Bitcoin plunges below $10,000 as major crypto exchange to share user details with US tax authorities
The cryptocurrency market, led by bitcoin, plummeted after US-based exchange Coinbase said it would hand over the data of nearly 13,000 of its customers to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Bitcoin, the world’s number one digital currency, was trading at slightly over $9,529 at 8:21am GMT on Monday, off last week’s peak of $12,000. The virtual currencies market has been recovering following a dramatic plunge earlier this year after regulators across the world announced plans of a crackdown on their exchange, trade, or circulation.
Crypto exchange Coinbase admits glitch on servers sees many clients charged multiple times for single transaction https://t.co/QoGDZ2ylEG
— RT (@RT_com) February 16, 2018
The IRS had reportedly requested the California-based digital currency exchange and wallet service to provide detailed information on all of its (over 500,000) customers, as early as July. However, in November, the request was reduced to 14,000 “high-transacting” users. The measure is presumably aimed at curbing tax evasion practices among people dealing with virtual currencies.
Data of 12,000+ users of US-based cryptocurrency exchange to be disclosed to tax officials https://t.co/LiypYiQ0Gn#Coinbasepic.twitter.com/2rqA1iabdN
— RT America (@RT_America) February 25, 2018
Coinbase, which reportedly brokers exchanges of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin with fiat currencies in 32 countries, informed its users that it must provide the data of thousands of them to the IRS.
“After a long process, the court issued an order that represents a partial, but still significant, victory for Coinbase and its customers: the order requires Coinbase to produce only certain limited categories of information from the accounts of approximately 13,000 customers,” a Friday letter to customers from the exchange reads.
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