<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">New Zealand’s tax agency has requested that crypto firms in the country share their customers’ personal details and cryptocurrency asset values.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to a <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/427113/ird-to-begin-probing-crypto-currency-investors">statement from the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) </a>issued to Radio New Zealand, the agency has requested this information in order to enhance its understanding of the crypto-asset environment in the country, so that it can know how best to help taxpayers meet income tax obligations. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The move comes at a time when tax regulators around the world are <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/76021/irs-letters-taxes-crypto-2020">tightening their grip on the cryptocurrency market</a>.</span></p> <p><a href="https://easycrypto.ai/nz/about"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Janine Grainger</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, chief executive of New-Zealand-based Easy Crypto, told Radio New Zealand that the IRD must be widening its net of the tax base because crypto-asset ownership is growing in New Zealand. Grainger called the move a “heartbreaking” breach of privacy and autonomy. </span></p>