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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sense who wrote (171295)	5/6/2021 12:02:09 AM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 218963

Speaks to the way-early dayz of the so far minor insurrection

To: sense who wrote (171295)	5/6/2021 1:47:38 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218963

in the meantime the insurrection continues to gain strength and breach the ramparts ... decrypt.co Hiro, formerly Blockstack, Says STX Token Is No Longer a Security Hiro (formerly Blockstack) believes it has finally converted the first registered crypto security to a decentralized utility token. By Scott Chipolina Hiro, formerly known as Blockstack, announced last week that its Stacks token (STX) is no longer a security, and as such, Hiro will stop filing annual reports to the SEC. “Today, Hiro Systems PBC filed its 2020 annual report with the SEC," Hiro CEO Muneeb Ali wrote in a blog post. "We expect this to be our last annual report filing, marking the end of a nearly two-year journey since Hiro’s SEC-qualified offering of Stacks tokens (STX) in July 2019." Of course, Hiro declaring STX no longer a security is not the same as the SEC saying it. But that's the whole issue exemplified by Blockstack's "journey": there is no precedence for the SEC declaring a crypto token that was once a security no longer a security. When asked by Decrypt, Ali declined to comment as to whether or not the company has discussed the legal status of STX tokens with the SEC. Blockstack made waves in the crypto industry in 2019 when it completed the first SEC-approved token sale, raising more than $23 million. But in the time since, some in the industry have wondered whether holding the SEC's hand was worth it, as some other projects that didn't play by the rules succeeded anyway. Hiro first announced in December that it would no longer be treating Stacks tokens as securities once the company’s Stacks 2.0 blockchain launched in January. But now the company has made it official with the SEC. Previously, Stacks were treated as a security “out of an abundance of caution,” the company says. Now the company believes it has made good on its promise to decentralize the Stacks ecosystem, because the broader Stacks ecosystem has no central governing authority behind it. “If Hiro disappears, can the rest of the ecosystem function, or is there really a reliance on this company?” Ali said in conversation with Decrypt, adding that the ecosystem can indeed function without Hiro. Ali and Hiro are basing their argument on the Howey Test, the litmus test the SEC uses to determine whether a token represents a security. The Howey Test and securities law The Howey Test refers to a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court case involving shares in a citrus grove. Under the Howey Test, an investment contract exists if there is an investment made "in a common enterprise with an expectation of profit derived from the efforts of others." as former SEC official William Hinman explained at a Yahoo Finance event in 2o18. In the case of token sales, the investment is also marketed with "the promise that the assets will be cultivated in a way that will cause them to grow in value, to be sold later at a profit," Thus a central question of the Howey Test is determining whether one company or entity could reasonably be identified as the driver of potential financial returns. Without the presence of this centralized entity, the transacted good is not considered a security. As Hiro believes it has decentralized the Stacks ecosystem, that centralized managerial role is absent, and so it has concluded Stacks are no longer securities. “We’re proud of our regulatory path and hope that it can serve as a model for others seeking to innovate in the crypto industry,” Ali added. Looking to the futureSTX tokens finally started trading in the U.S. in January. OKCoin, a US-based crypto exchange, listed STX that month. Ali tells Decrypt that OKCoin “takes regulations quite seriously,” and “went ahead and listed STX on their own.” Since the launch of the Stacks 2.0 blockchain, Ali doesn’t tend to spend much time working with exchanges. "Hiro now focuses on developer tools for Stacks," he says, "and we don’t deal with exchanges." You can hear more from Muneeb Ali on stage at the Ethereal Virtual Summit on Thursday, May 6.

To: sense who wrote (171295)	5/6/2021 8:35:59 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 218963

Let’s see if the inclinations to trade is reduced. Am guess many crypto-warriors and difi-ninjas were naughty w/ the tax rules decrypt.co Court Greenlights IRS Access to Kraken’s Customer Data After gaining access to Circle users’ data, the IRS is now looking for Kraken customers who have failed to comply with internal revenue laws. By Liam Frost In brief - A federal court has authorized the Internal Revenue Service to access the personal data of some Kraken customers. - The tax officers want to identify users who transacted $20,000 or more in crypto between 2016 and 2020. A federal court in the Northern District of California has given the green light to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain the identities of users who have traded digital assets on crypto exchange Kraken. According to an announcement published by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday, the IRS is now authorized to serve a “John Doe summons” on customers of Kraken and its parent company Payward Ventures Inc. Tax officers can request the identities of any user who transacted $20,000 or more in crypto between 2017 and 2020. “Gathering the information in the summons approved today is an important step to ensure cryptocurrency owners are following the tax laws. Those who transact with cryptocurrency must meet their tax obligations like any other taxpayer,” said David Hubbert, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, in the announcement. Hunting down crypto tax-dodgersIn its announcement, the DOJ clarified that the court order does not allege that Kraken itself engaged in any wrongdoing. Instead, the IRS’s investigation is focused on “an ascertainable group or class of persons” that “may have failed to comply with internal revenue laws.” As such, the IRS requested that Kraken provide any documents and transaction records that can be used to identify tax-paying users from the aforementioned group. “There is no excuse for taxpayers continuing to fail to report the income earned and taxes due from virtual currency transactions. This John Doe summons is part of our effort to uncover those who are trying to skirt reporting and avoid paying their fair share,” added the IRS commissioner Chuck Rettig. The DOJ’s tax division filed the request to obtain Kraken customers’ data in early April. However, the judge initially denied it, arguing that the request was too broad. A few days prior, the court authorized the IRS to serve John Doe summons on users of crypto payments company Circle. Sent from my iPad