Getting paid n bitcoin?

OU812

I have a very small client, who's invoice is never more than a couple of hours work per month, rarely more than €250/300 plus VAT.

I was considering asking him to pay me in bitcoin (as the value of them is likely to go up short term), keeping them for three months & hopefully selling them on for a small profit.

Just wondering:
1) Can he buy bitcoins & pay me in them in a normal transaction?
2) Does this open me up to further tax liability (on the profit)?
3) Do you think it's worth doing as an experiment?

srsly78

If the client is up for it then definitely try it out. It's very little trouble for you to set up a wallet, then just give him the address.

As a business transaction this is supposed to be accounted for just like anything else involving different currencies.

OU812

I know it's still quite a volitile "currency" but it is likely to keep growing in value, right ?

Does anyone on here trade regularly or is it a buy & sit on it type of thing ?

Also, who's actually *behind* it ?

Is there a bitcoins for dummies site to read up on it ?

Roonbox

OU812 wrote: »

I know it's still quite a volitile "currency" but it is likely to keep growing in value, right ?

Does anyone on here trade regularly or is it a buy & sit on it type of thing ?

Also, who's actually *behind* it ?

Is there a bitcoins for dummies site to read up on it ?

I direct you to the other Bitcoin' thread for all (limited) the bitcoin knowledge contained on boards.

Phoebas

OU812 wrote: »

I have a very small client, who's invoice is never more than a couple of hours work per month, rarely more than €250/300 plus VAT.

I was considering asking him to pay me in bitcoin (as the value of them is likely to go up short term), keeping them for three months & hopefully selling them on for a small profit.

Just wondering:
1) Can he buy bitcoins & pay me in them in a normal transaction?
2) Does this open me up to further tax liability (on the profit)?
3) Do you think it's worth doing as an experiment?

Are you going to invoice him in bitcoin or in EUR? Presumably EUR because he's not likely to want to take on the currency risk, unless you are going to adjust your prices in line with the bitcoin/EUR rate.


That being the case, why not just buy your own bitcoins with the EUR he pays you - isn't it the same thing?

fergalr

OU812 wrote: »

I know it's still quite a volitile "currency" but it is likely to keep growing in value, right ?

No one can say.

Some people argue it'll keep growing.

Other people say its in a huge price bubble at the moment, due to hype and mass irrational behaviour.

Yet other people would argue, that the current market price is the best estimate of the future value of the currency.


Personally, I wouldn't take a strong position on any of those.
No one knows.

Its certainly got potential as an idea - widespread adoption could create a lot of value. But as to what the chances of that happening are, and whether bitcoin is currently underpriced, its really anyone's guess. Don't believe anyone who seems certain.

OU812 wrote: »

Does anyone on here trade regularly or is it a buy & sit on it type of thing ?

I bought a very small number of bitcoins a couple of years ago, just to understand how the system works.

Again, due to the lack of information, I find it hard to believe anyone that is regularly trading is doing so with positive expected value; they might have made a fortune, but it might have largely been luck.

OU812 wrote: »

Also, who's actually *behind* it ?

Currently, there is an influential Bitcoin foundation, who are probably the best single body to point to, as being 'behind' it, as many of the core developers, who administer the code, are in the foundation (some even paid by it).

There are also sets of shared interest groups, people with a lot of computer power, who 'mine' bitcoins in syndicates, or 'pools'. These people are quite influential too, because of how computer power is important in Bitcoin.

There's a set of early adopters - look on the Bitcoin forum - who have been pushing the system, for various reasons.

Finally, Bitcoin was originally created by a cryptographer or developer or group, using the identity 'Satoshi Nakamoto' https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto

It does not seem to be publicly known who that is, though there are inconclusive theories.

OU812 wrote: »

Is there a bitcoins for dummies site to read up on it ?

You could do worse than starting here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

and then moving on to the bitcoin wiki:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page

which contains a lot of high quality information.


Be warned though, to take everything with a grain of salt; there is a lot of misinformation out there; and wrong statements in pretty much every source.
Mainstream media in particular is a bit behind the curve on this one.

Roonbox wrote: »

I direct you to the other Bitcoin' thread for all (limited) the bitcoin knowledge contained on boards.

Actually, I'm an expert on some limited aspects of the system :-P

You never know how much the other posters know, too - if you look on the main bitcoin forum, there are some real experts out there, really into the system in depth; you never know.

Atlantic Dawn

Bitcoins value fluctuates too much to have it as a fair payment of salary, client could end up paying you 20-30% more or less per month depending on how it performmed. I suppose you could agree for them to pay you €300 worth of Bitcoins per month.

Why not instead invest what he pays you in Bitcoin?