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Bitcoin is enjoying another wave of investor interest this time with institutional backing. We know some of the smartest investors own Bitcoin. The technology backing bitcoin has some interesting applications in our view, but as far as bitcoin becoming legal tender, at best it looks like a long-odds gamble.

No central bank in the world is going to allow a currency with a fixed supply to supplant a fiat currency. The U.S. would be bankrupt in a minute if it couldn’t print its own currency to pay its debts. So would Japan and many other countries.

Rather than permitting speculation in something that is inevitably going to be banned as legal tender, governments should set the record straight today. The government looks to be laying the groundwork to crackdown on bitcoin and crypto with the IRS now “inquiring” about Americans’ activities in cryptocurrency. Janna Herron reports:

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is making it harder for taxpayers to conceal cryptocurrency transactions — whether intentionally or not — by adding a new question about it near the top of the new Form 1040.

The form released last week asks: “At any time during 2020, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” The only option is to mark yes or no.

If you answer inaccurately, you could find yourself in hot water with Uncle Sam who is rooting out tax evaders, tax professionals warned.

“When you sign the form, it’s under the penalty of perjury,” said Ryan Losi, a certified public accountant and executive vice president of PIASCIK, a tax firm. “The IRS is just gathering the data, changing the forms to expressly say you did or didn’t, and setting the trap, so in the coming years, the hammer can come down.”

Since 2014, the agency considers virtual currencies as a capital asset that must be treated as a property when it comes to taxes. Similar to stocks or bonds, any gains or losses from the sale or exchange of cryptocurrency is taxed as a capital gain or loss. Any income generated from mining bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies is also taxable.

But the IRS has been investigating for years to determine how many crypto investors have been under-reporting their holdings.

Read more here.