Daily Archives: February 24, 2020

Tax season is one of the most dreaded times of the year for many, and when the added confusion of filing crypto returns is thrown into to the mix, things can get even stickier. News.Bitcoin.com recently talked with Clinton Donnelly of Donnelly Tax Law, a service that specializes in crypto returns. The U.S. Treasury-licensed Enrolled Agent shared some of his opinions and insights regarding crypto audits and what triggers them, as well as an example from a client.

Also read: Tax Rules Hit Brazilian Crypto Exchanges, Forcing Trading Platforms Out of Business

The IRS announcement that thousands of tax warning letters would be issued to United States crypto holders last summer elicited calls for greater clarification and guidelines, but it hasnt stopped the Internal Revenue Service audit train from steaming forward. The presence of a new crypto question on 2019s Schedule 1 form has individuals concerned about reporting their crypto assets correctly more than ever, and according to experts, this is for good reason.

That is massive says Enrolled Agent Clinton Donnelly of Donnelly Tax Law. This question in the 2019 return it forces every taxpayer in the United States to make a decision whether or not theyre going to be honest or not on this question, because its a yes or no and when you sign the tax return its in small print, it says under penalty of perjury I have reviewed this return and its true, complete and correct, so failing to check the box is incomplete. He emphasizes:

Its a yes or no its kind of like coming out of the closets Anybody who was a trader in 19, well, they were probably a trader in 17 as well.

Donnelly went on to explain that by reporting crypto gains in light of the new question, many crypto holders will inadvertently reveal that they first acquired their digital assets years back, which calls their previous years returns into suspicion and makes an IRS investigation more likely.

Donnellys service has so far seen two cryptocurrency audits with its clients, and the tax professional is interested in learning more about what triggers an IRS investigation. One client claimed to have never received the 2019 warning letters, but was audited all the same. According to Donnelly, the focus of the IRS is not so much on the methods by which capital gains are reported, but that all inputs and outputs are accounted for, and that the AML (anti-money laundering) narrative remains in central focus.

I think people sense that the government views crypto traders as possibly engaging in some sort of crime, Donnelly notes. We shouldnt feel that way, but we do. He cites a recent Chainalysis report showing the darknets share of crypto usage is less than 1% of the total. The tax expert went on:

I would say most of these questions, as you read them, fall into the category of anti-money laundering My suspicion is that if the IRS wanted to crack down on every American that traded cryptos they could do it, but the backlash from voters back to congress would snap the IRS in the face and they would be sent packing So I think as long as they stay on the money laundering theme, then they look above board.

Donnelly also shared a non-confidential snippet of a clients IRS audit letter for a 2017 return relating to just under $40,000 in crypto gains. This client claims to have never received the warning letters from the agency.

Donnelly emphasized throughout our conversation that it is not so much the various means by which a crypto holder reports gains using different tax tools can and often does result in slightly different numbers but that the IRS wants to verify total asset amounts add up, with all inputs and outputs accounted for. Especially where cash is concerned. The image of the form above lays out in detail what types of specific information the agency wants to know.

Donnelly further detailed that high frequency traders are sometimes concerned when seeing large proceeds calculated for their trades on 1099-K forms from crypto exchanges, but that costs are not yet factored into these amounts. This can make some traders understandably hesitant to file, but audits are less likely if the proceeds amount is reported fully.

Half the court cases in tax court are because the IRS didnt do the procedure right, the due process, if you will, Donnelly details, but theres this form called the FBAR form that form is not a tax form, its not a part of the tax laws. The IRS administers it, but its not a part of the tax laws. Its part of the Bank Secrecy Act, Title 18. He goes on:

Prosecutors love the FBAR form because they can say you didnt file it, you should have, whammo, heres the penalty and we can assess it right now. Theres no due process defense on that.

The FBAR form has to do with assets held in foreign bank accounts, and must be filed by U.S. taxpayers if the aggregate value of those foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported. The FBAR brings Fincen (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) into the tax action, and has to do directly with combating money laundering, so Donnelly suspects this may be part of the reason the AML narrative has become the focus of crypto tax reporting. It is also a frightening prospect for crypto traders utilizing overseas exchanges and accounts.

