US should scrap crypto capital gains tax to fuel competition: Cato

Crypto users in the US are required to pay capital gains taxes on cryptocurrencies, stifling their usefulness as a currency, argued a Washingon DC-based think tank.

Cato Institute, a US-based think tank, has argued the government should remove capital gains taxes on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to open the door for more currency competition.

Capital gains tax (CGT) is discouraging the use of alternative currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as it incentivizes long-term holding and adds extra burdens to reporting requirements, Nicholas Anthony, a policy scholar and research fellow at the Cato Institute, said in a report on Wednesday.

He argued the simplest option is to end capital gains taxes completely; however, another option could be removing them on crypto and foreign currency use to “take the government’s thumb off the scale and let competition be the true decider of the best money.”

Read more