Bitcoins

DominicJ_2

And we've gone circular again

The value of sterling is NOT that people will exchange it for a loaf of bread and two pints of beer.
Its value is that the government accepts it as payment of taxes.
People accept it for beer and bread, because it has a use to them, payment of their own tax bill.

Thats the step BitCoin lacks.
Theres no exit strategy.
In theory at least, every pound is issued as a loan by the BoE, repayable by someone at some point.

I (and everyone else) am legally obliged to aquire a steady supply of Sterling to pay my poll tax and other taxes. Failure to do so results in jail.

When the last Bit Coin is mined, what prevents someone launching BitCoin2. An exact copy of the original? Will the newly mined BitCoin2s trade at parity with Bit Coins? Will they trade at all?
Why not?
Beyond Bit Coins being "first", whats the difference?

At that point surely we've reached "art" territory not finance?

BoracicLint

DominicJ wrote: »

And we've gone circular again

The value of sterling is NOT that people will exchange it for a loaf of bread and two pints of beer.
Its value is that the government accepts it as payment of taxes.
People accept it for beer and bread, because it has a use to them, payment of their own tax bill.

Thats the step BitCoin lacks.
Theres no exit strategy.
In theory at least, every pound is issued as a loan by the BoE, repayable by someone at some point.

I (and everyone else) am legally obliged to aquire a steady supply of Sterling to pay my poll tax and other taxes. Failure to do so results in jail.

When the last Bit Coin is mined, what prevents someone launching BitCoin2. An exact copy of the original? Will the newly mined BitCoin2s trade at parity with Bit Coins? Will they trade at all?
Why not?
Beyond Bit Coins being "first", whats the difference?

At that point surely we've reached "art" territory not finance?

Several governments already accept Bitcoin as payment for taxes, Germany being one, so by your own admission Bitcoin has value in this context, even if our own government hasn't accepted it yet.

If I gave you an M&S Gift Card worth £20 you can't go to the Inland Revenue and pay your taxes with it, but you can still buy bread and cheese, so the whole taxation gives Sterling value argument isn't without its flaws.

There is nothing to stop Bitcoin2, there are dozens of competing currencies already. If you go back and read my previous post, I clearly stated the value in Bitcoin is greater than any of the other myriad of Cryptocurrencies purely due to sentiment, and the investments which have been made to the infrastructure to support it.

Trust is the reason it has value. That and a large following. If Bitcoin loses that, then of course the value will shrink to nothing. The question is, what factors do you think will lead to that lack of trust and belief?

sabretoothtigger

If gov raises taxes then sterling is more valuable :think:

Problem is our gov has promised alot of sterling in its debt so it doesnt want to repay something valuable.

JohnRo

If it was just all about taxation there wouldn't be any loopholes and avoidance schemes allowed. It's far more about power and control and keeping people in their place, dictating who can and can't borrow and at what cost.

csm888

blizeH wrote: »

... and it's just hit $1k!
Does anyone know about the capital gain tax implications of bitcoin please? ie does it go by the units you sell/buy or just overall profits take away purchases?

I think we need to wait and see, Korea has said Bitcoin is CGT free, Germany it is free after 1 year, UK says its taxable Voucher, which means CGT & VAT if you sell over 70K, nobody really knows yet.

Until they get there act together I think its best to keep the money legally out of their grubby little hands, (offshore) I have no problem with paying my fair share of tax, but they are not going to get 48% off me.

JeffEllis

Bitcoin is finite so will keep going up priced in fiat as the fiat supply keeps getting expanded.

JohnRo

JeffEllis wrote: »

Bitcoin is finite so will keep going up priced in fiat as the fiat supply keeps getting expanded.

If only it were that simple, the equation is a tad more complex than that.

Marazan

BoracicLint wrote: »

Several governments already accept Bitcoin as payment for taxes, Germany being one

Could you provide a link to that? All I've seen is that Germany consider Bitcoin a unit of account and as such taxes can be levied upon it.

as far as I'm aware taxes still have to be settled in Euros.

JeffEllis

just sell the bitcoin then pay the tax

[Deleted User]

blizeH wrote: »

I see, thank you citric, that's good to know

http://www.justanswer.co.uk/tax/8500z-scenario-1-bought-bitcoins-years-ago-1000.html

A tax person confirming it btw.