An Open Message to all Bitcoin Investors

[AnonyMint]

It's going to get banned, outlawed, and fought every step of the way, because it is designed to take power away from governments and banks.

Can I just ask, what if it doesn't get banned but it gets accepted as an asset on which you must pay tax on capital gains?

I fear you may be banking on it getting banned when it looks like it is not going to get banned. What then eh?

Tax offices, the Inland Revenue, etc. will treat Bitcoiners like everyone else. They will make use of the blockchain and the cooperation of Gox, Bitstamp, and all other companies and exchanges, present and future, that want to succeed (and therefore will have to comply) to track fiat going in and out of Bitcoin, and then track the gains of your stash in fiat terms and tax it like the gains made by any other human being living in their country.

This looks like the most likely scenario for the future to me. Please tell me where I am wrong or how this doesn't make any difference to the "freedom from governments" philosophy. I'm interested to learn more.

An altcoin will solve this. Believe in the ecosystem. It is competitive.

[T.Stuart]

An altcoin will solve this. Believe in the ecosystem. It is competitive.

Sorry, I need more than this.

[semaforo]

  Well said, I'm with you all the way to $1, then back to the moon, and on to alpha centauri. The day I am waiting for is not the day that bitcoin hits $1 million, but the day that we stop thinking about bitcoin in dollars.

[Nagle]

Anyone who bothered to educate themselves on Bitcoin, would know that it faces years of opposition from governments and federal banking systems. That's the *entire* reason it was created.  It's going to get banned, outlawed, and fought every step of the way, because it is designed to take power away from governments and banks.

No. Watch the Senate hearing on Bitcoin. All the regulatory agencies were heard from.

FBI: Bitcoin doesn't look like a problem for us; we can trace it.
FinCen: Register with us and we don't have any problems.
Secret Service: We're seeing Bitcoin-related crime, and it looks like regular crime.
SEC: We'll go after anybody who tries the usual investment scams.  (Like Trendon Shavers).
DEA: The big drug dealers aren't using Bitcoin.

The  U.S. Government doesn't care about Bitcoin one way or the other. It's just another asset class. All the usual laws apply, from taxes to fraud.

[bassclef]

Anyone who bothered to educate themselves on Bitcoin, would know that it faces years of opposition from governments and federal banking systems. That's the *entire* reason it was created.  It's going to get banned, outlawed, and fought every step of the way, because it is designed to take power away from governments and banks.

No. Watch the Senate hearing on Bitcoin. All the regulatory agencies were heard from.

FBI: Bitcoin doesn't look like a problem for us; we can trace it.
FinCen: Register with us and we don't have any problems.
Secret Service: We're seeing Bitcoin-related crime, and it looks like regular crime.
SEC: We'll go after anybody who tries the usual investment scams.  (Like Trendon Shavers).
DEA: The big drug dealers aren't using Bitcoin.

The  U.S. Government doesn't care about Bitcoin one way or the other. It's just another asset class. All the usual laws apply, from taxes to fraud.

Don't forget the Senator who announced that he would be making a phone call after the first recess, coincidentally right after fincen gave its green light.

[finder_keeper]

The price could drop to $1.00 tomorrow and it wouldn't phase me. If it phases you, I recommend you get out while you still can.
-BittBurger-

Obviously it does phase you to some extent, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered creating this post. psichological for ya!

It's just a faze he's going through ;-)

[BittBurger]

The price could drop to $1.00 tomorrow and it wouldn't phase me. If it phases you, I recommend you get out while you still can.
-BittBurger-

Obviously it does phase you to some extent, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered creating this post. psichological for ya!

It's just a faze he's going through ;-)

Poor choice of words then.  
Obviously there would be some shock and bewilderment.  Especially since Bitcoin is really going viral.
I am fully aware of the worldwide race right now to build infrastructure for Bitcoin and technologies that overlay the Bitcoin protocol.
So I would be confused as to why it had dropped so low.
But the reality is, the trading market, and all the super cool day traders buying and selling and jerking eachother off with their super cool trading terms like "dead cat bounce" have absolutely nothing to do with Bitcoin itself.
In fact it is they, and all the weak hands, who know little or nothing about Bitcoin who are giving Bitcoin a bad rep.
Simple minded people in the media think the trading exchanges are an indicator of Bitcoins worth or success, when in fact the trading exchanges are 1,000000% removed from what is actually going on in the industry.
In fact I sometimes wonder why trading was even part of the Bitcoin "thing" at all.  
It goes up in response to "happy news" and down in response to "sad news".
Meanwhile Bitcoin itself keeps chugging along, unchanged.  Going viral.  Getting built out.  Expanded upon.  Saturating markets.
There seems to be little correlation between the trading exchanges and Bitcoins true worth.

