Oddbean

What would be the outcome of this potential bitcoin policy from the dot gov? The government says yes it is money, if you spend it there is no tax, but if you trade it for fiat it is taxed like forex exchange? This is a topic of discussion not me advocating ANYTHING! GO!

Nothing is cut and dry but that was the best thing I came up with. My thought is that if .gov taxes fiat conversions (forex) but not spending BTC on goods and services then many (and then many more) would gravitate to a circular BTC economy. The less fiat gets used, the more it dies. Certainly wouldn't happen overnight but there is always hope.

See again though that isn't an answer to the question I asked is it? I didn't say is it good or bad, do you like it, I said what would the impact be. This is research for a podcast not me being a dick.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would trade btc for another currency (when it's taxed), so I doubt it would have much effect. No tax on goods purchased with bitcoin would have a big impact imho. Lot of guys out there who want to buy things with their stack but can't justify giving 20% to uncle Sam.

Sure but it isn't what I asked you is it? 🤷 Serious question, why is it difficult for you to analyze a hypothetical without injecting bias/emotion into it? I am not being a dick this is research for a show. I have really wondered what makes it so hard for people to evaluate what if scenarios with simple logic especially when they have a dog in a particular hunt. Can you do it? Sure number go up, okay. But what would the real impact be, number is gonna go up anyway.

Alright. My apologies for responding, I'm not sure what the impact would be. I was guessing that it wouldn't have much of an impact, it probably wouldn't impact my behavior but I'm probably not the average user. If I spoke those words to you, instead of typing them, you'd understand from my inflection that I was just throwing guesses into the wind rather than throwing some sort of shade. Good luck with your research, hopefully you find the insight you were looking for. And again, apologies for responding hastily to things I don't have the ability, time, or foresight to rationally deduce.

How do you make such a policy? Do you not leave huge loopholes such as trading btc for gold and back again with no cap gains? If gold is considered a "purchase" rather than an exchange, then to sell BTC for gold (or some other commodity like grain futures), is it taxable when you sell gold for BTC?

Well Elon who is going to be part of the admin if Orangeman wins is the source of the proposed pollicy. BUT I DIDN'T ASK THAT DID I? 😂 I actually did this as an experiment to discuss on air. Can people actually answer a hypothetical without injecting "but but but" into it? So far about 10% of people on multiple platforms can. I really want to get people into the ability to evaluate "what if A happens" with simple logical analysis of actually looking at "what if A happens". Not do I like or hate A. Not but how would A happen. Just what if, I seem to have a LONG way to go. 😝

If that was your goal, it could have been more clear by giving an example of the type of response you wanted. Given thats not what you got doesen't show your superior intellect, it shows you didn't communicate your goals effectively.

I too grow tired of the #Devil'sAdvocate. We don't need but... No yah buts allowed. Only state your facts and be done with it. I don't need you pointing out the obvious other side... Just state your side!

Capital gains taxes are a scam since the gain is usually due to inflation created by monetary system in the 1st place. Capital gains tax will die as bitcoin becomes the measure of value. I think Gov policy will be: Please spend your bitcoin freely and engage in economic activity within our borders to benefit our citizens.

Have bitcoin, have gold, have fiat and stop trading giving the gov the incentive to steal more of your money And there's always the posibility, when you really need to, to trade bitcoin for fiat or fiat for bitcoin using #bisq Choose freedom and privacy

Fair point…….like many teachers in my past. Increase in spending of bitcoin, on the regular. As another poster said, might further encourage transfer of more dollars to bitcoin, since you could use it for more of your day to day. That last might weaken the dollar faster.

It would be interesting to see if that policy would result in Bitcoiners actually spending it. I think I would. I think I would convert even more $ to BTC. Right now I really only hold dollars for current expenditures.

Ok assuming what you say is even possible; to declare it a tax free event would cure the accounting nightmare (for average small to medium business) of offering goods and services in exchange for bitcoin. It would be an effective "blessing" by government, taking away the "only criminals use it" fud. It would pressure the federal reserve and us banks to offer ecash services and fluidity between your bank account and usd denominated ecash. They would demonize indefinite reverse swap usd denominated ecash token mints, because its direct competition with debt backed fiat notes. AML regulations would need to adapt to a world with no financial boundaries, otherwise they would force exchanges to only release bitcoin to covenant wallets forever bifrucating the blockchain between locked-to-whitelisted-wallet UXTOs and "legacy" bitcoin. In summary, bitcoin would probably 4x immediately, but it is likely to result in a fork and the market will need to decide between government-controlled bitcoin and real bitcoin.