IRS Is Trying To Deanonymize Privacy Coins Like Monero And Zcash
The IRS has sent out around 160 million stimulus checks to Americans, mostly by direct deposit and paper check, as part of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package president Donald Trump signed in March.
The government’s sudden need to distribute cash to citizens in response to the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic has led to calls for an overhaul of the legacy financial system, with proposals for the digitalization of the dollar put forward by Congress.
Such proposals have so far failed to win broad support but a clutch of lawmakers continue to make the case for reform, least the dollar lose its place as the world’s reserve currency.
“The U.S.dollar has to keep earning that place in the global payments system.It has to be better than bitcoin… it has to be better than a digital yuan,” Senator Tom Cotton told the Senate Banking Committee’s digital dollar hearing last week , referring to China’s recent efforts to digitalize its currency.
“Technology is a solution we should be proactively using,” Pierce said in his campaign launch video, adding: “What’s served us in the past will not serve us in the future.”
Pierce, a former child actor whose cryptocurrency net worth was put at between $700 million and $1 billion in early 2018, has funded dozens of cryptocurrency companies, including San Francisco-based bitcoin and crypto exchange Coinbase, EOS creator Block.one and crypto-focused venture capital fund Blockchain Capital.Pierce is also the co-founder of the oft- sued stablecoin tether, now the world’s third largest cryptocurrency by value, according to CoinMarketCap data.
If Pierce is to be successful in his bid for the White House he’ll likely have to address decades-old allegations against him made by three former employees of his now bankrupt web video business, Digital Entertainment Network, that he provided them drugs and pressured them for sex when they were minors.Pierce issued a denial to Reuters in 2014.
“In the very near future the landscape of our country will forever change,” Pierce said, echoing Andrew Yang, a Democratic presidential election hopeful who campaigned on an automation awareness platform before dropping out.
“Innovations like AI will alter our work space in ways we can foresee and prepare for.”
By 2030 as many as a third of American jobs might have disappeared because of automation, according to a 2017 report by consultants McKinsey & Company—though other studies paint a rosier picture, predicting new jobs will replace the majority of those lost.
Pierce, who officially resides in Puerto Rico, has yet to unveil any specific policies, telling people to “stay tuned,” via Twitter .
The announcement has been cheered by some in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community, with Samson Mow, the chief strategy officer of blockchain technology company Blockstream telling Pierce: “You have my vote.”
“Give [them] hell, buddy,” Michael Novogratz, the chief executive of crypto investment company Galaxy Digital, said via Twitter .
Pierce isn’t the first bitcoin and cryptocurrency investor to make a bid for the U.S.
presidency.
John McAfee, the controversial and outspoken software pioneer-turned international playboy, ran in 2016 and plans to run again this year.Follow me on Twitter .
I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world.As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported … Read More
I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world.As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle.I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself.
I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others.Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com.
Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Read Less.
