UK’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), UK’s tax, payments, and customs topmost authority are seeking to avail the opportunity of getting the software from vendors that traces the transactions of a few famous cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.
Software To Trace Use-Cases of Crypto
Accordingly, HMRC has offered the amount ranging from $100k to $130 to get a software for identification of transactions of a few cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Tether (USDT), Ripple (XRP), and Litecoin (LTC).
Mainly, the purpose of the software is to notice where cryptocurrencies are used for avoiding paying taxes. Preferably, developers who provide tracing potentiality for cryptocurrencies, such as Monero, Zcash, and Dash, would be offered by HMRC.
As per HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC):
“Crypto Assets, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, provide a means to transfer value between interacting parties… These services are increasingly used for a range of purposes, from international money transfers, sales of digital services, paying staff and tax evasion and money laundering.”
According to HMRC that software should have a feature of tracking crypto-asset transactions compared with the usage of free online resources. Moreover, the sole aim of the software is to stop intelligence gaps in crypto usage which provides a vacuum for criminal activities against HMRC. Interested developers can send their application by Jan 27, 2020.
Furthermore, reportedly, last year local cryptocurrency exchanges were made to provide customer lists and transaction data to UK’s authorities, the main purpose of this step, by UK’s authorities, was to get back unpaid taxes from the users of cryptocurrency exchanges
In the same period, in the US about 10,000 letters were sent to crypto users, who have transactions of $20,000 or more in their records from 2013 till 2015, from IRS. The letters warned the users that they will face penalties if they hide their original records.
Today, cryptocurrency is used by a large number of people in the world for a legitimate purpose, however, there does exist looming concern about the usage of cryptocurrency for an illegitimate purpose. The issue is that, due to the unknown transactions made in blockchain technology, cybercriminals around the globe can influence this obscurity for their unethical interests.