$COHESION

Yes.  When you sell virtual currency, you must recognize any capital gain or loss on the sale, subject to any limitations on the deductibility of capital losses.  For more information on capital assets, capital gains, and capital losses, see Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets.

Virtual currency is a digital representation of value, other than a representation of the U.S. dollar or a foreign currency (“real currency”), that functions as a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange.  Some virtual currencies are convertible, which means that they have an equivalent value in real currency or act as a substitute for real currency.  The IRS uses the term “virtual currency” in these FAQs to describe the various types of convertible virtual currency that are used as a medium of exchange, such as digital currency and cryptocurrency.   Regardless of the label applied, if a particular asset has the characteristics of virtual currency, it will be treated as virtual currency for Federal income tax purposes. 

Uniswap is a decentralized exchange protocol built on Ethereum. To be more precise, it is an automated liquidity protocol. There is no order book or any centralized party required to make trades. Uniswap allows users to trade without intermediaries, with a high degree of decentralization and censorship-resistance.

Cryptocurrency is a type of virtual currency that uses cryptography to secure transactions that are digitally recorded on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain.  A transaction involving cryptocurrency that is recorded on a distributed ledger is referred to as an “on-chain” transaction; a transaction that is not recorded on the distributed ledger is referred to as an “off-chain” transaction.

The blockchain is the vertebrae of the Bitcoin protocol and the glue that holds the network together. It is simply a vast, distributed public ledger of account. It keeps track of every transaction ever made in the network, and all transactions are time stamped and verified by network miners.

This is how it works: miners with specialized computers compete to solve mathematical puzzles with other computers, and once they solve a puzzle they are awarded with some Bitcoin, and they also add a “block” of completed transactions to the blockchain for future viewing and verifiability.

Once a block is added to the chain, the cycle repeats itself, and the computers continue to compete to solve these difficult problems. Every transaction on the blockchain is completely transparent and accounted for in its log. Anyone can see the public keys of any transaction they want (although there are no names associated with transactions). One could go all the way back and view the very first transactions ever made on the first block ever created; this block was called the Genesis Block.

If you execute the burn function to burn your coins, they will be destroyed forever. It is impossible to recover coins after they are burned. In other words, the contract has a function known as burn function, which is available to anyone, at any time.

The concept of gas was introduced to maintain a distinct value layer that solely indicates the consumption toward computational expenses on the Ethereum network. Having a separate unit for this purpose allows for a practical distinction between the actual valuation of the cryptocurrency (ETH), and the computational cost of using Ethereum's virtual machine (EVM). Here, gas refers to Ethereum network transaction fees, not the gasoline for your car.

Gas fees are payments made by users to compensate for the computing energy required to process and validate transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. "Gas limit" refers to the maximum amount of gas (or energy) that you're willing to spend on a particular transaction. A higher gas limit means that you must do more work to execute a transaction using ETH or a smart contract.

No. If your only transactions involving virtual currency during 2020 were purchases of virtual currency with real currency, you are not required to answer yes to the Form 1040 question.

Virtual currency is treated as property and general tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency.  For more information on the tax treatment of virtual currency, see Notice 2014-21.  For more information on the tax treatment of property transactions, see Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets.

That’s the million dollar question, and there are probably a ton of answers you could give yourself. Are you fascinated by money and technology? Do you want to push the boundaries of money itself and participate in one of the biggest economic experiments of the past century?

At some point you’ll hear people say “Bitcoin is great, but you’ll never use it to buy your coffee every morning”. It’s a sign they haven’t really sat down to think about what money is, or how different people around the world use it. In fact, people are already using Bitcoin to buy their morning coffee, and merchants are using it to accept Bitcoin daily.

Are you unserved or underserved by the current international banking system because you or your family live in an emerging economy, or freelance for clients overseas? Are you under 18, or work in an industry the credit card companies or PayPal don’t approve of? Have you ever had an account frozen for some random irregularity, or had to pay over $20 in international money transfer fees just to send your funds to a friend or loved one? Bitcoin is the perfect solution to all these issues.

If you’re a merchant – either online or brick-and-mortar – accepting Bitcoin is faster and cheaper than credit cards, and all payments are final. Fees are lower and there’s no risk of fraudulent chargebacks.

Perhaps you think the value of Bitcoin will increase in future, and are interested in investing in it. Or maybe you’ve been reading about the existing fiat currency / central banking and international financial system, you have realized something’s not quite right with it, and want to place control of your money back in your own hands. Bitcoin allows you to do this.

Your basis (also known as your “cost basis”) is the amount you spent to acquire the virtual currency, including fees, commissions and other acquisition costs in U.S. dollars.  Your adjusted basis is your basis increased by certain expenditures and decreased by certain deductions or credits in U.S. dollars.  For more information on basis, see Publication 551, Basis of Assets.

If you held the virtual currency for one year or less before selling or exchanging the virtual currency, then you will have a short-term capital gain or loss.  If you held the virtual currency for more than one year before selling or exchanging it, then you will have a long-term capital gain or loss.  The period during which you held the virtual currency (known as the “holding period”) begins on the day after you acquired the virtual currency and ends on the day you sell or exchange the virtual currency.  For more information on short-term and long-term capital gains and losses, see Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets.

The amount of income you must recognize is the fair market value of the virtual currency, in U.S. dollars, when received.  In an on-chain transaction you receive the virtual currency on the date and at the time the transaction is recorded on the distributed ledger.

Your gain or loss will be the difference between your adjusted basis in the virtual currency and the amount you received in exchange for the virtual currency, which you should report on your Federal income tax return in U.S. dollars.  For more information on gain or loss from sales or exchanges, see Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets.

• staking - half of the transaction fees are distributed proportionally to all $COHESION Token holders.
• burning - the other half of the transaction fees are burned, which reduces the number of $COHESION Tokens in circulation and increases dividends for the holders.
• buyback - 30% of the company's profits from dividends will be spent on buying $COHESION from exchanges and will be burned. This will cause more deflation and will further drive $COHESION price.

Yes.  Generally, self-employment income includes all gross income derived by an individual from any trade or business carried on by the individual as other than an employee.  Consequently, the fair market value of virtual currency received for services performed as an independent contractor, measured in U.S. dollars as of the date of receipt, constitutes self-employment income and is subject to the self-employment tax.

Yes.  Generally, the medium in which remuneration for services is paid is immaterial to the determination of whether the remuneration constitutes wages for employment tax purposes.  Consequently, the fair market value of virtual currency paid as wages, measured in U.S. dollars at the date of receipt, is subject to Federal income tax withholding, Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax, and Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax and must be reported on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.  See Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide PDF, for information on the withholding, depositing, reporting, and paying of employment taxes.

Yes.  When you receive property, including virtual currency, in exchange for performing services, whether or not you perform the services as an employee, you recognize ordinary income.  For more information on compensation for services, see Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income.