Quote from: AttorneyBitcoin on September 02, 2017, 11:10:15 PM

Quote from: grinmoure on August 31, 2017, 01:17:43 AM

Quote from: CrYpToChRi$ on August 28, 2017, 08:21:36 PM

Quote from: AttorneyBitcoin on December 22, 2016, 08:44:55 AM

Dear BTC/Crypto Legal Forum:

As an experienced BTC attorney I'm happy to answer all questions here.

I have noticed some misinformation in some answers here. When it comes to taxes, laws and regulations, guessing or opinions are not helpful and can easily lead to problems. Most solutions to all the questions here can be summed up in a few short answers.

I can only give legal advice to laws in the United States but can discuss other countries in general terms. I've been involved as an attorney and a miner in BTC and Crypto's for 3 years. During that time I have represented many client's involved in our crypto world. Happy Mining!

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
AttorneyBitcoin
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.
www.attorneybitcoin.com

Hello and thanks for doing this! I had some questions regarding the recent SEC decision on the DAO token, classifying them as securities.

I've been doing some research on this topic and have not found the exact answer.

1) Basically, I was wondering what are the legal/tax implications when participating in an ICO as an American citizen?
Let's say a US citizen uses a VPN to partake in an ICO. They double their money and then sell. They decide to cash out to fiat (USD) legally and pay the 40% short-term tax on that trade profit (as well as report it) to the IRS.
I heard that ICO providers prevent US citizens from participating to protect themselves legally from the American Government if a scam were to occur. Is this true? I basically come to realize this is a gray area.

2) If someone invests into a crypto months ago and then sells and the SEC determines that it was a security in the future, did that investor break the law? Can retroactive action be applied to this if no firm legal standing was enacted in the first place?

1. second question: ICO issuers may be cautious not to accept contributions from US citizens for fear of "selling unregistered securities" thereby possibily subjecting the issuers to SEC jurisdiction.

2. Interesting question. Take a look at https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/ib_coinofferings.
The focus in the Investor Bulletin are sales by the ICO issuer. It's not so much whether the investor broke the law rather to help the investor protect against fraud.

Full disclosure, I am an attorney practicing securities arbitration. The foregoing is not intended to be legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is implied.

The above answers were not from me, George D. Greenberg. The Author failed to identify himself by name.

I believe that is obvious, Mr. Greenberg. Stating that I "failed" to do anything implies I did something wrong, to which I disagree. Nevertheless, my commentary is correct.