Three Equifax investors sold $17.8 mln in shares

days before the company announced it had suffered one of the biggest hacks in history. As Reuters reports Friday, the shares sold three days after Equifax knew of the hack, and it was as yet “not clear whether these transactions were part of a pre-arranged sales plan.”

The credit giant has said that hackers gained entry to sensitive information from an unprecedented 143 mln accounts between May and July. Data such as names, social security and driver’s license numbers fell into the hands of malicious parties, along with 209,000 credit card numbers. Larger than any comparable attack in the US, Equifax is due to publish a report into the events in the coming weeks, while commentators highlight the vulnerability of centralized information storage.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 10,” an analyst told Reuters.  

“It affects the whole credit reporting system in the United States because nobody can recover it, everyone uses the same data.”

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence vice-president Mike Warner went even further, describing the breach as “representing a real threat to the economic security of Americans.” Legacy infrastructure is becoming an increasingly difficult topic to avoid as hackers launch ever more sophisticated attacks affecting hundreds of businesses and other organizations at once. WannaCry, the Bitcoin ransomware attack which appeared in May, partly achieved its international success due to the inadequate and outdated software still used by prominent entities.

Bitcoin Congressman Polis Legislation Abolishes Tax For US Crypto Payments Below $600

Bitcoin-friendly congressman Jared Polis has introduced legislation

that could allow US citizens to pay in cryptocurrency without reporting it for tax. The Cryptocurrency Tax Fairness Act, a bipartisan effort with Republican David Schweikert, aims to give everyone a $600 leeway to use crypto without needing to submit a tax return to the IRS later.

Bitcoin and virtual currencies are still classed as property in the US, obligating users to report any form of gains or losses on holdings each tax year, regardless of amount. The issue is especially poignant in 2017, as the US’s largest exchange Coinbase battles the IRS in what consumers and politicians alike have criticized as an “overly broad” tax investigation. “To keep up with modern technology, we need to remove outdated restrictions on cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, and other methods of digital payment,” Polis said in a

press release Thursday.  

“By cutting red tape and eliminating onerous reporting requirements, it will allow cryptocurrencies to further benefit consumers and help create good jobs.”

Washington is currently home to the Blockchain Caucus, a joint initiative begun in February by Polis aiming to increase education and awareness of virtual currency among the echelons of US politics. Commenting on the new act, Coin Center CEO Jerry Brito, who worked with Polis on the Caucus, said it would create a “level playing field.”

“We applaud Representatives Polis and Schweikert for their leadership in introducing the Cryptocurrency Tax Fairness Act, which would treat cryptocurrencies similarly to how foreign currency is now treated and relieve users from having to keep track of small personal transactions,” he said. “Not only will this create a level playing field for digital currencies, it will also help unleash innovation on applications like micropayments, which can consist of dozens of transactions per minute and thus are difficult to square with the current law.”

Chuck Reynolds

Marketing Dept
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