Encrypted transparency
Canada's tax man, Canada Revenue Agency, is asking the federal court to force Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform Coinsquare to identify every client going back to the start of 2013. CRA says it needs the data to fight tax fraud and the underground economy. It may also be an issue that Canada's left-wing federal government has condemned the country's children and children's children into paying back a $1.5 trillion debt.
Coinsquare, which has 200 thousand accounts, says "we understand our customers comply with all applicable Canadian laws relating to their cryptocurrency trading activities." The firm, however, had earlier got into trouble with financial regulators, being charged with $2.2 million in sanctions and costs for faking trading volumes, cover ups during the investigation, and firing the whistle blower.
The court has not yet decided on whether the info can be released.
CRA opened a dedicated cryptocurrency unit in 2018. Tax lawyer David Piccolo says the Coinsquare case "will be a test of the agency’s ability to process the likely massive amounts of data that generally accompanies cryptocurrency transactions."
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