Earlier quoted context omitted.
2018 was the year the US SEC really cracked down on ICOs. First a few of the totally fraudulent ones.[1] Then, anything that looked like a security offering.[2] The IRS has been gradually upping the pressure. Form 1040 for 2020 included, for the first time on the main form, the question "At any time during 2020, did you sell, receive, send, exchange or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?…
Right, I understand that can appear to be tightening, but the IRS guidance is exactly the same since 2014, as are the penalties. They're now more actively alerting US taxpayers they need to pay taxes on their "virtual currencies." But the US taxpayer has always had that obligation, and the IRS is now starting to more visibly enforce it. They've been doing so less visibly as well. With so much more digital asset econo…
If IRS only started tightening their grip in 2020... Their statements prior to 2020 didn't have any effect, yet.
I'm not saying "it's doom and gloom for crypto". I'm saying it's fair to claim things didn't fully play out yet.