There are always negatives and positives to a phenomenon. The same is true for crypto. Critics of crypto might use this piece of news to defame it. However, this incident did not arise due to some inherent flaw in crypto itself. It is just a product of human greed.
Recently, three NFTs have been siezed by the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs). This siezure of NFTs, which is the first in the history of crypto and DeFi, has been linked to a tax evasion fraud. Three people have been arrested for the same. The whole fraud amounted to around 1.4 million British Pounds in tax evasion.
The fraudsters used a pretty common method of tax evasion. They created fake identities for themselves and opened shell companies to transfer funds to them. That way, they would have been able to save a huge amount of money from tax deductions. However, the HMRC was on top of them before they even knew it.
The Silver Lining
Crypto enthusiasts might think that it’s bad news. But the silver lining is that an official body has recognized NFTs as proper assets. That lends some credibility to the whole NFT fiasco. After crypto, it is NFT that is begging to be recognized as legitimate. In practice, NFTs are already being sold at ridiculous prices.
It’s sort of a compliment to NFTs that the fraudsters made use of them to evade tax. Even more that the HMRC actually recognized them as credible assets that had value.
