US launches new measures against tax evasion, money laundering, and terrorism in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal. Time to switch to Bitcoin to maintain your privacy.
In an effort to curb illicit financial transactions, the US Department of Treasury announced a tightening on financial regulations last week. This involved amending the US Bank Secrecy Act in order to prevent money from being hidden in offshore companies.
The first rule change is targeted at shell corporations, and would require the disclosure of the true owners and would not allow their identity to be protected through lawyers or other appointed figureheads meant to obfuscate ownership.
The second rule, which at this point is still a proposal, would have the intended effect of preventing foreign nationals from hiding their assets in the United States.
Recently after the Panama Papers scandal
Although an official for the Treasury claimed the rule changes were not related, they do come less than a month after the Panama Papers scandal revealed scores of politicians, celebrities, athletes, and other wealthy individuals hiding their money in foreign accounts.
Many of the world’s elite were found to have created shell corporations in Panama through the law firm Mossack Fonseca for the purposes of hiding wealth and avoiding taxes, including several prominent politicians who have ironically advocated for their citizens to pay their fair share in taxes.
Use Bitcoin to protect your privacy
Privacy-conscious consumers should switch to using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is online and pseudonymous, and, as such, is not tied to any specific person or geographical location.
Other cryptocurrencies such as Dash provide further security features, including coin-mixing, which renders transactions very difficult to trace.
In order to acquire cryptocurrency without divulging personal or financial information, there are several methods of avoiding online exchanges: attending a local Bitcoin meetup and buying privately for cash, using a Bitcoin ATM (or BTM), or using a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange like Wall of Coins.