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Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#91

Post by danudey »

javert wrote: post #87
samfisher83 wrote: post #60

Eventually the government is going to come after him. If you just happen to be sitting on 400 million without paying taxes the government is going to be interested.

That simply isn't true. As someone else said, taxes are not owed on bitcoin until you realize your profit by converting them to USD or spending them on goods.

Because really, things don't have value until they're sold. Until then, there's just assumed value.

He might have $400m worth of bitcoins, but can he actually sell them and get $400m for them? It would be tricky.

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#92

Post by PaulAJ »

ufmace wrote: post #83
g4m8i7 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You usually pay for this sort of thing based on profit, more or less. In this case, his basis is $0 (his cost to acquire the asset). Were he to sell all of them, his profit is essentially 100%; however, I'm not entirely sure how bitcoin gains are codified. If they're regular capital gains, then it's done around that cost basis ($0 in this case), but if they aren't, then I don't know.

There was a good post on the tax implications of Bitcoin by (what I think was) an actual accountant a while back. The gist is that it's taxable only when converted to real goods. So if he mined some number of coins early on and is just holding them in wallets, then he owes nothing. Any time anybody sells any coins for cash or any other real goods, they owe tax on the difference between the sale price and the original…

As I understand it, if you are doing mining as a business then you treat your mining hardware, electricity costs etc as business costs to be subtracted from your income when figuring your profit. If you buy some BTC at $100 and sell at $150 your profit is $50, as you would expect. Similarly if it costs you $100 to mine bitcoins that you then sell at $150 your profit is also $50.

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#93

Post by lotsofmangos »

Delmania wrote: post #48
lucb1e wrote: post #19

Goddamnit guys. Let him be. Come on. Are we hackers here or are we paparazzi? I thought Hacker News was a club of quality-valuing people that saw the world from a hacker's perspective and questioned the status quo. My view is shifting with every comment posted here.

Hi, newsflash "hackers" are people too, and who doesn't love being in the spotlight?

Shy people. They find it painful.

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#95

Post by lotsofmangos »

rayiner wrote: post #31
malgorithms wrote: post #8

Please don't disclose the transaction. It's a serious decision, at least.

There is no social expectation that store keepers shouldn't talk about famous people that patronize their establishment. In fact, unless the nature of the establishment merits sensitivity, the expectation is the exact opposite.

Gossip about seekers of fame is seen as fair play. I don't think you could class Satoshi as being famous in the same way as someone who actively chooses to be in the media, though. The expectation that it is good to mention if a movie star came to your shop is based on the fact that they make their living from their public life.

Also, if someone like a famous actor specifically asked a business not to publicise that they had frequented it, then if the business went back on that, I think they would get less famous people visiting in the future.

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#96

Post by tlrobinson »

samfisher83 wrote: post #60

Eventually the government is going to come after him. If you just happen to be sitting on 400 million without paying taxes the government is going to be interested.

Hypothetical worst case tax scenario: https://www.quora.com/Taxes/What-are-the-tax-penalties-on-a-...

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#97

Post by lutusp »

lotsofmangos wrote: post #95
rayiner wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no social expectation that store keepers shouldn't talk about famous people that patronize their establishment. In fact, unless the nature of the establishment merits sensitivity, the expectation is the exact opposite.

Gossip about seekers of fame is seen as fair play. I don't think you could class Satoshi as being famous in the same way as someone who actively chooses to be in the media, though. The expectation that it is good to mention if a movie star came to your shop is based on the fact that they make their living from their public life. Also, if someone like a famous actor specifically asked a business not to publicise that…

> I think they would get less famous people visiting in the future.

"Less famous people"? Do you mean people who are individually less well-known, or fewer famous people?

My favorite quote from the George Bush II years was the day he announced there would be less soldiers in Iraq in the future. I immediately pictured the same number of soldiers, but each of them shorter.

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#98

Post by lotsofmangos »

lutusp wrote: post #97
lotsofmangos wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gossip about seekers of fame is seen as fair play. I don't think you could class Satoshi as being famous in the same way as someone who actively chooses to be in the media, though. The expectation that it is good to mention if a movie star came to your shop is based on the fact that they make their living from their public life. Also, if someone like a famous actor specifically asked a business not to publicise that…

> I think they would get less famous people visiting in the future. "Less famous people"? Do you mean people who are individually less well-known, or fewer famous people? My favorite quote from the George Bush II years was the day he announced there would be less soldiers in Iraq in the future. I immediately pictured the same number of soldiers, but each of them shorter.

I think you probably can work it out from context, though in this case either option works.

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#99

Post by ghepting »

GBond wrote: post #88
yuxt wrote: post #61

I am not going to reveal any more information that I already have. I respect his will to stay anonymous. It was just an emotional post without a thought of provoking a witch-hunt. Satoshi has been an inspiration to me, I apologize for any inconvenience I might cause.

I saw no harm in the post. Thanks for sharing. IMO, the criticisms are unfounded and just another example of the HN's community recent penchant to hate on anything and everything.

+1

Re: Tell HN: Meeting Satoshi

#100

Post by tzs »

samfisher83 wrote: post #60

Eventually the government is going to come after him. If you just happen to be sitting on 400 million without paying taxes the government is going to be interested.

It is not at all clear that mining and sitting on Bitcoin causes any tax liability. The tax liability might only come when the Bitcoin is exchanged or spent.

For instance, if I take a piece of paper and some paint, and use them to make a painting that I hang on my wall, and this painting would sell for $100k if I elected to sell it, I do not have to report $100k of income. I only have taxable income when I actually sell the painting.

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