BITCOIN

caprikid1

"How does CGT work if you bought Bitcoin in chunks over several years? Are the "chunks" separately identifiable so that their specific gain can be seen?"

I suspect its no different to shares ? Obviously shares are linked to something of value IE Part of a company unlike bitcoin.

Scottex99

In theory you have the trade history from each exchange you’ve used and you submit via your accountant.

There’s a few more UK based firms that can help calculate that, than there was previously, but I think staking/yield/DeFi is still a major headache for most

phlebas192

Qyburn said:

How does CGT work if you bought Bitcoin in chunks over several years? Are the "chunks" separately identifiable so that their specific gain can be seen?

You need to pool the purchases to arrive at an average cost per Bitcoin. Full details of how HMRC treats CGT for crypto assets is at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/cryptoassets-manual/crypto22000. The pooling section & associated examples should provide all the info you need to come to the correct calculation.

Sumselkb

If you send your crypto from an exchange to a cold wallet, and just hold it long term and don't make regular transactions, then is it okay to leave your bank details saved on the exchange or should you delete your bank details?

Scottex99

Cant hurt to delete them for peace of mind (or risk of using outdated details).

I haven’t personally as the likes of Coinbase, Kraken etc are licensed financial institutions.

$93.7k, can we hit the magical $100k by the weekend? (It’s not magical at all and just an arbitrary round number).

I got a Facebook 5 year memory yesterday from 19/11/2019 for some crypto meme I posted - BTC price at the time - $8.3k 

zagfles

Scottex99 said:

$93.7k, can we hit the magical $100k by the weekend? (It’s not magical at all and just an arbitrary round number).

I got a Facebook 5 year memory yesterday from 19/11/2019 for some crypto meme I posted - BTC price at the time - $8.3k 

Do you think bitcoin will ever become usable as a currency in the real world? I thought that was what it's supposed to be, the name bitcoin says it all, but this sort of volatility makes it utterly useless.

One off immediate purchases may work, but who would draw up any sort of contract in BTC when you haven't got a clue of it's future value? Imagine pricing utilities, rent, phone contracts etc in BTC. What employer would pay in bitcoin, 5 years ago a job with an annual salary of 10 BTC ($83k) would now be close to a million$  Who would take out a loan/mortgage in BTC, image buying an average house with a 50 BTC mortgage, you'd now owe several million £   

At the moment it seems it's nothing more than a tool for high risk speculators rather than being anywhere close to a useable currency. 

RichTips

zagfles said:

Scottex99 said:

$93.7k, can we hit the magical $100k by the weekend? (It’s not magical at all and just an arbitrary round number).

I got a Facebook 5 year memory yesterday from 19/11/2019 for some crypto meme I posted - BTC price at the time - $8.3k 

Do you think bitcoin will ever become usable as a currency in the real world? I thought that was what it's supposed to be, the name bitcoin says it all, but this sort of volatility makes it utterly useless.

One off immediate purchases may work, but who would draw up any sort of contract in BTC when you haven't got a clue of it's future value? Imagine pricing utilities, rent, phone contracts etc in BTC. What employer would pay in bitcoin, 5 years ago a job with an annual salary of 10 BTC ($83k) would now be close to a million$  Who would take out a loan/mortgage in BTC, image buying an average house with a 50 BTC mortgage, you'd now owe several million £   

At the moment it seems it's nothing more than a tool for high risk speculators rather than being anywhere close to a useable currency. 

While Bitcoin is especially, violently volatile, it's worth noting that the value of all currencies fluctuate relative to each other. Plenty of people have been stung making contracts in EUR, USD, etc. when the value of GBP has then diverged significantly from the point at which the contract was made. The Yen, the fourth most widely held currency, has fallen almost 30% relative to the pound over the last 5 years.

Still, I agree with you that Bitcoin has failed to live up to the role of "electronic cash system" laid out in its white paper. To call it entirely useless, which you didn't, would, I think, be a mistake. The current concensus is that Bitcoin is better suited as a potential global reserve currency and store of value especially useful for those whose own currencies are experiencing rapid devaluation. This is not least due to the lack of a centralized party with the ability to inflate its supply. Nobody got any helecopter Bitcoin during the Covid pandemic. For more details on Bitcoins merits and demerits, I recommend reading the thread in greater detail. The point you've raised, as well as many others, have been discussed at length.

[Deleted User]

zagfles said:

Scottex99 said:

$93.7k, can we hit the magical $100k by the weekend? (It’s not magical at all and just an arbitrary round number).