The penalty for the anti-money laundering form this is FBAR is $10,000, plus $10,000 for every foreign account that youve never reported, Donnelly elaborates. If you never filed the FBAR, you just told the IRS all the exchanges you were on you just incriminated yourself. They say ah, well youre on Huobi, Kucoin, Binance, you got five of em. Thats $50,000 plus the $10,000 I originally smacked you with for not filing a form. You didnt do this in 17, you didnt do it in 18, you didnt do it in 16 either, so I can just add these penalties up. Before you know it youre up to $200, $300,000 and they can get worse if they want to be hostile about it. He concludes:

The IRS controls the narrative. Were not going after crypto traders, were going after people that are violating the anti-money laundering laws Its implicitly dirty, right? to be caught for money laundering.

Donnelly says his mission is to help people file what he calls a bulletproof tax return, as the penalties for simple mistakes and omissions can be so egregious, and so few tax advisors know how to help their clients when it comes to crypto.

News.Bitcoin.com also regularly publishes articles on available tax tools and software which may make the job of reporting easier for bitcoiners. Of course, when dealing with unpredictable and potentially dangerous groups like the IRS, individuals should exercise due diligence and research thoroughly before pursuing any course of action. Not surprisingly, the permissionless, peer-to-peer money designed to fight financial censorship that is bitcoin, has fast become a prime target for the very groups of middlemen, banks, politicians and other third parties it makes largely unnecessary.

What do you think of Donnellys views on crypto tax audits? Let us know in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or as a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Cryptotaxaudit.com, fair use.

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How the IRS Audits Cryptocurrency Tax Returns - Filing Expert Shares Example, Insights on AML Focus - Bitcoin News

Thesuicide note cited personal reasons. But Ashraf Nusubuga, a radiology studentat Kampalas Makerere University Ugandas leading higher educationinstitution didnt hang himself over a love affair gone wrong or because ofacademic pressure. The 22-year-old killed himself after losing money he hadinvested in a bogus cryptocurrency firm.

He had put all of his money and some he had borrowed into what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, lured by the promise of high returns, according to Luke Oweyesigire, deputy spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan Police. But Nusubuga isnt the only one to have fallen victim.

A series of large cryptocurrency scams is rocking Uganda, turning the East African nation into an unlikely hub for fraudulent firms claiming to offer digital currencies, while preying on weak governance and low financial literacy. Other major cryptocurrency scams in 2019 involved developed economies Japans BITPoint exchange lost $28 million, and con men in the U.K. and the Netherlands stole $27 million from Bitcoin users. Globally, cybercriminals stole $4.3 billion from users and exchanges last year. But Uganda is the worst hit by far.

At least five cryptocurrency firms have closed shop and walked away with a total of more than $26 million of their clients money in the past six months. From students and churchgoers to army officers and government officials, the victims span Ugandan society. Robert Bakalikwira, a criminal investigations officer probing these cases, estimates that in all, 200,000 Ugandans have lost about $1 billion, or almost 4 percent of the countrys GDP of $28 billion, over the past two years.

Ugandans are better off investing their money in cows than plunging into the unknown world of cryptocurrencies.

Patrick Mweheire, chairman, Uganda Bankers Association

These scams are different from those in the West, where hackers have stolen from exchanges or robbed from people. In Uganda, fake firms claiming to offer cryptocurrencies are luring people to buy in, before walking away with their money. The countrys growing crisis holds lessons for other poor nations with weak regulations unable to keep up with the sometimes misleading promise of technology.

We have receivedvery many cases of cryptocurrencyscams,says Fred Enanga, Ugandas national police spokesperson. We advise Ugandans toavoid being fleeced off their money in such deals.

But the role of President Yoweri Musevenis government is coming under scrutiny. It has set up a 10-member commission of inquiry, and is issuing public statements to alert Ugandans that the government and central bank dont recognize any cryptocurrency. Yet even though the country has no regulations for the sector, the government hasnt made it illegal to operate a cryptocurrency firm in Uganda. In parliament earlier this month, an MP pointed out that Kwame Rugunda, the son of Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, is CEO of CryptoSavannah, a cryptocurrency advisory firm.

Museveni himself appeared to be an early proponent of cryptocurrencies. At an event in Kampala in January 2017, where Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Mutebile said he wasnt confident about the credibility of cryptocurrency, the president rebuffed him. Museveni said Mutebile wasbeing dogmatic, and emphasized the need to embrace technology.

Many ordinary people in the country which has the lowest literacy rate in the region took it as a government endorsement of digital currencies. A flood of firms some legitimate and several fraudulent entered the country.

Museveni is partly responsible for our suffering, says 50-year-old Ken Wamala from the southern Uganda town of Masaka who says scams have cost him around $41,000.

The fraud firms include Dumanis Coins, whose management disappeared on Dec. 3, 2019, after collecting $2.7 million in Ugandan shillings. More than 10,000 people had invested in the company. Police have arrested one of the firms directors but are still searching for four others, says Kampala police spokesman Patrick Onyango. John Kalevu, whose shop is next to Dumanis Coins former office, says he came to work one day to find the cryptocurrency firms doors open, but the office empty.

Global Cryptocurrencies closed overnight in November. Andrew Kagwa, its chief executive, was arrested after two weeks on the run. More than 10,000 people had invested $8.2 million in the firm. Lion Cryptocurrency closed down in October 2019, taking with it $5.4 million in investments made by 17,000 people, says Henry Musagala, the investigating officer. One Coin, another of the fraud firms, duped 12,000 people out of $6.8 million. The D9 cryptocurrency company shut shop with $3.2 million in investments from 9,000 people.

Other cryptocurrency companies that have closed since early 2018 leaving thousands of people confused and stranded include Team, Dutch International, Finetegry and Fital-Science.

Employees of these firms havent escaped unscathed either. Sheila Nassali, a nurse by training, recalls how a Global Cryptocurrency director convinced her to join the company as a secretary and a customer. She was shocked when the director disappeared, leaving me to face angry customers who wanted to get their money.

Patrick Mweheire, chairman of the Uganda Bankers Association, says, Ugandans are better off investing their money in cows than plunging into the unknown world of cryptocurrencies.

But experts and former employees of these firms say ignorance isnt the only problem. Muzamiru Kigundu, who used to work with Lion Cryptocurrency before it shut down, alleges that many government officials are among the owners of cryptocurrency companies mushrooming in Uganda. That lends the industry legitimacy in the eyes of ordinary people. The directors of these firms rent fancy offices and drive expensive cars to create the impression that theyre wealth creators, he says.

Ugandas corruption it ranks 160 in Transparency Internationals index is also to blame. Some of the fake firms were registered as companies even though they didnt meet statutory requirements. The major cause of the cryptocurrency scams is corruption, says Joseph Bogere, professor of economics at Makerere University.

Ultimately, though, its the responsibility of the countrys leaders and security organizations to protect citizens against such crooks, says Solomon Male, a pastor. That isnt happening yet. An already poor nation is bleeding further, while gaining an unwanted reputation.

Continued here:
The Billion-Dollar Cryptocurrency Scams You've Never Heard About - OZY

Two leading cryptocurrency analysts say they believe Bitcoin is in a new bull market cycle, but predictions that BTC is poised to soar to $100,000 are far too bullish.

In a recent episode of Trading Bitcoin, Tone Vays and the pseudonymous trader Filbfilb debate the current state of the crypto market and where it may head in the months to come.

Vays says BTC needs to close above $10,450 to signal that a bigger move to the upside is in store. Bitcoin came extremely close to that number on Wednesday, reaching $10,444 before plummeting to its current price of $9,568, according to CoinMarketCap.

Filbfilbs says his target for opening a long position is significantly higher. Hes looking to see if and when BTC can cross $11,500.

