Business Law Journal

Taxation issues around virtual currencies have abounded since the inception of these so called “digital dollars,” such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero.  Though a single Bitcoin may no longer be valued at nearly $20,000 as it was in late 2017, the overall increase in value of many virtual currencies has created an incentive for holders of these virtual currencies to donate amounts of virtual currency to charitable organizations, for the same reasons appreciated property is often donated generally.  However, until recently, there was little to no IRS guidance in place for charitable organizations receiving donations of virtual currency.

If you are a smart phone user, you may have wondered why so many new privacy policies have recently rolled out.  The reason?  The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) became effective May 25, 2018, and applies to all organizations that handle European Union citizens’ data.  Businesses throughout the world, including in the US, are figuring out how to best navigate through what some have called one of the most important corporate compliance events in years, with several controversial provisions.  GDPR will substantially increase statutory obligations regarding the processing of personal data placed on data controllers and data processors both inside and outside the European Union.  A controller is the entity that determines the purposes, conditions and means of the processing of personal data, while the processor is an entity which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.