I have no expertise on gaming law as to BTC or any other gaming endeavor, however the user is responsible to know whether
his actions are legal or not.

As to 51% attack I agree that if there is intent to steal or defraud or destroy or manipulate for personal gain that it might be deemed an illegal act and the perpetrator could be subject to civil or criminal prosecution.

Best:

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

www.attorneybitcoin.com

After practicing law for 25 years I am suspicious of most claims made by certain persons and businesses. I personally trade on Poloniex and they  may very well be registered with FinCEN as an MSB. I don't necessarily take their word for it. In my opinion if an exchange trades crypto's and takes a fee in crypto's then it is questionable whether or not they are transmitting fiat or acting as an MSB. If they are accepting fiat or sending fiat then they have crossed the line into being an MSB and possibly a Money Transmitter in a State that considers them such. Probably more important to FinCEN is that a larger trading sites such as Poloniex have a system in place for tracking certain customers and suspicious activity especially for larger transactions.

As a customer of a trading exchange that appears legitimate and secure and seems reputable I am simply paying a crypto fee for a crypto service, there is nothing illegal about that. I might as well be trading a collectible book to my gardener for mowing my lawn. It seems that the commodity exchange regulators and SEC are not anxious about getting into regulation of these crypto trading platforms although from time to time you hear a rumor or see a story, then nothing seems to come of it. If someone has a link to these issues I would appreciate it. I have not had cause to research them yet.

Now, as to the foreign trading sites, yes there are a lot of foreign sites doing business here. Whether the foreign trading platforms are legit and legally conducting business that is the question that I don't have the answer to. But let's explore this a bit further. There are obviously many illegal activities that are happening on the web that are trying to avoid regulations, laws and taxes. Everything from Doctors and prescriptions to persons claiming to be lawyers to web site builders and SEO providers and gambling. People get burned....all the time....and it is wrong. Then again, someone is trying to get around our laws and taxes.....so well, you know.

The main question from crypto lawyers is: "How risk averse are you?" Of course it's hard to follow laws that are just now being formed. So.....pay taxes on earnings and try to do business with those that at least seem legit and reputable. If starting or running a crypto business consult a lawyer and cpa. Be honest, follow the rules the best you can and keep records of that. Then you should be okay. At least for now. 

Respectfully:

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

www.attorneybitcoin.com

I have no opinion on whether Poloniex and Bittrex are safe and follow government regulations. You say you know this. Have you researched it? What have you found to support this?

Having said that I use both Poloniex and Bittrex to trade and they currently seem to be stable and secure. But I wouldn't count on anything yet in this relatively young set of industries, laws and regulations related to crypto.

I don't know the answer to your questions about foreign exchanges. Keep in mind that from time to time some sites get either hacked or have internal corruption and people lose BTC. Sometimes a great deal of BTC. Being a U.S. based site does not make it invulnerable either. I have used Yobit and Cryptopia in the past although I am not currently trading with them but that is not in any way an opinion on them. 

I am not saying don't use the other exchanges you mention, but I advise people to be cautious. Don't keep large amounts of money in any exchange, wallet or other platform for any longer than is needed. Always encrypt wallets and set automatic back up of coins to an external device.  If you are a person who saves BTC as an investment then look into vaults or more secure long term placement with the bigger providers.

As to legality; as long as you are declaring your income when you convert crypto to fiat (either by selling for fiat or using it to purchase non business related goods or services) then you should be fine for now.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

www.attorneybitcoin.com

Great Discussion. I do think that the SOURCE of the BTC used to purchase goods or services should be addressed. For example: If an employee gets a net pacheck from an employer, certain taxes have already been deducted. You can have more or less deducted based upon your dependents claimed; but if the NET income is comfortably just that, after tax income, then taxes have been paid already. Now if that employee takes that after tax money and purchases Bitcoin, and the Bitcoin does not increase in value and then the employee uses that BTC to purchase goods or services, then it is not a taxable event. If the employee converted that same BTC back into fiat under these circumstances, it would STILL not be a taxable event.

BTC price increases that brings profit, mining BTC, or trading BTC that brings a profit; using BTC derived from all of these things, (after the costs involved are deducted,) WOULD be taxable.


