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First Government Office in the US To Accept Bitcoin As Payment (orlandosentinel.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike quotes the Orlando Sentinel: If cash, check or credit card seems too old-fashioned, Seminole County, Florida Tax Collector Joel Greenberg said this week his office will begin accepting bitcoin as payment for new IDs, license plates and property taxes starting next month. Greenberg said accepting bitcoin and bitcoin cash as a payment method will promote transparency and accuracy in payment.
"There's no risk to the taxpayer," said Greenberg, who has often raised eyebrows since his 2016 election by moves including encouraging certain employees with concealed-weapons permits to carry a firearm openly as a security measure. "Blockchain technology is the future of the whole financial industry."
A spokesperson for a neighboring county's tax collector said they had no plans to follow the move. "Frankly, I think the currency is so volatile that I donâ(TM)t think it makes sense."
And an official at a nearby county said bitcoin payments were "not on our to-do list", adding that no one in the county had requested the ability to pay their taxes in bitcoin.
"There's no risk to the taxpayer," said Greenberg, who has often raised eyebrows since his 2016 election by moves including encouraging certain employees with concealed-weapons permits to carry a firearm openly as a security measure. "Blockchain technology is the future of the whole financial industry."
A spokesperson for a neighboring county's tax collector said they had no plans to follow the move. "Frankly, I think the currency is so volatile that I donâ(TM)t think it makes sense."
And an official at a nearby county said bitcoin payments were "not on our to-do list", adding that no one in the county had requested the ability to pay their taxes in bitcoin.
right
If there is going to be a government right now upon which is going to accept crypto currencies you want it to be in a place where crypto currency is already widely accepted. Otherwise there aren't going to be enough users to make it worth implementing. Though I'll admit you do have to start somewhere. However the best place to start is going to be where there are other like-minded individuals and frankly that place isn't Florida. It isn't Silicon Valley. It isn't New York City. The place to start would be Portsmouth New Hampshire or Keene, New Hampshire. Manchester aught to also be a contender, but I'll leave it off the list for now. Basically anywhere in southern New Hampshire is probably going to be a better place to start than some place in Florida. Basically New Hampshire has more crypto accepting businesses than anywhere else on a per capita basis and more users and that is mostly thanks to the migration of principled libertarian types fleeing other states and moving here. From the Shire Society to the Free State Project. There are a lot of technical types and non-technical types who have adopted crypto currencies here. Where else can you almost live your entire life off crypto other than here in New Hampshire? I typically find myself paying with crypto currencies numerous times throughout the day both in business and personal (and I'm not in a "crypto" business or an "investor"). Pretty much nowhere else unless you cheat- and start using debit cards that convert to dollars first or buy gift cards with crypto first which all defeats the point.
BitPay is guaranteeing the exchange rate for long enough for the transaction to go through. So the tax office never actually takes Bitcoin - BitPay takes BitCoin, and sends cash to the government office. And presumably, BitPay gets a cut somewhere in there.
It's more or less like adding a new credit card processor, as far as the receiver of the payment is concerned.
A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
Queue the 'why won't people stop using this :((( it's monopoly money!!!' crowd, 99% of which are just butthurt they missed the early boat.
What about the risk of wasting a ton of electricity and dumping C02 into the air.
I mean, I'm all in favor of government being more proactive, responsive, etc, but this is ridiculous.
And, by the way, didn't the other story today just say that quantum computing is about to break encryption in 5 years?
The government department is not accepting bitcoin at all, it accepts the cash equivalent as transacted through bitpay. They are not nor do they have any intention of accepting bitcoin.
Government relies on Bitpay cover the risk associated with volatility. Bitpay will make nice benefits or huge losses depending if bitcoin is rising or crashing vs USD. Is it just government promoting speculation?
Perhaps... except that Bitpay only guarantee the rate for 15 mn, and bitcoin transaction can make much more time to be processed. Hence government also takes a share in the volatility risk.
Wow! What a bunch of backward oriented pussys! I thought slashdot readers would be the one segment of news readers who might begin to embrace technology. And what if this guys does put some BTC into the county coffers and it moons some more, he will look brilliant and surrounding county mother fudders will be chasing his path.
