Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has sent some of its users notice of the need to provide tax information, which will then be sent to the government of the British virgin Islands (BVI) where a registered exchange.
According to the text of the legal notice requirement is the intent to determine the tax residence of the user and compliant to the laws of the British virgin Islands, the Law on tax reporting on foreign Bank accounts USA (FACTA) and regulations in the Organization for economic cooperation and development (CRS).
In particular, representatives of the exchange refer to the fact that the legislation require the BVI “to provide a certain amount of information in the accounts to the government”, and warned that the data “may” be sent to the tax authorities of the countries of residence of users.
The notice listed various forms to provide information depending on whether the user is a private individual or a company, as well as, resides Lee (or was — for a legal entity) in the United States. This information should be directed to 24 may — to forms users have only a week.
At the end of the message Bitfinex reminds its users that their acceptance of the Terms of service just means the willingness to disclose data in accordance with the requirement of the law.
It should be noted, the news has already caused some stir and confusion of users around the world: Bitfinex, not known for its transparent operations and more than a close relationship with Tether, who has not audited his stablecoin and together with the exchange has received the agenda of the regulator, is now going to audit their users.
As you might expect, some of the customers have expressed their desire to boycott the platform. So, when in Twitter account Whalepool, which is signed by 36,000 people, has sounded the call to withdraw funds from the stock exchange, representatives of Bitfinex a few make their position clear.
“We didn’t send this message to all users. We intentionally addressed it to users who, in our opinion, have obligations to disclose information. If the user does not receive a message from us, he doesn’t owe us anything to provide at this stage,” wrote the Bitfinex team.
However, noteworthy is the fact that a few months ago the stock exchange had not even respected the provisions of the system “Know your customer” (KYC). In the end, Bitfinex, which had a reputation as one of the most liberal companies in the sector, unexpectedly joined the ranks of the exchanges with the most stringent rules. In fact, the policy of tax information exchange, which surpasses all that has been implemented by other exchanges.
It is known that the attention of the authorities that are developing regulations for the nascent industry, and the degree of transparency inherent in the blockchain technology has already caused the special status of cryptocurrency investor, whose activities are tracked much more than a similar person who invested in other assets. However, according to many users, the new policy Bitfinex benefiting from preferences tax havens, beyond the pale.
Focusing on the deadline prescribed by the stock exchange, the authors Whalepool reminded his followers that even the attorney General of new York Eric Schneiderman (Eric Schneiderman), subsequently retired, gave a cryptocurrency exchange Commission two weeks to respond to the request in the framework of the “Initiative integrity virtual markets”, named exchange CEO Kraken Jesse Powell (Jesse Powell) “offensive” and not containing “basic respect”.
Note, Russia is among the countries that exchange tax information with the British virgin Islands.
