If I wanted to buy something with crypto I certainly wouldn't bother converting to an alt. There is no saving. Your Bitcoin fee to an exchange may as well be paid to Bitpay instead. No exchange rate weirdness or fees either.

Cool for Litecoiners though.

There is always a reason for such a spread. If it was easy the price gap would vapourise in seconds. It's usually down to fiat banking. There are whole markets that are cut off from foreigners, other places like BTC-e it's because the fees are so high and they use third party payment processors.

Gosh, quelle surprise. I wonder how much users handed over to miners for their spamfest. It must add up to a mountain of easily extorted money.

It's not doubt plenty of wealth but it is fully explainable. You're better off contacting your bank beforehand and having all your info together but people do it every single day without being executed.

Why? I can trace the purchase and the price paid, the movement through wallets and the eventual sale price. It's all there to be presented. It's not witchcraft.

If you get taken to court for some reason, what reason would it be? The court would clip the taxman around the ear for wasting its time.

Erm, how? The only thing that marriage allows is for the poorer one to loot the richer one when they get divorced. There might be the odd tax and inheritance advantage but it pales in comparison and it's fully deserved anyway.

It would be an utter nightmare. Authorities would have the capability of absolute control over every conceivable aspect of our lives.

The countries that are running towards it like Denmark and Sweden will regret it bitterly in the years to come. I only hope there's more resistance to it elsewhere.

It's not exactly hard. Show them your exchange buys or mining records. Show them the sale. Dig out some old private keys if necessary. Pay yer tax. Away you go.

That's not to say your bank won't have kittens anyway but you're not doing anything wrong. You're cashing in profits on something you own just as you would with shares or a classic car. Just dig out some proof of ownership.

The actual law won't treat crypto any differently than anything else. Banks might be a different matter.

I'd be pretty amazed if you had customers willing to cough up the fees as they are unless you're selling yachts.

What do you want? Bitcoin or GBP?

Both Coinbase and Bitpay have operated as processors in the UK but I don't know how they do it as there's no banking. I assume it's some sort of EU hack like Coinbase's where you're sending GBP to an Estonian bank.

The main advantage of either is that the exchange is locked at the time of sale. If you need GBP and you're handling selling your own BTC first off your bank will probably shut you down and second you might not get to market fast enough to stave off volatility.

In this case it's extremely simple. These days it's pretty damned hard to find a wallet that doesn't give you control over your private keys. I genuinely do not know why anyone would choose one that doesn't.

That depends on where you live.

In France cohabiting people can formalise their cohabiting to an extent without the heaviness of marriage. And in the UK there were civil partnerships before gay marriage was available. Now heteros are trying to sue the government so they can get a civil partnership.

I'm not accepting of any marriage, it's a ridiculous and outmoded idea that doesn't fit in the modern world, but if that's what people want to do then anyone should be able to do it. Your life partner should be granted certain rights if you both want it be they man, mineral or radiator.

Why? All you had to do is sit there and do nothing. That's what I did. I can't say I've suffered along the way.

The Chinese market is now effectively toothless. The only reason we got these Bitcoin gains is because its relentless dumpathon was taken out of contention. It's not coming back either with the introduction of fees and controls on leverage.

The last thing they have to threaten everyone else is coming down heavily on mining.  At this stage it's possible the rest of the world would be delighted if Chinese mining was strangled even if there were short term wobbles.

Keeping your coins on an exchange may be your only chance to capitalise on multiple chains. It's quite possible one or more will be so painfully slow until a difficulty change that you won't be able to move them quickly enough. By that point it may all be over.

Erm, have you ever actually sold anything on Ebay? Your confidence is reassuring. The reality is a somewhat different matter.

No one would buy a coin from anything other than an aged account. And I don't believe Ebay will have the slightest clue about the intricacies of following blockchain movements if someone empties it and sends it back. Your $10,000 coin just became worth $200 and there's nothing you can do.

They will end up with a master key for nothing because for starters it's not possible, and second there won't be a Bitcoin to shut down as anyone with an operating mind will abandon it.

Funnily enough it's grown as far as it has without The Man having a kill switch and is growing ever faster. That won't change no matter what they squeal for.

Another yes from me.

This has been ongoing since 2010 pretty much and you shouldn't be surprised that it's still an issue. There will always be power struggles and user dissatisfaction. Everyone wants it to be all things to them while other groups want it to be all things to them.

You're really persuading me with your stunningly intricate way of getting deep into my mind and influencing me. I feel like nothing more than a helpless marionette with the sheer elegance of your manoeuvring.