Latest news with #BITCOINAct
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cynthia Lummis slams 'flawed' tax rules
Cynthia Lummis slams 'flawed' tax rules originally appeared on TheStreet. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) thinks crypto assets, including Bitcoin, are being unfairly targeted because of "flawed tax rules." Lummis wrote on X on June 10: We need crypto revisions in reconciliation. Lummis is a well-known crypto advocate in the U.S. political space who famously introduced the BITCOIN Act that aims to turn Trump's executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve into legislation. Her latest salvo against crypto tax policy is part of the broader pro-crypto policy pursued by the Trump administration. In the U.S., the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats cryptocurrencies as property for tax purposes. Every crypto transaction, if it incurs gains, is taxed as capital gains by the IRS. While the short-term crypto capital gains tax ranges from 10% to 37%, the long-term crypto capital gains tax is 0%, 15%, or 20%. Earlier in May, Sen. Lummis proposed re-examining how the 2022 Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) from the Biden era applied to digital asset holdings, forcing crypto companies to pay taxes on unrealized crypto gains. However, the Wyoming senator has also taken a step in the direction of rescinding the exemption of the wash sale rule to crypto assets. What a wash sale means is that if you believe your crypto holding which has gone down in value will surge later, you can sell it for a loss during a financial year and again purchase it during the beginning of the next financial year. Since the IRS doesn't view crypto as security, the wash sale rule doesn't apply to it. But Lummis recently made an effort to the upcoming tax-and-spending bill to apply the wash-sale rule to crypto. The proposal also urged exempting Bitcoin miners from reporting gains and losses. Crypto tax reporting remains a complex issue in the U.S. and the world, and the evolving status of the crypto assets makes it more complicated. Cynthia Lummis slams 'flawed' tax rules first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 10, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 10, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
While Bitcoin Hits a New Price Record, Critics Still Have These Warnings for Crypto Investors
Continued tariff uncertainty may limit just how much higher Bitcoin can soar. The Trump White House is now facing pushback on key crypto initiatives related to Bitcoin. Historically, Bitcoin has followed four-year cycles marked by periods of boom and bust. 10 stocks we like better than Bitcoin › Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) may have hit a new all-time high of $112,000 in May, but it's not out of the woods quite yet. Already, Bitcoin has retreated back down to the $105,000 level, and there are some critics warning about a further decline in price. While the long-term outlook for Bitcoin might be bullish, there could be quite a bit of uncertainty and volatility over the second half of 2025. Here are three key factors keeping the Bitcoin skeptics up at night. As long as tariffs continue to dominate the headlines, they will continue to have a direct impact on how investors view the crypto market. As a result, it's been a see-saw year for Bitcoin. After hitting an all-time high in January, Bitcoin dropped as low as $75,000 after President Donald Trump announced the new Liberation Day tariffs on April 2. Bitcoin has subsequently recovered, but every week seems to bring some new twist or turn in the tariff debate. The newest factor is the worsening state of the trade negotiations involving the U.S. and China. At one time, it looked like some kind of trade deal might be worked out by mid-summer. Now, it looks like the two sides are further apart than ever. So how will Bitcoin investors react? If they view Bitcoin as a safe haven asset, they might move even more money into Bitcoin, thereby boosting its price. However, if they view Bitcoin as a risky and volatile digital asset, then they might sell off, just as they did in April. When President Trump came into office in January, the future looked very bright indeed for Bitcoin. New crypto legislation looked like it would be ready to sign soon, and crypto enthusiasts were excited about upcoming Bitcoin initiatives from the Trump White House. However, five months into the presidency, and there's still a lot of unfinished business. Take the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, for example. Yes, Trump signed an executive order for its creation in March, but it delivered much less punch than many people expected. Most importantly, the executive order failed to outline how the government planned to buy Bitcoin in the future. As a result, investors are still waiting on some form of legislation, such as the BITCOIN Act proposed by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), that will precisely outline a mechanism for buying more Bitcoin. On top of all that, there are now questions swirling around the Trump family's connections to Bitcoin. At the very least, there appear to be potential conflicts of interest. For example, Donald Trump's media company -- Trump Media & Technology Group -- recently divulged plans to buy $2.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. And members of the Trump family now have interests in a variety of Bitcoin-related projects. Historically, Bitcoin has followed a fairly predictable pattern of boom and bust. The four-year Bitcoin cycle starts with a period of quiet accumulation, followed by a period of rapid growth. This leads to a Bitcoin bubble filled with hype and speculation. After that comes the crash. For example, the 2020-2021 rally that saw Bitcoin hit a (then) all-time high of $69,000 was quickly followed by a disastrous market crash that saw it lose 65% of its value in 2022. And the same pattern may be happening again. If history is any guide, then the final phase of the Bitcoin cycle could be arriving soon. Thus, even if Bitcoin soars to $150,000 this year, it might have a hard time holding on to those gains heading into 2026. If you'd have waited until now to buy Bitcoin, you might be buying at or close to the top