2013-07-19 BBC: Living off Digital currency for a week.

[lunarboy]

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130719-how-i-spent-a-week-without-cash

BBC does a Forbes Kashmir Hill..

Spoiler ... Fail

BitCoins is like stuffing cash under the mattress: it’s interest free. Birch’s message is clear. Not only is cashing in my savings as BitCoins a dangerous plan, it’s a dumb one.

He seems to miss the fact that due to inflation he is actually gaining interest. 

[Birdy]

How can you be so mistaken in just one single sentence?

1) I guess that's why so many people put their savings into gold. Because it creates so much interest!...mom wait.
2) Inflation/deflation anyone?
3) Also some of my coins actually do create interest, as there are options to invest them (could be more though)
4) Do dollars themselves create interest? That's new to me. It's people doing something with the currency that creates the interest, he clearly fails to recognize what exactly a currency is.
Bitcoin could be described as gold/cash hybrid, but neither gold nor cash create any interest themselves.

[SaltySpitoon]

Lol, I've spent the last 2 years living solely on Cryptos. Although, my expenses aren't very high. I want an article  

[dree12]

Lol, I've spent the last 2 years living solely on Cryptos. Although, my expenses aren't very high. I want an article  

So you spent the last 2 years:

• Not paying taxes? Don't worry, this is only a felony.
• Without filling up the tank? No problem. Live in Manhattan.
• Eating only Foodler (junk food)? Must be American, I guess.
• With no visits to the hospital? Some just never get sick.
• Neglecting rent/property tax? Or, you know, live on the streets.

I find your statement incredibly hard to believe, unless you live in a slum in Somalia.

[superduh]

Lol, I've spent the last 2 years living solely on Cryptos. Although, my expenses aren't very high. I want an article  

So you spent the last 2 years:

• Not paying taxes? Don't worry, this is only a felony.
• Without filling up the tank? No problem. Live in Manhattan.
• Eating only Foodler (junk food)? Must be American, I guess.
• With no visits to the hospital? Some just never get sick.
• Neglecting rent/property tax? Or, you know, live on the streets.

I find your statement incredibly hard to believe, unless you live in a slum in Somalia.

read her profiles, she's a 12 yr old female. of course she can live off cryptos for 2 years

[SaltySpitoon]

Lol, I've spent the last 2 years living solely on Cryptos. Although, my expenses aren't very high. I want an article  

So you spent the last 2 years:

• Not paying taxes? Don't worry, this is only a felony.
• Without filling up the tank? No problem. Live in Manhattan.
• Eating only Foodler (junk food)? Must be American, I guess.
• With no visits to the hospital? Some just never get sick.
• Neglecting rent/property tax? Or, you know, live on the streets.

I find your statement incredibly hard to believe, unless you live in a slum in Somalia.

I have not had to pay taxes. I've had an internship, but no actual income to report.
Nope, no gas bills
College diet
I've got medical insurance which covers me until I'm 25
Scholarships pay my room and board/tution

read her profiles, she's a 12 yr old female. of course she can live off cryptos for 2 years

Lol I actually changed my profile to that a few months ago, just to see when someone would bring it up, you are the first.

[jago25_98]

Btw, tried from a UK proxy and failed, article is only viewable from outside the UK. Apparently... it's not funded by the license payer! Phew, and I thought it's because the propaganda machine wants to present a different face to home as it does away...
"Three-nil to sterling" "converting life savings into BitCoins to escape Europe’s struggling economy"
^ because Britain isn't Europe, right

"cold, hard PayPal dollars"
^ haha!!

"eye-watering £17 transaction fee my bank demands for transferring a few bits of data across the English Channel"
^ haha! This is what bitbargain is for and transactionwise before that, and CurrencyFair too. It's a good point but we can't fix the banks... we're working on the pressure on them though, PingIt coming out after Bitcoin, lucky coincidence.


" I could leave my computer to “mine” for BitCoins, using its processing power to slog away at the coalface of the BitCoin economy, crunching blocks of encrypted data in exchange for virtual coins like the world’s most tedious version of Super Mario Bros"
^ I liked this

[420]

Lol, I've spent the last 2 years living solely on Cryptos. Although, my expenses aren't very high. I want an article  

a lot of pizza?

