Iceland to Impose Bitcoin Mining Tax

An Icelandic lawmaker, Smari McCarthy suggested imposing a new tax on bitcoin mining companies

12 February 2018 1440

The lawmaker Smari McCarthy of Iceland's Pirate Party suggested taxing the profits of bitcoin mines. This suggestion is likely to be well received by Icelanders because most residents are skeptical of financial ventures after the countries 208 banking crash.

This year the country is expected to use more electricity for mining than it uses to power its homes. McCarthy believes that it is unfair that mining companies are not paying taxes to the government.

Due to an access to cheap cooling and cheap energy Iceland has long played home to an ecosystem of bitcoin miners. Arctic air helps to keep mining hardware without added electricity costs.

Considering that the Pirate Party currently holds only 6 seats out of 63 in Iceland's parliament, it is unlikely to succeed in pursuing a bitcoin mining tax on its own. However, the lawmakers from other parties can support this idea if demand for the nation's cheap electricity continues to increase.

Exchanges Bitcoin Blockchain

SEC to Start VanEck-SolidX BTC-ETF Consideration

Starting today, the 45-day countdown to the SEC initial decision was launched

20 February 2019 98

For the first time since August of last year, two proposals on the creation of a Bitcoin-ETF are under consideration by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The application of VanEck and SolidX, issued in cooperation with the Cboe BZX exchange, as expected, was included in the Federal Register issue this Wednesday, with which the 45-day countdown to the SEC initial decision was launched. The application of Bitwise Asset Management and NYSE Arca was published last week.

I … hope that our investment in regulatory and market education, hard work and commitment will be honored when the time comes.

Gabor Gurbacs

Director of digital asset strategy, VanEck

The head of Bitwise’s research department, Matt Hogan, believes that not only firms that have submitted bids to create Bitcoin-ETFs are looking for approvals, but and the entire “extremely fast-growing” crypto industry.

A year ago there was maybe one qualified crypto custodian … and now there are half-a-dozen, and that number will go up from here. A little more than year ago, we didn’t have futures. A year ago we didn’t have nearly as many firms making markets. A few months ago, you didn’t have folks like Fidelity announced in the space. It’s evolving really, really quickly.

Matt Hougan

Global head of research, Bitwise

As reported, ultimately, however, a bitcoin ETF approval will depend on how companies approach their proposals.