As for how high Bitcoin may climb in the next long-term market cycle, both analysts say they expect a new bull market top to hit well below a litany of predictions calling for a parabolic rise to $100k. Says Filbfilb,

I think were going to struggle to get past $60k. I think $60k is going to be a really, really troublesome level to get across. Ill certainly be looking to book in some serious profits at that point.

I think you said it right in Fiji. I think you said the return you get off of these long-term positions versus the risk of you getting it wrong is a terrible trade. So trying to go higher than $60k I think would be a little bit foolish at this point. But certainly around $50k, $60k would be sensible.

Vays says hes looking for BTC to top out at a slightly lower price of around $45,000.

Although the traders say hype around Bitcoins halving is fueling price action in early 2020, they say rising trading volumes and an increasing number of outstanding derivative contracts are key metrics to watch in order to gauge real long-term interest in the space.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/sustainableart

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Top Cryptocurrency Analysts Say $100,000 Bitcoin Predictions Way Off Base Heres Where They Think BTC Will Land - The Daily Hodl

In a recentWall Street Journalarticle, Mary Anastasia OGrady writes that VenezuelasNational Superintendency for the Defense of Socio-Economic Rights is reportedly pressuring stores to accept the governments new digital fiat currency, the Petro.The Venezuelan government claims its digital currency, which launched in early 2018, is backed one-for-one by a barrel of oil. The petro is also intended to circulate at a fixed exchange rate with the bolvar soberano, the latest iteration of Venezuelas fledgling currency.

Ms. OGrady quotes me summarizing some of the work I have done with Josh Hendrickson and Thomas Hogan, which shows that a government canget its citizens to use its preferred money so long as it issufficiently bigor is willing to levysufficiently large punishments. But she leaves another question unanswered:why would the Venezuelan government prefer the petro? Stays Alive

Three reasons stand out.

Venezuela relies heavily on oil revenues.According to OPEC, oil revenues typically account for around 99 percent of Venezuelas total export revenues. And, historically, much of those oil exports have gone to the U.S. However, its oil exportsfell by a third in 2019, in large part because ofeconomic sanctions levied by the U.S.

To fully appreciate the nature of the problem, it is useful to make a distinction between primary and secondary sanctions. Primary economic sanctions levied by the U.S. government prevent Americans from purchasing oil from Venezuela. However, the U.S. government has also announced that it will impose sanctions on anyone else trading with Venezuela. And these secondary sanctions have been pretty effective.

Why are U.S. secondary sanctions so effective?J.P. Koning is certainly correctwhen he writes that most companies and countries do not want to risk losing access to U.S. markets. But he probably goes too far in claiming this has very little to do with the U.S. dollar functioning as the worlds reserve currency. The U.S. government has a much easier time monitoring international transactions executed in U.S. dollars.

International transactions executed in U.S. dollars are typically cleared in a New York bank. Those banks know their customers and are obliged to hand over transactions data to the U.S. government when subpoenaed or if they suspect a crime is being committed. Related: Texas Oil Production To Rise In 2020 Despite Lower Prices

If the international transaction is executed in some other currency, like euros, the information is a little more difficult for the U.S. government to access. Of course, most European banks will refuse to clear the transaction as well since the U.S. government can require they hand over the relevant transactions data, in which case they would be found to have violated sanctions by processing the transaction, or they would lose access to U.S. markets on grounds of non-compliance; and, since most international transactions are executed in U.S. dollars, a European bank that cannot transfer money to and from U.S. banks will struggle to serve its international transactions-making customers.

Nonetheless, the risk of detection is probably a little lower than it would be if the transaction were made in U.S. dollars. And, as a result, the transaction is more likely to be executed.

The international financial plumbing has a lot of pipes running to and from the U.S. And that gives the U.S. a lot of power to levy sanctions, not just on its own citizens, but also on citizens and companies of other countries interested in international trade.

You can probably see where this is going. If Venezuela were able to create a parallel financial system, one with no pipes going to and from the U.S., it could make and receive international transactions with even less risk of detection than is afforded by other national currencies, like the euro, ruble, or renminbi.

