Meme 币热潮中的税务合规问题：Oyster 和 Bitqyck 案件回顾

随着meme币的火爆，很多加密行业的人都从中获得了丰厚的回报。然而，正如之前的 ICO 逃税案例所示

Bitcoin will take center stage in the global financial arena in 2024, sparking a meme coin carnival. According to statistics, roughly 75% of meme coins were created this year. The trading volume of meme coins had surged by over 950% as of early December this year, and their total market capitalization had surpassed USD 140 billion. The meme coin craze has not only brought a new wave of enthusiasm to the crypto market but has also drawn an increasing number of ordinary investors to the realm of crypto assets.

2024年，比特币将成为全球金融舞台的中心，引发一场迷因币狂欢。据统计，大约 75% 的 meme 币是今年创建的。截至今年12月初，meme币交易量激增950%以上，总市值超过1400亿美元。迷因币热潮不仅给加密市场带来了新一波的热潮，也吸引了越来越多的普通投资者进入加密资产领域。

The meme coin craze不禁brings to mind the ICO craze of around 2017. With the introduction of the ERC-20 standard in 2017, the cost of issuing tokens was significantly reduced, leading to the emergence of projects yielding returns of hundreds to thousands of times, and billions of dollars poured into the ICO craze; this year, a group of launch platforms like Pump.fun have made issuing tokens simpler and fairer, setting off a meme coin storm that continues to this day in the circle. Although there are numerous technological and logical distinctions between ICOs and the issuing of meme coins, the tax compliance risks faced by investors and project parties may be comparable. In the last round of ICO mania, there was no shortage of investors and project parties facing ICO-related tax troubles. Today, as the meme coin craze continues, tax compliance issues will once again become a core issue that crypto asset investors and meme coin issuers need to pay attention to. In this issue, FinTax will review the Oyster case and the Bitqyck case, taking these two ICO-related tax evasion cases as examples to provide crypto investors with a sober reflection on tax compliance during the meme coin craze.

迷因币热不禁让人想起2017年左右的ICO热潮。2017年ERC-20标准的推出，发行代币的成本大幅降低，导致数百倍至数千倍回报的项目出现，数十亿美元涌入 ICO 热潮；今年，Pump.fun等一批上线平台让发行代币变得更简单、更公平，在圈内掀起了一场持续至今的meme币风暴。尽管 ICO 和 meme 币的发行之间存在许多技术和逻辑上的区别，但投资者和项目方面临的税务合规风险可能是相似的。在上一轮ICO热潮中，不乏面临ICO相关税务困扰的投资者和项目方。如今，随着迷因币热潮的持续，税务合规问题将再次成为加密资产投资者和迷因币发行方需要关注的核心问题。本期FinTax将回顾Oyster案和Bitqyck案，以这两起ICO相关逃税案为例，为加密货币投资者在meme币热潮期间提供关于税务合规的清醒反思。

1. Two typical cases of ICO tax evasion

一、ICO逃税的两个典型案例

1.1 Oyster case: Founder sentenced to four years in prison for failure to declare income from coin sales

1.1 牡蛎案：创始人因未申报售币收入被判入狱四年

The Oyster Protocol platform was launched by Bruno Block (real name Amir Bruno Elmaani) in September 2017 to provide decentralized data storage services. In October 2017, Oyster Protocol began its ICO, and the token issued was called Pearl (PRL). Oyster Protocol claims that the issuance of PRL is to create a win-win ecosystem, so that both websites and users can benefit from data storage, and realize value exchange and incentive mechanisms through PRL. At the same time, founder Bruno Block also publicly promised that after the ICO, the supply of PRL will not increase, and the smart contract that creates PRL will be "locked".

