"Bank run" in progress against major bitcoin market

[kelpdiver 2]

http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=34293&red=y#919156

until very recently, Mt Gox was the most active exchange for bitcoin trading, and now it looks like it's about to become the biggest theft/failure in the history of the product.

[quade 3]

This just in...

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/07/russia-bans-bitcoin/

Here is THE issue, while something like a bitcoin would be valuable in facilitating Internet and international trade, governments aren't going to be able to get their cut off the current bitcoin model. I would expect more governments to crack down shortly.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[kelpdiver 2]

quade

Here is THE issue, while something like a bitcoin would be valuable in facilitating Internet and international trade, governments aren't going to be able to get their cut off the current bitcoin model. I would expect more governments to crack down shortly.

Governments already can get their cut. And I think we'll see it shortly when early holders who cashed out in the big boom of 2013 try to avoid paying capital gains on it.

That translation log keeps a full history. And people still ultimately need to hit an exchange to convert to real (IMO) money. There are a few places out there where you can spend it, though I haven't seen how fractional bitcoins will function, and there's no point spending $720 at a pay per article web site).

[quade 3]

So, let's say I have been paid in bitcoins for a transaction made within US borders. What, precisely, stops me from cashing that out in a different country and not paying taxes on it?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 3]

kelpdiver

There are a few places out there where you can spend it, though I haven't seen how fractional bitcoins will function, and there's no point spending $720 at a pay per article web site).

Adafruit is currently accepting fractional bitcoins to pay for goods. I'm sure there are others as well. If she's doing it, it absolutely must work. She's a smart cookie and I highly respect her.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[weekender 0]

another arrest for money laundering does not help the credibility.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/the-quick-rise-and-abrupt-fall-of-a-bitcoin-champion/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

ive been clear on this, i do not care about Bitcoin's success or failure. either way it impacts my life zero. as a banker, its success is just one more product i can profit from. so if anything, i lean more to hoping it becomes mainstream.

im not impressed though. it needs to become less famous for drug/money laundering and more famous for being a legitimate alternative to the dollar. as a general rule, the more pot smoking hippies endorse something, the less i am impressed with it. i suppose this could be the exception to the rule.

-edited some typos

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[kelpdiver 2]

quade

So, let's say I have been paid in bitcoins for a transaction made within US borders. What, precisely, stops me from cashing that out in a different country and not paying taxes on it?

aside from the potential to spend years in prison? Tax evasion is only the first felony if you act to conceal it as well.

You're asking about your ability to get away with it. Using a currency that encodes the entire transaction history. Sure you can use multiple IDs to try to obscure yourself, but the exchanges are the common translation point to dollars or euros, and moving around large sums (over 10k) of money electronically is much harder these days. Countries are sharing this information - they all want to get paid. And when these exchanges go under, as they have on a few occasions, you now have government auditers with full access. Keep in mind that the statue of limitations on tax returns is endless if fraud is involved.

So go ahead, make their day.

[base698 1]

Tiger Direct and Overstock now accept it. It makes some interesting UIs possible for online shopping. Namely the minimal amount of payment information like billing address required. Online only services like hosting don't even need that.

Only a complete moron would use it for money laundering--double with the current NSA leaks.

Before the halving of value, prices were in mBTC and customizable in both payment clients and the bitpay widgets. It's just as easy to send 0.00000001 as 1.