This concerns all Bitcoiners. Your privacy is in danger.

[pinkflower]

Although Coinbase says it's a partial victory, this is still a very huge concern for 14,000 users' privacy. What other recourse does the community have now if it becomes a precedent for other countries to take government action to retrieve customer data?

Read Coinbase's statement. Coinbase Obtains Partial Victory Over IRS

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[Herbert2020]

This concerns all Bitcoiners. Your privacy is in danger

why should ALL bitcoiners even care what Coinbase is doing?
Coinbase is a centralized service working with fiat and banks (obeying AML/KYC and US laws including tax laws coming from IRS), they can do whatever they want to do and they have been doing that. this news about IRS is not new. they have been doing it for years. need i remind you how they caught the owner of KickAssTorrents?
and it certainly has nothing to do with ALL bitcoiners nor bitcoin nor it has anything to do with their privacy.

if you don't like it, don't use Coinbase or any centralized service like that.

[centralbanksequalsbombs]

Although Coinbase says it's a partial victory, this is still a very huge concern for 14,000 users' privacy. What other recourse does the community have now if it becomes a precedent for other countries to take government action?

Read Coinbase's statement.

Coinbase Obtains Partial Victory Over IRS

LOL
First of all central exchanges all MUST comply with all AML/KYC laws including passing along tax-related information.

Second of all, be wary of putting any trust in a Digital Currency Group invested company like coinbase (they sponsor all the spying analytics AML/KYC tools: "Chainalysis" now "Skry" now "Bloq" & Segwit2x.

Know the Bad Actors - Avoid these:
DCG = DIGITAL CURRENCY GROUP (Barry Silbert, Jeff Garzik, coinbase, coindesk, blockchain.info, bitpay, bitcoin.com, etc) supports FUD & have/will try to infiltrate & eventually shutdown bitcoin.

r/btc reddit thread and (the other) company-controlled bitcoin website (bitcoin.com) also spread FUD but then try to accuse others of spreading FUD, LOL? Why do they push hard on altcoins (bitcoin cash, ethereum, FUD?)  Why do they push for forks?

Forks creating scamchains are a courtesy brought to you by DCG group of companies led by Barry Silbert with his fellow minion Jeff Garzik and friend Roger Ver. Central banks love to fund their seeders who in turn fund DCG operations so they can get inside the community to circumvent Bitcoin's progress and try to destroy bitcoin via forks, code, media (see coindesk) articles and social posts, funded startups, and flow of funds into exchanges (pumps & dumps).

Luckily their attempts have been marked by continuous and grand failures - altcoins...
"Bitcoin Classic" failure
"Bitcoin XT" failure
"Bitcoin Unlimited" failure
"Bitcoin Cash" failure
"Bitcoin Segwit2x" (BTC1) failure

[jseverson]

Protest? I don't think there's anything anyone can realistically do. It kind of is a partial victory considering how the IRS wanted all of their user data, along with things that have absolutely nothing to do with them.

I would like to note that while this is truly a threat, it's not like they will be able to see all your transactions. They'll only be able to see what you do at exchanges, of which the said exchange already keeps log of anyway. People may also be forced to use Bitcoin mixing services like Chipmixer before they cash out. But yeah, Bitcoin taxation seems to be inevitable at this point.

[pinkflower]

This concerns all Bitcoiners. Your privacy is in danger

why should ALL bitcoiners even care what Coinbase is doing?
Coinbase is a centralized service working with fiat and banks (obeying AML/KYC and US laws including tax laws coming from IRS), they can do whatever they want to do and they have been doing that. this news about IRS is not new. they have been doing it for years. need i remind you how they caught the owner of KickAssTorrents?
and it certainly has nothing to do with ALL bitcoiners nor bitcoin nor it has anything to do with their privacy.

if you don't like it, don't use Coinbase or any centralized service like that.

Please read what I wrote. I said if it becomes a precedent for all governments to start doing the same, then it should be a cause for concern on all Bitcoiners.

If you thought that its isolated within those 14,000 Coinbase customers then you are very wrong. Thats only the beginning of the crypto inquisition.

[officerpants]

You could also avoid this kind of stuff by paying your taxes.  The reason the IRS is going after information from coinbase is because of the several million US based user accounts on coinbase, only a few thousand 2016 tax returns mentioned income from cryptocurrency.  The IRS isn't dumb and realized that a HUGE number of people aren't reporting income from cryptocurrency and aren't paying their taxes.

