Be honest. When you heard the news that the IRS had asked Coinbase for the customer accounts for all U.S. citizens, did you say "Uh oh" and feel a shiver of fear?
Well, if you're an average investor at Coinbase, don't worry. The IRS blinked.
The IRS just told a federal court they only want information for accounts that had transactions worth $20,000 or more.
From the article:
An IRS spokesperson declined to comment on the investigation's new scope, which is limited—in the agency's words—to users with "at least the equivalent of $20,000 in any one transaction type (buy, sell, send, or receive) in any one year during the 2013-15 period."
If they mean $20,000 in a single transaction, we're in WHALE territory!
This naturally raises questions of privacy and anonymity. When you open an account at Coinbase, you have to provide personal information. If I remember correctly, I had to send a photo of my driver's license. And if you link to your bank account...well enough said. If you want anonymity, look elsewhere in my opinion.
What's scary is that in another Coinbase-related lawsuit, the IRS dropped their request for ** password and security settings** for the 500,000 accounts impacted by that action.
Read more here:
http://fortune.com/2017/07/10/bitcoin-irs-coinbase/
Image Credit
Seriously? Me, myself, and I. I like that particular shade of blue :)
