Who is buying Bitcoin? Why do they buy it?

[PRCman]

I don't know why they are buying Bitcoin, What for? 99.99% services need Bitcoin to pay have other services for replacement which need USD to pay.

And why services provider accepting Bitcoin instead of USD?

I just don't know why.

[Grinder]

They buy it for the same reason people bought tulip bulbs - they expect others to value them even higher in the future.

[darthjee]

Well, i see some reasons:

1) people expect it to achieve greater value in the future
2) you might want to make it circulate so that it makes bitCoin an important coin, making it last forever
3) you might be from some other country and might want to by something from accross the sea ... instead of buyin dollars, you can buy bit coins (that's what i am gonna do)
4) this might be your business, to buy bitcoins to sell them to other people who need/want them (for any reason)

[acamus]

I just wonder what happens when all these coins go up in value and the IRS sees someone made 50% ROI without showing it on taxes 

[Chucksta]

Buying and selling Bitcoin is definitely the best way to make money here, although still a gamble. I wish I had put my mining investment into that from the very start. I've got one more week to go before the hardware is paid for (price per BTC being $7), and that counts the 70% difficulty increase forecast for tonight.
 

Re taxes: if you sell the BTC and withdraw the money made, you have to declare that as income. Well, you do in the UK. 

[PRCman]

Well, i see some reasons:

1) people expect it to achieve greater value in the future
2) you might want to make it circulate so that it makes bitCoin an important coin, making it last forever
3) you might be from some other country and might want to by something from accross the sea ... instead of buyin dollars, you can buy bit coins (that's what i am gonna do)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In that case when I sell them Bitcoin, I got their money, I will have to transfer to USD my self?

4) this might be your business, to buy bitcoins to sell them to other people who need/want them (for any reason)

[PRCman]

Buying and selling Bitcoin is definitely the best way to make money here, although still a gamble. I wish I had put my mining investment into that from the very start. I've got one more week to go before the hardware is paid for (price per BTC being $7), and that counts the 70% difficulty increase forecast for tonight.
 

Re taxes: if you sell the BTC and withdraw the money made, you have to declare that as income. Well, you do in the UK. 

Such as I know, HK company doesn't have to pay tax to oversea business, you can regist a HK company

[SomeoneWeird]

Buying and selling Bitcoin is definitely the best way to make money here, although still a gamble. I wish I had put my mining investment into that from the very start. I've got one more week to go before the hardware is paid for (price per BTC being $7), and that counts the 70% difficulty increase forecast for tonight.
 

Re taxes: if you sell the BTC and withdraw the money made, you have to declare that as income. Well, you do in the UK. 

BTC = $8 now on MTGox

[darthjee]

Well, i see some reasons:

1) people expect it to achieve greater value in the future
2) you might want to make it circulate so that it makes bitCoin an important coin, making it last forever
3) you might be from some other country and might want to by something from accross the sea ... instead of buyin dollars, you can buy bit coins (that's what i am gonna do)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In that case when I sell them Bitcoin, I got their money, I will have to transfer to USD my self?

4) this might be your business, to buy bitcoins to sell them to other people who need/want them (for any reason)

Well, not exactly ... if i find someone in my country who deal with foreign bitcoin seller, he will buy, so he will transfer the USD, then i will buy from him using my countrie's money, then i can buy from any store across the sea without ever buying dollars.

If bit coin really catches on on every country, that store can buy something accross seas again from my country, therefore, there will be, again,  bitcoins here so that i can purchase (or trade for goods and services)

[Doktyr]

I just wonder what happens when all these coins go up in value and the IRS sees someone made 50% ROI without showing it on taxes 

Why wouldn't you report it on the "Other Income" section of the tax forms? Making money from selling bitcoin and not reporting it to the IRS are two different things.

[eleuthria]

I just wonder what happens when all these coins go up in value and the IRS sees someone made 50% ROI without showing it on taxes 

Well, if the IRS audited you, you're in trouble for not reporting the income.  They don't care what Bitcoins are, they care about the deposits that hit your bank account for actual $.

For Mining (Schedule C):  You can expense your electricity usage (not all, only the amount you can prove was used for BTC), depreciate your machines (% based if its also a personal use machine), and then report the full amount you sold the BTC for.

For trading (Schedule D):  Records of the amounts paid and when for BTC, and records of the amounts you sold them for and when.  Short/long-term gains.  Use FIFO or LIFO consistently for allocating your sales against the different purchases, since the IRS will not have somebody with the knowledge to understand how the coins could be potentially traced back to their actual purchase.

