Uniswap token is floundering quite a bit. I'm resolved to sell sometime today I think. Watching the volatile price is quite distracting. I guess it's good practice for the impending bull market.

Also taxes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QvAeJiakRI&ab_channel=aantonop

This QA session cracked me up.

Q:

If I am using a DEX while sailing in international waters, which country should I pay taxes to?

A:

• How stealthy is your sailboat?
• How well armored is it against 155mm shells from the coast guard?
• Why would you pay taxes if you lost all your crypto in an unfortunate and tragic boating "accident"?
• Are you a US citizen in which case the answer is always you pay taxes to the U.S. no matter where you are.
• How much food do you have on the boat so you can avoid ever entering national waters? Or do you have a helicopter that can resupply you?

The whole legality issue with crypto and international waters is pretty weird. I wonder how many millions Antonopoulous has stacked up by now. He does a very impressive job of never talking about his holdings. Maybe I should take the hint, although that feat is obviously much more difficult on Hive.

When it really comes down to it 15% capital gains tax is not a big deal, and trying to avoid taxes in the manner described is not only expensive, but probably also too risky to make it worth it. From a purely financial perspective it makes no sense to do something like that. You'd really have to be coming from a place of extreme political principals to even attempt such a thing.

However, being out on a boat in international waters all the time... who do you think you are? John McAfee? Jeff Berwick? Even Berwick just chills in other countries like Mexico and the like.

Point being, if your attempting to live on a boat in international waters, doesn't that just make you an obvious target? Do we really think that no one is going to notice something like that? I imagine it would be much easier to hide in plain sight than in the middle of the ocean, honestly.

It all comes down to cash.

Which is probably why cash will likely be eliminated in the next decade or two. It's literally the one good thing about fiat. It's physical, lightweight, and easy to hide. But most of all, it's private. More private than any digital currency could ever hope to be.

Thought experiment

How much money would it take to entice people to give you cash in exchange for crypto? 5%? 10%? 15%? Once you get to that 15% level why not just pay the capital gains tax and not risk imprisonment and fines? Once you get to the 10% level, again, why are you risking everything to launder 5%? Not... worth.

Oh course, not all taxes are capital gains tax. You could get slapped with the short-term captial gains tax that is basically just income tax.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/101515/comparing-longterm-vs-shortterm-capital-gain-tax-rates.asp

But even income tax is only 24% in the $85k to $163k range (and only 12% up to $40k). And once again the tax on capital gains under $40k is 0% for long-term capital gains. That's pretty awesome as someone who makes significantly less than $20k a year already.

When it really comes down to it Bitcoin is creating these 4-year cycles, which is four times as long as it takes for investments to enter the long-term capital gains tax bracket. I imagine it's not going to be very hard to sell once every four years and stash away enough value to last the next four years. Of course USD hyperinflation would rain on that parade quite quickly, but I guess we'll deal with that hurdle if/when it actually comes. I personally look forward to stacking silver in the case of hyperinflation.

Conclusion

Of course with an airdrop like Uniswap (or even Hive) that's going to count as income no matter how many years you hold it. Too bad, so sad. Still, taxes are becoming more and more convoluted (as if they weren't already). When crypto goes mainstream we're probably going to see some major simplifications to tax law just so citizens can come into compliance. This outdated hundred year-old cluster no longer makes any sense.

There's also the issue of citizenship. What happens when crypto city-states start popping up everywhere and people start abandoning the legacy system entirely and try to start over with a whole new governance model? Trust me, the weirdness of 2020 is just the tip of the iceberg going forward. I guarantee it.