Australian Government is Sitting on 24,500 Bitcoin
Australian authorities last year seized about 24,500 Bitcoins from a Melbourne Silk Road drug dealer. Richard Pollard ran a web shop on the Silk Road website. He was accused of selling various illicit drugs between August and December, 2012. Last Friday, Richard Pollard was sentenced in the County Court of Melbourne to 11 years. Police were monitoring Pollard's every last move in late 2012; when they executed a search warrant on two properties they found a variety of drugs and computer equipment along with about $58,000 in cash. But some months later, authorities found three Bitcoin....
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The Australian government is keeping a close eye on bitcoin, but not on the regulatory front. Rather, it is tracking every conversion from bitcoin into Australian dollars, and vice-versa. The government agency doing the snooping is the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac). The centre is tasked with countering money laundering and terrorist finance, so it is only logical that it would track anonymous transactions. Tracking bitcoin-related transactions. Austrac CEO John Schmidt told lawmakers that Australia collects data on all international fund transfers, including....
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The Australian government has announced that it will back a legislative solution to tax concerns surrounding bitcoin as part of a broad policy statement on financial technology. Under current tax guidance in the country, bitcoin is considered a form of barter rather than a form of money. Australian businesses must pay goods-and-services tax (GST) if they sell digital currencies, and can be liable for the tax should they receive them as payment. This policy has sparked criticism from the startup community in Australia, who argue it creates an unfair tax environment. Last summer, the....