The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issued a new legal advisory for officials who own NFTs. Note that this office oversees the entire executive branch at the White House and more than 130 government agencies.
The bulletin states that subordinates must put NFTs on their public financial information if they are valued at more than $1,000 or generate more than $200 in income. This applies to all transactions involving the purchase, sale or exchange of NFTs. The agency considers such assets to be securities – accordingly, they must be reported to the public.
Officials may not report such assets unless they are used for investment or income generation. In that case, NFTs are equated with household items.
To avoid confusion, OGE added a 7-point checklist on how to properly distinguish personal NFTs from commercial ones. For example, you need to answer questions about whether the NFT is rare and whether it was bought in the hope that the price of the token will rise in the future.
Recall that Coinbase recently sold a customer tracking program to the United States. The country has a very strict policy on crypto-assets, requiring strict compliance with laws and paying taxes.