Bitcoin not money, judge rules in victory for backers

phys.org

20 points·dnetesn··7 comments

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12164694

I thought a while back they had decided to treat bitcoin like an asset? IIRC: http://www.marketplace.org/2014/03/25/economy/irs-labels-bit...

"they" is not uniform. You're referring to a portion of the US executive branch, this is a state judicial entity. The ruling is in the context of this specific criminal case.

But that means whenever you buy or sell it, the government can tax the shit out of it.

The government always comes for its vig.

They can try. Seems more and more like they're moving too slowly to keep up, though.

The Feds are probably furious. Replacing the U.S. currency is seen as a threat; any and all alternative types of 'medium of exchange' have been ruthlessly attacked/shut down by the Feds. They could step in and appeal this judge's ruling in the Federal courts to either overrule this Florida judge, or to extremely limit the application of her ruling.

The Feds one year ago sought to take down coin.mx and they will not likely want this Florida judge's ruling to confuse the legality of transferring bitcoin between parties.

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/newyork/news/pr...

Why would they worry? You still need to pay your taxes in USD, and that's not likely to change. Coin.mx didn't report suspicious activity, not because they were at risk of replacing USD

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