Libra Offers Tax Accounting and Compliance Service for Digital Currency

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwired – Apr 14, 2014) –  Libra (http://libratax.com/), the provider of software products which help taxpayers calculate the tax obligation for their digital currency holdings, today announced it will be making the first of those products, LibraTax for individuals, available to the public in Q3 2014.

“I built this because the onus of being a good citizen and a responsible taxpayer can be especially burdensome for digital currency holders right now, given the confusion over policies and definitions,” said Libra founder and CEO Jake Benson. “As this important process plays out, the need for easy-to-use, automated tools for consumers and businesses will be critical. Libra will help to eliminate much of the anxiety currently felt by those transacting in digital currency.”

Individuals who file for the automatic six-month extension with the Internal Revenue Service this year will be able to take advantage of the LibraTax service when it is released. Libra also is working on developing digital-currency financial tools for small businesses and large enterprises.

“Preparing income tax returns is difficult enough. For digital currency users, the problems have been compounded because the IRS has provided limited guidance on how to account for varying exchange rates and casual spending,” said Tyler Robbins, author of bitcointax.info. “LibraTax will simplify this process for home and professional tax preparers alike. LibraTax will pave the way for accurate, educated, and most importantly, simple tax calculations.”

The LibraTax software supports Bitcoin, Ripple and other digital currencies, and is designed to accommodate all types of digital stores of value. As more and more of the economy moves towards digital transactions, and as all stores of value become representable on payment networks such as Ripple, Libra is committed to providing accurate and up-to-date financial tools to taxpayers and businesses.

“Despite whatever impact the recent guidelines might have, the fact the Internal Revenue Service is offering concrete directives is actually a good thing. Ultimately, it means that digital currency is being taken seriously, as are the foundational concepts of cryptocurrency technologies such as public ledgers. The end game here is a fully digital economy that improves convenience, efficiency and governance. Eventually, it will be possible to automatically populate your income, itemized deductions, and business expenses directly from public ledgers,” added Benson.

Libra is supported by CrossCoin Ventures, the digital currency accelerator based in San Francisco. For more information about Libra and to sign up for progress updates about the LibraTax platform, please visit http://www.libratax.com.

About Libra
Libra is the provider of software products that help taxpayers calculate the tax obligation for their holdings in Bitcoin, Ripple and other digital currencies. Libra offers a full suite of tax solutions aimed at customers in the consumer, small business and enterprise spaces, with public release of its first LibraTax products slated for Q3 2014. Libra is a CrossCoin Ventures company. For more information, please visit http://www.libratax.com.

About CrossCoin Ventures
CrossCoin Ventures invests to create a new financial ecosystem based on cryptocurrency technologies. We are big believers in the Ripple vision that payments will be transformed to become global, distributed, instant and free. The open source, distributed Ripple protocol enables free, instant payments to merchants, consumers and developers with no charge-backs and in any currency, from dollars and yen to bitcoins. In addition to running the Ripple accelerator, CrossCoin partners also invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency companies. For more information and to apply, please visit http://www.crosscoinventures.com.

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