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Comment by SonicSoul | Hacker News Reader

ok im no accountant so maybe i just don't understand it the way i thought i did, but in this case FX traders are using a currency like an asset you buy and sell.

but what if you earn money in that currency and never exchange it for any other currency just use it for life. the government would literately have to audit your savings account and proclaim that you owe X because your savings went up in value (and im not talking about interest paid by bank, i'm talking about just buying power of underlying currency).

that is no different than owning a gold necklace and government taxing you on it because gold went up in price. I don't think this is happening right now

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Its worth pointing out that when you spend Bitcoin (or other currency), that is the same as selling it.

I don't know what you mean by "use it for life"- yes, you can hold onto Bitcoin (or gold or whatever) and not get taxed, but as long as its sitting under your mattress it doesn't do you any good regardless. There's no way to use the value to get anything else without getting taxed.

They are not taxing bitcoin this way either, nor do they for a stock share that you own.

You're taxed on the realized gain (or loss) when you sell the asset.

The same as you are when you convert a currency back into USD.

No. To the US Government, there is no other currency than the dollar. If you are a US Citizen, and working in the US, then you are using US Dollars. Everything else would be an asset. So if you are getting paid in BTC, that, to them, would be the same as you being paid in an equivalent amount of USD, then purchasing that much BTC. When you buy something using BTC, that would be the same as selling that amount of BTC, and then spending the USD.

> when they realize a gain or loss.

Holding bitcoin while it goes up in value isn't realizing a gain or loss.

Holding bitcoin as it goes up in value isn't a gain. Selling or exchanging it for another currency / coin would be when someone would realize a gain or loss.

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