A remarkable event has occurred in Taiwan. A crypto trader on the Taiwanese crypto exchange MaiCoin received an unexpected reward. This trader instantly became an impressive $310,000, or €294,000, richer.
However, this is not because of profitable crypto trading strategies or a rapidly rising price. This lucky winner made his fortune by participating in a monthly lottery for tax receipts in Taiwan.
Who says retail users can’t profit from trading cryptos? Taiwan’s largest crypto exchange @MAX_exch announced some user made a tiny trade that paid $2 NTD ($0.06 USD) in fee on platform, the tax receipt ended up winning 10mil ($310k USD) in Taiwan govt’s invoice lottery!???? pic.twitter.com/FSGXdKVW5J
— Paul Huang (@PaulHuangReport) October 5, 2023
He simply owed his participation in the lottery to paying taxes in Taiwan. Since 1950, the country has had a unique system to encourage tax compliance through a lottery: the “Uniform Invoice Lottery”.
Crypto trader gets top prize of $310,000
Taiwanese retailers, who exceed a certain income threshold, are required to provide customers with official receipts. An electronic copy of this is also sent to the tax authorities.
These receipts act as a ticket number for the remarkable tax lottery. Every month, the Taiwanese government holds a drawing for cash prizes. The main prize of this lottery is 10 million New Taiwan Dollars (NTD). This is equivalent to approximately 310,000 US dollars.
What makes this story extra special is that the lucky winner only paid 6 cents in transaction fees on the Taiwanese crypto trading platform.
Taiwanese crypto traders are making smart bets on the lottery
For crypto exchanges like MaiCoin, every transaction technically represents a taxable event. As a result, crypto traders generate a significant amount of these tax receipts. Active trading practices have allowed some traders to collect dozens or even hundreds of these virtual lottery tickets per month.
Critics question the system’s efficiency in improving tax compliance in the country. However, Taiwan has an effective tax system with significant revenues relative to average gross domestic product (GDP).
Stories about large lottery prizes contribute positively to the image of the system in Taiwan. As the crypto industry grows, Taiwan’s coupon lottery system shows an intriguing example of revenue generation through digital asset trading.