Bitcoin Magazine's Week in Review
Bitcoin Magazine’s Week in Review brings you the most critical, interesting and popular news stories affecting Bitcoin this week.
Despite Setback in Ohio, Tax Payments in Bitcoin a Viable Trend
Ohio made a big splash in the cryptocurrency community in November 2018 when Josh Mandel, the state treasurer at the time, announced a plan to allow businesses to settle their tax bills in bitcoin. However, we’ve all come to learn that excitement over the launch of a project doesn’t particularly equate to its success.
Ultimately, the state announced that it would be suspending the service in October 2019. Despite the failure of this program that was caused by dwindling adoption, we peek into the future to see how the application of bitcoin for tax payments could ultimately play out. For instance, cities in Canada and in the U.S. are working in several tax initiatives, which could increase the adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Op Ed: How to Understand Taxable Events for Cryptocurrency
The issue of cryptocurrencies and taxes was also the focus of a decision by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to release updated guidance on the taxation implications of cryptocurrency hard forks and airdrops.
While many criticized the legal guidance as an exhibition of just how much the IRS doesn’t understand about cryptocurrency, there has also been the discussion of what could constitute “taxable events” in the cryptocurrency parlance. In a recent op ed, Alon Muroch, the co-founder and chief executive of crypto management service Blox, sheds more light on just what taxable events are.
Bitcoin as a Savings Technology: Are Interest Accounts Worth the Trade-Offs?
Bitcoin has grown over the years to become a significant portion of investors’ wallets, but is it part of their savings plan?
For skeptics, the world’s most popular digital asset is not viable enough to be held in the long term. A recent article examines the dynamics of bitcoin as a savings mechanism, as well as how companies like BlockFi have been able to harness its potential to act as a store of value and bring this service to consumers.
Signet Could Give Bitcoin a More Stable, Predictable Testnet Option
When building out applications and other technical products, there's a need to carry out tests in a sandbox environment and bitcoin is no different.
Bitcoin developers often need to carry out tests on the network and simulate developments. That is exactly what the Bitcoin testnet does; provide an environment for developers to work, while also ensuring that their activities have no effect on the real world or the asset itself. Signet, however, is bringing a complete revolution to Bitcoin testnet. Signet is based on total consensus centralization. It offers more control to developers through a dedicated group with the power to create new blocks using valid signatures.
Transylvania Crypto Conference 2019: The Transition to Bitcoin-Only
The Transylvania Crypto Conference (TCConf) 2019 was a landmark event for cryptocurrency in more ways than one.
Perhaps the most significant of those was the fact that organizers kept their focus on Bitcoin. In this piece, we give you a firsthand account of the happenings at the conference. The conference, which was held in Romania, featured popular cryptocurrency figures such as Blockstream’s Adam Back, researcher Wassim Alsindi and Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd.