Bitcoin Forum

im very excited to share about one of my friends condition.
he lives in an asian country where bitcoin is not legal to government.
he invested in bitcoin and he owned a second hand motorbike shop.
now he wants to dealing with crypto for his shop.
in this circumstances what should he do or which step best for him.
expect better suggestion from good people

You said bitcoin is not allowed in your country. He has nothing to do than not to accept bitcoin or any other crypto as payment. He can continue to use fiat. If he wants to convert to bitcoin or any other crypto, he know the way he is doing it before and that is what that matters. But as for selling his bikes, he should only accept your local currency than to do what may pay him in problem.

First, you already said crypto is not legal in the country where your friend has his workshop, which means any advice or means that he wants to make use of in order to start accepting crypto is going to be illegal. I don't think anyone here is going to teach your friend how to break the law of the country. If the law catches him up, he will see those who give him that advice as bad influence and also a crime accomplisher.
 
If your friend is a true crypto lover and wants to get crypto accepted in his work shop, the best advice I can give him is to move over to a crypto-friendly country, which will be the best thing for him to do, and that's where he can get his customers who will be willing to pay in crypto, because in his country, where it's not accepted, both he and those who ever want to patronize him using crypto as a method of payment will share the same faith.

Your friend should not break the law in his country. If bitcoin is not legal and there is a punishment like jail time for it or whatever, tell your friend not to break it. The anti-bitcoin governments are ready to make a scapegoat of defaulters. He shouldn't be overzealous. Best thing he could do now is to DCA and HODL. Selling his and receiving payment can be done via P2P and on a decentralized platform. This is what other people in countries with similar law do.

This is not the best advice at all. He has a motorbike shop. To move to another country will not be the best thing to do. He can just continue to accept fiat and no disadvantage to that. If he is successful in a business in his country, another thing might be what would happen in another country. If he is successful in his business, no need to move to another country. What should make someone leaves his country to another should be because of business opportunity and that is not the case here.

If Bitcoin isn't legal in a country or is banned in a country then one should never accept Bitcoin payments directly from others. I would advice you to suggest your friend to not accept Bitcoin or crypto-currency dealings if they're not allowed by government. Any time if authorities get information about his shop then they might take strict actions against him. If he has invested in Bitcoin then that's not an issue he should hold that investment and if he wants to invest more in Bitcoin he can do that as well, but he should never share details about his wallet or investment details with anyone.

I think you guys have to share how you evade such reatriction aince you said it is illegal on your country to invest in Bitcoin. Isn't it a suicide if your friend  deal with crypto for his shop? I am a bit confused here OP so please enlighten me.

According to your information Bitcoin is illegal in the country where your friend lives. Since Bitcoin is illegal in your friend's country, your friend may be in danger if he openly uses Bitcoin. Since Bitcoin is illegal in your friend's country, use Bitcoin secretly. Your friend has a second hand mobile shop and you ask him to focus on that business and carry on with other activities including investing secretly. It is better for him if he invests bitcoins in secret because if these things become known your friend may get into legal trouble. If ever bitcoin is legalized in your friend's country he can trade bitcoins directly but for now it would be a good move for him to stay away from these things.

If it's South Asian country like Bangladesh or Pakistan where Bitcoin is banned, he is likely to destroy himself by accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. Corruption is rocket high here. Almost every other government employee knows about Bitcoin and they even use Bitcoin for their benefits. But, when they want to destroy someone's life, they accuse them of being a Bitcoin user. Which is illegal and Bitcoin users could be considered as criminals because of that.

I often see news like where a group of people were arrested because they were buying selling crypto. They get arrested under money loundering law and then they tie up many others law like they were buying selling drugs with crypto etc etc. The government are always negative about crypto. So, I would suggest not to use crypto in public at all.

The best step is not to pursue the addition of that option to accept crypto payments, your friend should just buy bitcoins secretly because as you've said, it's illegal there and I don't know if it's purchasing of bitcoin or ownership that's illegal so the best thing is to keep it secret. If that friend would be in danger because he's going to reveal his bitcoin ownership by doing that then it's a risky maneuver and in no way in all the possibilities that it's the best thing to do.

Countries in Asia generally Bitcoin in other words crypto/digital currency is not legal, but not illegal, so Bitcoin can still be used using local exchanges, meaning: Bitcoin no one controls it use Bitcoin at your own risk and not using it or using it is not a problem for the state.

