Israel can finally legitimize Bitcoin
On Tuesday, it was announced that the Ministry of Finance of Israel will create a working group on digital currencies together with the heads of large accounting firms and relevant professional chambers.
Israel, perhaps, will create clear rules with respect to bitcoins. This was decided at a meeting initiated by Finance Minister Moshe Kalon with the same bodies that had previously reported that Israel was not yet ready to deal with the issue of digital currencies.
One of those who insisted on considering the problem is an Israeli entrepreneur and a bitcoin supporter Moshe Hogeg. Last month, he met with the Minister of Finance to discuss issues of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
In his speech, Hogeg said that he was very pleased that the minister was meeting halfway. In addition, he added: Committees will start their activities very quickly. I think we will see clear results within six months.
Current state of affairs
As mentioned above, the current lack of official regulations on bitcoin created a lot of problems in Israel for both individual users and business in this area.
In June, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that banks can refuse to service businesses associated with bitcoin (eg, exchanges) because of the inability of banks to conduct a full audit.
And at the beginning of the year, the Israeli tax administration ruled that if bitcoin is not legally defined as a currency, its sale will be taxed with a number of taxes that could seriously interfere with the implementation of the crypto currency.
It is also necessary to remember that any proposals will eventually come out for general discussion and are unlikely to find broad support. It is known that at least one high-ranking Israeli public official is very concerned about the dangerous potential of the cryptocurrency, and will certainly express his opinion.
Professor Shmuel Hauser, head of the Israeli Securities Agency (ISA), spoke in favor of paternalism with respect to both ICO and bitcoins. Since then, the ISA has set up its own committee to discuss possible rules and resolve the issue of crypto-currency in Israel.
https://medium.com/solardao/israel-can-finally-legitimize-bitcoin-9ac6e68e3d09
