if you collect stamps, toy trains or other stuff.. you dont report it till you sell it.

unless your using a government registered financial instrument (stocks shares bonds) then its not financial.

in my eyes bitcoin is an asset, thus just like a car or any other antique, you dont need to announce you have it until you sell it and then announce the income (profit) you got for it.

but its best you speak to a financial advisor before making a possible expensive decision. as different countries not only have different rules but also different columns on tax forms of what needs declaring and what doesnt need declaring

yes.

even i said bitcoin can do that years ago.

for instance right now bitcoin is stupidly pegged to the US dollar.

this means that based on minimum wage bitcoin is worth:
USA: washington 26 hours 26 minutes labour (washington: min wage $9.47 / btc $250)
USA: california 27 hours 46 minutes labour (california: min wage $9.00 / btc $250)
USA: multiple states 34 hours 29 minutes labour (multiple states: min wage $7.25 / btc $250)
UK: 25 hours 41 minutes labour  (UK: min wage £6.50 / btc £167)
china: shanghai 90 hours 25 minutes labour (shanghai min wage 17yuan / btc Y1537)
china: hainan 170 hours 46 minutes labour (hainan min wage 9yuan / btc Y1537)

but imagine that bitcoin was not pegged to dollars.. but instead pegged to a universal measure of X minimum hours worldwide.

EG today imagine bitcoin was measured as being 40 hours minimum wage labour.
that means everyone around the wold no matter what would get a bitcoin for 40 hours work.
of course as deflation occured and demand rised a bitcoin would be worth 41 hours, 42 hours. etc etc.

which people could easily convert into their local currency without having to think about converting to dollars or worrying about dollars stability

yep

during the dorian saga.  (dorian is not 'satoshi'- the bitcoin creator by the way)
'satoshi' - the bitcoin creator accessed his old email to make a messaged to debunk the dorian media theory. but....
the terms and conditions of his email got updated, which caused a 6 month no use policy to trigger which would release the email username to anyone.

so 6 months after the dorian saga, someone managed to time it right to 'reactivate' the account simply by signing up using the username which was now freely available. they then got old emails out of archive.

........... well thats the current theory of the whole drama of 2014

i see so many people wanting satoshi to return so we can all give him thanks.

but the real question is... do you know the creator (the actual mastermind person) of bank notes.

would you have the same desire for the fiat creator to return
would you have the same desire to thank the fiat creator.

reasons:
1. news/media relaxed the illegal rhetoric and started positive news
2. bitcoin stands at MANY commercial conferences and conventions
3. even political meetings and law making practices are becoming positive about bitcoin.. well atleast accepting its part of their future
4. tv shows mentioning it

along with this, businesses look for:
different ways to accept money cheaply compared to credit cards
get a free method of accessing a new customer base without advertising
ways to invest their profits in a time that banks only give half a percent after business fee's are removed

this is not the limit of reasons, there are many more than this. but 2014 was the year that perceptions changed from the 2010-2013 negative mindset

if it requires google to protect it, then its an online wallet..

try using local (on your computer) proper wallets, rather than having privkeys online

time is already the currency.

think about it.

peoples sweat and work is what creates their wage, as they are paid at X per hour..
people trust fiat because its backed by the X per hour minimum wage, the basic fundamental lowest value of fiat that people know that a bank note is valued at.($10 bank note is worth 1hour 20 minutes minimal labour)

it's been a moto for decades "time is money"
the rich say it alot "you cant afford my time"

the rich charge extra for their time. EG lawyers $500 an hour

banks dont give interest based on performance of the markets but by the time people leave funds in an account (yearly set interest)

government limits poor peoples income. not by saying average joe can only earn $16k. instead they say
basic wage 7.50 an hour.
maximum working week 40 hours

they dont set working limits based on ability. or set pensions based on tiredness and illness, they say
minimum working age 18, retirement age 65.

pre-empt trolls: (numbers are not accurate due to different international/state/government rules. but the premiss of use of time still stands)

if an apocalypse was to happen, the internet, bitcoin, bank notes, gold, metal coins, stamps, MTV, blue-ray, LED-tv's would be the least of our worries

atleast try to look at the numbers
21,000,000.00000000

imagine $1 =100sat/1bit (0.00000100)