[nanobrain]

I am fully aware of the worldwide race right now to build infrastructure for Bitcoin and technologies that overlay the Bitcoin protocol.
So I would be confused as to why it had dropped so low.
But the reality is, the trading market, and all the super cool day traders buying and selling and jerking eachother off with their super cool trading terms like "dead cat bounce" have absolutely nothing to do with Bitcoin itself.
In fact it is they, and all the weak hands, who know little or nothing about Bitcoin who are giving Bitcoin a bad rep.
Simple minded people in the media think the trading exchanges are an indicator of Bitcoins worth or success, when in fact the trading exchanges are 1,000000% removed from what is actually going on in the industry.
In fact I sometimes wonder why trading was even part of the Bitcoin "thing" at all. 
It goes up in response to "happy news" and down in response to "sad news".
Meanwhile Bitcoin itself keeps chugging along, unchanged.  Going viral.  Getting built out.  Expanded upon.  Saturating markets.
There seems to be little correlation between the trading exchanges and Bitcoins true worth.

I mentioned earlier the parallels between BTC and religious/semi-religious groups and your position does seem more and more an article of faith rather than anything structured.

1. Do you think BTC is a currency or a store of wealth?  You infer you believe it will be a currency but you decry currency exchange, which is one of the first requirements it needs to survive.  Either currency or store of wealth, it needs to be traded against established currencies.  How can you wonder why this is part of BTC...it is essential.

2. You have stated many times that BTC is going to change the world.  That would be lovely but in the early nineties (when I was young and idealistic) so was the internet, the last great computer protocol.  It has changed the world: there has been some good but it has also brought increased materialism, pornification, new social problems and a huge drain on the world's energy supplies.  Not what we had in mind when we wanted to 'change the world'. 

I see very little behaviour on this board to suggest the people who are into BTC are going to do any good in the world....they will just be the new rich. 

3. What an earth do you think 'new money' (ie BTC) is going to do other than first attract the rich and the avaricious?

4. "BTC keeps chugging along unchanged"....I won't pretend to be a technical genius but its my understanding that the protocol has been and continues to evolve and be tweaked.  This is good because it is neither perfect nor immutable.  Seeing something as fixed and unwavering is not so healthy...its what we do with gods and saints to create a point of order within a chaotic world.

TL:DR  BTC isn't perfect, neither are people and BTC won't change the world, although people can.

[Erdogan]

Anyone who bothered to educate themselves on Bitcoin, would know that it faces years of opposition from governments and federal banking systems. That's the *entire* reason it was created.  It's going to get banned, outlawed, and fought every step of the way, because it is designed to take power away from governments and banks.

No. Watch the Senate hearing on Bitcoin. All the regulatory agencies were heard from.

FBI: Bitcoin doesn't look like a problem for us; we can trace it.
FinCen: Register with us and we don't have any problems.
Secret Service: We're seeing Bitcoin-related crime, and it looks like regular crime.
SEC: We'll go after anybody who tries the usual investment scams.  (Like Trendon Shavers).
DEA: The big drug dealers aren't using Bitcoin.

The  U.S. Government doesn't care about Bitcoin one way or the other. It's just another asset class. All the usual laws apply, from taxes to fraud.

When their masters say jump, they jump.

[DPoS]

TL:DR  BTC isn't perfect, neither are people and BTC won't change the world, although people can.

way back you could trade dollars for the gold it was backed by...  then it shifted to petro-dollars as most oil is sold in dollars or you get bombed to shit.

perhaps if there was some new energy revolution that would tie BTC to Kw you would get a more stable value... as you could then trade them for a 'barrel' of Kilowatts


there would be a whole lotta blood in the streets either way before any change like that ever happened