Editorial: Taxation of Crypto Assets

There is never a dull moment in crypto.Transformative reforms were seen in the past year including the introduction of regulatory frameworks for stablecoins, a push for real-world-asset tokenization, and expanded public access to crypto, among others.Many of these have been promoted by the US administration which publicly stated that 'the digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States, as well as our Nation's international leadership'.1 With the United States pushing the envelope, other countries have taken similar steps by implementing regulatory reforms for crypto.Tax-related issues involving crypto are becoming increasingly important with the increasing use of this type of assets.Some of the relevant tax issues concern the substantive tax rules.Other issues involve information reporting and measures to ensure compliance and reduce tax evasion risks.The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and domestic reforms in various countries aim to address tax challenges involving crypto.This special issue features several cutting-edge articles on this rapidly evolving field.Omri Marian's article -'Not "Super Tax Havens" After All'represents a reversal of Marian's previous position in his influential essay from 2013 ('Are Cryptocurrencies "Super" Tax Havens?'). 2 Marian's 2013 essay, written when the Bitcoin price was USD 139, warned about the heightened tax evasion risks arising from crypto.However, Marian's new article finds that this tax-enforcement doomsday scenario has not materialized.He explains that crypto assets are not 'super' tax havens after all because crypto markets are neither disintermediated, nor decentralized, nor anonymous.Therefore, Marian contends that governments' failure to enforce tax laws in this context is a policy choice and not an inevitable result of the special characteristics of digital asset technology.2 Omri Marian, Are Cryptocurrencies 'Super' Tax Havens?, 112 Mich.L. Rev. First Impressions 38 (2013).3 Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers 17 (Oct.2021) (observing that mass adoption increases risks of money laundering and terrorist financing).