=$21,000,000,000,000
=$21 trillian

more than enough!
especially when you consider demand/deflation would cause goods usually worth $1 today (milk or bread), to be able to be bought for far less than 1bit.
in short it will be like the 1920's again where multiple loaves of bread can be bought for $1 and a house costs only $5k

if the exchange is a swedish exchange dealing with FIAT, it has to follow swedish FIAT rules.

if its just an bitcoin->altcoin exchange.. so far it dont matter, after all people trade different casino poker chips between each other without regulation

" I want in its that simple " .. " Look at all these other dickheads "
i smell that you are not a business guy or have any projects with success records, and you just want to brush shoulders to make a name for yourself.
well you will find the groups very boring as its more business networking rather than social gathering. so brushing shoulders doesnt get you far

true investor clubs are not really advertised on forums. you meet people through conventions or business dealings and collaborate privately.

currently there are two main groups and multiple small collaborative project groups (unsure of true numbers) that are full of a large amount of sane, intelligent and wealthy people. all thinking about different businesses, partnerships and logistics that they can do to expand bitcoin.

if anyone EVER says there is a special invite fee or a members fee. then its likely not a elite club. but a basement dwellers scheme by getting rich from suckering people into paying admin fee's.

in most cases you will get told to talk more about your projects in a private group, based on how good your projects or idea's are. money and amounts are not really ever talked about. or exchanged as a term of entry... after all those that have alot don really need to worry about it or ask about it.

if your talking about advertising to average joe. ask yourself..

not about the dream of bitcoins future (once infrustruture is more accessable) but what actual/factual usages and ease of use for average joe does bitcoin have right now.

for instance. how easy is it to get bitcoin without risks of banks closing accounts by linking to exchanges
for instance. what everyday goods (food / toiletries / car fuel / household goods) can average joe buy with bitcoin right now.
for instance. what exchange has proper.. and i mean this PROPER insurance to cover peoples funds if lost. (and not just exchanges that are quoted as having it)
for instance. what wallet software is 'average joe' proof and also not coded by basement dwellers, but by proper security trained programmers

if your going to advertise to average joe, dont be wishy washy about it. dont give basic theories or dreams, or possible futures. give present day factual usage and features.

so get to work finding the perfect universal 'average joe' solution, and you will have something worthy of highlighting to average joe.

but until then lets concentrate on getting the features, security, ease of use and ease of access sorted.

the reason is that you handed funds to a known blackmarket, so dont expect a refund.

lesson to learn, stick to legitimate product websites in future

hoarding just 623 bitcoin makes you have the equivalent of 1 million chinese yuan

hoarding just 39 bitcoins makes you have the equivelent of 1 million american cents

hoarding just 3900 bitcoins makes you have the equivelent of 1 million american dollars

.. so being a bitcoin millionaire based on a fiat conversion is VERY VERY easy.

there are a few people that have had 1 million actual bitcoins pass their hands.

and only a couple that presumably have upto a million coins hoarded (though i personally think satoshi only mined half a million coins)

fee's are not the problem, after all on most days there is a difference of more than 3% between exchanges.

for instance right now
BTC-e        253.00 USD
OKCoin.com    254.17 USD
Bitfinex            255.80 USD
Bitstamp        256.33 USD
LocalBitcoins    290.31 USD

so if you bought off localbitcoins.com you would complain that there was a 12% fee compared to btc-e
so if you bought off bitstamp.com you would complain that there was a 1.3% fee compared to btc-e

and thats just treating the spot spread as a fee before you even include the actual service fee.

yes

bitcoin has less population than dollars, bitcoin has less population then yuan. so i do not think that bitcoin will supersede fiat soon.
after all bitcoin is another currency that can easily work alongside fiat without need to supersede all 200 different fiat currencies.

but paypal can make fee's on allowing people to convert fiat to bitcoin via paypal, at just a 1-2% spot premium. whilst still allowing both fiat and bitcoin merchants to advertise and sell products at a 1-2% ad fee.

in short, its delusional for anyone to think that paypal is hesitant because they fear bitcoin. they are simply holding back until some *cough* regulations *cough* give them a safety net to trade bitcoins whilst becoming less liable

much cheaper to pay a state official a couple hundred thousand a year salary, to then convince all of his friends,
rather then ripple directly going to all the friends individually and trying to gain business relationships independently.. costing alot more time to gain trust with the officials and much more (millions) in separate payments