Iceland to Impose Bitcoin Mining Tax

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

12 February 2018 502

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.

Bitcoin Blockchain

Mt. Gox Trustee Can Sell 2000 BTC Soon

Possible sale of such a large batch can lead to a further fall of the bitcoin price

26 April 2018 167

Head of the Board of Trustees of MtGox, Nobuaki Kobayashi, is probably preparing to sell a new batch of bitcoins, this time at a rate of 2,000 BTC.

This assumption was made by the bitcoin-investor and the head of the Altana Digital Currency Fund, Alistair Milne. In support of his words, he brought to Twitter a link to the trustee's MtGox address.

Alistair Milne Twitter

Apparently, on the morning of Thursday, April 26, from the address indicated, 2,000 were transferred to another address. Some of the funds that were there before (8,000 BTC) were almost immediately expended.

Possible simultaneous sale of such a large batch can lead to a further drawdown of the bitcoin price.

Bitcoin Price Chart

Trading on Wednesday evening at around $ 9,000, on the night of Thursday, the first crypto currency continued the decline started yesterday, dropping at a certain point to $ 8,650. At the time of publication, however, there has been a slight increase - according to Coinmarketcap, the weighted average bitcoine rate at that time is $ 8 790.