of the market. By the end of 2025, it might already be too late. The good news is that most Bitcoin investors are remarkably bullish these days. According to online prediction markets, Bitcoin only has a 22% chance of falling below the $70,000 price level, and only a 16% chance of falling below the $60,000 price level. Long gone are the days when people regularly prognosticated that Bitcoin could fall all the way to zero. That being said, investors still need to be aware of the risks of investing in Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin never goes straight up. It is highly volatile, filled with many peaks and valleys. If you don't have firm convictions about Bitcoin, it's remarkably easy to buy high and sell low. When it comes to Bitcoin, it's best to keep a long-term perspective. Bitcoin has never been a tariff-proof, inflation-proof, or recession-proof asset. But over a long enough time horizon, it continues to be the top-performing asset in the world. The only catch is that you have to be willing to hold on to it, through good times and bad. Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,538!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $869,841!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 789% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. While Bitcoin Hits a New Price Record, Critics Still Have These Warnings for Crypto Investors was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaire Ray Dalio warns of 'economic heart attack' as debt crisis escalates
Billionaire Ray Dalio warns of 'economic heart attack' as debt crisis escalates originally appeared on TheStreet. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio issued a dire warning on June 4 about the U.S. economy, stating that it is on the verge of suffering an "economic heart attack" due to unsustainable national debt. In a post on X and a summary of his new book, "How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle," He compared the debt system to a circulatory system that is clogged with waste. When debt service becomes an impediment to essential expenditures, and Chinese, Japanese, and even U.S. investors refuse to buy U.S. bonds, he warned, the government must either borrow again or print money—neither outcome is desirable. In the case of the latter outcome, it leads to inflation and the debasement of the dollar. "This dynamic leads to a self-reinforcing debt, money-printing, and inflation spiral," Dalio wrote, while describing the current government trajectory as a textbook example of a country headed for fiscal also believes Bitcoin might get more traction in such a crisis. He said, "Most countries have similar debt and deficit problems. The UK, EU, China, and Japan all do. That is why I expect a similar debt and currency devaluation adjustment process in most countries, which is why I expect non-government produced monies like gold and bitcoin to do relatively well." Dalio explained that the U.S. is $30 trillion in debt, with debt service projected at $10 trillion in 2023—that is twice what the U.S. will receive in revenue from taxes in a year. Dalio predicted that without immediate legislative intervention, the U.S. economy may face a crisis in three to five years. His resolution is a "3 percent deficit plan" involving a combination of spending reductions (tax cuts), some degree of higher taxation, and lower interest rates. Echoing concerns about America's fiscal trajectory, Senator Cynthia Lummis put forward a radical alternative. Lummis has said multiple times that "The BITCOIN Act is the only way to solve our nation's $36T debt." However, in a recent interview with Bloomberg Crypto, Lummis stated that a Bitcoin Reserve of one million BTC (almost 5% of the total), if held for twenty years, could, over time, erase half of the U.S. debt. She said, "My purpose for a strategic Bitcoin reserve is to set it up, have a million Bitcoin, 5% of all Bitcoin, hold it for 20 years, and it will eliminate half of the US debt." Interestingly, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also recently proposed a Bitcoin bond, named BitBond, to address the U.S. debt crisis. Billionaire Ray Dalio warns of 'economic heart attack' as debt crisis escalates first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 4, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
Forbes
02-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Bitcoin Is Becoming A Cornerstone Of American Economic Policy
'We want our fellow Americans to know that crypto and digital assets, particularly Bitcoin, are part of the mainstream economy and are here to stay.' That was the message Vice President JD Vance delivered to a packed audience at last week's Bitcoin Conference 2025 in Las Vegas. It's a message that has clearly taken root. What began as a movement of early adopters—many of them twentysomethings dressed in hoodies—has matured into a full-blown national economic priority, embraced by leaders at the highest levels of government and finance. Last summer, if you recall, then-candidate Donald Trump made headlines as the first former U.S. president to speak at a Bitcoin conference. He pledged to lower the regulatory hurdles of the Biden administration, to kill Operation Choke Point 2.0, and to position the U.S. as the global leader in Bitcoin. Less than a year later, and a little over 100 days into Trump's second administration, that vision is rapidly becoming reality. The Las Vegas conference was the largest in Bitcoin's history, with over 35,000 attendees. The speaker list read like a who's who of power players: sitting senators and representatives, big-name executives and the president's own sons. It was more than a convention for crypto enthusiasts. It was a policy summit. One of the most salient points of discussion was the BITCOIN Act of 2025. The proposed legislation calls for the U.S. government to acquire 1 million bitcoins over a five-year period and hold them in custody. The goal is to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, modeled after the existing reserves for petroleum and gold. