Anyone looking back on the rollercoaster price of a Bitcoin might find themselves feeling that fear of missing out. When news of a new cryptocurrency bubbles up on social media, there may be that temptation to get on the ground floor.
More people invest in cryptocurrency by the year. According to Insider, over 100 million people across multiple generations already have some investments in digitally secure currency.
Cryptocurrency is an asset
As mystical and new as it might appear, cryptocurrency is still just that — currency. For any divorcing couple, courts consider it divisible as marital property. That may mean liquidating it and splitting the gain or dividing the total coinage between blockchain wallets. The trouble comes when one or both spouses attempt to obscure their assets.
Cryptocurrency is unregulated
One of the most attractive aspects of cryptocurrency, its secure and mostly untrackable nature, may make divorce a headache. According to Bankrate, financial forensic accountants must pay close attention to bank deposits and crypto-trading platforms in order to confirm whether or not a spouse has cryptocurrency. In some cases, spouses attempted to hide thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency is not a legal way to hide assets in a divorce
It may seem like an easy way to hide money a spouse does not want to part with. But when a person claims they own no cryptocurrency on a financial affidavit and it turns out they did, the courts might charge them with perjury.
In a situation where one spouse invested in cryptocurrency, being honest about it in divorce proceedings may make things go smoothly. For those who think their spouse is hiding cryptocurrency, it may come down to accounting investigations to find that out.