I had the opportunity to participate on a legal panel with David Silver at the Unconfiscatable: Bitcoin Not Blockchain Conference put on by Tone Vays in Las Vegas. It was quite an honor to be part of it; the conference was hands down the best Bitcoin event I’ve attended since Jason King hosted Coins in the Kingdom back in October 2014.At the end of the panel, we opened up for a Q&A and one of the questions was something I had never considered before. The gentleman asked if, after moving his bitcoin off Coinbase and onto his cold storage, he would be required to file a Foreign Bank Account Report (“FBAR”) because the bitcoin is located on all the nodes across the world.David Silver and Sasha Hodder at Unconfiscatable in Las Vegas. Photo credit: www.justlearnbitcoin.comSilver had the right idea telling the audience member that we can’t give legal or tax advice on stage. I attempted to answer using an analogy of the foreign private issuer test — where, if you are a foreign registered company but at least 50 percent owned by Americans living in America, you must still file American taxes. I thought that if you’re domiciled in America, the private key is likewise located in America, and not relevant for an FBAR. It makes some sense, but I knew it wasn’t the full analogy.After the discussion, I researched it further and found some simple guidance on FBAR.In summary, if an American owns a financial interest worth $10,000 or mor...