Oyster Protocol 平台由 Bruno Block（真名 Amir Bruno Elmaani）于 2017 年 9 月推出，提供去中心化数据存储服务。 2017年10月，Oyster Protocol开始ICO，发行的代币名为Pearl（PRL）。 Oyster Protocol 声称，PRL 的发行是为了打造一个双赢的生态系统，让网站和用户都能从数据存储中受益，并通过 PRL 实现价值交换和激励机制。同时，创始人Bruno Block也公开承诺，ICO后，PRL的供应量不会增加，创建PRL的智能合约将被“锁定”。

Through ICO, Oyster Protocol raised about $3 million in the early stage, and with this money, it launched the mainnet and officially launched data storage services, turning Oyster Protocol from an idea into a usable product. But the good times did not last long. In October 2018, founder Bruno Block took advantage of a loophole in the smart contract, privately minted a large number of new PRLs, and sold them on the market, causing the price of PRL to plummet, but Bruno Block personally made huge profits.

通过 ICO，Oyster Protocol 前期筹集了约 300 万美元，并用这笔资金推出了主网并正式推出数据存储服务，将 Oyster Protocol 从一个想法变成了一个可用的产品。但美好的时光并没有持续多久。 2018年10月，创始人Bruno Block利用智能合约漏洞，私下铸造了大量新的PRL，并在市场上出售，导致PRL价格暴跌，但Bruno Block个人却获得了巨额利润。

The plunge in PRL prices has attracted the attention of regulators. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other relevant departments have launched investigations. The SEC eventually filed a civil lawsuit against Bruno Block for defrauding investors, and the prosecution filed a criminal lawsuit against Bruno Block for tax evasion. On the issue of taxation, prosecutors believe that Bruno Block not only damaged the trust of investors but also violated the obligation to pay taxes on millions of dollars in cryptocurrency profits. Bruno Block only filed a tax return in 2017 between 2017 and 2018, stating that he only earned about $15,000 from the "patent design" business. In 2018, he did not file a tax return or report any income to the IRS, but spent at least $12 million on real estate, yachts, etc.

PRL价格暴跌引起了监管层的关注。美国证券交易委员会（SEC）、美国国税局（IRS）、联邦调查局（FBI）等相关部门已展开调查。 SEC最终以欺诈投资者罪名对布鲁诺·布洛克提起民事诉讼，检方则以逃税罪对布鲁诺·布洛克提起刑事诉讼。在税收问题上，检察官认为Bruno Block不仅损害了投资者的信任，还违反了数百万美元加密货币利润的纳税义务。布鲁诺·布洛克(Bruno Block)仅在2017年提交了2017年至2018年间的纳税申报表，称自己仅从“专利设计”业务中赚取了约1.5万美元。 2018年，他没有向国税局提交纳税申报表或报告任何收入，但在房地产、游艇等方面花费了至少1200万美元。

Eventually, Oyster founder Bruno Block confessed to his tax evasion in court and signed a plea agreement in April 2023, sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion and required to pay approximately $5.5 million in compensation to the tax department to make up for the tax losses.

最终，Oyster创始人Bruno Block在法庭上承认了自己逃税的行为，并于2023年4月签署了认罪协议，因逃税被判处四年监禁，并需要向税务部门支付约550万美元的赔偿金以弥补税款损失。

1.2 Bitqyck case: ICO transfer income was not taxed, and the two initiators served a total of eight years in prison

1.2 Bitqyck案：ICO转账收入不征税，两名发起人共服刑八年

Bitqyck is a cryptocurrency company founded by Bruce Bise and Samuel Mendez. The company first launched Bitqy coin, claiming to provide an alternative way to get rich for "those who missed Bitcoin", and conducted an ICO in 2016. At the same time, Bitqyck promised investors that each Bitqy coin came with 1/10 of a share of Bitqyck common stock. But in fact, the company's shares have always been held by founders Bise and Mendez, and the company

Bitqyck 是一家加密货币公司，由 Bruce Bise 和 Samuel Mendez 创立。该公司首次推出Bitqy币，声称为“那些错过比特币的人”提供另一种致富方式，并于2016年进行了ICO。同时，Bitqyck向投资者承诺，每个Bitqy币都附带1/10的比特币。 Bitqyck 普通股份额。但事实上，公司股份一直由创始人Bise和Mendez持有，公司