Crypto market in shambles, Bitcoin dips 9%. Here’s how Biden’s 30% tax proposal will impact

  • The Department of the Treasury supplementary budget explainer paper said that ‘any firm using computing resources, whether owned by the firm or leased from others to mine digital assets would be subject to an excise tax equal to 30% of the costs of electricity used in digital asset mining.’

Pooja Sitaram Jaiswar
Updated10 Mar 2023, 08:59 PM IST
The 30% excise tax proposal will come into effect after December 31, 2023, for taxable years.
The 30% excise tax proposal will come into effect after December 31, 2023, for taxable years.

The crypto market dropped like a domino on Friday after the US proposed to impose a 30% tax rate on cryptocurrencies. Leader of the board, Bitcoin faced frenzy selling pressure, tumbling by more than 9%. Also, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies nosedived. They have now extended their weekly losses. The reason why investors are in a panic state is due to the significant impact of the tax rate on mining and trading digital assets. 

Let's just say there are plenty of drawbacks for the crypto market with this tax proposal if implemented, but that's not all as it is seen as a concerning factor for the country's economy as well owing to the industry which is among job creators and substantial investment source.

On CoinMarketCap, at the time of writing, the global crypto market traded at $931.21 billion down by 6.82% over the last day. Bitcoin's dominance dropped by 0.48% to 41.54% in the overall market.

Bitcoin was performing at $19,828.06 --- nosediving by 8.84%. While Ether slipped by at least 9.5% to $1,396 levels.

Other cryptocurrencies such as Binance's token BNB shed over 6%, while XRP dipped by 7.3%, Cardano declined by 3.4%, Polygon tumbled by 7.8%, and Dogecoin slipped over 10.4%.

The weekly performance of Bitcoin is currently lower by nearly 12% and Ethereum is down by over 11%. Polygon and Dogecoin have shed over 14% and 15% respectively, while BNB and Cardano plunged by 6% and nearly 9% in seven days respectively.

Shiba Inu is the top trending crypto on Friday, however, has slipped by nearly 8% in 1 day.

On Thursday, the Department of the Treasury supplementary budget explainer paper said that "any firm using computing resources, whether owned by the firm or leased from others to mine digital assets would be subject to an excise tax equal to 30% of the costs of electricity used in digital asset mining."

The paper explained that digital asset mining is a process for validating transactions among holders of digital assets to record and transfer cryptographically secured assets on a distributed ledger by, for example, using high-powered computers to perform calculations to select the validator.

As per the paper, current law does not provide tax rules specifically addressing digital assets, with the exception of certain rules relating to broker reporting and reporting of cash transactions.

Hence, a 30% excise tax proposal will come into effect after December 31, 2023, for taxable years. The excise tax will be in a phased manner over a period of three years --- the first year will have 10%, the second year 20%, and 30% thereafter.

Through this proposal, US President Joe Biden plans to reduce mining activity along with its associated environmental impacts and other harms.

But the 30% tax rate has some significant impact on both crypto companies and traders.

According to Punit Agarwal-Founder KoinX, the proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining electricity usage as part of the Biden budget could have significant impacts on the mining and trading of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

If implemented, Agarwal said, "mining profitability could decline, potentially leading to slower transaction processing times and increased vulnerability to attacks. This could have negative consequences for the security and stability of the cryptocurrency network."

Further, he believes the " tax could lead to a decline in mining activities and reduce the network's security and transaction processing speeds, potentially leading to lower demand and lower prices for cryptocurrencies."

Also, Agarwal points out that it is important to consider the potential impact of the tax if it is only imposed in a particular region. He believes this could lead to a competitive disadvantage for mining operations in that region compared to those in other countries, potentially resulting in a shift of mining activities to other regions.

Additionally, Agarwal said, "the proposed tax could signal an increased level of regulatory scrutiny and oversight in the industry, which could potentially impact broader adoption and lead to increased regulatory burdens for crypto-related businesses. Some in the cryptocurrency community have expressed concern about the potential impact of increased regulation on the industry, arguing that it could stifle innovation and hinder the development of decentralized financial systems.

On the other hand, Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX believes that the 30% tax rate on cryptocurrency mining firms is a significant development for the crypto industry. He believes the move kills two birds with one stone: regulate the rapidly growing crypto market and increase tax revenue.

Menon said, "Such a tax could stifle innovation and growth in the cryptocurrency industry, which has been a source of significant investment and job creation. There are also concerns that such a tax could push mining firms to relocate to other countries with more favourable tax regimes, potentially harming the US economy."

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First Published:10 Mar 2023, 08:59 PM IST
Business NewsMarketsCryptocurrencyCrypto market in shambles, Bitcoin dips 9%. Here’s how Biden’s 30% tax proposal will impact

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