So does this mean by extention it is legal to pay salary in Bitcoin as now both employer and employee can pay their taxes in Bitcoin as well.
How exactly is it âoeuntraceable.â
Not sure if trolling or just dumb.
Also, cash IS untraceable unless youâ(TM)re implying that the billsâ(TM) serial numbers were first jotted down by the police before the âoeillegalsâ used them to pay for an ID.
I hope this is really a honeypot to catch money launderers and tax evaders.
There likely is no risk, the country is probably using the same sort of bitcoin payment processors that various merchants do. When using these services the recipient never sees or touches a bitcoin, they only receive fiat. When someone indicates that they want to pay with bitcoin the payment processor is given a dollar amount, they do a real time conversion to bitcoin and provide a payment address and a coin amount, when that coin amount shows up at the address the recipient is notified and the recipient's account is credited for the exact dollar amount they original specified. The taxpayer was never exposed to any bitcoin volatility risk. The taxpayer merely paid a payment processor's fee, just like when they accept a credit card and pay a fee.
Joke's on them, I'm going to pay everything in Dogecoins. Let's see them haul five million dogecoins for tax payment.
#DeleteFacebook
Are (any) fiat-currency and (any) cryptocurrency really equivalent, as cryptocurrency fans claim?
For example, US Dollar and Bitcoin are really equals?
Value/validity/authorization of US dollar is provided/guaranteed by US Government (and in-turn whole US Public)!
Also, not to mention, US Dollars in any US Bank is insured by US Government!
What authorization/guarantee/insurance is behind Bitcoin? Nothing!
Sorry but that is the end of discussion then!
Why do you think Satoshi Nakamoto is really hiding his identity, if Bitcoin is really such a great innovation?
He is just someone does not like media/fan attention?
Or, could it be really because Bitcoin (and all cryptocurrencies followed it) are actually Ponzi Schemes?
(So he knew very well that law enforcement would come after him sooner or later?!)
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really good innovation, why they attract so many criminals/criminal activity?
Could it really be because, all cryptocurrencies themselves are scams, and that is why they attract all kinds of criminals/criminal activity?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really currency, why no company/store can use Bitcoin as currency anymore?
Because the price of Bitcoin proved to be extremely unstable to use as a currency?
Would the result be different, if Bitcoin replaced by any other "cryptocurrency"?
Aren't all work the same way?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really money; isn't people issuing their own money, illegal already, in all countries?
If so then, why they are still not banned in all countries?
Or, they are not actually virtual currency but virtual investment?
But, if they are actually investment, why we need/want them?
What would happen to world economy, if people invested in virtual investments, instead of real investments?
Or, all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually just a modified (made decentralized and paying variable interest) Ponzi Schemes?
(Price of cryptocurrencies would keep increasing in the long term (by their design), so it is equivalent of paying variable interest to all long term investors.)
Also, since all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually financial scams (Ponzi Schemes), that means, they cannot be the solution for any of existing financial problems of our world!
As more and more people invest in cryptocurrencies, it will become harder and harder to ban their trading everywhere (because people invested in cryptocurrencies, would try to stop anyone trying to ban cryptocurrencies)!
All cryptocurrencies need to be banned globally before it is too late!
.. by paying taxes or for a government id or license and forever tying your crypto wallet to your confirmed identity.
absolutely no ulterior motive here. nope. not a chance. the feds probably looked for 'volunteers' to do just this as a 'test run'.
One good solar flare is all it will take to make princes into paupers. This is why smart people will never allow this to supplant physical currency.
CCTV of every face connected to using computer currency.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
But nobody lives in New Hampshire!!
Florida requires a concealed carry permit. You can not get a permit for openly displaying a firearm. Only cops have that privilege. So here we have a tax collector that feels tax collectors can openly display a weapon. What happened to the law being equal for all people all of the time?
Greenberg said accepting bitcoin and bitcoin cash as a payment method will promote transparency and accuracy in payment.
I don't think BitCoin is what he thinks it is.
I refuse to sign