If your friend has a certain wallet/exchange for making transactions or a site that can accept Bitcoin, I think your friend can make car buying/selling transactions on their dialer with consumers, This is done according to the agreed price in Bitcoin, in my opinion the government has nothing to do with using Bitcoin or cash.

The point is: both parties must have a crypto wallet/exchange to make their buying/selling transactions easier.

I think he should avoid anything cryptocurrency transaction in other not to put himself into trouble. There are many ways one can involve into cryptocurrency in a country where it's not fully accepted. For example he can receive payment in Fiat use it to buy bitcoin through binance and store in his wallet to make more profit when Bitcoin rises rather than exposing himself to the government. Because its risky out there expecailly a country that does not accept Bitcoin as a medium of exchange.

If Bitcoins are not legal, then treat it as illegal atleast. It will be very risky to accept payments openly through Bitcoins or cryptos. If the tax department of your country notices this, they might file a legal case against you. Hence the suitable option for you can be to just tell your really close customers to pay in Bitcoins, otherwise you need to wait till Bitcoins becomes legal in your country.

Where in Asia? because I also come from a country on the Asian continent.
It's not legal but can still be used as a commodity asset. In my opinion, he can still carry out activities with Bitcoin and crypto as long as he doesn't use Bitcoin and crypto as a fiat function.

Make sure internet access is available. During that time he could still do it. There are several countries in Asia where the government prohibits Bitcoin and crypto, but Bitcoin and crypto activities can still be carried out by Bitcoin and crypto owners as long as their intention is not for something that is detrimental to themselves and those around them.

Is your story true or not?

You can use Bitcoin as a means of payment in your used motorbike repair business, because you said Bitcoin is illegal in the country where your friend lives. And what your friend needs to know is the law that applies if Bitcoin or crypto is used as a means of payment, and your friend must know this in detail for his safety and also the risk of being caught by the authorities if he finds out.
And to make Bitcoin your business transaction, you and the seller or buyer must have a Bitcoin wallet to be able to carry out transactions with the consent of both parties carried out privately. Plus currently Bitcoin transaction fees are very expensive, and this is also something you have to think about.

its just not use crypto as method of payment. Just receive it as fiat and throw at his cryptos.

He will end up in jail because he is trying to encourage openly what the government has discouraged openly. You cannot show open disobedience to the government even especially in these Asian countries where the government frowns heavily against indiscipline and the punishment can be more severe. His intention is to accumulate bitcoins through that means, but is not going to work, if he wishes to receive bitcoins for services, he can only get it from international clients not the local ones in the same country as he.

can you explain the Asian country you are referring to, I am also from Asia, precisely in the southeast Asian country which is more clearly in Indonesia, and indeed precisely in my country using bitcoin to be used as a medium of exchange for goods is prohibited and will be exposed to the law, and can be put in prison and pay a fine if you do.

But if you are in a country that does not have definite laws in the use of money you can use the means of exchange that you want, but most countries already have standards for their means of exchange. If you really want to get bitcoin payments then you have to open a business internationally.

There's been a lot of similar advice I've heard before. Some people advise others to move to a country where bitcoin is legal to live and do business. But honestly, it's bad advice, just because to be able to use bitcoin, we have to leave our homeland and loved ones to go to another country. Where we will have to start everything from scratch and will encounter many difficulties such as differences in language, culture...More importantly, there is no guarantee that our business will be as stable as in our home country. Is that worth the trade-off?

In OP's case, if bitcoin is not yet legal in his country then he should continue what he did with bitcoin. He should continue to keep his bitcoin investment private and wait until the day bitcoin is legalized in his country. Bitcoin is becoming more and more popular and it is only a matter of time before the entire world adopts it.

Is BTC illegal in your friend's country or is it that it is not a legal tender, take note they both mean different things, BTC must not be a legal tender before you use it and accept it for payment. Only one country in the world has made BTC a legal tender, yet it is used in so many countries around the world. But if BTC is actually illegal where your friend lives, then he cannot go on with what he plans, it is stupid to take such a risk when you know you could get yourself in hot water if you do so.

