3 ms·

It seems that the criminal complaint is related to money laundering (ie concealing the true source and/or beneficial owner of the funds) rather than tax evasion

It seems that the criminal complaint is related to money laundering (ie concealing the true source and/or beneficial owner of the funds) rather than tax evasion. If that is the case, then tax compliance is expected (as the point of money laundering is to produce a clean post-tax cash flow). I have no opinion as to the legitimacy of the criminal accusations, but having correctly paid tax liabilities would not be a defence.

iskander 4y ago
Right, it seems that they want a KYC list for everyone who bought his art, which isn't possible given the medium. Some announcement of that policy would be better than letting it become known through surprise enforcement.
- closewith 4y ago
  > Right, it seems that they want a KYC list for everyone who bought his art, which isn't possible given the medium. If that's true, then the medium does not appear to be a lawful method for transactions above €10,000 in the EU. > Some announcement of that policy would be better than letting it become known through surprise enforcement. AML 5 - the Directive which introduced this regulation - is not exactly a secret. Especially if transacting through a company, it is very difficult to argue ignorance as a defence to non-compliance. Traditionally, dealers and auction houses would require and assist with KYC/AML compliance, which was part of the value they offered. Relying on non-compliant permissionless contracts does not absolve the vendor of their responsibilities.
  - iskander 4y ago
    I don't think the mint prices for any works by shvembldr have ever exceeded €10k. I looked up the mint price for The Blocks of Art and it was 0.1eth (maybe $300 at the time), the closest I could find was the high point of an auction for Alien Insects was 3eth (~$9k at the time). In addition to primary sales, there are also royalty payments for secondary sales but I don't think any of his pieces have ever sold for €200k (which would be required for a €10k royalty). ...but maybe this goes against the spirit of AML-D5 since popular generative art still drives many millions of dollars/euros in sales, but often split across smaller transactions (since a collection may contain hundred to thousands of individual pieces).
    - pjc50 4y ago
      It seems like he took it out of coinbase in a lump sum, which resulted in a single large inexplicable transaction.
      - iskander 4y ago
        A transfer between your own accounts is pretty straightforward to declare, it's you on both sides.

iskander 4y ago

Right, it seems that they want a KYC list for everyone who bought his art, which isn't possible given the medium. Some announcement of that policy would be better than letting it become known through surprise enforcement.

closewith 4y ago
> Right, it seems that they want a KYC list for everyone who bought his art, which isn't possible given the medium. If that's true, then the medium does not appear to be a lawful method for transactions above €10,000 in the EU. > Some announcement of that policy would be better than letting it become known through surprise enforcement. AML 5 - the Directive which introduced this regulation - is not exactly a secret. Especially if transacting through a company, it is very difficult to argue ignorance as a defence to non-compliance. Traditionally, dealers and auction houses would require and assist with KYC/AML compliance, which was part of the value they offered. Relying on non-compliant permissionless contracts does not absolve the vendor of their responsibilities.
- iskander 4y ago
  I don't think the mint prices for any works by shvembldr have ever exceeded €10k. I looked up the mint price for The Blocks of Art and it was 0.1eth (maybe $300 at the time), the closest I could find was the high point of an auction for Alien Insects was 3eth (~$9k at the time). In addition to primary sales, there are also royalty payments for secondary sales but I don't think any of his pieces have ever sold for €200k (which would be required for a €10k royalty). ...but maybe this goes against the spirit of AML-D5 since popular generative art still drives many millions of dollars/euros in sales, but often split across smaller transactions (since a collection may contain hundred to thousands of individual pieces).
  - pjc50 4y ago
    It seems like he took it out of coinbase in a lump sum, which resulted in a single large inexplicable transaction.
    - iskander 4y ago
      A transfer between your own accounts is pretty straightforward to declare, it's you on both sides.