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I don't know why they are buying Bitcoin, What for? 99.99% services need Bitcoin to pay have other services for replacement which need USD to pay.

1. Some people need the 0.01% services.
2. Some people buy as an investment because they expect the value to rise (due to becoming more ubiquitous and practical).
3. Some people want to be part of this movement out of ideology.

And why services provider accepting Bitcoin instead of USD?

1. They don't have to pay fees for receiving payment.
2. They don't risk being chargebacked.
3. They get extra sales to people who prefer to pay with Bitcoin.
4. They want to be part of this movement out of ideology.

[Chucksta]

I just wonder what happens when all these coins go up in value and the IRS sees someone made 50% ROI without showing it on taxes 

Why wouldn't you report it on the "Other Income" section of the tax forms? Making money from selling bitcoin and not reporting it to the IRS are two different things.

A lot of people tend forget about declaring income to the tax people. One good thing is that you can list your costs which is then deducted from your taxable income. In our case that could be the mining rigs and electricity usage.

[allinvain]

Pff...taxes shmaxes...if bitcoin achieves its destiny one day you won't have to pay taxes. I kid I kid, don't interpret that to mean don't pay you taxes cause you don't want to F with the IRS or any other tax man.

[Dobrodav]

To transfer money, freely and anonymous,  from person to person, country to country.

And rising price  is secondary reason. (but it guarantee, that users will prefer BTC to move their money.)

[w128]

Speculation.

The overwhelming majority of BTC bought for speculative purposes. There simply aren't enough bitcoin using businesses or exchanges for any significant percentage of that volume to come from anything else.

[freecoin]

The reasons to buy/use Bitcoins are many, but the opportunity to trade OUTSIDE the Federal Reserve system, and perhaps your country's central bank too (quite possibly hastening its demise), and its associated tax is probably one of the greatest reasons.  What I'm saying is, once you dig into it, you will discover the US Federal Income Tax is an excise on banking within the Federal Reserve System.  From a legal standpoint, bitcoins are not "income" under the Revenue Acts of the United States.  Unless of course you consent to consider them income; in this day of heavy conditioning (brainwashing), that's always an option.  I asked a tax attorney about bitcoin and he said they were "includible" in gross income.  I then said "oh, I can include them if I choose to."  And he just laughed at that.  My interpretation is... gotcha.

http://savingtosuitorsclub.net/showthread.php?145-Exactly-what-does-the-IRS-agent-think
http://losthorizons.com/CtCforFree.pdf

[Gameover]

Speculation.

The overwhelming majority of BTC bought for speculative purposes. There simply aren't enough bitcoin using businesses or exchanges for any significant percentage of that volume to come from anything else.

I agree, all of the other reasons given are ideological bullcrap.

They buy it for the same reason people bought tulip bulbs - they expect others to value them even higher in the future.

LOL great analogy, at least when people were stuck with 100,000 tulips they could enjoy their beauty   When people are stuck holding 1,000 bitcoins there won't be much to enjoy

[Gameover]

The reasons to buy/use Bitcoins are many, but the opportunity to trade OUTSIDE the Federal Reserve system, and perhaps your country's central bank too (quite possibly hastening its demise), and its associated tax is probably one of the greatest reasons.  What I'm saying is, once you dig into it, you will discover the US Federal Income Tax is an excise on banking within the Federal Reserve System.  From a legal standpoint, bitcoins are not "income" under the Revenue Acts of the United States.  Unless of course you consent to consider them income; in this day of heavy conditioning (brainwashing), that's always an option.  I asked a tax attorney about bitcoin and he said they were "includible" in gross income.  I then said "oh, I can include them if I choose to."  And he just laughed at that.  My interpretation is... gotcha.

http://savingtosuitorsclub.net/showthread.php?145-Exactly-what-does-the-IRS-agent-think
http://losthorizons.com/CtCforFree.pdf

Of course, have 100 bitcoins in your account is meaningless, but the moment you sell those 100 bitcoins for $800 you have to report that.  Having bitcoins is like having 100 jpgs or 100 bookmarks, you don't report jpgs on your taxes even though they may have value, but if you sell them then you report that, same thing.

[Jaime Frontero]

i note that - for the purpose of paying taxes (always a good idea) - precisely which Bitcoin one declares may have some bearing on the matter:  especially as concerns miners.

do you declare that the 10 BTC you just exchanged for USD are the 10 you mined when you were CPUmining and getting five blocks a day?  or do you declare the 10 you mined when you were getting one BTC a day at an electricity cost of $6.50 a day?

yet another good reason to continue mining past the theoretical point of unprofitability.  think of it as protecting your investment...