I got a Facebook 5 year memory yesterday from 19/11/2019 for some crypto meme I posted - BTC price at the time - $8.3k 

Do you think bitcoin will ever become usable as a currency in the real world? I thought that was what it's supposed to be, the name bitcoin says it all, but this sort of volatility makes it utterly useless.

One off immediate purchases may work, but who would draw up any sort of contract in BTC when you haven't got a clue of it's future value? Imagine pricing utilities, rent, phone contracts etc in BTC. What employer would pay in bitcoin, 5 years ago a job with an annual salary of 10 BTC ($83k) would now be close to a million$  Who would take out a loan/mortgage in BTC, image buying an average house with a 50 BTC mortgage, you'd now owe several million £   

At the moment it seems it's nothing more than a tool for high risk speculators rather than being anywhere close to a useable currency. 

In my opinion bitcoin will never be a currency for the simple fact that people consider it an investment, and people don't tend to want to sell things they think will go up in value. 

For example if you have a rolex watch that's currently worth £50k but the consensus among watch enthusiasts is this watch will appreciate in value and be worth £200k in 5 years time. The probably of you selling that rolex for £50k now, when you think it will be £200k in 5 years time is basically 0%.

So instead of "spending" the rolex, you'll just spend your actual fiat money instead. 

However with fiat money I know it's not going to appreciate in value, or drop significantly in value for that matter so there's no incentive to not spend it and there's also no incentive to spend it asap. If I have £100 today, that will pretty much hold it's value for at least the next year or 2. 

But if my £100 had a good chance of becoming £200 next year, I just wouldn't spend it... You see where I'm going with this? 

Bitcoin is slow, technologically inconvenient, deflationary, if you lose your private key your money is gone forever. It's a great concept but in the actual real world it's just not a good means of exchange.  

Acromion

I haven’t read the 339 pages of the thread, so apologies if this has already been dealt with.

I now - incredibly! - seem to have about £2000 worth of Bitcoin in Coinbase and another £1000 in Revolut. 

I know you are supposed to transfer the Btc into a wallet but that seems a bit of a faff and hitherto I’ve just left it in the accounts.

The recent rise is making me think about it again - any advice, or is it OK to just let it sit where it is?

zagfles

[Deleted User] said:

zagfles said:

Scottex99 said:

$93.7k, can we hit the magical $100k by the weekend? (It’s not magical at all and just an arbitrary round number).

I got a Facebook 5 year memory yesterday from 19/11/2019 for some crypto meme I posted - BTC price at the time - $8.3k 

Do you think bitcoin will ever become usable as a currency in the real world? I thought that was what it's supposed to be, the name bitcoin says it all, but this sort of volatility makes it utterly useless.

One off immediate purchases may work, but who would draw up any sort of contract in BTC when you haven't got a clue of it's future value? Imagine pricing utilities, rent, phone contracts etc in BTC. What employer would pay in bitcoin, 5 years ago a job with an annual salary of 10 BTC ($83k) would now be close to a million$  Who would take out a loan/mortgage in BTC, image buying an average house with a 50 BTC mortgage, you'd now owe several million £   

At the moment it seems it's nothing more than a tool for high risk speculators rather than being anywhere close to a useable currency. 

In my opinion bitcoin will never be a currency for the simple fact that people consider it an investment, and people don't tend to want to sell things they think will go up in value. 

For example if you have a rolex watch that's currently worth £50k but the consensus among watch enthusiasts is this watch will appreciate in value and be worth £200k in 5 years time. The probably of you selling that rolex for £50k now, when you think it will be £200k in 5 years time is basically 0%.

So instead of "spending" the rolex, you'll just spend your actual fiat money instead. 

However with fiat money I know it's not going to appreciate in value, or drop significantly in value for that matter so there's no incentive to not spend it and there's also no incentive to spend it asap. If I have £100 today, that will pretty much hold it's value for at least the next year or 2. 

But if my £100 had a good chance of becoming £200 next year, I just wouldn't spend it... You see where I'm going with this? 

Bitcoin is slow, technologically inconvenient, deflationary, if you lose your private key your money is gone forever. It's a great concept but in the actual real world it's just not a good means of exchange.  

Exactly this. Which is why of course govts monetary policy is designed to depreciate the currency, eg the BoE is targeted with 2% inflation, so the GBP loses 2% value every year. That encourages spending, ie what money is for, rather than a store of value.

If a currency appreciates in value (ie deflation, as happened in Japan for many years), people don't spend, or hold off spending expecting stuff to become cheaper next year. That caused years of economic stagnation in Japan. And that was only 1-2% deflation Lost Decades - Wikipedia