Clarity Project aims to be more than a token gesture

I was browsing the Bloomberg Tax website and came across an interesting “hush-hush development”. Apparently the UK government is exploring the issue of taxation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum.

Bloomberg writer Ben Stupples reckons: “Officials have met with tax practitioners to discuss the UK’s treatment of cryptocurrencies.”

His source has asked not to be identified as the information is private. But the individual says the government is looking at the taxation of how businesses raise capital.

What’s the big secret?

I’m not really sure why there should be a big secret here. But this whole thing about cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology is fascinating, not least because of its slightly mysterious air.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have risen in value from about one cent in 2010 to $16,000 per bitcoin last year. It’s easy to see why authorities are taking a closer look at the area.

Coincidentally, and relevant because of its “cutting edgeness”, entrepreneur/accountants Aynsley Damery and Steve Briginshaw delivered a fascinating session at Accountex 2018on how blockchain technology is going to affect accountants.

Maximising potential

I was chatting by email to Steve the other day about the Clarity Project, which he and Aynsley have set up to help businesses maximise their potential by utilising data, and to do some good into the bargain.

The project has produced an excellent white paper here. It sets out the mission and explains an ingenious financing push … a  token sale. Steve kindly provided me with a few bullet points that explain what’s happening:

• Clarity will be a one-stop shop for small business owners worldwide, giving them complete access to and control over their data.
• It is an all-encompassing platform that not only stores data, providing analytics, benchmarking, file sharing, third party verification and easy access funding but keeps business information such as insurance, finance, human resources and standard operating procedures all in one place using blockchain technology.
• Business owners will use the Clarity software and AI driven dashboards to keep track of their business performance and will have access to early-stage funding or investment that was previously only available to larger businesses.
• Low due diligence fees will appeal to potential institutional investors who have the opportunity to integrate into the platform from the start and see which businesses are performing the best.
• The platform will use Clarity tokens as the basis for its currency and tokens will be used to purchase services.
• The Token Sale starts on 20 July 2018.