An issuer could default which means that you could lose some of your Bitcoins. Therefore it is a good thing to diversify by funding only small portions per Bitbond.

That's also a reason why we do an identity check and a rating. We know who the issuers are and give buyers an estimate about their creditworthiness.

Sehr feine Sache!

Hello everyone,

Do you want to help make banks obsolete? Try our new service today!

We are announcing you Bitbond – a platform for Bitcoin P2P loans.

Borrow Bitcoins from the Bitcoin community

• Complete our simple application
• Get your credit rating done by us
• Publish a loan request and borrow coins at great rates

Earn interest on your Bitcoins

• Complete our quick registration
• Place bids on laon listings and diversify your holdings
• Watch your savings grow in a convenient dashboard

Do banking without a bank

• 24/7 availability, worldwide

We are enthusiastic about bringing innovation to banking. Should you have any questions please feel free to ask!
Try it now: https://www.bitbond.com/

Cheers from the Bitbond Team
Made in Berlin

Edited to reflect re-branding from Bitbond.net to Bitbond
Edited to reflect TLD change from .net to .com

I was waiting for such an app! Will try it.
Thanks for the announcement.

EDIT
Just saw that it only supports USD. Will you add other currencies as well? And more importantly, will it allow to use MtGox as a mobile wallet? This would be really convenient as there is no mobile wallet for windows phone.

In some countries it is simply treated as a different currency which I think is good. And I believe that Bitcoin will increase its acceptance even by authorities when they see many people using it.

I would worry about this in case of crowd funding, too. We started a platform for loans where there is a real obligation to repay. If you don't your credit score could deteriorate which is a good incentive.

You do not actually have to convert your Bitcoins. If you run a business you just have to look at it from an accounting standpoint. There you 'convert' only for the records but can either keep your Bitcoins in your wallet or use them to buy goods and services.

As for capital gains it depends on the concrete treatment. Some countries might tax unrealized ganis and some only those that you realize after you sold your Bitcoins. Interestingly, the German government has made a statement about this recently as you can see here http://bitcoinmagazine.com/germany-provides-leadership-for-bitcoin-tax-clarity/. It says "profits from the sale of bitcoins held as an investment are exempt from taxation if the coins are held for over one year".

Hi everyone,

we tend to think a lot about the price of Bitcoin expressed in fiat currencies. In that case we look at Bitcoin as an asset. I would like to look at Bitcoin as a currency. Where does a currency derive its value from?

In order for a good or commodity to serve as a currency most textbooks say it has to have three properties, it needs to serve as

1. a store of value
2. a calculation metric
3. a medium of exchange

I think 2. and 3. are the more obvious points. Bitcoin, like other currencies is divisible and are therefore of good use if you want to count or calculate something. Also, Bitcoin like other currencies, can be transferred electronically which makes it a good medium of exchange. Even a far superior one because the transfer of Bitcoin is MUCH faster and cheaper than for fiat currencies.

3. is a bit more tricky. A currency is only a store of value as long as it is accepted as a means of payment. If nobody accepts your Bitcoins when you want to buy shoes ar anything else, it does not fulfill this function. So a currency can only be a store of value, as long as there are other parties who do accept it. The USD or the EUR are used because we believe that when I have EUR today someone will accept EUR tomorrow when I want to buy something for it. Therefore I TRUST this currency. An inherent value as a commodity (as with gold) is not necessary because it does not hurt its use.

So my hypothesis is that the real value of Bitcoin comes from its acceptance as a currency by many mechants and individuals. Its value will increase (and with it its exchange rate to other currencies) the more people and businesses actually use it as a means of payment. If we all want Bitcoin to succeed, we need to use it in everyday transactions and not primarily for speculation. The value is driven by demand. The value of a currency comes from people using it because that increases demand.

Tell me what you think about this.

I think what you would have in that case is a free riding problem. Many people would prefer not to pay taxes and then trying to use some of the services (fire protection, emergency medication etc.) if there it's really necessary for them. So far, the best mechanism I could think of is the 'opt out of the system' by leaving your country if you do not agree with the current system anymore and there is no majority to change it from inside.

I think this is a country specific question. But generally you should always have two points of view. One is where you look at Bitcoin as an asset. Then the same tax regulations should apply which apply for commodities like gold or copper where the gains you make from speculation are taxed. The other view is if you look at Bitcoin as a currency which you use to pay for your expenses and which your customers use to buy goods and services from you. Both should already be known from a tax perspective.

IN the second case, Bitcoin should simply be treated as a foreign currency which you need to convert to local currency. To give an example, let's assume you are based the UK where your local currency is GBP. You sell goods at home in the UK (in GBP), to continental Europe (in EUR) and to the US (in USD). Then, when you start selling something for Bitcoins you just add another currency. In this example, all of these currencies need to be converted to GBP at some point in order to produce a profit & loss statement and to make a tax declaration. For the conversion you simply use the official exchange rate and apply it according to the rules that are already there for foreign currency conversion.

Any thoughts on this?

One other aspect to consider is simple supply and demand of Bitcoin in the market. Could it be that a few miners who started over a year ago and had "many" Bitcoins are selling? This would be quite understandable.

The farther we look in the future the more importance will be on demand of BTC than on supply from mining. The demand will be driven by how much BTC is actually used as a means of payment. So if people want BTC prices to go up, they should use BTC for what it is actually meant for - to pay goods and services with it and not simply regard it as another asset. The value of BTC comes not from speculation but from the acceptance as a currency.

I definitely think it would. It might even make platforms like kickstarter more efficient because the overall payment costs would be lower.

Perfectly agree. Also, when judging something, one always should consider the alternatives. The fiat currency system is no better when it comes to power consumption. Even though I don't have any reliable data I'm quite sure that to keep up the fiat payment system the power consumption is higher than for BTC (even if you take comparable transaction volumes). No modern currency (i.e. one that can be transferred electronically) will have zero power consumption.

I have also read some posts that in the future more people might use online wallets as they become more secure and trustworthy and some BTC user might not even run their locally installed wallet. That measn that there will be a few super-miners and a number of reliable and trustworthy wallet providers which in total should be quite energy efficient compared to many miners with rather inferior hardware.

Here is one other thing you could try to get funding. My co-founder and I built a website for Bitcoin loans, we call them Bitbonds, this is our website: https://www.bitbond.net/
Bitbonds are funded by the Bitcoin community, which makes it a sort of crowdfunding. However, the difference is that when you have a loan there is a real obligation to repay with interest. The repayment obligation can increase the trust level for your lenders and increase your chances to actually get funded. Try it out!

I also believe that phones which accept BTC are a great idea. In many African countries lots of people have smartphones but no bank account. They even use their phone balance to transfer small amounts of "value" to their friends or to pay something. A BTC prepaid phone would boost acceptance of BTC in Africa and with it in the whole world.

I believe the most interesting thing about Bitcoin is not its exchange rate to fiat currencies but to what extent it will actually be used as a means of payment. That is where the real value of Bitcoin comes from.