Bitcoins UK future looks bleak

[Rluner]

https://www.scirra.com/blog/tom/4/bitcoins-uk-future-looks-bleak

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[jago25_98]

Thanks for a great article.
The UK is a backward place for Bitcoin now. But this really points out the importance of decentralised exchange through an agreed API/surface across coins and currencies.

Honourable mention for bitbargain UK.

Let's not forget that any remittance service connecting to Bitcoin has been shutdown - Transferwise and Currencyfair.
Also this article is pointing out Freedom of Information request refusals from all parties requested - this is also suspicious to my mind.
Finally there is the aspect that Bitcoin can be less anonymous than banking in some cases and the FBI have used this to advantage.

This is shades of capital controls. While it is true that no one single action can prove conclusively that it is not simply concern for money laundering I have seen enough in other areas such as hedge funds, forex, gold, latvia to see that things are in place for the locks to come down should they need to ready for a Cyprus bank holiday.

Although VAT is unfortunate and unfair, it's a well trodden path.

The blockade was a great motivation for me to move financially away from the UK. I could be thanking that action if (when?) the worst fears come to fruition.

At the end of the day, try to take the global view. People from China to Brazil are getting in on the revolution, that isn't going to change. If London is left behind it's really just one city in many, one increasingly less significant city. The once great London now begging to host Chinas currency yet there's no bitcoin exchange...

Stay on the sidelines and places such as China who don't have to worry so much about capital flight, take over.

It's just getting interesting!

[Wekkel]

Reading the article, I would say the future of UK banks looks bleak 

[protokol]

Great article, food for thought. It used to be a lot easier to buy/sell BTC in the UK than it is now, I can understand how hard it would be to set up a viable BTC-based business. Pretty cool that the author got a reply from Vince Cable though!

[NUFCrichard]

Reading the article, I would say the future of UK banks looks bleak 

That is definitely true!   

I can imagine the UK press saying that it is like the euro by the back door!  Save the pound!

[JimmyJazz]

What would be the process/taxes involved in cashing out a large some of BTC to sterling?

[Alty]

There is also Coinfloor trying to get off the ground in the UK.

Hopefully they can navigate all the roadblocks.

[s1lverbox]

There is also Coinfloor trying to get off the ground in the UK.

Hopefully they can navigate all the roadblocks.

Yeah...Do you realize that coinfloor is a scam? Do you know who is actually creator of coinfloor.
Just check this forum and stay away from them.

[fluidjax]

What would be the process/taxes involved in cashing out a large some of BTC to sterling?

Hopefully this will become a relevant question to quite a few people in the next few years. I have heard that Germany does not tax (CGT) bitcoins if they are held for over a year. Perhaps they could become resident there before cashin out.

[Alty]

There is also Coinfloor trying to get off the ground in the UK.

Hopefully they can navigate all the roadblocks.

Yeah...Do you realize that coinfloor is a scam? Do you know who is actually creator of coinfloor.
Just check this forum and stay away from them.

I've been looking through the forum and can't find anything that suggest they are a scam.

Is there any proof about that? 

[Lethn]

Fucking fantastic, I have been trying to get information about Bitcoin in the UK for weeks now, I'll be needing this when I talk to some people, thank you.

[sgbett]

What would be the process/taxes involved in cashing out a large some of BTC to sterling?

Hopefully this will become a relevant question to quite a few people in the next few years. I have heard that Germany does not tax (CGT) bitcoins if they are held for over a year. Perhaps they could become resident there before cashin out.

I've cashed a few thousand here or there, SEPA transfers out of Gox in euro, and more recently a SEPA transfer out of bitstamp in USD.

I'm planning on moving anyway. If BTC gets big, that will just be one more motivation to do so.

[AlexM]

Interesting post, thank you for all the details.
I wrote to my MP (Deputy PM Nick Clegg) earlier in the year to ask him to support the growth of Bitcoins and other crypto-currencies. If a large western government actually supports the Bitcoin currency and the companies working in this area, they are likely to see investment £,€,$ and new tech companies trickling and then hopefully pouring into the country. It was not the best letter ever as I also raised a couple of local issues so may have diluted my argument.

Is there anything more I and others could do, to help press the issue?

[maurya78]

Germany, a somewhat larger western european economy, is fairly constructive about bitcoins

Why not also the UK?

[Lethn]

Germany, a somewhat larger western european economy, is fairly constructive about bitcoins

Why not also the UK?

This just classically reinforces my opinion that the UK is filled with wankers

[p2pbucks]

No worries , US gov will not far behind on this

[RichardForsyth]

United States Senate will meet on November 18 to investigate bitcoin. 

http://www.coindesk.com/us-homeland-security-committee-explore-bitcoins-potential-18th-nov-hearing/

I wonder if they will listen much to what the UK and German governments have determined? I predict that negative findings on bitcoin by this committee will only increase its value.  The current market is largely made of anarcho-capitalists--they'll march in the exact opposite direction that the gov points every time, and it might also lead to fears that they will become harder to acquire.  So hoarding, massive buy-ups, etc.   And I suggest positive findings will do the same thing--potentially open the cryptocurrency market to skeptics and 2nd tier adopters. 

The only thing I think they'll do is nothing. Because they're numbskulls and they can't agree on anything.  I imagine they will just state what has already been said by the IRS, FinCEN, and various banking experts, which is basically: "It looks like it might be dangerous but we don't really get it so let's continue to watch." 

[s1lverbox]

There is also Coinfloor trying to get off the ground in the UK.

Hopefully they can navigate all the roadblocks.

Yeah...Do you realize that coinfloor is a scam? Do you know who is actually creator of coinfloor.
Just check this forum and stay away from them.

I've been looking through the forum and can't find anything that suggest they are a scam.

Is there any proof about that? 

Read this comment:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=320840.msg3450223#msg3450223

[Gator-hex]

UK's loose regulation, despite Coinfloor's snail pace attempts to do Anti-money laundering, is supposed to encourage micro transaction startups.

Your problem seems to be the banks and may require reporting to the EU Competition Commission...

"A cartel is a group of similar, independent companies which join together to fix prices, to limit production or to share markets or customers between them."

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/cartels/overview/index_en.html

[retrend]

What confuses me about the poor bitcoin situation in the UK is that the current government seems intent on the UK existing as some sort of tax haven.  

I also don't understand how they can claim someone is adding value to a bitcoin simply by transferring it to someone.