Slashdot Mirror
Bitcoin Becomes Legal Payment Option In Japan, Prices Spike (investopedia.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Investopedia: A bill to amend Japan's Banking Act has finally come to fruition, recognizing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as legal tender. The bill has far-reaching repercussions for the digital currency world as well as the way that cryptocurrencies can be traded and exchanged. The Banking Act was modified after a long process of debate and dialog which saw proponents of digital currencies arguing on their behalf. Now, after months of discussion, the bill has come into effect as of the beginning of April. Section 3 of the bill has been modified to including wording on virtual currency and is being called the Virtual Currency Act, according to reporting by Brave New Coin. Digital currencies like Bitcoin have finally received definition and recognition as a means of payment by the Japanese government. The Banking Act's Payment Services Act has also moved to define a digital currency as "property of value," meaning that it is usable for payment in the broader marketplace and that it may be bought or sold. At the same time, the Japanese bill distinguishes between digital currencies like Bitcoin and "electronic money." Digital currency, in this case, is not issued by a specific entity and may be used by any accepting individual, while electronic money can be linked to a specific issuer and can only be used by that issuer or persons specified by the issuer. Along with the recognition of Bitcoin and other digital currencies is the stipulation that profits from trading of those currencies may be considered as "income from business activities or miscellaneous income." This makes Bitcoin subject to various taxes, including capital gains tax.
BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY
Dear Lameness Filter,
I am not the one that is yelling, it is the pump and dump people that make Bitcoin prices every time there is an article like this.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
No.
The legalization leads to regulation and documentation.
Anonymity is out the window.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Bitcoin isn't anonymous.
Seriously, it might be AWESOME to see some small nation switch to Bitcoin for its currency, so people would finally shut the fuck up when they see it crash under the load.
3.5 TPS. That's it. You can't run a small TOWN on 3.5 transactions per second.
And, unless I'm missing something (whoosh?)... you've got it completely backwards.
In that case, then what's the point of using Bitcoin?
1. Bitcoin cannot be inflated away.
2. For international transactions, Bitcoin transactions are way cheaper.
My company employs a graphic artist in Karachi. We pay her in bitcoin, which she then converts to PKRs for a transaction cost of less than 1%. Using a normal bank would cost 3-6%.
You do know that bitcoin doesn't need to take over all transactions in order to be successful, right?
Wait for the price to rise another order of magnitude or two and the world will be scrambling to move all of their settlement activity to it.
See that "Preview" button?
It depends. Legal tender laws only apply to debts. If you purchase the meal in an instant transaction (fast food), they can accept whatever they want to accept in trade. If they don't want to accept cash at that point, they don't have to.
For a full service restaurant where the bill comes at the end, the question is: Is that bill a debt?
Most likely, regardless of the answer to that question, they'll take cash if you raise a fuss. Can you imagine if that escalated to a police call? Cops already have to put up with all sorts of strange shit, but I'm imagining the restaurant manager rethinking a big part of his life when a cop asks him "You really want me to arrest him? For trying to pay his bill? With cash?"
Ooh, or a judge. Judges love cases that waste their time.
See that "Preview" button?