'Happy days': Crypto Twitter hopes UK's gambling designation means no capital gains tax
The UK House of Commons Treasury Committee released a report today arguing that trading in assets like bitcoin and ether should be regulated like gambling.
The report: Consumer cryptocurrency trading should be regulated as gambling, Treasury Committee says in new report.
Crypto traders were quick to question, often in a tongue-in-cheek way, whether such a move would protect their profits from capital gains tax.
This is amusing, as for some time I've been suggesting that many tokens, and many exchanges, could be classed as gambling. Trading can still take place, such as on binary betting platforms.
With so many coins being little better than chips, some are trying to be much more than that.
"We are both concerned and disappointed by these claims which are unhelpful, false, fundamentally flawed and unsubstantiated," said Ian Taylor, Board Advisor at CryptoUK. "The statement fails to reflect the true nature, purpose and potential of the crypto industry."
Again, IMO only partially true, whereas:
"With no intrinsic value, huge price volatility and no discernible social good, consumer trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin more closely resembles gambling than a financial service, and should be regulated as such," commented Harriet Baldwin, the chair of the Treasury Committee.
It's just a report, so not yet law.
Place your bets!
rampant manipulation alert!
but probably no more than already.
Classing them as gambling also kinda legitimises those ponzi-coins, which are truly gambling games anyway.