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Japan Considers Treating Bitcoin As Conventional Currency (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Regulators in Japan are considering officially recognizing bitcoins and other digital currencies as valid methods of payment. The Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) is in the process of deciding whether to make legislative revisions to regulation that currently regards virtual currencies as objects rather than traditional forms of payment. Under the new proposal, consumers will be able to purchase goods and services using bitcoin and other digital currencies, and also use them as an alternative to legal tender through purchases or trades. The new definition will be submitted during the current session of the Diet, Japan's legislature, which concludes on 1st June this year.
and more tax
Wasn't the whole point of digital currencies to avoid the need for a government to bless (and therefore control) a particularly unit of money?
>> consumers will be able to purchase goods and services using bitcoin and other digital currencies
I believe this is already possible - no government blessing necessary, thank you.
the venn diagrams of bitcoin, katana and anime enthusiasts are basically a single circle
Bitcoin should not be anonymous. All bitcoin exchanges should be like banks, or part of existing banks, and tracked like every other financial transaction, subject to examination by lan enforcement when a proper warrant is issued. Here in the U.S. they're talking about getting rid of $100 bills and perhaps cash completely, how about you regulate bitcoin first, considering how easy it is to launder money using it? Stop punishing the common law-abiding citizen and go after the real problems first.
Posted as AC because FUCK YOU, I'm tired of your cunts and your shit attitudes.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Japan was the home base for Mt. Gox.. Maybe this is fallout from that fiasco.
Japan is already forcing people to horde cash with their negative interest rates.
http://fortune.com/2016/02/23/...
Something like bitcoin could prove disastrous for their banking system.
Sure, they are physical objects, but so are pieces of paper (er, cloth in some countries) and shiny base-metal coins.
If you are going to treat BC like currency, then treat "commodity" metal like currency and, for that matter, allow anyone who can guarantee the safety of their safe and insure it against theft or destruction the option of "printing" paper- or electronic-currency that is denominated in physical quantities of gold or silver (e.g. a "pre-mined" e-currency controlled by a bank or other institution, with the smallest fractional unit equal to 1 microgram of gold, or paper "gold certificates" backed by the bank or other institution that holds them that were valued in grams-of-gold).
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
If I can't roll it up and use it to snort a line, then it's not money.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Wasn't the whole point of digital currencies to avoid the need for a government to bless (and therefore control) a particularly unit of money?
Only to those whose grasp of reality is a bit tenuous. There have always been currencies not controlled by a particular government, not to mention bullion and other de-facto currencies. The fact that it isn't a fiat currency is irrelevant. There is absolutely no chance that governments will not get involved in regulating anything resembling a currency. Anyone who thought otherwise is delusional.
I don't think you know the definition of the word 'fungible.'
For most of recorded history, gold has made a terrific currency - the kind you can power regional empires on.,/quote>
Gold has served as a currency adequately at times (and poorly at others) but I dispute the "terrific" part of your thesis. There are very good reasons why it is no longer the basis of any modern currency.
This might work ok if they limit it to only Bitcoin.
But there is no limit to the supply of altcoins, and no clear definition of what is an altcoin and what is just some numbers in a computer.
Would it be acceptable for Blizzard to pay taxes in WOW-gold? What if they spawned a bunch of extra gold just for the tax bill? Is that ok?
What if the Japanese government wants taxes from me and I have no money? Can I just create a shitty MMO with no players and do the same thing?.
*for those who don't get the subject it's a quote from WIlliam Jennings Bryan who ran for president on the slogan. He was in favor "Free coinage of silver"
It's not cheap. A very small negative interest rate is still less costly than renting a safe place to store cash and insuring it against loss, particularly for large amounts.
If I were in Japan and I had lots of cash, I would be looking at "investing" money I didn't need in the next 2-3 months in a "market basket" of Japan's equivalent of money-market accounts, commercial paper, short-term high-quality bonds, and in market-baskets of currencies of other countries, in the hopes that the ups and downs of these investments would even out to something slightly higher than inflation.
By the way, for many years or decades, US banks and money-market accounts have paid effective negative interest rates after you factor in inflation, and that's before factoring in taxation on the nominal interest. There's not much before-taxes practical difference between a 5% inflation rate and a slightly-less-than-5% interest rate and a 0.01% inflation rate and a slightly-less-than-0% interest rate. Psychological difference, yes. Taxation difference, yes (sub-0% interest is actually better in most cases), but practical difference, no.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
For Japan it's just one more way to bypass the banking system.
To be a good substitute for a bank deposit, something must be liquid and it must have either no loss of value or an acceptable upper limit on the loss of value compared to putting money in the bank.
Bitcoin is just too volatile. If I put 10,000 Yen in the bank now then withdraw it in 6 months, how much is it going to be worth? Almost certainly at least 9,900 Yen. If I buy 10,000 Yen worth of Bitcoin, how much will it be worth 6 months from now? Maybe 20,000 Yen, maybe 5,000 Yen, who knows?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Will the Dogecoin mascot mean it will become popular in Japan?
If you think Dogecoin will become popular in Japan, increasing its value, send 50 Dogecoins to D9scjyKETYZesSmhjCR4vye4bc6iDqXPd6.
If you think Dogecoin will NOT become popular in Japan, doing nothing to its value, send 100 Dogecoins to D9scjyKETYZesSmhjCR4vye4bc6iDqXPd6.
Because Asians like cash, bitcoin "feels natural". Japan is not the first Asian country to endorse bitcoins as "legal tender".