TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs asks exchanges for trader data. Facebook hires former congressional assistant to lobby for Libra. SPICE token listed on CoinEx. Amazon blocks Iranian developers from accessing AWS. Scammers send bogus IRS letters to traders, and Israeli bitcoin investors unable to pay taxes.



Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs Requests Trader Info From Exchanges

The UK tax watchdog, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), is reportedly requesting trader info from cryptocurrency exchanges to curb tax evasion related to trading activities. Three exchanges have been already contacted to provide this info: Coinbase, eToro, and CEX.io. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs reaffirmed their competence in the matter, declaring that “these transactions may result in potential tax charges and HMRC has the power to issue notices requiring exchanges to provide this information.”

Facebook Hires Former Senator Assistant to Lobby for Libra

Facebook seems determined to launch their cryptocurrency project even if lawmakers aren’t thrilled by it. Now the company has hired Susan Zook, former assistant to Mike Crapo, currently Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, to lobby on behalf of the project to Congress, hoping to make it more palatable to lawmakers. This is the latest acquisition by Facebook regarding Libra lobbying efforts — previously, the company hired lobbying services from the Sternhell Group and the Cypress Group.

SPICE Token Listed on CoinEx

SPICE token reached a milestone by being listed on CoinEx, a recognized China-based cryptocurrency exchange. The token has also been listed by other two cryptocurrency exchanges, Cryptophyl, the first SLP based exchange, and by exchange service SideShift. Being developed and conceived as an appreciation token to tip interesting content on the internet, SPICE token has its own team of developers led by SPICEtoshi. It is not associated with CoinSpice in any way.

Amazon Blocks Iranian Developers From Using AWS

You might not know it, but Amazon runs basically half the internet on their cloud platform. Now they're cutting off the lifeline of Iran's liberal opposition in a misguided attempt to please—far beyond what the law requires—one of Amazon's biggest customers: the US Government. https://t.co/SWjHLxv9JI — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) August 6, 2019

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the arm of the company that provides cloud-related services, is starting to ban Iranian developers, suspending their accounts due to international sanctions. Despite this fact, they are not required to do it by law, and according to the famous whistle-blower Edward Snowden, Amazon is also impacting the organizing ability of political dissidents all over the world. Snowden qualified the policy act as a “misguided attempt to please one of Amazon’s biggest customers: the US Government.”

Scam IRS Letters Being Sent to Cryptocurrency Traders

Taking advantage of the IRS’s well-publicized effort to reduce cryptocurrency tax evasion by sending letters to traders who might have avoided taxes, scammers are also sending letters to push these traders to “pay” taxes immediately, even threatening arrest or deportation. In some of these scams, a fictional non-existent agency called “Bureau of Tax Enforcement” is introduced. In others cases, the supposed IRS agents demanded payments by phone.

Israeli Bitcoin Investors Unable to Pay Their Taxes Due to Bank Policies

Israeli cryptocurrency investors are encountering problems when attempting to transfer their money to local banks in order to pay their taxes, according to a report from Haaretz. Banks are rejecting deposits coming from cryptocurrency earnings due to the questionable ultimate legality of cryptocurrencies in the country. As a result, more than $86 million dollars in taxes are still owed to the tax watchdog, and the amount is likely to keep growing. An investor declared how he “tried working with almost all the banks, but the minute they hear Bitcoin they freeze up.”

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