If Bitcoin is not legalized in his country, then this is a risky deal for him because he might get arrested by any government official for violating the country's law for not using Bitcoin.
He can be using his profit to invest in Bitcoin through the DCA method so that he can save Bitcoin in his wallet for a long time because if he accepts Bitcoin payments, he can lose money sometimes when the market goes' down because the bitcoin market is volatile.

Therefore, I will advise your friend to make bitcoin payments optional and not public to be safe from government harassment since it is not yet legal.

If bitcoin is not allowed in his country their is nothing you can do to deal in bitcoin in his business. What he should do is for him to use bitcoin in a way that he is not going to break the laws of his country which he will be punished.  If in the country people are allowed to use exchange he can buy bitcoin and move it to a non custodial wallet for hodling, but since it is an offence to allow bitcoin as means for payment for business,  you don't need to go into it .

No one should ever give advice that is against the laws of your country. My advice to you and your friend would always be to respect the laws of the land. If your friend is so interested in crypto then he should go to a country where crypto is legal and many people in that country are involved with it. Or you have to wait until your country declares crypto legal.

Your friend should not think about accepting Bitcoin as payment until he seek legal practitioner that's knowledgeable about the cryptocurrency stance in the country he resides that's if there chance he will be able to accept it as payment but the chance is slim since Bitcoin is not legal there and he can't accept it as payment he shouldn't force it.

​In Asian countries where bitcoin transactions are not legal, people are also facing many problems. There are many people like your friend who are investing in Bitcoin even though it is illegal to invest in it.Then is because the government has not yet banned the exchanges in which Bitcoin is being traded. So people are not facing any problem at present. If bitcoin transaction is not legal in your friend's country then how is he thinking of doing bitcoin transaction for bike in the shop? What will he do if the government decides to ban all the exchanges?

When the government declares something illegal then taking it is also against the government's decision, but if someone keeps it as an investment then it is fine, but using Bitcoin to transact in a shop can definitely cause problems for him. So he might change his decision to deal with crypto. Rather, the deal in the shop will be better with the local currency. He can also acquire bitcoins with local currency. If his purpose is to accumulate bitcoins.

There is no better suggestion I can give than to advise him to be a good law-abiding citizen. I have not been to Asia, so I don't know how serious the law against crypto is being handled there, but if it's so serious that it could cause him harm,it's better he just accept fiat and not bitcoin or cryptocurrency.

But, if the law against crypto is not a serious offense if neglected, you may want to look through my thread (One Month of Accepting Bitcoin for Payment (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5425961.msg61400602#msg61400602)).You will definitely find some good advice that I also took when I started accepting Bitcoin in my business.

If it's illegal, the best and most obvious advice is that he shouldn't do it. But reality can be trickier, of course. Sometimes, something can be illegal, but not considered a major crime. You don't face prison time, you face an administrative charge, a relatively small fine if you're found guilty. Or maybe, it's only illegal nominally, but the law is never enforced in practice, and tons of people break it calmly all the time because there's a silent understanding in society that it's fine, you won't get in trouble for doing something. So if Bitcoin is nominally illegal, or the penalty isn't serious, someone might be willing to risk it. But if it's seriously illegal, then I think it's not worth it, especially with something as public as a shop.

If it were just buying and stacking cryptocurrencies, then I'd have encouraged it because the government might some day want to regulate cryptocurrency in the future, thus making it legal in the country or he could get to travel to crypto-friendly nations and spend it. However, since cryptocurrency is not legal in the country, I would kick against accepting it in his business. If he does go ahead, he'd be incuring the wraths of the authorities.

Bitcoin is not valid in the country where your friend lives. If Bitcoin is not legal in his country then your friend may face many problems if he starts transaction Bitcoin for business. Among many problems, your friend will face administrative trouble and jail fine. So my advice for your friend is not to start bitcoin transaction in his business and if he has much interest and experience in bitcoin investing then he can quietly continue bitcoin investing.

It will be a bad advise if your friend goes on to deal with bitcoin even when he knew that the government as not legalize the use. In some countries, bitcoin is not legal tender but the government doesn’t stop its people from using the currency since it is at their own peril. If your friends country operates the same way, it will be good to integrate the bitcoin mode of payment as part of his business. But if it is not, it is better to be collecting the payment in fiat and wait for the government to legalize it or can give to you to help him invest in bitcoin if your country allows the use of bitcoin.