The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and its Criminal Investigation Chief John Fort recently announced the plans of the regulator to look into potential tax issues caused by the Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs and kiosks. As the reports show, IRS investigators are now collaborating with law enforcement to investigate illicit uses of new technologies like cryptocurrencies.
“We’re looking at those, and the ones that may or may not be connected to bank accounts […] In other words, if you can walk in, put cash in and get bitcoin out, obviously we’re interested potentially in the person using the kiosk and what the source of the funds is, but also in the operators of the kiosks,” the IRS investigators noted.
Data from Coin ATM Radar in the latest crypto news shows that there are 4,129 Bitcoin ATMs and tellers in the United States reserved for letting users buy and/or sell cryptocurrencies in exchange for fees. Bloomberg claims that there is one such machine in every major city within the US. As a leader of the IRS investigators, Fort explained that such services are required in order to conform with the Know Your Customer rules and regulations:
“They’re required to abide by the same know-your-customer, anti-money laundering regulations, and we believe some have varying levels of adherence to those regulations.”
As we reported a month ago, the Bitcoin ATM company Bitstop installed one of the machines at the Miami International Airport, suggesting that Bitcoin is useful for moving money when traveling.
In the other Bitcoin news, we can see that the tax status remains murky for this sector. Fort explained that crypto taxation issues are an emerging threat. He added that the space has an inherent lack of transparency and visibility, increasing the potential for non-compliance. Still, the head of the IRS investigators unit noted that no cases have been filed so far, stating “We haven’t had any public cases filed, but we do have open cases in inventory.”
ATMs and kiosks aside, we can see that Bitcoin is taking a beating again. The cryptocurrency went below the $8,600 price target just as the market lost another couple of billion this Saturday.
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