RE: Taylor-Copeland files class action lawsuit against Ripple XRP over unregistered securities
As they say....not financial or legal advice. But I had always heard that co-conspirators in a crime could not sue each other over issues regarding such crime. This is because the agreement itself is deemed null and void for being illegal. If this was a security and if the buying and selling was illegal, then the law will not step in. Kind of like buying fentanyl on silk road and suing because you got baking soda. That argument won't get you into civil court, but it may get you into the criminal one.
But the big concern goes beyond XRP. In the unlikely event the plaintiff would get into court and actually win, then the vast majority of crypto's would be at risk.
What needs to happen is for congress to get together and create a new category of investment called Cryptocurrencies. They then need to take a 21st century look at these and make logical rules and regulations for these to flourish. The problem with them is they don't fit into the standard definitions. They are not stocks , they are not commodities and they are not government backed fiat currencies. Too much is at stake to let the courts, jurisdiction by jurisdiction create the law for this space.
Also lets assume for the sake of argument that XRP is far more valuable when the plaintiff goes to court that when they bought it. If XRP is at $5 they will get laughed out of court.
IMHO
Congress might do something if many people try to cheat the irs with taxes. Otherwise, they are too slow to act and countries like Russia and South Korea will lead the way.
Taxes are all the more reason to act.
The idea of taxable capitol gains on small purchases makes no sense. Way too complicated for people to report and if the government works hard to enforce the the issue it will kill the crypto industry in the US. So you are not likely to get any real revenue anyway.
The idea of taxing crypto to crypto trades also makes no sense. Especially when the government wont take crypto to pay the tax. For many folks it is a hardship asking for fiat currency that they simply do not have. It also makes for an accounting nightmare.
Once exchanges are normalized and regulated so they can do fiat to crypto for all coins the sooner exchanges will do the accounting like they do for stocks. It will also vastly cut down the number of transaction's. Right now to buy an alt coin and sell it back for fiat takes three potentially taxable events. With stocks it is one
The main problem with taxes is they are so hard to do the paper work. If the government wants it piece of the pie they need to make it EASY to figure out and pay the taxes.
Trump has a big problem with young people and crypto is kind of a young persons game. If he were to get in front of this, it could help him in the next election. Already he apparently has decided to take a states rights view with marijuana which is bound to make points with many young voters.
Trump will probably get involved in crypto when Venezuela's Petro will violate his sanctions by doing big business with it