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Alternate headline: “Software engineer loses life savings during Bitcoin tax evasion scheme”
by floatingatoll 8y ago
Alternate headline:
“Software engineer loses life savings during Bitcoin tax evasion scheme”
- pseudolus 8y agoThat's a little harsh and likely untrue as he was a salaried employee whose earnings were probably reported to the IRS which in turn shares information with the Canadian Revenue Agency. What he was probably trying to accomplish was a cryptocurrency variation of "Norbert's Gambit", an entirely legitimate mechanism that allows individuals to basically eliminate exchange fees when converting US dollars to Canadian dollars and vice versa [0]. Unfortunately for him, the 1-2% he was trying to save cost him everything. [0] https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Norbert%27s_gambit https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Norbert%27s_gambit
- floatingatoll 8y agoOkay, sure, let’s run with that. Alternate headline, “fees” variant: “Software engineer loses life savings during Bitcoin fee evasion scheme” The point being, he consciously traded a safe thing (losing a percentage of his money doing the transfer in insured ways) for a high-risk thing (no percentage taken, but not insured). He lost his bet due to a black swan event. I’m not inclined to sugarcoat this; he had every opportunity to know the risks, and earns no sympathy from me for losing his gamble. Whether it’s taxes or forex fees he’s avoiding, the point remains: Safety comes with a price, and refusing to pay that price carries a risk of loss.