This is yet another place where decentralization plays a major role. The tax rate on crypto owners becomes utterly unfair if they choose to tax even unrealized profits... that's literally fraud. It's like the government trying to tax the value of your house increasing, even if you haven't sold it yet. It completely stifles investment and innovation and a bitter pill to swallow....
This is what is happening in Holland. Citizens have to declare their assets in "box 3" of their tax declaration.
Real estate can be a part of this. In a recent video I saw about an exit tax launched in Holland, it says that if you leave the country the government will assess your entire balance sheet including your real estate. Unrealized gains will be treated as realized when you leave. If you had bought a house for 250k in the year 2000 and it is worth 500k in 2025 (real estate typically takes 20 years to double in price) they will tax you on the "added value" of 250k. But there is no real added value because all other houses have also doubled in price. Your real estate only protected you from serious currency debasement, and the government falsely portrays it as if you gained value so they can steal from you.
many people initially stick to decentralized platforms to escape these very acts by the governments, only to find themselves pulled back towards centralized systems because there are so few truly unrestricted decentralized platforms that can operate in major countries like yours. The government are a worse thief than the very individuals they try to portray as criminals.
That last part is very true. And although it may seem like putting BTC on your company balance sheet is doing the right thing in the short run, I think this is voluntarily putting your head under a government guillotine in the long run. What it accomplishes is that 1) all banks now have their eyes on you as an investor into something that threatens their business, and 2) now that governments know your assets, they are free to tax them to the percentage that they want. I also believe that it is only a matter of time before governments will launch a campaign against self custody "because terrorists use bitcoin" while in reality it is purely about them having 100% control over the market. And if you do not comply, they will threaten you in the most horrendous ways. Think of how truckers were unbanked when they protested against the covid measures.
a quick advice mate.. you still can protect your privacy and potentially avoid some of these predatory taxes. Do whatever it takes to keep your transactions off the record and truly within the decentralized ethos. If you give the government what they want, they will always ask for even more.
I think so too.
Next week I have an advisory call with the best tax lawyer of my country, who only handles crypto cases.
I am very curious about his advice. I think he will strongly advise against decentralisation and trading anonymously without paying the predatory taxes.
Not long ago I spoke with an ex highschool classmate who made it as a banker. I always found him a snob.
We got to talk about crypto (which he absolutely hates) and he said that it's his authority at the bank to close bank accounts when crypto investors can not show a 100% accurate transaction history that explains where all their crypto currency comes from. He also said that guys who left the country for a tax friendlier alternative, are ambushed by banks using their homes as collaterals. Banks and governments are literally threatening crypto holders into giving up their privacy, by stealing their real estate.
To me it just proves that banks are organised criminal cartels.