- Bitcoin and the rest of crypto fared like the stockmarkets, plunging as WHO global pandemic declaration triggered an intense sell-off all over the world
- Arthur Hayes, the boss of crypto derivatives platform BitMEX, says a USD 6,000 pricing won’t prevent Bitcoin from eventuall reaching USD 20,000 again
- The Australian Tax Office has sent letters to 350,000 crypto traders encouraging them to file correct tax reporting on their recent trading activities
The crypto markets are bleeding as Bitcoin shed over 20% in a single day, but this is on a generally bad day overall for global markets everywhere as stocks dropped like a stone overnight on the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration late yesterday evening Europe time that the coronavirus is now officially a global pandemic.
At the moment, Bitcoin is recovering from a daily low of USD 5,678 (CoinDesk) to trade right now around USD 6,350. It is a ten-month low.
Altcoins threw out almost every week of gain they made in 2020, with Ethereum sliding over 30% to a low of USD 128 but trading now closer to USD 142.
In any case, the panic selling isn’t about to change the minds of some Bitcoin bulls, like crypto derivatives platfrom BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes, who has come out to say that Bitcoin can still bounce back to USD 20,000 easily, even after a massive dip like today. Hayes insists that it will even avoid bigger losses, even if Bitcoin is not safe from the global turmoil hitting markets everywhere.
Hot off the press the next issue of the Crypto Trader Digest. A look into my trader brain during this time of intense market volatility. https://t.co/sWmNnvMk25
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) March 12, 2020
The CEO believes that a maximum floor of USD 6,000 would be possible due to the coronavirus panic-induced sentiment, although as today’s low has already broken that floor by some distance, Hayes may have to reconsider Bitcoin’s likelihood to go lower.
He says that the downward market is now bearing the impact of trader distress who will be seeing hedge funds selling even more digital assets. Nevertheless, he insists Bitcoin is still a safe haven and that an incoming bounce before the end of 2020 would see a retake of old highs at USD 20,000.
Meanwhile, Australian authorities have kicked off a major campaign to try and coax up to 350,000 Australians who have invested into crypto to comply with their tax obligations.
An Australia Tax Office (ATO) spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the campaign was all about awareness raising, and was less keen on catching people, than it was to allow them the chance to make corrections to any previous oversight when reporting their capital gains on crypto trades.
In Australia, Bitcoin and other crypto assets were defined by the Australian government as property that was liable to tax under the ATO’s guidance framework. It had sent letters to as many as 350,000 individuals known to have traded crypto over the recent years. The ATO spokesperson said that this early step:
“Aims to promote voluntary compliance through identifying and educating those individuals who may be failing to meet their tax obligations simply because they are unaware of the tax consequences of trading in cryptocurrency.”
The ATO uses a program known as the Data Matching Protocol for Cryptocurrency to identify possible crypto traders, obtaining transaction data directly from crypto platforms managing the exchanges. So far, ATO has collected and reviewed data from the 2014–15 to 2018–19 financial years and used it to analyze whether individuals had been filing their tax reports accurately. The spokesperson clarified:
“Taxpayers who are contacted by us should educate themselves on the tax consequences and correct any errors to avoid penalties. Where taxpayers are still making errors or failing to report their cryptocurrency transactions they can expect further follow up from us.”
Australia is part of the J5 — the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement — who were established to fight global tax evasion, including cryptocurrency threats and cybercrime. The other members — Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States — combine their tax experience, offshore, crypto and cyber expertise to achieve common goals. ATO, however, did not comment on any specific J5 operational activity that related to crypto.
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