Thats where the petro comes in. As a digital currency, it enables one to send or receive funds virtually anywhere around the world. And, to the extent that those transactions are disconnected from the U.S. financial system, they are much less likely to be detected by the U.S. government.

Again: the sanctions still apply. But, by conducting transactions in petros, they are easier to get around.

Why, then, does Venezuela push the petro at home? Why not just require it for international transactions? For one, few will be willing to accept the petro if there isnt a very big market for petros. Hence, by increasing the demand for petros at home, Venezuela makes it less risky for foreigners to accept them if only for a short period of time.

For international transactions, the petro offers those interested in skirting U.S. sanctions some financial privacy not afforded by traditional cross-border electronic transfers. For internal transactions, in contrast, it almost certainly offers far less financial privacy than hand-to-hand currency.

As Josh Hendrickson and I explain in arecent working paper, hand-to-hand currency cash affords a lot of financial privacy. There are drawbacks to using cash, to be sure.

Cash does not bear interest. It is easier to lose and easier to steal than balances held at a bank and less likely to be insured due to loss or theft. It is more cumbersome for high-valued transactions, since one must carry many notes, and odd-amount transactions, since one must provide the correct denominations. And it typically requires the sender and receiver to be physically present in the same location when funds are transferred. Related: U.S. Administration Discusses Plan To Oust Venezuelas Maduro

But, for relatively small, local transactions where financial privacy is important, cash is still king.

It is easy to imagine, then, why the Venezuelan government might want to push its citizens to swap physical bolivares for digital petros even in the absence of international sanctions. The petro makes it much easier to monitor transactions and punish those conducting transactions inconsistent with the prevailing governments objectives.

It is difficult to mount much opposition without funding. And it is difficult to raise funds for an opposition movement if would-be contributors worry they will be caught and punished. By requiring petro use, the Maduro regime tightens its grip on power. YOUR INBOX

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Finally, widespread petro use would presumably help Venezuela with another one of its self-inflicted problems: cash shortages.

When the money supply (i.e., cash and deposit balances) increases, as it tends to do quite rapidly in Venezuela, the purchasing power of that money falls. As a result, more cash is needed to make routine transactions. But Venezuela does not print its bolivares notes. And, for obvious reasons, the private companies willing to crank out its ever-increasing supply of bolivares notes are not willing to receive payment in bolivares.

This has led to some amusing headlines. In April 2016,Bloombergreported thatVenezuela Doesnt Have Enough Money to Pay for Its Money. In July 2018, theEconomistreported thatVenezuelan cash is almost worthless, but also scarce. The reality on the ground is far from amusing, though. The inability to make routine transactions leads to a decline in production, leaving ordinary Venezuelans even poorer than they already were.

There are two solutions to this problem.

If the National Superintendency for the Defense of Socio-Economic Rights is successful in pressuring stores to accept the petro, it would serve the Maduro regime well. By making it easier to avoid sanctions, the petro enables the government to regain some of its lost oil revenues. By making it easier to monitor domestic transactions, the petro aids efforts to stamp out political opposition. And, by reducing the need to print up so many new notes during periods of hyperinflation, the petro reduces the likelihood and magnitude of cash shortages.

Alas, in helping the Maduro regime maintain power, the petro seems unlikely to improve the lives of ordinary Venezuelans.

By William Luther via Zerohedge.com

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Why Venezuela's Oil Based Cryptocurrency Is Still Alive - OilPrice.com

The issue of race when it comes to cryptocurrency is a sensitive one, and not without reason. The African-American community is largely born at an economic disadvantage, with a legacy financial system fueled by unethical practices like redlining, among many others. However, cryptocurrencies may give them the opportunity to eventually level the playing field.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, is no stranger to controversy himself. His platform currently hosts 330 million people around the world, and his individual followers currently number just over 4.3 million. On Sunday, he used that influence to promote a new book discussing Bitcoins potential benefits to the African-American community.

Bitcoin & Black America, written by Isaiah Jackson, offers an analysis of the role cryptocurrency can play with African-Americans, a group historically underserved by major financial institutions. Yet, the author notes, black people in the U.S. have largely not utilized cryptocurrency to try and achieve financial autonomy.

