I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in Manhattan with Bitcoins

Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by csomar on Sunday June 26, 2011 @09:01AM (#2697942)

I really wander what if a country legalizes bitcoins. A small/poor country with less than 1 million inhabitants. Bitcoin supporters will found a great base where to make transactions legally and build bitcoin related start-ups without fear. All transactions take place in that country banks and then forward to the bank of choice of the company/person/start-up.

Think of that country as a legal bridge to using/trading bitcoin. They can charge a small fee for doing it (say 3%). If the economy of bitcoins grows at a multi-national scale making around 1 billion USD in daily transactions, this will bring a $10.5bn income for that country, assuming the number of its inhabitants to 1 million, that's $10K per capita. It could save it from poverty and may be in the future makes it one of the richest.

Just few thoughts...

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Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by pessimizer on Sunday June 26, 2011 @02:17PM (#2698622)

Here's another whimsy: instead of (necessarily) a poor country, how about any country that relies exclusively on land/property taxes, VATs, and tariffs? Are there any?

As far as I can tell, those taxes can't be dodged by a virtual currency since they are levied on physical items.

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Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by meow on Sunday June 26, 2011 @09:09AM (#2697952)

On the other hand, that country might lose tax money - assuming that it encourages bitcoins internally. Of course, if the country is really poor they may not be collecting much tax income to start with.

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Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by gvsteve on Sunday June 26, 2011 @02:59PM (#2698743)

Everything is legal until it is made illegal. Bartering for goods and services is not illegal, at least in the US, and Bitcoin falls under that legal realm.

There is no law hindering any company's ability to accept Bitcoin as payment besides the requirement to pay taxes on the fair market value of the Bitcoins.

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Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by sukuriant on Sunday June 26, 2011 @09:32PM (#2699712)

Just out of curiosity, are you a tax lawyer/whatever-lawyer-is-entitled-to-make-this-claim?

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Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by rprasad on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:57PM (#2702514)

His statement is legally accurate.

When you engage in a trade transaction (as opposed to cash), the "income" from the transaction is the fair market value of the items/assets/property exchanged, at the time of the exchange.

The problem is that taxes aren't due until the end of the quarter (for businesses) or year (for individuals). Even if the value of the bitcoins has dropped, you owe taxes on the value when received. On the other hand, if the value has gone up, you don't owe any additional taxes until you use the appreciated bitcoins in another transaction.

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Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by pessimizer on Monday June 27, 2011 @07:15PM (#2703365)

That sounds super complicated and like an opening for somebody to write some software.

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Re:I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in M... by sukuriant on Wednesday June 29, 2011 @06:09PM (#2711606)

Thank you for clarifying

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