Bitcoin halted its move back toward $9,000 Tuesday morning, consolidating recent gains. The leading cryptocurrency has generally been rising since hitting a two-month low below $6,000 intraday on Feb. 6
Bitcoin fell 2.4% to $8,678.39, according to CoinDesk. Ethereum fell 2.2%, Litecoin 1.8% and Ripple 4.9%.
Bitcoin-related stocks were mixed Tuesday. Riot Blockchain (RIOT) tumbled 8.4% to 16.06 on the stock market today, Long Blockchain (LBCC) sank 4.4%, Overstock.com (OSTK) edged up 1.8%, Marathon Patent Group (MARA) fell 2.8%, and Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) sank 3.4%.
While there might be a Bitcoin buying frenzy, only 100 out of 250,000 people that have filed their taxes with Credit Karma have reported a cryptocurrency transaction on their federal tax forms.
The IRS considers cryptocurrencies as property for federal taxes, so any profits or losses from trading should be reported as capital gains or losses.
But part of Bitcoin’s allure is the anonymity of the currency. Bitcoin was founded to avoid tracking on the dark web and many users trade anonymously on online platforms so it’s unclear how many Americans have cryptocurrency assets.
While evading taxes and paying for illicit goods are selling points for Bitcoin users, they don’t endear themselves to governments.
On Monday, European regulators warned consumers the cryptocurrency asset class is “highly risky” and that they have no protections against losses under EU law.
The warning came after the U.K. tech site The Register found that a web mining code was put on thousands of websites, including sites run by U.S. and British government agencies.
But, like U.S. regulators a week ago, European regulators didn’t signal a massive crackdown or ban on cryptocurrency trading or mining.
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Bitcoin’s Return To $9,000 Halted; Few Americans Reporting Cryptocurrencies On Tax Forms
