[Bitcoin Now] Sideways Movement Around 52 Million Won... Cryptocurrency Tax Bill Facing Struggles in US House

Dispute Over Defining Cryptocurrency Brokers Subject to Tax Increase
“Only Those Acting on Behalf of Others” vs “Including Miners and Developers”

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin is hovering around the 52 million KRW mark. It is interpreted that Bitcoin is stalling due to the heated debate over cryptocurrency taxation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as of 1:45 PM on the 13th, Bitcoin recorded 52.9 million KRW, up 1.59% compared to the previous day. Although it dropped to 51.39 million KRW at 7:58 AM that day, it quickly recovered to the 52 million KRW range.

The stagnation in Bitcoin's upward trend is attributed to confusion in the U.S. Congress over the scope of cryptocurrency taxation. According to cryptocurrency specialized media CoinDesk on the 12th (local time), the U.S. House of Representatives is reportedly engaged in a debate over the definition of ‘cryptocurrency brokers’ subject to taxation. Initially, it was expected that the broker definition would only include those who act on behalf of others' transactions. However, opinions emerged to also include companies or individuals that facilitate cryptocurrency trading, raising concerns that mining companies and developers could also become taxable entities.

Since the cryptocurrency taxation bill was first proposed, there have been criticisms about the ambiguity of the tax scope. When news broke on the 1st that the U.S. Senate had agreed on a cryptocurrency taxation bill, Senator Ron Wyden criticized on Twitter, saying, “Cryptocurrency taxation looks like applying offline store regulations to internet shopping malls.”

Jake Chervinsky, legal counsel at decentralized finance (DeFi) firm Compound Labs, also pointed out, “It forces U.S.-based cryptocurrency companies to report information they do not have and cannot obtain,” adding, “The only options are to shut down or relocate overseas.”

Meanwhile, Link, known as Naver Coin, was listed on the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb on the same day. According to Bithumb on the 13th, Link was listed on the BTC market and was trading at about 190,000 KRW at the same time. With approximately 11.9 billion KRW in trading volume concentrated on Link alone, it is the most popular on Bithumb’s BTC market. The BTC market refers to a cryptocurrency market where only Bitcoin, not Korean won, can be used as currency.

Link is a cryptocurrency issued by Line, Naver’s Japanese subsidiary, and is used on the global mobile platform Line. Link was created with the purpose of popularizing Line’s blockchain ecosystem. Until now, Link has been traded on the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Bitfront and the Japanese exchange Bitmax.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.