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Re:Germany Sets Standard for Bitcoin Regulation by cinquemb on Monday August 19, 2013 @01:44PM (#6238504)
When you want to establish a business that trades between bitcoins and typical fiat, you are going to be regulated (maybe even just being a business would enable a government to d̶e̶m̶a̶n̶d̶ accept bitcoins as an income tax payment if such a business didn't trade between currencies).

As an individual trading and accepting bitcoins for goods with other individuals, you would be out of the scope of regulation, and because of the nature of bitcoins, you could make it scale to business like levels.

Re:Germany Sets Standard for Bitcoin Regulation by yxhuvud on Monday August 19, 2013 @01:54PM (#6238573)
Nothing stops the state for demanding tax payments in normal money regardless of if the income is in normal money or not.

This do happen in real life quite often when people are not paid in cash.

Re:Germany Sets Standard for Bitcoin Regulation by cinquemb on Monday August 19, 2013 @02:05PM (#6238652)
Maybe for business/organizations that declare what they made to the state in the first place. But how does the state demand for something of which they did not know took place between individuals? By going around pricing the market value of everyone's assets and demanding payment in they way they want or get thrown in prison? Or by going around to individuals singled out by incumbents?
Re:Germany Sets Standard for Bitcoin Regulation by mpyne on Monday August 19, 2013 @03:11PM (#6239048)
They do this the same way they demand taxes on payments made only in cash today. Is it foolproof? No, but it doesn't have to be, just as taxes still ended up coming in somehow even when business ran mostly on cash and cheques.

In this case the blockchain is visible for all to see, including the governments, and they only have to resolve the true identity of someone once to be right for all time.

Re:Germany Sets Standard for Bitcoin Regulation by cinquemb on Monday August 19, 2013 @03:26PM (#6239160)
For business it will be the same as it always has been: You are naturally under the regulation, effective or not, bitcoins or not, of government when you establish oneself as a business. They can use the blockchain to help, but let us not pretend that in itself is a panacea to taxation required for the gears to keep grinding on in the central banking/ governmental taxation systems (which even under loads pre bitcoin, were faltering).

But for individuals, one can create as many wallets as they wish, use as many laundering clients over tor, to remain out of reach. Which is exactly why governments have to set up honey pots to confiscate bitcoins on sites like the silk road (which end up not being effective deterrents and end up being outed as such by the community that relies/favors on reputable past trades). I suspect business/organizations can employ similar technologies to reduce their taxation and how much they declare.

Re:Germany Sets Standard for Bitcoin Regulation by joe_the_user on Monday August 19, 2013 @03:03PM (#6238984)
When you want to establish a business that trades between bitcoins and typical fiat, you are going to be regulated.

Yes, that is what the state does.

As an individual trading and accepting bitcoins for goods with other individuals, you would be out of the scope of regulation, and because of the nature of bitcoins, you could make it scale to business like levels.

Yeah but your chances of running such a business and, say, not collecting the sales taxes for your area just went down a few notches. Bitcoin transactions are public, more public than, say, paper currency transactions.

And to answer the gp's original question, this does contradict the original intention of bitcoins. Failed or succesful, bitcoins are losing the specialness that was their original pull. Well, suck on it. The original intention was a la, la land phantasy, a fundamentally impossible Libertarian Party wet-dream.

Bitcoinist never figured out whether their cry was "they can't stop us", "they won't (try to) stop us" or "they shouldn't stop us". The result - the state clearly can stop bitcoin but so prefers to just control it.

I had imagined the whole thing would just collapse but I suppose it may just wind-up a fully regulated cash transfer system. But money still depends on the state.