24 Feb
0
Japan wants to regulate Bitcoin as Currency
Yesterday we read about the decision of an American judge to define bitcoin as property, as according to him bitcoin is a “intangible personal property rather than a currency”.
This is a very important matter on which lots of words have been spent since Satoshi Nakamoto invented this cryptocurrency. In fact, this definition has a lot of implications on how bitcoin is regulated, especially in terms of VAT and taxation in general.
Well, today Japanese regulators stated the decision to propose bitcoin among the methods of payments, so to define the digital cryptocurrencies as conventional currency.
In fact, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) wants to make “revisions to legislation that would classify digital currencies as fulfilling the functions of currency”, reported Coindesk.
At the moment Japan recognizes bitcoin as a property and not as a currency, but:
“Under the FSA’s proposed definition, virtual currencies must serve as a medium of exchange, meaning that they can be used to purchase goods and services. They must also be exchangeable for legal tender through purchases or trades with an unspecified partner”, said an article by Nikkei.
This possible modification might be submitted during the current legislative session of the Japanese legislature which runs from 4th January to 1st June, even though this it is not official yet.
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.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
23 Feb
0
“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.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.