23 Feb
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“Bitcoin is Property, Not Currency”, stated California Bankruptcy Court
Some days ago an American judge for the Northern District of California stated that bitcoin is a property and not a real currency.
This happened during a case in which US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California heared HashFast, a bitcoin mining service that declared bankruptcy in 2014.
The case sees a fiduciary suing the HashFast promoter, Mark Lowe, because he wants his 3,000 BTC bank, amount that is said to have been illegally transferred to Lowe himself.
Bitcoin: property or currency?
The main problem turned to be the classification of bitcoin as a currency or a property: should bitcoin be considered as a currency, Lowe would have to return the 3,000 BTC at the value they held when he received them (almost $360,000).
But judge Dennis Montali on February 19th decided that bitcoin is a property, so Howe must return about $1.3m.
These were his words:
“I understand how the parties acted, but that doesn’t make them dollars”.
Montali said that he would return to the question, if required and Lowe would transfer the 3,000 bitcoins or the equivalent dollar amount.
Pasted cases and decisions
Previously the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stated that bitcoins are a commodity too. But in October, 2015, the European Union’s Court of Justice decided that bitcoins are a currency and they are tax free so exchanges don’t have to pay VAT.
About the author: Amelia Tomasicchio is a writer and a journalist of Bitcoin-related news and articles. She started writing about Bitcoin in 2014 and she graduated in Rome with an essay about movie industry related to Bitcoin.
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12 Jul
0
Someone is giving away Bitcoin in San Francisco
The Hidden Cash treasure hunt phenomenon has gone digital.
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| Image: CoinDesk |
(BusinessInsider) In May, someone started hiding envelopes of cash all over San Francisco, and now someone is leaving bitcoin wallets around the city, sending people on a digital scavenger hunt.
The hunt is appropriately called @SFHiddenBitcoin.
The wallets are aluminum cards, with a bitcoin address and corresponding private key that can be imported to the wallet of the person who finds the card. Each card is worth around $20, according to Coinbrief. But there’s no telling whether the prizes will remain consistent.
The hunt will continue around the city at least for the entire month of July.
Just like the original, Hidden Bitcoin leaves clues through its Twitter account. Once a wallet is found, it’s announced on Twitter and people have to wait till another clue is given.
And the bitcoin wallets are hidden all over the city — including, it appears, at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s house:
You don’t pay $10m for a house without making a few enemies #Bitcoinpic.twitter.com/WSN2snj3XQ
— SF Hidden Bitcoin (@sfhiddenbitcoin) July 3, 2014
1KeKnYh4hX6LR12AHetbQVjknXdti8TusZ #bitcoin right here – you can virtually poke it.#hiddenbitcoin #hiddencash pic.twitter.com/WqcukMmcmm
— SF Hidden Bitcoin (@sfhiddenbitcoin) July 4, 2014
This isn’t the only scavenger hunt going on in the Bay Area right now, either. This weekend people with a valid medical marijuana card can participate in Quest Hunt, a cannabis scavenger hunt where the prize is, you guessed it, marijuana.
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30 Jun
0
California lawmakers pass bill to update currency law
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| Image: GetToKnowBitcoin |
Bitcoin is now a legal form of payment within the state of California thanks to a new bill signed into law yesterday by Governor Jerry Brown.“This bill is intended to fine-tune current law to address Californians’ payment habits in the mobile and digital fields,” said the bill’s author, Democratic Assemblyman Roger Dickinson in a press release.
He cited the popularity of Bitcoin, and said even gift cards and reward points from retailers could be considered illegal under the current law.
“In an era of evolving payment methods, from Amazon coins to Starbucks Stars, it is impractical to ignore the growing use of cash alternatives,” Dickinson said.
It may seem a little strange that Bitcoin wasn’t already legal within the state — considering how large a role Silicon Valley played in both legitimizing and showing the business potential of all crypto-currencies. Also, Bitcoin was already being used by a number of businesses in the state as well as Bitcoin ATMs.
The bill itself actually repealed an older state law that prohibited the use of any currency other than the U.S. dollar. With the repeal in place, Californians are now free to use Bitcoin, other crypto-currencies, and even rewards points from loyalty programs.
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