The IRS could do a few things:

• force coinbase to no longer allow US based customers (HUGE loss of profit to coinbase)
• force coinbase to keep tax information about US based users so coinbase can send you appropriate tax forms based on your earnings (like your job does; meaning they'd have to ask detailed information about you, which FAR outweighs your privacy concerns with the information they have, your SSN and such would be on coinbase's data records)
• ask for information about users who have transacted more than $20k USD through coinbase, so that they can audit those people

The lesson?  Pay your taxes.  Read the tax codes about cryptocurrency in your locality.  Get a tax adviser who is fluent in both capital gains as well as how the IRS is handling crytpocurrency.

This *isn't* an invasion of your privacy.  You gave any information to coinbase (or any exchange)?  You lost the right to that info.

[TagaMungkahi]

This concerns all Bitcoiners. Your privacy is in danger

why should ALL bitcoiners even care what Coinbase is doing?

This should be a concern not for all bitcoiners but all bitcoiners that have their own bitcoin on the exchanges. Other Exchanges might follow their steps, as you know other countries view America as a smart and great country that every law that they have have a local copy on their country ( i cannot support this but this is what i believed in, specially here in the Philippines). Other Exchanges might do the same move as what coinbase did.

[8270thNinja]

Although Coinbase says it's a partial victory, this is still a very huge concern for 14,000 users' privacy. What other recourse does the community have now if it becomes a precedent for other countries to take government action to retrieve customer data?

Read Coinbase's statement. Coinbase Obtains Partial Victory Over IRS

Kinda agree that this will concern all bitcoiners, but we provided our information to these exchanges and if they will turnover it to the Government they will be liable for that and without our permission they are committing a crime. Coinbase should ask the users first.

[dimastegar]

Maybe coinbase requires verification like most other exchangers. I think it's a natural thing, also to avoid fraud by irresponsible users. However, I myself do not even use coinbase.

[pinkflower]

This concerns all Bitcoiners. Your privacy is in danger

why should ALL bitcoiners even care what Coinbase is doing?

This should be a concern not for all bitcoiners but all bitcoiners that have their own bitcoin on the exchanges. Other Exchanges might follow their steps, as you know other countries view America as a smart and great country that every law that they have have a local copy on their country ( i cannot support this but this is what i believed in, specially here in the Philippines). Other Exchanges might do the same move as what coinbase did.

No, it concerns all Bitcoiners unless you dont have plans to convert your BTC to cash. To convert to fiat, we have to go through an exchange and usually one that has our ID and other verification documents.

[ipanks]

Maybe coinbase requires verification like most other exchangers. I think it's a natural thing, also to avoid fraud by irresponsible users. However, I myself do not even use coinbase.

maybe they want to know who is their customer so they can watch to avoid fraud from a bad person that want to use bitcoin as the money laundry. fortunately, I don't use coinbase and I prefer to use localbitcoin and local exchange because it is safer than using outside exchange. but I hope this thing can be solved as soon as possible so the customer doesn't have too worried about their account.

[EXtremeAEX]

Please read what I wrote. I said if it becomes a precedent for all governments to start doing the same, then it should be a cause for concern on all Bitcoiners.

If you thought that its isolated within those 14,000 Coinbase customers then you are very wrong. Thats only the beginning of the crypto inquisition.

I think you are right, we will eventually lose our privacy to the government... 14,000?? That may be very little compared to the amount of CoinBase users there are, but what do you think IRS is going to do with that? They are going to analyse, scrutinize, and very soon they will get the whole database, if not by force otherwise CoinBase has to shut down.

Privacy is only temporary now..  

[bigmaster23]

How is this possible if hash seed can't find the right software to be cracked or harked we can't guarantee the possible idea of this that we are in danger of such things we can't even see

[Rabiulawal12]

First the government vastly narrowed the scope of its summons. The government’s own lawyers noted at the hearing that the IRS is not accustomed to having to fight for records in this context, and most companies just turn records over without going to court. Thanks to Coinbase’s efforts, more than 480,000 customers’ records were preserved from disclosure. This is a 97% reduction in the number of customers impacted by this summons.

[JanpriX]

Well, this will be a problem only to those people who uses Coinbase as their way to buy BTC using fiat and thankfully, I'm not one of them. Yes, it will be a concern to many Bitcoiners but not "all" of us as stated in my previous sentence. People should always check first the company/service that they're gonna use if these companies comply to any government-related policies concerning digital currencies.

I've read a Tweet few hours ago stating that coins who will be very successful in 2018 will be those that are related to privacy and decentralized exchanges. These are the things that the community should use to avoid such scenarios like with what's happening to Coinbase. Government will always come to get control of crypto and we should just use the technology that we have (or developing) to avoid them.

[GreenBits]

Although Coinbase says it's a partial victory, this is still a very huge concern for 14,000 users' privacy. What other recourse does the community have now if it becomes a precedent for other countries to take government action to retrieve customer data?

