The IRS Has Been Using Bitcoin Tracking Software Since 2015
The Internal Revenue Service is using bitcoin transaction tracing tools developed by startup Chainalysis, according to a new report.
Documents obtained by Washington publication The Daily Beast show that the tax agency has been using the startup's software since 2015.
Additional data from the General Services Administration, which handles the US government's logistics, indicates that the IRS has an active contract with Chainalysis that is valid through the beginning of September. To date, the IRS has paid Chainalysis more than $88,000.
The IRS states in the documentation that it's using the software to "trace the movement of money through the bitcoin economy," going on to explain:
While it's no secret that US officials are interested in closer oversight of cryptocurrency activities – a group of influential senators pushed for this kind of policy shift in late May – the IRS contract is notable given the tax agency's investigation of potential tax avoiders and its ongoing lawsuit against exchange startup Coinbase.
As previously reported by CoinDesk, the IRS wants to obtain several years' worth of data on customers of Coinbase.
The startup has pushed back against the IRS in federal court, ultimately forcing the tax agency to narrow its information request. In recent days, groups like the libertarian think-tank Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Washington-based nonprofit Coin Center have moved to oppose the effort in subsequent filings.
Thank you Coindesk for the article.
Thank you to all you Steemians for viewing the post.
Please UPVOTE AND FOLLOW ME @koolpick
RESTEEM is you found this useful!
Have a blessed day!!!
Not indicating that the content you copy/paste is not your original work could be seen as plagiarism.
Some tips to share content and add value:
Repeated plagiarized posts are considered spam. Spam is discouraged by the community, and may result in action from the cheetah bot.
Creative Commons: If you are posting content under a Creative Commons license, please attribute and link according to the specific license. If you are posting content under CC0 or Public Domain please consider noting that at the end of your post.
If you are actually the original author, please do reply to let us know!
Thank You!
Hi thank you for the notification. In the article I thanked CoinDesk for the article. Also I will link the source from now on with my thoughts on the subject. Again thank you for for the tips. 👍
Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:
http://virtualmining.com/the-irs-has-been-using-bitcoin-tracking-software-since-2015/
@marketanalysis those damn IRS