If a country adopted bitcoin as their national currency, would the US still be a

[heliodor]

This year the US government (the IRS) declared that bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes, not a currency.

If another country were to declare bitcoin their official national currency, would the IRS still be able to call bitcoin a commodity or would it be forced to relabel it a foreign currency?

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[odolvlobo]

By their current definitions, governments would have to classify it as a currency. They could change those definitions, though.

[CiraP]

In my humble opinion it s too early to ask such questions, cos right now nobody can predict what will happen with this currency in 2-3 years. Banks loose money cos of this transactions behind their backs without tax and if one day most of people would start use such way to send money, governments of US and Europe can start "cyber-war" against all of this system. So, the point is that it s pretty complicated to find a country in our world, who will be ready to protect such unstable currency against US and others.

[stellar1]

Any sovereignty will need to have complete control over an altcoin (which they can't have on the BTC unless they buy it out completely...and why should they ? when they can re create in a day or two) to make it their official currency.

Just my humble opinion.

[NewLiberty]

Any sovereignty will need to have complete control over an altcoin (which they can't have on the BTC unless they buy it out completely...and why should they ? when they can re create in a day or two) to make it their official currency.

Just my humble opinion.

^^  Ecuador is planning this. ^^
http://www.idgconnect.com/blog-abstract/9010/ecuador-how-new-ecash-affects-crypto-currency


If bitcoin were a national currency, this could also bring it under governance of the IMF.

[seabass1985]

Probably a foreign currency, and then there will start a whole new pile of crap to deal with. 

[grendel25]

This year the US government (the IRS) declared that bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes, not a currency.

If another country were to declare bitcoin their official national currency, would the IRS still be able to call bitcoin a commodity or would it be forced to relabel it a foreign currency?

Let's form our own country and find out!  Or... in a way, we sort of did in a very minute way.  BTC pioneers carved out an entire economy complete with secure communications (and not so secure).  There are distribution routes and otherwise taxable dollars are being diverted into a counter-economy. 

Watch out for those drone strikes!

[zetaray]

If another country declares bitcoin as their national currency, and the US recognises that country as a nation. The US will have to declare bitcoin as a foreign currency.

[croato]

It will be hard to any goverment declare Bitcoin their national currency, they will make one before that.

[redsn0w]

Bitcoin will never be a national currency, or at least no one of these actual  nations. Any democratic govern will want to take possession of it, but it is decentralized and they cannot... It is complicated as situation.

[NewLiberty]

Bitcoin will never be a national currency, or at least no one of these actual  nations. Any democratic govern will want to take possession of it, but it is decentralized and they cannot... It is complicated as situation.

YES.  It is much more suitable to an international, non-national, non-political currency.

There are some weird legal and regulatory effects of a country making it a national currency in many jurisdictions, they aren't particularly beneficial for Bitcoin, just a different set of laws.  Some are kinda good, others not so much.

[cryptocoiner]

This year the US government (the IRS) declared that bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes, not a currency.

If another country were to declare bitcoin their official national currency, would the IRS still be able to call bitcoin a commodity or would it be forced to relabel it a foreign currency?

Bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes? What's that means? If i have income in bitcoins then i have to pay taxes in bitcoin? Why its a commodity then?

[redsn0w]

Bitcoin will never be a national currency, or at least no one of these actual  nations. Any democratic govern will want to take possession of it, but it is decentralized and they cannot... It is complicated as situation.

YES.  It is much more suitable to an international, non-national, non-political currency.

There are some weird legal and regulatory effects of a country making it a national currency in many jurisdictions, they aren't particularly beneficial for Bitcoin, just a different set of laws.  Some are kinda good, others not so much.

I agree with you, bitcoin will stay a valid alternative for send large quantity of money with the lowest fees in the "World". It is also a great technology (thanks to the blockchain) and maybe only some microNation can use it as a "national" currency like Woodland Patchwork (http://mw.micronation.org/wiki/Woodland_Patchwork).

[The00Dustin]

This year the US government (the IRS) declared that bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes, not a currency.

If another country were to declare bitcoin their official national currency, would the IRS still be able to call bitcoin a commodity or would it be forced to relabel it a foreign currency?

Bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes? What's that means? If i have income in bitcoins then i have to pay taxes in bitcoin? Why its a commodity then?

While I cannot guarantee my knowledge is up to date, and I am not an accountant, so my post should not be taken as financial advice, the following is my opinion with some links to help back it up and understand it:  In the US, bitcoin is a capital asset for tax purposes, and you report income and losses on it the same way you report income and losses on any asset.  For more specific guidance, see these links:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-21.pdf - This document confirms what I am saying (but could be superseded by new guidance or regulation in the future if it hasn't been already).  It also references other IRS documents you can search for.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf - Until/unless the classification of virtual currency is changed this document is a good reference because it talks about capital gains and losses in depth, chapter 14 of the 2014 tax year version of this document is where the meat is, although there may be definitions earlier in the document.  Note I include this document because it is not referenced in the previous document (although it may be referenced in the other documents that are referenced in the first link).

[Bitcoinpro]

Bitcoin is a currency, the US dollar is a commodity now, pretty much just an oil certificate.

[crazyearner]

This year the US government (the IRS) declared that bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes, not a currency.

If another country were to declare bitcoin their official national currency, would the IRS still be able to call bitcoin a commodity or would it be forced to relabel it a foreign currency?

Wouldn't happen many countries have also classed as many different things from currency, to shares to bonds it gets very messy with bitcoin in different parts of the world. UK is a whole different game all together compared with the US. However it is not national as theri main currency but have classed as alternative currency in some parts of the world. US just want to b greedy and regulate it like in their exchange that come out and to be honest its not doing good.

[erikalui]

Bitcoin may never be adopted as a country's currency but it should definitely be recognized as atleast a virtual currency having a value of its own. It will take time for bitocin to grow and once it becomes a recognized currency, PP and other websites will adopt it.

[PonZ]

1. The IRS generally passes rules that enhance the collection of taxes.  That is their job.
2. If a foreign country magically adopted BTC as its currency it is unlikely the IRS would change its taxation policy.  (Why would it?)

[ndnh]

This year the US government (the IRS) declared that bitcoin is a commodity for tax purposes, not a currency.

If another country were to declare bitcoin their official national currency, would the IRS still be able to call bitcoin a commodity or would it be forced to relabel it a foreign currency?

Any country with some sense will not make Bitcoin their official currency. But however it is quite possible to make it one of the major currencies of the nation.
The volatility of price will just make it too risky to manage. Imports, exports, forex will be too complicated.
The price will go too high and what if some whale cashes out?

If a nation accepts it as a currency, then it should be deemed as a currency at least by current definition. Otherwise the dealings of US with the country will be

[SquallLeonhart]

when any country make bitcoin their official currency then it will called a currency of that specific country
but i don't think any country will do this, may be they used bitcoin concept to create their digital currency but hardly possible they will accept bitcoin