IRS Launches “Operation Hidden Treasure ” to Curb Unreported Crypto Earnings

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly launching an investigation into unreported crypto earnings to put a curb on crypto fraud. The investigation is reportedly called “Operation Hiden Treasure” and it would be focused on everyone who has ever dealt in cryptocurrencies, cashed out, and didn’t pay a tax on their gains.

Operation Hidden Treasure is a collaboration between the IRS’s civil office of fraud enforcement and its criminal investigation unit. The operation would train a set of agents to understand cryptocurrency transactions and how one can try to evade paying tax using these digital assets.

Carolyn Schenck, national fraud counsel in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel revealed that the agency would also on-board a number of private players that would include blockchain analytics and security firms to help them understand and track transactions that are suspicious or believed to be initiated for money laundering and other crimes.

The US Government Going After Crypto Users?

The IRS has sent notices and letters to several crypto holders in the past as well asking them to declare their crypto holdings. The new operation aimed to put a curb on tax evasions and fraudulent activities associated with crypto seems to be the first major step taken by the authority towards crypto users. While it may seem harsh for many, but these regulations were inevitable in the long run as crypto use and adoption rises with time.

A prime-time news host believes that these regulations would mostly impact the retail and small-time traders and not necessarily billionaires and big tech companies such as Tesla or MicroStrategy.

“It’s not billionaires like Elon Musk or Mark Cuban who are affected by this, it’s the everyday people who have made cryptocurrency successful who will be targeted by the IRS,”