Kraken Wins Bank Charter Approval

**raiders72001** · 09-16-20, 01:44 PM

As far as I know, Kraken doesn't report anything although I'm not sure if it will change.

**Roscoe_Word** · 09-16-20, 01:54 PM

I'm thinking being a bank would compel them to report BTC transactions.

Even Bobby Axelrod couldn't get a bank charter.

Know (think) Kraken's located in San Fran; would be more comfortable if they were located in Luxembourg like they used to be.

**Arky** · 09-17-20, 04:26 AM

Originally posted by raiders72001

As far as I know, Kraken doesn't report anything although I'm not sure if it will change.

I never knew that but you're right. On Kraken's website, they say they report nothing and leave it to the user to deal with it. No $20K/200 transaction limit.

Kraken does not provide tax forms or statements

Countries differ on how cryptocurrency transactions, trades, and holdings are taxed (if at all) and how they view cryptocurrencies in general (e.g. as money, as property, as a commodity, etc). Please consult a local accountant, tax lawyer, and/or government official for advice.

It is the user's responsibility to determine what, if any, taxes apply to the trades completed via our services, and to report and remit the correct tax to the appropriate tax authority.

Also, while they started in San Francisco, they also have offices in Singapore, Japan, Canada, UK, other places.

Also, just a hunch, but Kraken the exchange will probably keep handling things the same way for a quite a while and even when the Kraken the bank goes live, they may continue to handle things the same way....

**StackinGreen** · 09-17-20, 01:03 PM

Isn't it a KYC deal though where they could retrospectively collect the information and "see" what you did, or didn't do?

**Arky** · 09-17-20, 05:18 PM

Originally posted by StackinGreen

Isn't it a KYC deal though where they could retrospectively collect the information and "see" what you did, or didn't do?

I found this:

Auditor cooperation

Corporate clients may need to have their account balances on a particular date confirmed for their auditor. Our team is ready to assist with this process.

However, sometimes hackers will pretend to be auditors in an attempt to extract account information. So we've developed a set of procedures to safely handle legitimate auditor cooperation requests while filtering out the fake ones.

Eligible Accounts

At this time, we can only cooperate with audit requests for Pro verified clients.

If you have an Intermediate account and require a balance confirmation for your tax authority or bank, we may be able to assist you. Please open a support ticket detailing your request here.

Eligible Requestors

For security reasons, we do not accept requests that come directly from an auditor — not even if the auditor shows documents from the client approving an audit. We will only assist with audit requests that come directly from the account owner or an authorized accessor of the account.

The Process

An authorized accessor needs to sign in to the Support Center from the account that is being audited and create a support ticket using the General Form to request audit cooperation.
The email we communicate with must be the email that the account has on file.
(We do not accept audit requests that originate from Live Chat.)
We will then request:
1. An ID Confirmation Photo (IDCP)
2. The information that needs to be confirmed for the auditor
3. The auditor's contact details.
After verifying the IDCP, we will check the account and produce a letter confirming the requested information. This will be sent to the client directly via email and we will CC the auditor.

Please note: we will not provide the auditor with any account information not approved by the authorized accessor.

New requests for account information need to go through the same approval process again. To avoid delays, please make sure to include everything required in your initial request.

Sounds like to me, if the IRS really wants to subpoena your history, you will be notified of it. Otherwise, they (Kraken) ain't cooperatin'.

Should allow for plenty of time to hop a plane and get outta Dodge.

**StackinGreen** · 09-17-20, 06:41 PM

This is the most fascinating part of the whole crypto world at this point: the on and the off ramp. I don't think there is a doubt that a coin will be worth at least 3x, and possibly 10x or more within the decade. Governments also will change and get even more confiscatory, but the genius of BTC is that it is so highly portable and taking it to foreign or accommodating jurisdictions is in fact its main purpose, in a sense. In that sense, it's the ultimate safety hedge or insurance against a shitty government, and most are this way, and will continue to keep the debt and tax game going.

But that sets up the really interesting question for those sticking around various regions of the US, or as in this scenario, those using Kraken for investment purposes, etc. What do you think is the level of income or reporting that the IRS will actually start to bother coming after someone? If you are a 7 figure earner? If you cash out 6 figures at one time? Why not just take down 5 figures then each year for a few years? Just wondering what the thought is here

**Arky** · 09-17-20, 08:14 PM

Well, it's complicated.

You are correct about the on/off ramps. I don't think it takes much for the IRS to peer into your bank account. If they spot a 5 figure (or greater) deposit coming into your bank account from Kraken, you might have some splainin' to do. I think there are triggers that go off when you deposit more than 10K into your bank account but I could be wrong about that.... Someone that knows might be able to clear that up.

Everyone is different but my plan has always been to never cash out. Do commerce with crypto. And I don't mean the apps that convert your crypto into cash so you can pay for something. That's still cashing out. Pay in crypto to companies that accept crypto straight up. But this will require greater adoption and while there are many things you can pay for with crypto (travel, motels, etc), it's still not very widespread at present. The idea here is to keep it out of your bank account.

Should a full blown parabolic bull run happen during the next year or two, I'll probably sell off some and get into a stable coin like DAI to reinvest in the bear market that will no doubt follow. Technically, this is a taxable event to the IRS yet, I still haven't cashed out, yet. That is what is so grimy about the IRS rules. One has to stay on top of it to avoid double or triple taxation and it is a bookkeeping headache.

I could go on and no one should follow my advice (do what you think is best) but this is what I think: You get tax forms, pay your taxes. No forms and small potatoes, don't sweat it.