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A Bitcoin service suspended by state of Virginia

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Re: A Bitcoin service suspended by state of Virginia

#61
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not quite sure I grasp the idea of bartering via a 3rd party, but it sounds a lot like a credit card processor or similar, which are certainly regulated.

Our existing established currencies (USD, EUR, etc) were born out as an easier way of bartering (i.e. don't have to carry the the weight) or in form of exchangeable IOUs (I'll pay you back when I'll harvest). I was just wandering if BTC could take the role that the shells used as money by our ancestors. To add on top of that, for bartering there is no sales tax, etc.

BTC is certainly intended to take on that role. Whether it can is the big question.

Note that barter isn't actually exempt from taxes at all. Transactions are taxed at the market value of the barter. People generally ignore this, but they only get away with it because the transactions are tiny. If e.g. Exxon started selling oil by barter, the IRS would take its share.

Re: A Bitcoin service suspended by state of Virginia

#62

Bitcoin supporters on HN: One thread: Bitcoin is the future of money Other thread: Bitcoin is not money, so why apply money rules? It either is or isn't.

You see the same thing a lot with disruptive startups -- where they are hailed as the radical new future of a particular industry and it is argued that they should not be compelled to obey the regulations of the industry they seek to enter and disrupt (and, often, a substantial part of their operations rely on them being allowed to ignore those regulations or having the regulations rewritten to support them.) See, e.…

Exactly. AirBnB and Uber (Stockholm) come to mind too.
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