> >If the "new" chain has some value post-fork, that value has been siphoned off the "old" chain
> Not necessarily. I don't see how that follows at all.
If you can make infinite money out of thin air by making infinite hard forks, go ahead. No-one's stopping you.
> >Suppose the opposite was true. If you could create value out of thin air like that, we could all get rich just by forking cryptos over and over again. I know it _seems like_ this has been happening in past 2 years. It's an example of irrational market behavior. There is no* reason hard fork should create value.
> How does that matter to the IRS whether market is being irrational or rational?
I didn't say it matters to the IRS.
> >However, in a rational market this information would be incorporated into prices _before_ the hard fork: there is still no rational reason for the total price of assets to magically jump after the event.
> The crypto market is full of hype and irrational actors
> Not necessarily. I don't see how that follows at all.
If you can make infinite money out of thin air by making infinite hard forks, go ahead. No-one's stopping you.
> >Suppose the opposite was true. If you could create value out of thin air like that, we could all get rich just by forking cryptos over and over again. I know it _seems like_ this has been happening in past 2 years. It's an example of irrational market behavior. There is no* reason hard fork should create value.
> How does that matter to the IRS whether market is being irrational or rational?
I didn't say it matters to the IRS.
> >However, in a rational market this information would be incorporated into prices _before_ the hard fork: there is still no rational reason for the total price of assets to magically jump after the event.
> The crypto market is full of hype and irrational actors
We are in agreement here.