Tax and Bitcoin workshop in Rovigo, Italy

Crossposted from cambridge.tax.

May Hen, Dr Garrick Hileman and I travelled to Ferrara to speak at the workshop, Taxation in the Digital Age: Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies. The workshop was held at the Rovigo campus of the University of Ferrara on April 12.

Taxation in the Digital Age brought together researchers with a diverse range of academic backgrounds. Dr Antonella Magliocco from the Bank of Italy described some of the legal challenges faced by European tax authorities relating to trade in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Garrick presented his recent paper, The Bitcoin Market Potential Index. This paper describes the potential of Bitcoin and related tehnologies to reduce financial transactions costs, with particular focus on emerging economies where these costs are currently very high. May’s presentation looked at how Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies are being used as stores of hidden wealth, and how they compare with traditional mechanisms for wealth storage including art and real estate. My presentation considered how digital monies including Bitcoin can be compared with traditional bank money and cash in the context of the economic theory of money as memory.

Special thanks to Prof. Marco Greggi for inviting us and hosting this excellent workshop.

Alfred Duncan