New Zealand has become the first country legally to back companies that are paying employees in cryptocurrencies, in a move that brings the oft-maligned asset class in line with mainstream forms of payment, according to Financial Times.
Cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated, digital currencies that enable users to send money online without being tracked.
The ruling by New Zealand’s tax authority allows salaries and wages to be paid in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin from September 1, as long as the payments are in regular, fixed amounts. The digital currency of choice must also be pegged to at least one regular currency and must be able to be converted directly into a standard form of payment.
The ruling, which was outlined by New Zealand’s Inland Revenue in a bulletin dated August 7, excludes self-employed taxpayers from earning incomes in cryptocurrencies. Companies that choose to pay their employees in crypto will be able to deduct tax under New Zealand’s pay as you earn income tax scheme.
Crypto enthusiasts welcomed the news on social forum Reddit. “Great, one more step towards full crypto integration around the world,” wrote one poster.
Thomas Hulme, a solicitor at London-based law firm, Mackrell Turner Garrett, said the move amounted to “another step towards governments recognising that actually people are wanting to be paid in [crypto].” He added that such demand represented a cultural change: “Some people would rather deal with their wealth in that medium.”
The tax authority’s new ruling highlights the difficulties that regulators have experienced in setting legal frameworks for cryptocurrencies, which exploded into public consciousness a couple of years ago. Wellington’s Inland Revenue defined crypto assets as property, noting that crypto assets are not defined as “money” anywhere, and therefore are not legal tender. However, the authority will tax crypto-salaries as money because “some cryptoassets have many of the characteristics of money; for example, being . . . divisible . . . and hard to counterfeit.”
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
