Coinbase Exec Says Capital Will Flee US Due to Crypto Tax Laws

Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, believes other countries are much more open-minded in terms of crypto regulation and taxes than America.

Lawrence Zlatkin, chief tax officer at Coinbase, shared the exchange's outlook on taxation and the global cryptocurrency market during a Unitize panel on July 7.

He was joined on the panel by Fidelity's senior tax counsel Jessica Reif-Caplan and Deloitte's global tax leader, Rob Massey.

Lack of crypto taxation clarityDuring the discussion, the speakers highlighted the lack of clarity around cryptocurrency taxation in the U.S. According to the tax experts at Coinbase and Fidelity, the uncertainty is a result of the complex nature of digital assets as well as a huge variety of different types and features of different coins.

Staking - the practice of locking crypto to receive rewards - is just one aspect that poses a big challenge from a tax perspective.

Non-U.S. countries have a more mature viewWhile the Internal Revenue Service has been pushing U.S. citizens to include crypto on their tax returns for years, the authority is yet to provide comprehensive guidelines.

Zlatkin said that crypto tax uncertainty in the U.S. is essentially causing an "Outflow of capital towards those jurisdictions that have a more mature view on digital technology and digital assets overall."

Coinbase itself, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., is planning to expand its operations beyond the U.S. market.

According to Zlatkin, Coinbase sees international customers as the future because non-U.S. jurisdictions are "More open-minded".

In January 2020, the exchange set up a second Irish firm to expand its crypto custody services to European institutions.