[genjix]

Lol, I've spent the last 2 years living solely on Cryptos. Although, my expenses aren't very high. I want an article  

So you spent the last 2 years:

• Not paying taxes? Don't worry, this is only a felony.
• Without filling up the tank? No problem. Live in Manhattan.
• Eating only Foodler (junk food)? Must be American, I guess.
• With no visits to the hospital? Some just never get sick.
• Neglecting rent/property tax? Or, you know, live on the streets.

I find your statement incredibly hard to believe, unless you live in a slum in Somalia.

I don't earn enough to pay taxes. I can't drive (live in europe). I skip food (see http://trashwiki.org/en/Main_Page ). Hospital is free here. I squat and don't pay rent. Plenty of other options for living too.

Many people are living off Bitcoins now. It's quite common

[420]

where is not paying taxes a felony?

[No_10]

Btw, tried from a UK proxy and failed, article is only viewable from outside the UK. Apparently... it's not funded by the license payer! Phew, and I thought it's because the propaganda machine wants to present a different face to home as it does away...
"Three-nil to sterling" "converting life savings into BitCoins to escape Europe’s struggling economy"
^ because Britain isn't Europe, right

"cold, hard PayPal dollars"
^ haha!!

"eye-watering £17 transaction fee my bank demands for transferring a few bits of data across the English Channel"
^ haha! This is what bitbargain is for and transactionwise before that, and CurrencyFair too. It's a good point but we can't fix the banks... we're working on the pressure on them though, PingIt coming out after Bitcoin, lucky coincidence.


" I could leave my computer to “mine” for BitCoins, using its processing power to slog away at the coalface of the BitCoin economy, crunching blocks of encrypted data in exchange for virtual coins like the world’s most tedious version of Super Mario Bros"
^ I liked this

Any luck getting this from a UK IP? Would like a look...

[dree12]

where is not paying taxes a felony?

In the US it is.

Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

[tinus42]

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130719-how-i-spent-a-week-without-cash

BBC does a Forbes Kashmir Hill..

Spoiler ... Fail

BitCoins is like stuffing cash under the mattress: it’s interest free. Birch’s message is clear. Not only is cashing in my savings as BitCoins a dangerous plan, it’s a dumb one.

He seems to miss the fact that due to inflation he is actually gaining interest.  

What is it with journo's and spelling Bitcoin as BitCoin or Bit Coin? Did they get a memo about that?

where is not paying taxes a felony?

In the US it is.

Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

I've been reading about the insane FATCA tax legislation yesterday. Because my cousin is married to an American under this law I could be forced to file an income tax report with the IRS to prove that I don't have any income in the US even though I am a Dutch citizen and the last time I have set foot on US soil was in 1991. The maximum penalty for non-compliance is a $500,000 fine and 5 years jail time!

I am not planning a repeat visit anytime soon and the more I learn about the kind of shit the US government is doing the more it makes me stay away from the US as far as possible.

[Vlad2Vlad]

Lol, I've spent the last 2 years living solely on Cryptos. Although, my expenses aren't very high. I want an article  

So you spent the last 2 years:

• Not paying taxes? Don't worry, this is only a felony.
• Without filling up the tank? No problem. Live in Manhattan.
• Eating only Foodler (junk food)? Must be American, I guess.
• With no visits to the hospital? Some just never get sick.
• Neglecting rent/property tax? Or, you know, live on the streets.

I find your statement incredibly hard to believe, unless you live in a slum in Somalia.

I don't earn enough to pay taxes. I can't drive (live in europe). I skip food (see http://trashwiki.org/en/Main_Page ). Hospital is free here. I squat and don't pay rent. Plenty of other options for living too.

Many people are living off Bitcoins now. It's quite common

That sounds like a plan. 

Are you thinking Bitcoin will get its ETF license and if so then the price should really sky rocket.  I'm seeing perhaps $1,000 per bitcoin by next year if they get their ETF license and I think it's a done deal.

That buys a lot of pizza if you're holding on to the bitcons you have.

I'm also expecting other alt coins to really sky rocket if/when Bitcoin gets its ETF license.  It's a good idea to stock up now on all the various crypto coins one can get and wait for that ETF to take off and see what happens then.

Should be really interesting once wallstreet gets involved - they game everything that can be gamed and the good news is:  I'm finally early enough and ahead of the curve.