Hacker News Reader

Making a mark in a private ledger does not count as a taxable event for anyone.

If I say in my diary "I give $100,000 to dublinben", or "dublinben can claim $100,000 from me for free by just asking", nothing has happened yet from the perspective of the IRS.

Here is more the equivalent of "Here is a coupon to redeem 100,000 USD from me", which is essentially currency / debt already

This is exactly the concern that the GooSig private airdrop addresses.

Nobody has any obligation to claim their coins, and even if they do, it will be private and nobody will know.

This is unlike Bitcoin forks or ERC-20 airdrops, because it’s 100pct opt-in.

Only taxable if you claim it and convert to fiat. How is free money rude?

You have to pay taxes when claimed, and again when a transaction occurs.

The rule is you need to pay taxes on the value when you receive them, and then the profit / loss when you convert them to fiat, or another currency. Both are taxable events.

This is incorrect, it's taxable even if you never convert it.

It’s not an ethereum airdrop which goes to an address you already own. You don’t have the coins until you deliberately claim them, so it’s opt-in.