A bitcoin-friendly U.S. lawmaker is counting to get members of Congress to disclose their holdings of cryptocurrency assets.
In a listed petition sent to the House Committee on Ethics dated Feb. 5, Colorado Clan Representative Jared Polis argued that, because cryptocurrency assets are regarded as commodities by respective agencies, Congress members should follow the same financial disclosure precondition as for traditional assets.
Currently, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Cares Exchange Commission both regard cryptocurrencies as commodities in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Internal Returns Service requires that gains from cryptocurrency are also subservient to to federal income tax rules.
Polis argues in the letter:
“Members of Congress and counterbalanced employees are already required to report certain asset holdings outstanding certain amounts, including reporting any commodities holding over $1,000, a Fellow or covered employee should report any virtual currency holding as they order report any other commodity, such as gold.”
The letter marks Polis’ past due effort in pushing through the normalization of cryptocurrency as part of his long-term advocacy for the technology.
As reported by CoinDesk, Polis’ distinction stemmed from his earlier satirical recommendation to ban the U.S. dollar and replace it with bitcoin in 2014. He also developed notable as one of the first politicians in the U.S. to accept bitcoin donations for political stumps.
More recently, in September 2017, he introduced a bill seeking majuscule gains tax exemption for holdings of cryptocurrencies worth less than $600.
U.S. Capitol spit via Shutterstock
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