2019 Week 42
The ProfitStance TL;DR is a summary of the most important developments in crypto news, along with our thoughts on how they impact the crypto space and the economy at large.
Libra
Facebook’s Libra Association took a huge hit this week, seeing several members back out, including PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe. The US government sent letters to several members of the association warning them of increased scrutiny if they continue to be associated with Libra. While this doesn’t necessarily change whether or not Libra will launch, it is a large blow to lose such prominent members. View article
EOS 2.0
Block.one has released a new version of EOSIO, a blockchain platform for smart contracts. The new protocol will make EOS 16X faster and more secure. On top of that, they released a new tool which makes developing smart contracts on the EOS system less complicated and with fewer system requirements. I think this is notable because the other smart contract blockchain, Ethereum, has yet to release a version 2.0, despite promising it for years now. View article
Telegram Open Network (TON)
Telegram: The crypto community has waited for October 31 due date for the Telegram Open Network (TON) to launch. Now, Telegram is saying they may need to delay the launch of their coin, the Gram, because of SEC scrutiny. This will be interesting to watch over the last two weeks of October. View article
SEC ETF Ruling
Bitwise applied for a rule change to allow them to sell a Bitcoin ETF. After several delays, the SEC finally denied the application citing “NYSE Arca has not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), and, in particular, the requirement that the rules of a national securities exchange be ‘designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.’” Basically, the SEC refused the Bitwise/NYSE Bitcoin ETF application, but didn’t reject the possibility of a Bitcoin ETF. View ruling
IRS FAQ
The IRS released long awaited clarification on cryptocurrencies in the form of a 43 question FAQ. While even they could admit the new information is underwhelming, the FAQ does provide us with more information on issues that have been previously ambiguous. Sadly, the IRS will not implement a De Minimous exemption and maintains that each transaction involving cryptocurrencies is a taxable event. Among the other answers, they clarify how to declare transactions, and that coins received through airdrops and hard forks are taxable assets. This FAQ contains important information for anyone in the US involved in cryptocurrency. I strongly suggest at least giving it a quick read. View FAQ
Tl;DR stands for Too Long; Didn’t Read. Basically, it’s a summary of an article that you want to read, but for either lack of time, or desire, don’t want to read all the way through the article to get the salient points. In crypto space, there are many articles published every day about many different topics. As I research, I pick the top 5 – 10 articles that represent the most important news and developments over the past week and pass those on to you. I’ll give you the TL;DR and my take.