One of the problems, according to Jackson, is the perception of cryptocurrency among the African-American community. They are not the only ones to see Bitcoin as a scam, with new schemes continuing to exploit lack of regulatory oversight popping up in the news. Misinformation coupled with a lack of banking access has made investing in cryptocurrency a challenge among black people in the United States. Jackson says this must change going forward.

Originally published in July 2019, Bitcoin & Black America received a boost from the recent resurgence of the crypto market. Dorseys endorsement this week may do likewise.

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Bitcoins Potential to Benefit the African-American Community - Cointelegraph

Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin are barely a decade old. But they have already had a significant impact on the world of finance. When Facebook announced that it will float its own digital currency Libra, it was another sound reminder that the world is about witnessing a major shift in paradigm in the finance sector.

Now a prominent figure in the finance sector has come out again to warn those in the mainstream to keep up with the rapid changes taking place in the finance sector as a result of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin.

U.S. Federal Reserve governor and chair of the Financial Stability Board, Randal Quarles, has warned central bankers and finance ministers to take note of the quick changes happening within the finance industry, brought by cryptocurrencies and bitcoin.

In his statement,

Technology is changing the nature of traditional finance, bringing innovations that create both potential benefits and risks.

He made this statement in a letter for the G20 summit this week. According to him, the rapid changes in the finance sector may bring about new challenges for many central banks and governments around the world.

Earlier this week, the U.S. government stated that cryptocurrency and Bitcoin can pose a challenge to the USD in retaining its status as the worlds reserve coin. Currently, its looking for researchers who would look into the extent of risks digital coins pose to the continued dominance of the USD.

And there has been growing support for the US to start developing its own government-backed digital currency.

Already, many central banks and governments believe that the introduction of Libra could have an impact on governments stronghold on their economies if the digital currency becomes widely used around the world. Some are having fears that it could lead them to lose their financial and regulatory control of economies. `

Some E.U. countries, including Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, have reiterated their desire to block the use of Libra in their respective countries because of the risk it poses to the financial sector. However, instead of using Libra, the countries are supporting the proposal of an alternate public cryptocurrency run by the central bank.

On a similar note, some top companies like eBay, PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa, who initially supported the introduction of Libra, are now backing out. They view the Libra currency as a major competition, which can put their line of business at risk, should the digital coin become a reality.

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Finance Sector Concerned Over the Increasing Dominance of Cryptocurrency - Inside Bitcoins

The Swedish Central Bank will establish a test group for its potential digital currency the e-krona. It will run for a year and should confirm if theres an actual need case for launching a digital krona.

Recently reported by local news, the Riksbank is ready to launch a group to examine the potential e-krona. The participants will play out different scenarios to determine if the digital currencys performance is sufficient and reliable. A statement from the bank outlines the various requirements that the e-krona needs to address before launching:

The aim of the project is to show how an e-krona could be used by the general public. A digital krona should be simple, user-friendly as well as fulfill critical requirements for security and performance.

The project will run on the blockchain technology in an isolated test environment. The participants will store the e-krona in a digital wallet. They will use a mobile app to make payments, deposits, and withdrawals. Additionally, users will also make payments via cards and smartwatches.

The bank will run the test group for a year until February 2021.

The Swedish central bank will also collaborate with other countries to discuss potential cases for issuing their cryptocurrency. To do so, the Riksbank will enter a dedicated group with the banks of Britain, the Eurozone, Japan, and Switzerland.

The report also outlines the real purpose of the potential digital krona. It informs that the Swedish population has stopped using cash as the primary source of payment transactions. More specifically, the percentage of people paying with cash has dropped from 40 to 13 between 2010 and 2018.

Despite that, though, the Riksbank doesnt plan to replace cash entirely if it launches the digital krona. Instead, the central bank said that it would be used as a complement. It will continue to issue banknotes and coins, as long as theres a demand in the country.

Deutsche bank recently also touched upon the topic of cash necessity in todays society. It concluded that some banks, debit, and credit card providers, and governments are attempting to eliminate cash from daily usage. However, their document ultimately refuted the option of the end of cash.

