Could Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill have been a huge miscalculation on crypto?
America’s new $US1.2 trillion-dollar infrastructure bill could be missing out on a massive opportunity presented by the cryptocurrency sector, one leading financial advisory CEO has said.
President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending package increases the tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency transactions. Starting in 2023, cryptocurrency brokers will be required to record the proceeds from sales and any gains or losses, along with names, addresses, and phone numbers of their customers, with that information being handed to the IRS.
Businesses will also be required to report the identity of the sender if they receive payment of $US10,000 or more in crypto. The Biden Administration expects that this effort will raise $US28 billion over the next 10 years to use in the building of roads, bridges, transportation systems, and other developments.
In a press statement, deVere Group’s CEO, Nigel Green, criticised the proposal, saying that the bill will dissuade crypto investors from choosing U.S. exchanges, driving the industry out of the country.
“We’ve seen the U.S. infrastructure bill get signed, which initiated a sell-off from traders who are worried about increasing levels of regulation and taxation,” Green said in the statement.
“The inclusion of the extra reporting clauses for crypto is a huge miscalculation from the Biden administration.
“With additional reporting, which is onerous and costly, many investors will not choose a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange. They will simply go somewhere else; to another exchange, based away from the over-reach of the U.S. authorities.
“And as such, this extra burden will likely move a large part of the growing cryptocurrency industry itself out of the United States. This is a sector now worth more than $US3 trillion — and it can only be expected to expand exponentially.”
The deVere Group is one of the largest independent financial advisory, asset management and fintech organisations in the world. The company has $10 billion in assets under management, and over 80,000 clients on its books.
