Lithuania’s Ministry of Finance has issued guidelines on initial coin offerings (ICOs), outlining when cryptographic tokens would be viewed as securities and how each aspect of a token sale should be regulated by different laws in the country.
According to the document published Friday, a defining feature in the recommended framework is whether a token “grants profits or governance rights” to investors who obtain the token through an ICO.
The finance ministry further dissects an ICO into several areas, including tokens that are issued, the entity that organizes the sale, whether it participates in secondary market exchanges and whether the ICO itself is a crowdfunding activity, etc.
It goes on to say that these aspects should be regulated by corresponding laws already in place in Lithuania, such as those governing securities, crowdfunding and financial instruments markets.
For instance, the guidelines suggest, investors’ “income received from individual purchases and sales of virtual currencies will be taxed standard 15% fixed income tax rate.”
A few Kenyan banks have started sending out warning alerts to clients engaged in cryptocurrency trading to be wary of the associated risks. These warnings have reportedly been sent to clients who have “used their credit and debit cards to buy cryptocurrencies on crypto exchanges.
In yet another blow to the cryptocurrency industry, the US Treasury has revealed plans to mandate the reporting of crypto holdings over $10K held with foreign digital currency service providers. FinCEN, an arm of the Treasury Department that oversees domestic financial laws’ enforcement, will implement the new rule when adopted.
The U. S. Federal Reserve Board and Fincen are seeking feedback on their proposal to lower the threshold at which financial institutions must collect and retain information on funds transfers. In their joint notice on the rule change proposal, the two U.
The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors had their first 2020 meeting this weekend in Saudi Arabia. They discussed cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, and issued a statement urging countries to implement the cryptocurrency standards set by the Financial Action Task Force.
The United States tax agency has confirmed that currencies collected within video games are not subject to the same tax obligations as cryptocurrency assets. The IRS previously suggested to players of Fortnite and other popular games that their use of in-game currency may be deemed taxable events.
More than 40 financial institutions in Germany have reportedly declared to the country’s financial regulator, BaFin, their interest to offer cryptocurrency services under the new German law.
