Well, they are now the price has shot up. Although this does remind us that "affluent" and "liquid" are not the same thing and that capital gains tax usually requires realising gains to be a taxable event.
Its ironic that the same people who keep saying cryptocurrency has no underlying value, that its just a speculative bubble, are saying that profits from its increase in price should be aggressively taxed.
I don't see why it's ironic. Whether something is useful or not, and whether it's increases in value should be covered under financial taxes like any other commodity are separate issues.
Commodity:
noun, plural commodities.
1.an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service.
2.something of use, advantage, or value.
3.Stock Exchange. any unprocessed or partially processed good, as grain, fruits, and vegetables, or precious metals.
4.Obsolete. a quantity of goods.
So if you're saying its a commodity (and therefore should be taxed), it has value (and has to be based on something).
But semantics aside, taxation is theft, even more so in this case - there's no justifiable reason to hand over a portion of the gains to a government that had no involvement in the creation of the source of revenue.
Please keep generic ideological tangents off HN. They lead to angry-samey discussion rather than thoughtful-curious. Fortunately that didn't happen in this case, but then not all sparks lead to wildfires, even in a dry forest.
They may be affluent, particularly when compared to people struggling to buy food. That doesn't make them tax evaders. Though it should be added that the tax situation regarding crypotcurrencies isn't clear in every country.
