According to a press release this week from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a federal court in the Northern District of California has entered an order authorizing the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. The John Doe summons reportedly seeks information about U.S. taxpayers who conducted at least the equivalent of $20,000 in transactions in cryptocurrency during the years 2016 to 2020. The summons seeks information related to the IRS' "investigation of an ascertainable group or class of persons" that the IRS has reasonable basis to believe "may have failed to comply with internal revenue laws." The summons directs the cryptocurrency exchange to produce records related to these U.S. taxpayers and their cryptocurrency transactions.
According to recent reports, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) has signed a $4.5 million contract with BitGo, a major U.S. cryptocurrency custody provider, to assist USMS in storing and selling cryptocurrencies seized in criminal investigations. According to a website that tracks the amount of bitcoin auctioned off by U.S. authorities, the total value of seized bitcoin that has been sold in U.S. government auctions is approximately 185,230 BTC.
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