It's Friday, we all know what that means...
https://m.stacker.news/19482

I'm not 100 percent sure this will interest you, but I stumbled upon this podcast episode yesterday. I am pretty ignorant about China, but this guest gave me an incredible lesson about Chinese culture and politics. Bitcoin is discussed, but there's so much valuable information here. The episode is called Bitcoin In China, but, again, it covers a lot of ground. It is truly excellent:
https://fountain.fm/episode/JresVMQwpkmsgnmkaoVA

If you are using shitcoin casino, I'd say at least try shifting to Bitcoin only solution?

• on Strike you have zero fees to buy Bitcoin and can send it over lightning or onchain
• on River you can buy large amounts and also send onchain or over lightning
• with Swan you can set up nice DCA

But even better start using Robosats or Bisq or private Signal groups. Or become friend with your local miner and get sats from them for cash...

Section 988 of the IRS Internal Revenue Code is in general titled "Treatment of certain foreign currency transactions." The general principle of that section is that "any foreign currency gain or loss...shall be...treated as ordinary income or loss." However, it outlines a bunch of exceptions, one of which is sometimes called the “de minimis” exemption:

If—
(A) nonfunctional currency is disposed of by an individual in any transaction, and
(B) such transaction is a personal transaction,
no gain shall be recognized for purposes of this subtitle by reason of changes in exchange rates after such currency was acquired by such individual and before such disposition. The preceding sentence shall not apply if the gain which would otherwise be recognized on the transaction exceeds $200. source

There’s a lot of legalese there so let’s unpack it, starting with “nonfunctional currency.” This document helpfully defines what the tax code means by functional currency: “Generally, [taxpayers] must make all determinations…relating to income taxes…in [their] respective functional currency. … The dollar shall be the functional currency of [most] taxpayer[s]...regardless of the currency used in keeping [their] books and records.” Basically, your country’s “functional currency” is the one in common use, and any other currencies are “non-functional” currencies.

For a long time, bitcoin didn't fit the first part of this exemption because anyone who tried to say bitcoin is a nonfunctional “currency” would get tripped up on the currency part. A judge, for example, would ask what country accepts it for payment of all debts, public and private. The bitcoiner would have no answer, and the judge could then just say, “Nice try, but bitcoin is clearly not a currency.” But now, bitcoin is legal tender in el salvador (including for government bills), so we can say it is currency there. That means bitcoin now fits the first condition in this exemption: it is a nonfunctional currency disposed of by some individuals in some transactions.

The second part says the exemption only applies to personal transactions. A personal transaction is defined as “any transaction entered into by an individual” (as opposed to a business) and not including a self-employed person’s business expenses (or what would be business expenses if that person’s business was incorporated -- for more info see the full definition here).

Given these definitions and conditions, the exemption applies to bitcoin in this way:

If a person (“an individual”) spends his bitcoins (“nonfunctional currency”) for everyday reasons (“personal transactions”), then it can’t be taxed (“no gain shall be recognized”) just because it appreciated in value (“by reason of changes in exchange rates”) after he acquired it (“after such currency was acquired...and before such disposition”) unless the value of the appreciation exceeds $200 (“[That] does not apply if the gain...exceeds $200”).

Since bitcoin is a foreign currency now, taxpayers can legitimately not disclose their bitcoin expenditures to the IRS as long as the gains on each transaction are below $200. That is beneficial for privacy and an incredible boon to the usefulness of bitcoin. Note well: no other cryptocurrency gets this exemption because no other cryptocurrency is a foreign country's legal tender.

@k00b, you should invite Greg Maxwell on SN AMA and be an active user here. They even suspended him on the infamous r/Bitcoin LOL