Can your government get your crypto?

PLUS: Colorado will accept Bitcoin for tax payments & more!

New to crypto? Cryptocurrency Basics is a 9 minute video that serves as a great intro to the world of crypto. It’s part of our Crypto and Web3 for Absolute Beginners course.

Crypto is both more and less vulnerable than you might think (yikes). We’ll get into that along with why I’m not going to be paying taxes with any of my crypto any time soon and more!

In this issue:

1. Can your government get your crypto?

2. Colorado will accept Bitcoin for tax payments

3. JPMorgan is the first bank into the metaverse

4. NITRO! (3 can’t-miss things)

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Can your government get your crypto?

In light of Canada’s decision to unbank citizens that say or do things the government doesn’t like the question arises: can my government take my crypto? Whether you agree or disagree with the freedom convoy this is a topic you should care deeply about because someday the people getting cracked down on could be “your” people (protesting something you do care about).

Well, if you use a centralized exchange (Coinbase, Gemini, etc.) then yes, your crypto can easily be seized. If, however, you use cold storage… the government would literally need to send a swat team to your house.

Enter Balaji:

Balaji Srinivasan @balajis

Game this out. They can do this to one person. But to one million? Surveillance to find them, SWATs team to hit them. It adds up, isn't free. They need to break even on each beating. Bitcoin thus increases the cost of coercion. The state can no longer just push a button to win.

Inquisitive Ursa @InquisitiveUrsa

@ilyasut @balajis But #Bitcoin isn't seizure resistant. It's the old xkcd comic of hitting someone with a wrench instead of writing code to guess his password.

See also: Canadian Police Tell Exchanges to Halt Bitcoin and Ethereum Trades Tied to Trucker Blockades

Colorado will accept Bitcoin for tax payments

OK. So. Colorado will accept Bitcoin for tax payments. Crypto adoption! Right?! I wonder…

Look. When Tesla brought up letting people buy a Tesla with Bitcoin I thought: who would do this? Who would trade an appreciating asset (BTC) for a depreciating asset (a car)? Not me (although it’d be a brilliant move by Tesla lol).

If I wouldn’t want to part with my BTC for a Tesla then why would I want to part with it to do something as snore-inducing as pay taxes? I see why a state would want BTC… the same reason I would want BTC. I mean… I’ll take my tax refund in the form of BTC… but I don’t want to pay for taxes with BTC.

Am I missing something here?

JPMorgan is the first bank into the metaverse

Wait, wait, wait… you’re telling me JPMorgan — the bank run by CEO Jamie Dimon, the guy who, in 2017, said he’d fire any employee trading Bitcoin for being stupid — just opened a lounge in blockchain-based Decentraland?!

Wow. The dominos continue to fall lol. I learned about the above on the same day I found out Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway made some Bitcoin-related moves as well:

Documenting ₿itcoin 📄 @DocumentingBTC

Berkshire Hathaway bought $1 billion in shares of a #bitcoin bank, @nubank, and decreased their positions in @Mastercard and @Visa during the fourth quarter of 2021, according to an SEC filing.

coindesk.comBerkshire Hathaway Invests $1B in Brazilian Digital Bank Nubank, Reduces Mastercard, Visa PositionsThe share purchase was made in the last quarter of 2021, according to an SEC filing.

Warren, of course, is quoted all the time as having said that Bitcoin was probably rat poison squared.

Huh. The critics are coming around I guess. Whose next?

NITRO!

• Cool: $ADS will monetize your metaverse real estate

• News: Not Just for Bitcoin: Twitter Adds Ethereum Addresses to Tips Feature

• Thread: Introducing $tetuQi.

See you next time (and don’t forget to check out Jasper)!

BTW: Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add affiliate links in this newsletter (gotta support this thing somehow, right?). FYI: I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, I hold crypto assets.