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Swedens Central Bank To Begin Testing National Cryptocurrency - CryptoPotato

Whether you text, type, scrawl chicken scratch onto a doctors pad, or inscribe calligraphy in your bullet journal, everyone who shares a language uses the same alphabet. But where does it come from? And who invented it? Even as our own alphabet changes and we devolve into the pictorial non-syllabic communication of emojis, tracing the history of writing is its own form of investigative journey.

And now archaeologists have found another piece of the puzzle: excavations in Israel have unearthed a 3,200-year-old Canaanite temple that once served the city of Lachish, the last Canaanite city. The discovery promises to shed light on the political and religious relationship between the Canaanites and Egyptians, ancient Canaanite religion and deities, and even the Israelite conquest. But among the most important discoveries at the site was the earliest example of the proto-Canaanite letter samekh a letter that would survive in Hebrew and Aramaic, find its way into ancient Greek, and enjoy an afterlife in 21st century technology.

The discovery was made by a team jointly led by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Michael Hasel at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. Though the temple was unearthed two years ago, it has taken several years for the finds and evidence to be analyzed and news of the discovery only emerged this week.

In the Bible, Lachish is mentioned several times; in particular with the conquest of the land of Canaanites by the Israelites (Joshua 10:3, 5, 23, 31-35). According to the book of Joshua, Japhia, the King of Lachish, was one of five kings who tried to push back the Israelite invasion. After being caught unawares by a surprise attack, Japhia and his allies took refuge in a cave, were captured, and then executed. Joshua then launched a siege of Lachish that lasted for two days before the city fell and Joshua had the inhabitants of the city exterminated. The city and land surrounding it was then assigned to the tribe of Judah. If all of this sounds like a war crime to you, then youre correct: the Israelite conquest narratives are stories about divinely mandated and supported genocide. The city is mentioned again on a variety of occasions; the prophet Jeremiah names it as one of the last cities to fall to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, for example.

The city itself is located in central Israel about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem in the Shephelah (lowlands) region of Israel between Mount Hebron and the Mediterranean coast. In both the Canaanite and Judahite periods Lachish was second in importance only to Jerusalem. For an ancient city, Lachish is remarkably well-documented in our historical records. It appears in ancient Assyrian, Egyptian, and Biblical texts and is even referred to on stone panels found in Nineveh (modern day northern Iraq). The earliest literary reference to Lachish is in Egyptian sources: the so-called Amarna letters, a set of clay tablets that document correspondence between Egypt government and their representatives in Canaan. These everyday administrative letters reveal that Lachish was an important and powerful city in the foothills of Judea.

Even before the arrival of the Israelites, the city had had a violent history: It first rose to prominence in 1800 BCE and, for some 400 years thereafter, it flourished and prospered. It was then destroyed by Pharaoh Thutmose III in 1550 BCE as part of the 18th Dynastys expansion into Canaan. The city was rebuilt and destroyed on multiple other occasions throughout its history but the newly discovered temple dates from the citys resurgence between roughly 1200-1150 BCE. Garfinkel calls this incarnation, the last Canaanite city.

The structure of the temple is unusual for the Late Bronze age: The entrance, which featured two towers and pillars, led to a large rectangular hall. Garfinkel told Haaretz that this kind of structure was more common in earlier temples found in Syria. But the style appears to have influenced the first Temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon which, according to the Bible, also featured pillars, towers and a central hall.

As we would expect for an urban center with close ties to Egypt, many of the artifacts found at the site revealed Egyptian influence in the region. In addition to bronze cauldrons, axes, and daggers adorned with bird heads and scarabs, the team found a gold-plated bottle inscribed with the name of Rameses II. They also discovered an amulet that references the goddess Hathor, an Egyptian bovine deity who might also have been local to Canaan. In Egyptian mythology Hathor was associated with music, fertility, love and sex and was often charged with greeting the dead in the afterlife. The discovery of Egyptian religious traditions at the temple at Lachish is evidence of the contact between and mutual influence of Canaanite and Egyptian culture on each other.

