- What Did You do before Blockchain?
Actually, the same thing as I am doing now, but with a different clientele. Before I got involved in blockchain, I was still an accountant helping business and individuals with their goals and planning. While I still serve the same clientele I did before, I now have a whole new set of clients that are very passionate about what they do, whether it is mining, investing or trading.
- What Brought you into the Space?
My love for exploring new technology and looking for new areas to invest. I knew about Bitcoin since 2013 but foolishly brushed it off as a fad. As I watched it go up and ultimately crash a bit, it only confirmed (in my mind) that I was right. I kept my eye on it until the beginning of 2017, when I saw it started to show some life again and decided to finally jump in the mix. While making money from Bitcoin and other alts, I naturally, as an accountant, figured I needed to learn how the IRS treats the income made from crypto. I am more than excited I was brought into this industry and I am super excited at the speed this industry moves at.
- What’s Keeping You in the Space?
The potential for being on the cusp of an amazing new technology for our world is what drives me. My end goal for crypto is to be accepted the same as the dollar, euro, renminbi, etc., and part of that mainstream adoption is proper taxation. Governments simply will not allow people to make money without getting their part, but money people are being taxed on profits that have not actually realized in fiat. My dream is to help with the adoption of crypto in mainstream society, and believe it or not, I feel that taxation is a large part of that. Getting better tax laws and guidance from the IRS drives me to work harder for my clients.
- What Lies Ahead for You?
This will be my fourth year working with clients who had cryptocurrency, and I hope to build my practice with more clients who are as passionate as they all were. I love working with my crypto clients, as they have a certain excitement and passion that really drives me. I am looking to continue to help as many investors, traders and miners minimize their tax liability while staying compliant with the IRS. The IRS is getting better technology to track those who own crypto and reporting the proper amount of taxes is more important than ever.
- What Blockchain Developments are you Following?
I tend to focus more on the finance side of the blockchain developments, so ETF of course is near the top for me. Also, there is a lot of movement from the large financial institutions to incorporate crypto into people’s retirement accounts, which is huge. This tells me more people are requesting the product, and the companies are complying. Canada just passed a law about tax-free IRAs incorporating Bitcoin, which again, is great news that is moving the industry as a whole forward.
- Who’s Your Top Influencer Inside the Blockchain Space?
I know I may be different than others in the blockchain space, but I tend to stay away from YouTube and Twitter and just do lots of reading on different sites to get my news. I read lots of different sources so that I can get different perspectives on things, such as mainstream and industry-specific sites. Specific people that I find interesting, though I may not always agree with, are guys like John McAfee and Roger Ver. Oh, and I did meet the guys from Crypto Street Podcast and listened to their panel at a crypto convention and they were very interesting and knowledgeable.
- Who’s Your Top Influencer Outside of It?
This may sound cliché or corny, but my wife. She pushes and drives me like no one else in the world can, and without her, I don’t think I would be where I am at today. She celebrates the highs with me and kicks me in the butt to get me out of my lows and come out as a better person, so without a doubt, she is my influencer in life.
- Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?
In the blockchain space, 5 years can feel like a lifetime. I hope to see myself, though, as an authority and influencer in the blockchain industry on accounting and tax. The accounting and tax laws that deal with crypto is extremely vague and new, and guidance from the IRS was last issued in 2014. As you all know, much has changed in 4 years, so I hope to help carve out what taxation will look like. Also, I feel as though taxation is one of the last big hurdles crypto will have to face in 1st world countries to obtain true mainstream acceptance. Tax laws currently are too cumbersome for any person to be able to use it daily to replace cash if they want to be reporting their taxable income in compliance.
- What do you want people to know about your business?
As I have said before, I am an accounting and tax professional with over a decade of experience in public and private accounting. One of my specialties in the accounting world is cost accounting, which I feel flows well with blockchain accounting. Cost accounting breaks things down on such a small level and allows me to properly understand the true cost of business, which directly correlates to the crypto mining and investment industry. I have worked with over 60 clients alone in the 2017 tax year, my first year that I really dealt with crypto clients. I continue to be involved in the industry and learning how to properly account for it and have a great passion for the crypto community. I have spoken at a crypto convention about taxation and would love to continue doing this at other events. Finally, I also work with a mining company, Windfall Mining, as their CFO. They are doing some great things in the industry as well and I am more than happy to be a part of their project.
- How can someone get in contact with you?
You can find me at www.BryanShearer.accountant or contact me on my office phone at 717-639-2550. You can also find me on social media on Facebook under Shearer’s Accounting & Tax Service, Twitter at @shearersaccount or on LinkedIn under my name Bryan Shearer. I am more than happy to answer questions you may have, so feel free to email me at tax@bryanshearer.accountant or use the form on my website. Thanks so much for this great interview and it was lots of fun talking about the blockchain industry!