Bitcoin Forum

Looks like a smart move by the Japanse Government:


Source:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/japan-ruling-party-to-hold-off-regulating-bitcoin-1403175537



No need for new / additional regulation. For those that were Goxxed, more regulation will not help. Only thorough research and forceful implementation of law that has existed for a very long time.  (THOU SHALL NOT STEAL)

Go JAPAN!

They will, have to, in the future ;)

Why? What regulation is necessary that doesn't already exist?

As mentioned previously, the Liberal Democratic Party under PM Abe, seems to see a future for bitcoin, particularly in fostering trade with the largely unbanked developing countries.

However, the opinion on bitcoin within the Japanese government appears to be split. They have also talked about taxing bitcoin transactions. That sounds like a recipe for destroying bitcoin.

For example, in order to finance the American Civil War, the Lincoln administration issued a fiat currency called "Greenbacks" (printed in green on one side) . At the time,  mainly different kinds of bank notes issued by a large number of state banks were in circulation. By assessing a 10% tax on all transactions using bank notes, Lincoln's Treasury Dept. successfully forced the state banks to stop issuing bank notes, as they became prohibitively expensive to use in transactions.

Taxation could have the same kind of negative effects on bitcoin.

Well governments do need to tax in order to survive. Not sure that qualifies as regulation, though it can certainly have that impact.

How could they possibly implement a tax? A sales tax might be feasible but all you do then is create a healthier black market.

There was a suggestion floating around that Japan was thinking about putting a general tax on bitcoin transactions (as opposed to consumption tax, which may well apply) but it seemed to come from somebody misinterpreting a clumsily-worded English news article. In theory it would be possible to enforce this at least when legitimate retailers take bitcoin, but the plan to actually do it never existed.

Right now it does sound like consumption tax (basically like EU VAT) will be due on sales of bitcoin, not just sales with bitcoin. The situation seems to be the same in a few European countries. This would be a huge administration PITA, but by structuring the transactions the right way you could mostly avoid it. The big loophole is that you don't have to collect consumption tax until a couple of years after you do your first 10 million yen in sales, so most individuals and some businesses are exempt. Exchanges probably don't have to charge it because they're just helping one non-consumption-tax-registered individual buy from another non-consumption-tax-registered individual, except on their trading fee which the individuals are paying to them.

Well considering Japan has had economic problems over the last few years this is good news for Bitcoin
Any service or good that helps develop an industry is good for their economic growth which is still fairly stagnant.
That said this is for now until they get a more developed opinion on the topic.

Definitely think this is good news for bitcoin.  Less/no regulation allows it to thrive much faster in my opinion.

I think its good for bitcoin in the short term.  But would prefer there is more direct BTC related regulation in place in Japan at least to make things more clear   This year I claimed my btc gains under capital gains (other) at about 20 percent.   This seemed to be what they wanted when we called up and got some advice from the JP taxman.   If things were more clear cut it would be much better IMO.  

Not even relevant. Their so called economy was artificially created by US ultimately to serve the aim of having a relatively democratic and anti-communist launching pad in the far east.

I think it`s good for bitcoin to stay free till a certain point. Japan not regulating Bitcoin is a good thing at the moment. Let it grow, let people own it ... then we will need some regulations or it will be the far-west

As you said: ... yet

Soon or later our baby will grow up and then become an irritating rebel teen with very rocky and volatile prices that indeed will need to be regulated...

I would disagree. In most countries the penalties for willfully avoiding taxes can be severe. Many people would not want to risk these penalties just to avoid a tax on their purchases. Any type of sales tax would be applied the same way as if the goods/services were purchased with fiat.

Yep!

i always assumed that the beauty of bitcoin was that there are no "regulations" on it!!!i dnt knw maybe i was wrong.

Bitcoin could be considered as a foreign currency in a local country. Their are existing regulations on domestic and foreign currencies and consumer protection. There shouldn't be any additional regulation required in the first place.

I guess they will in the furture?

Everything will get regulated, governments don't give a single fu*k if people don't want it to be regulated, they want money wherever they can get it from.

That is exactly why we must develop and learn ways around such punitive and arbitrary regulation.

Governments don't do anything. People within governments do. We are all individuals. There are great people in government, and then there are some that are not. It is up to those governed to weed out the ones that are not.

Well considering Japan has had economic problems over the last few years this is good news for Bitcoin
Any service or good that helps develop an industry is good for their economic growth which is still fairly stagnant.
That said this is for now until they get a more developed opinion on the topic.

Lately I like the decision of the Japan Government, their decisions are wise

Yes, it is a smart move. I wanted to say: why to regulate bitcoin at all? Most developed countries have some sort of regulation for electronic payments, etc. If necessary for taxation purposes bitcoin can easily fall under such broad regulation.