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis pointed out that holding even 4 million Bitcoins over a 20-year period could theoretically draw down the national debt, which currently stands at just under $37 trillion. This isn't the sort of talk you'd expect to hear about an asset that, just a few years ago, was derided by many as a vehicle for crime and terrorism. How times have changed! Today, some 50 million Americans own Bitcoin, compared with just under 37 million who own gold, according to new research by Bitcoin financial firm River. For the first time in history, Bitcoin has overtaken its analog cousin in retail ownership in the U.S. More Americans hold Bitcoin than gold U.S. Global Investors The U.S. Leads the World in Every Bitcoin Metric That Matters Indeed, the U.S. dominates in every measurable category of Bitcoin leadership, according to River's research. Approximately 40% of the world's mined Bitcoin is held by Americans. Publicly traded U.S. companies account for almost 95% of global corporate Bitcoin holdings. America also holds the majority of Bitcoin in ETFs, venture funding and national stockpiles. As of today, the U.S. government owns more than twice the global market share of Bitcoin as it does of gold. I don't believe any of this happened by accident. It happened because our country's entrepreneurs, technology experts, futurists and policymakers saw an opportunity and ran with it. American's Bitcoin domination U.S. Global Investors None of this is to say that gold is going away anytime soon. As I told a roomful of YPO attendees last week, I still believe deeply in gold as a store of value. Unlike Bitcoin, the yellow metal is a tangible asset, used in jewelry, electronics and much more. Countless households have relied upon gold for centuries. When families fled Vietnam and, more recently, Syria, many did so thanks to the universal acceptance of precious metal, which also later helped them rebuild their lives. Gold preserves wealth in times of fear. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is about growth. It's about creating wealth, not just preserving it. Bitcoin is programmable. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it doesn't recognize borders or gatekeepers. It's scarce in a way that few assets are. This is why companies, ETFs and whole governments are looking to add Bitcoin to their balance sheets. As Eric Trump told the audience, everyone wants to add Bitcoin right now; no one wants to sell. That's true in every corner of the earth, from the Americas to Africa, from the Middle East to Asia. I believe the logic is simple. As the world goes digital and decentralizes, Bitcoin offers a new form of reserve asset that combines scarcity with transparency and portability. It's a hedge against economic uncertainty and bad policymaking. Next year is the United States' 250th anniversary, and I can think of no better symbol of economic independence than Bitcoin. It represents the very values Americans hold dear: individual responsibility, innovation and freedom from centralized control. Fiat currencies can be printed without limit, but Bitcoin is capped at 21 million. It requires work and energy to produce. Several speakers at the Vegas conference likened Bitcoin to the early days of the internet. You probably remember the dial-up modems and clunky browsers. A lot of people back then dismissed the internet as a novelty. In 1998, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman famously (and hilariously) wrote that the internet was a disappointment and would eventually prove itself to be as economically impactful as the fax machine. As we all know, the internet is the backbone of today's global economy. The same arc of adoption is playing out in real-time with Bitcoin. I agree wholeheartedly with VP Vance: Bitcoin isn't going away, and it's only going to grow stronger with America leading the charge.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MARA's Fred Thiel Says U.S. Should Start Mining Bitcoin to Fill Strategic Reserve
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) CEO Fred Thiel has an idea for how U.S. President Donald Trump's administration can make good on its promises to build out a strategic bitcoin reserve: start mining. Speaking on a panel at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Thiel said that the U.S. government has many potential ways to generate bitcoin to fill the strategic bitcoin reserve that would adhere to the 'budget-neutral' acquisition strategy laid out in Trump's March executive order, including using excess hydroenergy to mine bitcoin domestically. Though it's been nearly three months since Trump authorized the establishment of a strategic bitcoin reserve, it remains unclear exactly how — and when — the government will take steps to actually begin filling it, a source of evident frustration among a number of speakers at the conference. 'I think it's critical,' Thiel said of acquiring bitcoin for the reserve. 'The U.S. making a statement that we're going to have a strategic reserve is an empty statement unless you start putting stuff into it.' At this point, the reserve is supposed to hold all of the bitcoin that has been sized by the government in civil and criminal forfeitures — estimated to be approximately 200,000 bitcoins. But many in the industry and government, including Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), think that getting the government's existing stockpile of bitcoin into a strategic reserve is merely a first step, to be followed by bigger, more meaningful acquisitions. In March, Lummis re-introduced legislation — the so-called BITCOIN Act of 2025 — aimed at codifying Trump's plans for a strategic bitcoin reserve. Under Lummis' plan, after getting all of the forfeited bitcoin into the reserve, the U.S. government would spend the next two to five years converting a portion of its gold certificates into bitcoin. 'We have enough assets in under performing assets that we can get five percent of the world's bitcoin without spending a single dime,' Lummis said. However, Lummis acknowledged that it's unlikely that any real movement on the BITCOIN Act — or, more broadly, taking any significant steps to fill the strategic reserve with anything other than forfeited assets — will come before Congress works its way through stablecoin and market structure legislation. 'It's going to be a heavier lift than I thought because so many people don't understand bitcoin,' Lummis said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
