Ask Slashdot: How Does One Freely Use Bitcoin In the Land of the Free?

New submitter devrtm writes: It appears that Bitcoin, a currency designed with anonymity in mind, can be effectively used almost anywhere in the world, except in a few countries where it is regulated, and in one country where you can only use it if you give up your privacy. That country is the United States. I have accumulated quite a few BTC from the currency's early days where block rewards were still at $50. There was a period of time where one could get a nearly anonymous debit card, or use BTC online with merchants. Nowadays, non-U.S. payment providers no longer issue debit cards to the U.S. residents and the U.S.-based merchants accepting BTC are nearly extinct. The only way to use BTC in the U.S. is to convert it to USD. Unfortunately, that conversion requires giving up your personal information to a U.S.-based BTC payment processor, and there are rumors that signing up for those services raises red flags with certain three letter acronym organizations. I have nothing to hide, but I do value my privacy. Can one freely and anonymously live off of their Bitcoin wallet in the U.S.? I am afraid the answer is no. Does anyone have an experience that proves me wrong? Please share.

Comments

Re: anyone that actually matters

[roman_mir]

You don't need to pay taxes, this taxdoctrination has gotten completely out of hand. Again: you don't have to pay any taxes to anybody. The sooner the vast majority of people understands that they do not actually have to pay taxes, the better.

Also: why should anybody want to pay taxes in BTC? If BTC allows to get around taxes then all the better.