Confusing right?

Hard for people and government to track? No kidding. How risk averse are you is the question that each person must ask him or herself. Being essentially honest in earnings and taxes, that is, making a reasonably good faith effort to report, in my opinion, is plenty. I don't think it is practical for feasible to be able to keep track of every single little thing.

For example: I am paid in BTC for goods or services provided. I declare this as income which will be reported on my year end taxes,  then I go and use that same BTC to pay my computer guy for work. However, between the time I received it and the time I paid the computer guy it went up in price 35 cents. It would be overly burdensome in my opinion to have to track that. Keep in mind that volume matters as well. If I did the same transaction 100,000 times a year then it adds up to something more substantial.

This is a real problem that must be solved, yet it seems there is no solution, except to remain reasonably (essentially) honest and report the big stuff. You can then show that you made a good faith effort.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

www.attorneybitcoin.com

I tend to agree with you about it being difficult for regulators to understand and track; however, I still encourage all of my fellow citizens to pay their taxes. We have a responsibility to our communities and to our country.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

www.attorneybitcoin.com

As a Bitcoin/Crypto Attorney/Miner and Student, I am very impressed with this coin, it's team, utility, community and progress. I'm re-stating my offer to accept VRC as payment for legal advice and services. I'm enjoying staking VRC and mining Verium.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
Las Vegas, Nevada

www.attorneybitcoin.com

Dear BTC Talk Community:

I have been involved in BTC/Cryptos and BTC/Crypto Law for the past 3 years and was also on a speaker panel at Inside Bitcoin convention in Las Vegas. I have been an attorney here in Las Vegas for 25 years.

It is tax time so I have had some opinions about cryptos and taxes. It is my legal opinion that Bitcoin earnings only become taxable when they are converted to fiat. However there is a variation I would like to discuss.

If I have Bitcoin, and I make profit (for example) trading Bitcoin, and I then use those earnings to purchase goods or services from a vendor or service provider that/who accepts Bitcoin.....are the earnings that I made on the BTC that I spent for those goods/services taxable?  I'd like some opinions please.

It is my opinion that they would be taxable at the time I spent them as it would be the equivalent to converting to fiat.

What about converting to a pay card? gold? Interesting isn't it?

I'm very much looking forward to the diversity of opinions. Please keep in mind that I believe in paying my taxes and reporting my income and am not here to advise on how to get out of paying taxes, but rather to help us all understand when there is a taxable event, and how to legally minimize the taxes I am responsible to pay.

Thank you BTCTALK community.

George D. Greenberg, Esq

www.attorneybitcoin.com

As long as humans have misunderstandings, commit fraud, are dishonest, make mistakes, get into difficulties, there will be a need for an educated, calm and understanding professional person to help smooth it out and fix things as much as they can be fixed. That person is called an Attorney.

I'm delighted by Smart Contracts. They will hopefully be good for commerce between people. Every deal is different and all the facts and circumstances surrounding any given deal will also always be different. The variables and those things that are unforeseen are the reasons that attorneys can contribute to any given deal.

Sometimes things get over worried and a deal that could have happened never does. On the other hand, and more often, a deal is not considered carefully enough and if something does go wrong, there is no recourse or no fixing it.

Many deals are pretty straight forward and have many aspects that repeat themselves leading to standard contracts that can be modified for a particular deal. Realtors often use these types of contracts and for the most part attorneys are not needed. But it was attorneys who put them together and refined them to begin with.

Let's hope for a positive evolution of contracts and commerce with the advent of platforms that incorporate these new contracts. I saw that Arizona is allowing them legally. Along with the Smart Contracts it is my hope that peer to peer payment with crypto coins as part of the contracts becomes more widely accepted.

Respectfully:

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

www.attorneybitcoin.com

Please forgive me I do not have the time to become involved in that discussion. i wish you the best.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

Answered in PM.

Dear FUD poster. Please stop using my quote on your thread. I do not want to be associated with your rants.

