Bitcoin now 'unit of account' in Germany

10-29-2013 • http://www.theguardian.com, Charles Arthur

Germany's ministry of finance has formally recognised the digital currency Bitcoin as a "unit of account" which can be used for private transactions – meaning that the ministry will now be able to tax users or creators of the four-year-old virtual money.

However, companies wanting to use it for commercial transactions would need permission from the Federal Financial Supervision Authority.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper reported on the decision, which follows scrutiny of Bitcoin's potential usefulness as digital money.

Bitcoin is an online token which can be used and exchanged for goods and services in the same way as standard currencies.

1 Comments in Response to Bitcoin now 'unit of account' in Germany

Comment by PureTrust

Entered on: 10/30/2013 12:50:52 PM

In the U.S., you can do business any way you want. You can use money or not. You can trade for matchsticks. You can barter with chips, or direct without any medium of transfer at all. But once the IRS finds that you are "trading" in business (or private if you do big volume) they will try to tax you on the value, listed in dollars. Is it the same in Germany with their taxing system?

The only way that Bitcoin will remain untaxed is, if you do it anonymously, in such a way that you can't be tracked over the blockchain.

We have heard of VPNs and Tor for security on the Internet. Now look at how you can use them (or not use VPNs/Tor) with BitLaunder - https://bitlaunder.com/ - and with Bitcoin Fog - http://www.bitcoinfog.com/ - to make your transactions truly blockchain anonymous.

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