Reviews declare that the US Senate Finance Committee is investigating Dan Morehead, the founding father of Pantera Capital. The inquiry, led by Senator Ron Wyden, is attempting to find out whether or not the enterprise capital founder/CEO is responsible of federal tax legislation violations following his transfer to Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico has attracted the title of “tax haven” due to its Act 60, which promotes funding in Puerto Rico through tax incentives like zero tax on passive revenue and 2-4% company tax, making it a refuge for prosperous Individuals seeking to escape the trials of taxation.
The Senate Finance Committee’s accusations
In a letter launched by the Senate Finance Committee, Morehead was accused of promoting a substantial quantity of shares after his relocation to the tax haven, which helped him rake in billions in capital beneficial properties.
How a lot that mounts to is presently unknown and the committee has requested extra data associated to those transactions, in addition to the doxxing of his tax advisor.
The letter has additionally urged Morehead to supply an inventory of the property he bought throughout his time in Puerto Rico, together with cryptocurrencies. In the meantime, the Pantera CEO, in an announcement, has defended himself, stating that he moved to Puerto Rico in 2021 and that he did what was needed concerning his taxes at the moment.
The current US Senate Finance Committee investigation of the Pantera Capital government is a uncommon bump within the highway for the crypto business for the reason that Donald Trump administration returned to workplace on January 20, 2025.
Pantera Capital’s place within the American crypto house
Pantera Capital, which is below investigation, has been working as an funding agency for the reason that early 2000s. It is among the greatest gamers in crypto with dealings that contain many crypto corporations, together with giants like Circle, Ripple, and Coinbase.
On February 11, the enterprise capital launched a report exploring the potential affect Solana ETFs may have on the SOL token and its ecosystem. Bloomberg reported in March 2024 that Pantera Capital was elevating funds to purchase SOL tokens at a reduction from the bankrupt FTX alternate.
The end result of the investigation shall be monitored as issues like this have a tendency to affect buyers and function a prerogative for future tax insurance policies, particularly these that can contain crypto. The committee can be now paying extra consideration to those so-called tax havens similar to Puerto Rico, and this may increasingly result in stricter laws as they battle to dam the loophole it gives.
Final week on the OndoSummit, the Pantera founder sat with Mike Novogratz and Justin Schmidt, President at Ondo Finance, to debate the way forward for blockchain in 2025. Throughout the dialogue, Dan talked about how the crypto business has been so “repressed by regulatory uncertainty, it’s like Stockholm syndrome” and what number of hope the brand new administration will show totally different.
Crypto has simply gotten a foothold within the corridors of energy, with even the POTUS going so far as launching his personal TRUMP memecoin on Solana the weekend earlier than his inauguration. Now, because the mud settles with pro-crypto government orders in place and new appointments resume work at regulators just like the SEC and CFTC, it stays to be seen how the brand new administration will transfer ahead with regulating the crypto house and its high stakeholders.