[2014-08-28] Bitcoin ruling still doesn’t answer which country has the right to

[austins]

http://theconversation.com/bitcoin-ruling-still-doesnt-answer-which-country-has-the-right-to-tax-30817

It’s been about five years since bitcoin emerged online, claiming to be the world’s first digital cryptocurrency. Bitcoin functions as a form of digital cash; really, it is a technology, using cryptography to ensure the validity of transactions and periodically generate new bitcoins. Bitcoin has grown into an industry now worth more than US$6 billion.

[aigeezer]

I read this to see how the teaser headline ended.

Spoiler: "The question of which country has a right to tax (and ability to enforce tax rules) is increasingly difficult to answer in the digital world. If mining, or trading, bitcoin is a business or service, where does this occur, given that bitcoin operates on a global peer-to-peer network?"

The story is out of Australia. I'm in Canada, but I am still very glad I read the story. It outlines many of the issues facing regulators who want to grab a piece of the BTC action and shows some of the unintended consequences of the various approaches floated so far. For example, a capital gains tax approach (CGT) destroys fungibility.

Meddlers gotta meddle though, so messy days ahead imho.