I just posted 2 days ago that I would accept VRC. I have not had any takers as of yet. Why do you ask? As to my general practice in BTC Law I am paid from time to time in BTC from client's. The amounts are of course confidential. I am a real attorney and have been involved in BTC and Cryptos for 3 years. I have been a practicing attorney for 25 years.  You can certainly look at my web page. Call me, email me, PM me. George D. Greenberg, Esq. www.atttorneybitcoin.com 7674 W. Lake Mead Blvd #245 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128.

I ACCEPT VERICOIN FOR LEGAL ADVICE AND SERVICES. HERE IS WHY:

I have tried several staking wallets and this one is hands down the most consistent. It is also the most transparent and seemingly efficient. I love all of the information that is displayed and the quick transactions. The Dev's knew what they were doing. The market for this coin is steady as well. Moving forward to the next level is always a challenge but I think VRC has a good chance. For those reasons I'm accepting VRC in payment for legal advice and services.

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
www.attorneybitcoin.com

That is a GREAT question. The answer is maybe, but I doubt it. It may depend upon how you structure the business venture. For example if you are acting as a business entity such as an LLC or a Corporation then you are more likely to need to comply. If you are doing it for yourself only then you are not handling fiat directly and it becomes less likely. Any fees you earn would be income subject to income tax, if the fees were in fiat that is. If not then when you convert the fee to fiat it then becomes taxable as income. Any costs and expenses would be deductible.

When  you say you collect a small fee, is the fee collected in a virtual coin? That would also remove you one step further away from being regulated as a money transmitter. You can PM me if you want to discuss further.

Best:

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
www.attorneybitcoin.com
 

Yes, as a United States Citizen I pay my taxes. I'm not here to advise on how to avoid payment of taxes. In addition I'm not a C.P.A. nor am I a tax attorney. I have already given my opinion to you. If you want to explore it further then you would indeed need to hire a C.P.A. or a tax attorney to help you.

It's not a matter of exemption, it is a matter of your overall tax picture. You can absolutely deduct money spent for parts for prototypes as a cost of business. This offsets from your income. You are getting the idea! 

I suspect that it has much more to do with KYC or "Know Your Client" a common term used for complying with United States Treasury Departments anti money laundering concerns. Every entity dealing with potentially larger amounts of cash or cash as a business has reporting requirements. For example any transactions over $1,000.00 must be kept track of. In addition these businesses are supposed to show some sort of effort or procedure in place in collecting information on who they are dealing with. The more cash, the more information they want. A simple phone number likely means a relatively low amount of cash. If you go on Coinbase or Poloniex, the higher the amount of money you want to deal in the more information they want from you. I seriously doubt that asking you for a phone number has anything to do with taxation.

Hello Sir:

I guess I have to say it is not fine. But let's analyze this a bit more. Most income received from most sources is taxable. There are some things that are exempt from income taxes such as inheritance, or income from tax exempt bonds; but if you receive income from BTC then you should declare it as such as part of your entire gross income.

But let's look a little bit closer. You did not state how you obtained the BTC. That is very important. Almost all costs spent in order to obtain the BTC are deductible from your entire gross income. For example; if you spent five hundred dollars on mining equipment, that equipment as well as the cost of electricity needed to run it are deductible. If you obtained the BTC as payment for services, then any costs associated with providing those services are also deductible.

I hope that helps. If you would like to give me more specifics I can analyze this further. 

Best:

George D. Greenberg, Esq.
www.attorneybitcoin.com

Lawyer for Bitcoin and Alternate Coins.

As always, it depends. If the business that is accepting BTC as payment is a money service business, such as a check cashing store or a business that deals in a lot of cash, such as an automobile dealership or big nightclub, then these businesses are going to be subject to FinCEN regulations. It doesn't matter if it is cash or BTC. The degree of tracking and reporting varies and is dependent upon the amount of money for any given transaction; but they still must have a compliance program in place in one form or another.

As to your interesting software, it depends. If you are selling the software and that is the end of the deal, then no, you are not subject to compliance. If you remain involved in the transmission and are taking a fee for each transaction, then you might be. I would have to research that further. If you want to follow up on that PM me here please. Great questions.

Best:

George D. Greenberg, Esq.

www.attorneybitcoin.com

And yes, I am on the current version and I have also owned this coin since it started, as an investor.