Bitcoin

Canada to tax Bitcoin transactions

"Canadians using bitcoins, the decentralized crypto-currency that recently went mainstream, must report their incomes and pay taxes as with other earnings, Canada's Revenue Agency (CRA) confirmed following a media request. The issue was clarified in response to a letter by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ahead of the country's tax season. Two separate tax rules are applicable to the electronic currency. When bitcoins are used as money to buy goods and services, the transaction is treated as barter and is taxable as such. When they are traded at a market for profit, they may be taxed as capital gains." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Dealers Are Running Into Problems In Canada

"Two Canadian businessmen recently got some bad news from their banks. James Grant, owner of Canadian Bitcoins, got a letter. Melvin Ng, proprietor of CADBitcoin, got a phone call. Both men run online exchanges where you can purchase Bitcoins for Canadian dollars. And both were informed their businesses’ accounts frozen by Canada’s largest banks. 'It’s a weird situation,' Ng told us by phone recently. 'We’re a normal Canadian business, we’re registered with the government, and a Canadian bank can just block it off.' Grant was more blunt: 'They just don’t like Bitcoins.'" Continue reading →

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Detlev Schlichter: Could Bitcoin be the money of the future?

"The crypto-currency Bitcoin is still merely a speck on the global monetary landscape. It is young, experimental, and for all we know, it may ultimately fail to break into the monetary mainstream. However, on a conceptual level I am willing to call it a work of genius and arguably the most exciting development in the field of money for more than 130 years. Let’s say since the start of the Classical Gold Standard in 1879. Does this sound like hyperbole? Well, let me explain." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin ATMs coming soon

"42-year-old media entrepreneur Jeff Berwick hopes to bring Bitcoin ATMs to a city near you soon. Berwick expects to put the first two ATMs in Los Angeles and Cyprus in the next two weeks and is choosing between several different retail locations in both areas. He added that orders are coming in by the hundreds from 30 different countries. Berwick will charge roughly $10,000 to ATM operators to maintain the machines and then split fees with those operators. So far, Berwick has used his personal savings to develop the software and build out the first prototype. He is currently hoping to raise between $1 million and $3 million in outside capital." Continue reading →

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Bitcoins gain traction in Argentina

"Enter the bitcoin? The virtual currency is emerging as the latest inflation refuge – and Bloomberg reports that TradeHill, a US-based bitcoin exchange, is now planning to open an office in Argentina where demand is fastest in the region. Bitcoins are absolutely not words on everybody’s lips here and many people have no clue about how to use them. But a quick squint at the website of MercadoLibre – a kind of ebay – reveals that you can buy plenty of things, from motorbikes to apartments to an anti-slip spray for bathtubs, and pay with bitcoins. Argentina’s two centuries’ history of currency turbulence, has wired a need for financial smarts into the national DNA." Continue reading →

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Fr33 Aid Abandons Non-Profit Tax Status in Favor of Bitcoin

"Many organizations seek non-profit recognition from the IRS in an attempt to protect themselves from asset confiscation. In April 2012, Fr33 Aid applied for this privileged status, but since then the process has been nothing but a bureaucratic nightmare. Today Fr33 Aid announced they have abandoned their IRS application and adopted bitcoin as their primary financial instrument. Fr33 Aid Treasurer, Teresa Warmke said: 'Now that there are ways for us to do banking without government involvement, we decided fulfilling (IRS demands) would not be a responsible way for Fr33 Aid to spend its money nor for our volunteers to spend their time.'" Continue reading →

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Meet the Bitcoin Millionaires

"Many Bitcoin tycoons are devoting themselves to expanding the currency’s reach. Yifu Guo was a digital media student at New York University when he began mining some of the first coins, occasionally cashing in a few to help pay his rent. After he recognized Bitcoin’s potential, he quit school and founded a company called Avalon, which sells hardware built solely for the purpose of mining Bitcoins. Tony Gallippi is CEO of BitPay, a payment processor he co-founded in 2011 that enables online merchants to accept Bitcoins. He says he includes Bitcoins in his investment portfolio along with stocks, bonds, and real estate." Continue reading →

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These Startups Are Betting Everything on Bitcoin

"BitInstant is just one of several Bitcoin startups attracting funding from established venture firms and investors at a valuation in the millions. Coinsetter, a New York startup working on a foreign exchange trading platform for Bitcoins, recently raised $500,000 led by Tribeca Venture Partners and SecondMarket at a valuation that we hear is in the 'low single-digit millions.' Coinbase, a startup that provides a digital wallet for Bitcoin transactions, has raised $600,000 to date from Y Combinator, IDG Ventures and others. (Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins who had a disputed role in the founding of Facebook, are also big Bitcoin investors.)" Continue reading →

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