by 2031, the proposal makes clear mention of the Biden administration’s intentions regarding cryptocurrency – which the Treasury Department acknowledges as assets that are likely to “grow in importance”.
“As with cash transactions, businesses that receive crypto assets with a fair market value of more than $10,000 would also be reported on,” as per the Treasury report.
Foreseeable effects
Naturally, this news would have an impact on the market’s attempted recovery. Though not completely halted, Bitcoin’s latest climb does seem to have slowed down a little bit.
If structured correctly, the new disclosure requirements could offer the government and law enforcement agencies a little more information around ransomware attacks that involve US based corporations. The lack of clarity around these incidents being pointed out as one of the major driving forces behind the offenders’ persistence.
Ultimately, the proposed regulations will mean more paperwork for companies that are looking to add digital assets to their balance sheets and revenue streams.