Also discovered within the Temple, however, were religious elements that would not have been found in either ancient Egypt or ancient Israel. In particular, the discovery of two small statues of the god Baalone of the God of Israels principle competitors in the Biblereveal that this was unambiguously a center of Canaanite religious life.

Arguably the most stunning revelation from the temple was the discovery of an early Canaanite inscription on a shard of pottery. Among the letters etched into the clay was the proto-Canaanite letter samekh. This letter resembles a mirrored capital letter E (a vertical line crossed by three perpendicular shorter lines). The example from Lachish is the earliest example of samekh that we have and thus adds to our understanding of the development of alphabet writing systems. Many scholars believe that ancient writing began in ancient Sumer (Mesopotamia) with the development of pictographic writing forms such as that found on the limestone Kish tablet. The Kish tablet is often seen as a bridge or transitional example between proto-writing systems (symbolic systems of communication that arose independently in various regions of the ancient world) and syllabic writing systems; in the case of the Kish tablet cuneiform, a system of wedge-shaped marks.

Whether one is willing to name the Sumerians as first (and some arent) its clear that ancient writing systems developed in the Early Bronze Age in a variety of places including Sumer (cuneiform), Egypt (hieroglyphics), Crete (hieroglyphs), China (logographs), the Indus Valley (Indus/Harrapan Script), and Mexico (Cascajal block). The aleph-bet-gimmel semitic writing system known as proto-Canaanite that would eventually develop into Hebrew and Aramaic emerged in 1800 BCE and can be seen in early examples from Egypt and Sinai. In the Lachish temple example we see for the first time how the proto-Canaanites wrote the letter samekh. Garfinkel told Haaretz [Other examples of proto-Canaanite writing] had the other letters, het and resh and shin and so on, but not samekh. Scholars were able to identify the letter because sometime between 1000 and 950 BCE the Phoenicians adopted the proto-Canaanite alphabet, refined it, and formalized it into a more structured and organized system and in the Phoenician system this is exactly how samekh looks. Now we know for sure where they got it from.

The discovery at Lachish helps us chart the shifts and changes from proto-Canaanite to Pheonecian and then to Hebrew and beyond. Dr. Robert Cargill, an archaeologist and professor of ancient Judaism and Christianity at the University of Iowa told me the samekh has an odd history because even though it is a somewhat redundant sibilant (a hissing sound, to you and me), it persists in Hebrew and Aramaic, and even in the Greek alphabet via the Phoenician alphabet. In other words, even though it was somewhat redundant, the influence of this letter is felt in a number of important writing systems. In Greek it gave rise to the letter Xi, which continues to be used (outside of just the Greek and old Cyrillic alphabets) in mathematics and science where it has over a dozen applications. Perhaps most strangely it is a monetary unit of Ethereum, a cryptocurrency that some have claimed is used by criminals to run Ponzi schemes and investment fraud. From ancient temple pottery to sophisticated Ponzi schemes, this letter has come a long way.

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Inside the Lachish Temple, the Earliest Example of the Letter Samekh - The Daily Beast

Ripple has launched a new portal designed to give cryptocurrency investors a way to report malicious activity connected to the XRP Ledger.

People can now fill out a request form asking Ripple to explore a long list of unusual activity, including theft, phishing attempts, giveaway scams, suspicious exchanges, money laundering, unauthorized transactions and other financial crimes.

Although it will investigate matters connected to the XRP Ledger, Ripple says it will not make victims whole and cannot reverse transactions.

Ledger and the users of the XRP Ledger are not customers of Ripple therefore Ripple does not have the power to reverse transactions, even in the case of a reported financial loss (ex: theft).

By submitting a request to Ripple, the company says consumers are effectively giving the company permission to report the matter to US lawmakers on the federal, state, or local level.

Ripple may also report the issue to international law enforcement or regulatory agencies.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Dmitriy Rybin

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Ripple Battles XRP Scams, Launches Initiative to Combat Cryptocurrency Theft, Fake Giveaways and Financial Crimes - The Daily Hodl