IRS stands for “Internal Revenue Service.” Recently, a special agent from the tax agency said that they are seeing mountains of frauds in the crypto space. The agent said that IRS Criminal investigation is trying to train everyone else on crypto and NFTs. One of the reasons behind this is the number of frauds, and secondly, because they think crypto is the future. While the fraud part is negative, it is still good that the IRS considers this industry to be the next big thing.
IRS says crypto has a mountain of frauds
Ryan Korner, a special agent from the IRS criminal investigation division in Los Angeles, talked about crypto recently. There was a virtual event in the USC Gould School of Law where he called out the huge amounts of fraud in crypto. At the same time, Ryan pointed out one of the issues of crypto and NFTs we all can agree with. It is price manipulation done by influencers in the space with just one tweet or even a video. A clear example of this is Elon though he doesn’t do it anymore.
The agent also said that being a celebrity doesn’t make them immune to the IRS. Even though the authorities are not looking at them actively, if they do something shady or make a comment about any crypto, then they are just inviting the IRS to look into them. Ryan also pointed out how NFTs are becoming a medium of laundering money that we have once talked about before. There are many NFTs that get sold for millions but hardly have any inherent value. It is, in fact, very easy to do, and if you just google, there are hundreds of articles explaining ways how one can launder money with NFTs.
What can be done?
In 2021, 93% of the total funds seized by the IRS were from crypto. So, there is definitely a need to stop this. Money laundering with crypto can be stopped by placing certain KYC guidelines in a place as it happens in crypto exchanges. At the same time, proper regulations that make this clearer for investors are also necessary.
What are your thoughts as Ryan says that there are mountains of frauds in crypto? And do you think this can be stopped or at least reduced? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like and share it with your friends.
Also Read: Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein accepts crypto is happening.
