Digital assets bloom

TAX: AUTHORITIES WANT THEIR CUT FROM GAINS MADE ON THESE ASSETS

- Amanda Visser

Tax authorities around the world are increasingly grappling with investments into "new" asset classes and investment products that are not as familiar as property, bonds, shares, collective investment schemes, and retirement funds.

Crypto assets have a current market capitalization of more than $2 trillion (about R35.3 trillion). In comparison, the total assets under management worldwide were $120 trillion in 2023.

"Investments in cryptocurrencies are no longer insignificant, and we cannot ignore them," says Oktavia Weidmann, UK tax specialist on cryptocurrencies and derivatives.

Generational shift

Speaking at the International Fiscal Association's congress in Cape Town, Weidmann said there is a generational shift in how people generate, store and spend their wealth.