A top Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official says, āCryptocurrency is here to stay,ā and āitās becoming more legitimate.ā The official added that the U.S. tax authority is looking to partner with crypto companies, noting: āI donāt see how we can operate in this space without it.ā
Top IRS Official Says Crypto Is Here to Stay
Thomas Fattorusso, acting special agent-in-charge of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)ās New York office, talked about cryptocurrency in an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this week.
āWe canāt be hostile to the technology. We have to embrace it,ā the IRS official emphasized, elaborating:
Cryptocurrency is here to stay. As far as Iām concerned, it isnāt going anywhere anytime soon and itās becoming more legitimate. As the years roll on, it becomes more sophisticated.
Fattorusso explained that the IRS is looking to partner with crypto companies. āMy thought is that those relationships will develop as the years go on and [as] the companies become more comfortable with dealing with the federal government. I donāt see how we can operate in this space without it,ā he opined.
Commenting on the IRS cooperating and partnering with crypto firms, Fattorusso shared:
Thatās something that weāre always working toward ⦠thatās always the end goal ā to have those partnerships and to have a relationship that isnāt contentious, more of a symbiotic relationship.
He believes that partnering with federal agencies āhelps them [crypto companies] in their legitimacy.ā The IRS official added: āThis is a new industry for everybody. I think weāre still trying to feel our way around it. The companies are feeling their way around it.ā
In November last year, IRS Criminal Investigation chief Jim Lee said that the tax authority isĀ buildingĀ āhundredsā of crypto cases.