Read Coinbase's statement. Coinbase Obtains Partial Victory Over IRS

While this does indeed affect me a touch (I use CB but I dont keep significant value on it), it is a bit of a generalization to say that this would affect the entire sphere. alot of the old heads would never even dream of sending coins to Coinbase, its centralized This isnt really a right the American citizen can reserve reasonably. If this were any other financial instrument, they wouldnt even have to ask for your records, they would have already been submitted in accordance with AML/KYC regulation. Just like a bank, I actually expect CB to voluntarily submit things like this. A lack of regulation shouldnt make a hole for criminality.

[audaciousbeing]

Although Coinbase says it's a partial victory, this is still a very huge concern for 14,000 users' privacy. What other recourse does the community have now if it becomes a precedent for other countries to take government action to retrieve customer data?

Read Coinbase's statement. Coinbase Obtains Partial Victory Over IRS

What I see here is Coinbase trying to do damage control by releasing a statement to claim a victory in their loss and showing to the entire crypto community that they can still be trusted about them not snitching to the authorities about their activities but the question remains, who will then fight for those whose details will be given to the authorities. While Coinbase is claiming victory, IRS is also doing the same because now they have something compared to nothing they had before going to court in the first place.

If you value your privacy start looking else where because laws can be reviewed, appeals can be filed, judgements can be delivered against Coinbase and you can be unlucky to be part of the sacrificial lamb of Coinbase then they come again and claim victory.

[wiser]

You could also avoid this kind of stuff by paying your taxes.  The reason the IRS is going after information from coinbase is because of the several million US based user accounts on coinbase, only a few thousand 2016 tax returns mentioned income from cryptocurrency.  The IRS isn't dumb and realized that a HUGE number of people aren't reporting income from cryptocurrency and aren't paying their taxes.

The IRS could do a few things:

• force coinbase to no longer allow US based customers (HUGE loss of profit to coinbase)
• force coinbase to keep tax information about US based users so coinbase can send you appropriate tax forms based on your earnings (like your job does; meaning they'd have to ask detailed information about you, which FAR outweighs your privacy concerns with the information they have, your SSN and such would be on coinbase's data records)
• ask for information about users who have transacted more than $20k USD through coinbase, so that they can audit those people

The lesson?  Pay your taxes.  Read the tax codes about cryptocurrency in your locality.  Get a tax adviser who is fluent in both capital gains as well as how the IRS is handling crytpocurrency.

This *isn't* an invasion of your privacy.  You gave any information to coinbase (or any exchange)?  You lost the right to that info.

Very good points!

Coinbase is a US based company. In the US, there are rules that say you have to pay taxes on income and gains. There are also rules that forbid financial institutions from serving people with criminal intent. For financial institutions to comply with these rules, they have to know who you are if you want to use their services. If you live in the US, odds are high that you are in some way benefiting from taxation. Do you drive on roads? Do you visit national parks and monuments? Do you use the Postal Service? If you do any of these things and plenty of other things, then you are benefiting from taxes. The US Government asks that you pay your share so others can also benefit. If you refuse to do that, you are breaking the law.

I'm not particularly endorsing our tax system. In fact, there are aspects of it I truly do not like. There are also legal processes people here go through to change the laws they don't like. If you live in the US and don't like something, you have channels to go through. It's not a perfect or easy system. It is what it is.

No matter what the industry is, eventually governments are going to be interested in making laws about it. It's no different with cryptocurrency. If you don't like paying taxes, you're not going to be able to avoid that forever with Bitcoin or anything else. Of course it's your choice, but breaking the law is not something to be taken lightly.

[wantjokull]

I have read somewhere that 90% of currently available bitcoins are on 10 wallets. So in a sense what you are saying is true. Early investors who recognised the potential of bitcoin early on are the biggest owners of bitcoin. Whether those are devs or businesspeople, we dont know.

Where is that coming from? I mean do you have any authenticate source for  this one?


Anyway indeed it is true that those who have big assets with them can be liable for the fluctuation in the market value. This is actually form of coin pumping as we can see it over the artificial pump groups. The small example, alt coins getting pumped on daily basis when those small telegram groups come together and decide to do that.


So with that generalised idea I think you know very well how we can manipulate the prices of the bitcoin also.


There could be more possibility that such people do exists in the world and why they wouldn't as many people are billionaires in the world. :-)

[50ouncebrew]

Using cryptocurrency is a threat to our privacy in general. This is simply the truth. No matter how smart or technologically savvy we are, there is always a leak in our privacy (except perhaps Satoshi).

Just do a lot of research into how to avoid getting caught otherwise you could get all your coins stolen, which would be terrible.