The best Sundays are for long reads and deep conversations. Earlier this week the Let's Talk Bitcoin! Show gathered to discuss Coronavirus and its potential impacts or disruptions to the decentralized world of bitcoin.Later, we hear from correspondent George Ettinger about the indications of a "Dumb Currency Singularity" taking place at the IRS right now (also presented in full text below).Listen/subscribe to the CoinDesk Podcast feed for unique perspectives and fresh daily insight with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, IHeartRadio or RSS.On today's podcast we discuss Coronavirus and:The bitcoin mining industry and the slowing rate of hash-rate increases in the run-up to the 2020 halvingSafe haven, uncorrelated and risk asset narratives as the price of bitcoin bounces defies expectationsThe potential for shifts in how society thinks about money in the wake of a highly transmissible global diseasePlus a brief primer on virus families (skip to 13 minutes for blockchain only content if you're already up to speed)Credits for LTB#429 - Coronavirus Impacts on Bitcoin (And the IRS's Dumb Singularity)This episode of Let's Talk Bitcoin! is sponsored by Purse.io and eToro.com.This episode featured Stephanie Murphy, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, George Ettinger and Adam B. LevineToday's episode was produced by Adam B. Levine, edited by Adam B. Levine with music provided by Jared Rubens and Adam B. LevineWould you like to Sponsor a future episode of the Let's Talk Bitcoin! show? Do you have any questions or comments? Email adam@ltbshow.comThe Dumb Singularity: Crypto Currencies and Game Currencies are Overdue for a CollisionSo. It has come to this.One of the biggest barriers to entry for a disruptive technology is the incompetence of the average consumer. On the other hand, simply preying on the illiteracy of consumers can be a boon for some truly terrible inventions. It is in the clash of these two ideologies that we have reached the Dumb Currency Singularity.Digital currency has been on course for the Dumb Singularity for well over a decade, and we finally passed the event horizon late last year. At the end of 2019, the IRS quietly published a set of virtual currency guidelines that broadly lumped together mainstream cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin and Ethereum with honest-to-god Fortnite V-Bucks and Roblox Money.I have just been informed that the legal term for Roblox currency is "Robux." That seems... fair.My point, however roundabout it may be, is that somebody in a position of some influence at the United States Internal Revenue Service saw their grandkid beg for a Roblox card in the Walgreens checkout line and thought, "MY GOD, THE BIT-COINS HAVE COME FOR THE CHILDREN." And then, when he put his horror to print, enough a phalanx of fellow IRS employees looked it over and thought "yes, that sounds right" that it was greenlit for public consumption. That advisement (to which the IRS claimed players of Fortnite and Roblox must report any purchases of "Bucks", whether "V"- or "Ro"-) stood monolithically for nearly three months before it was escorted off the stage just as quietly as it had arrived. In a fit of Streisanding, this change caught more attention than the addition had garnered to begin with, and the IRS gave a formal explanation. "The IRS recognizes that the language on our page potentially caused concern for some taxpayers," they said. "We have changed the language in order to lessen any confusion. Transacting in virtual currencies as part of a game that do not leave the game environment (virtual currencies that are not convertible) would not require a taxpayer to indicate this on their tax return."This is, surprisingly, rather huge. Huge in that they got this follow-up explanation relatively right, and huge in that they still persist in getting so-called "virtual currency" wrong. You see, the IRS has been caught flat-footed over and over with every passing year that crypto cur