Summary:

• Bitcoin moves higher in the morning ahead of a discussion about blockchain in the US House of Representatives
• Americans evade taxation on their cryptocurrency transactions according to Credit Karma Tax
• Russia prepares a bill aimed at accrediting issuers of initial coin offerings (ICOs)

Wednesday could be a big day for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well as two subcommittees in the US House of Representative are scheduled to discuss potential applications for the blockchain technology in the government. The meeting titled “Beyond Bitcoin: Emerging Applications for Blockchain Technology” is to kick off at 10 am EST (3 pm BST) and its major goal is to present a broad overview of the technology. According to a spokesperson for the committee panellists will explain the basics of blockchain before talking about how it could be used. One needs to highlight that panellists will come from both the private sector and governmental agencies, hence there will be a possibility to see two different points of view.

Bitcoin seems to be regaining its upward momentum but a key supply zone remains still in place. Source: xStation5

From a technical point of view the Bitcoin price seems to be trapped within a consolidation between two zones and one may suspect that until it moves there larger swings are unlikely to occur. Do notice that the price has been unable to break above a resistance at $9350 since the beginning of the month, hence this level could constitute an important obstacle for buyers in the nearest future. However, if this level is finally broken, it would pave the way for a much more impressive increase even toward $12550. Bear in mind that today’s event taking place in the US could influence the cryptocurrency quite notably. 

American people evade paying taxes on their cryptocurrency gains

Along with outstandingly high volatility seen across the cryptocurrency block nobody should be surprised that some people managed to make remarkable gains (others lost their money of course). On the face of it, it implies that taxes coming from those gains ought to increase as well, however, it has not been the case in the US as of yet. Namely, according to the US-based company Credit Karma Tax fewer than 100 out of 250k federal tax returns prepared and filed so far this year via the company have filed an adequate form for cryptocurrency gains and losses. Moreover, the firm said that as much as 52% of its filers this tax season are millennials and just 14% are at least 55 years old suggesting that quite a significant amount of tax returns with regard to cryptocurrencies should be filed.

Russian government wants to accredit issuers of initial coin offerings (ICOs)

Thee Russia’s government has reportedly submitted a proposal aimed at accrediting issuers of ICOs on a voluntary basis for a period of five years. Those organizations must comply with a set of rules and are subject to inspections every three years. The country’s regulator is currently seeking public comments on this plan before taking any binding steps. Finally it’s worth referring to remarks voiced by the Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov saying “we decided that we should go the way of accreditation and get some professional organizations to implement the first real projects. Otherwise, our country will become technologically backward”. It suggests that Russia does not want to over-regulate the emerging technology.