3 ms·

Working for Bitcoin: Update

25 points by ncarlson 15y ago

jarin 15y ago
It would be kind of a cool experiment to try to get everything past the first $5000 in client work (or whatever covers living expenses, taxes, savings, and beers in your area) per month paid in Bitcoin. There needs to be a really easy way to do it though for clients who don't understand the concept, maybe some kind of service where a client can pay with credit card and it converts to Bitcoin and sends it to the recipient's account. Maybe an alternative would be to just make a policy to buy Bitcoin with whatever you get over your quota each month.
- ncarlson 15y ago
  I think what's needed most at the moment is an easy way for US dollars to be exchanged for Bitcoin. This was easy enough when Mt Gox was accepting Paypal. However, now that Paypal has suspended Mt Gox's account, anyone wanting to work with that exchange now has to jump through additional hoops by opening up a Dwolla or Liberty Reserve account. Personally, I found these sites to be rather shady looking.
  - sgornick 15y ago
    Dwolla looks shady? Seriously? http://www.dwolla.com http://www.dwolla.com Incidentally, they are FDIC and NCUA insured: http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-deposits-are-protected-by-the-fdic-and-ncua/ http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-deposits-are-protected-by-...
    - ncarlson 15y ago
      > they are FDIC My question would be, are individual Dwolla accounts protected on a per depositor basis? Or, is it just Dwolla Corp's own bank account which is protected under FDIC. Their website doesn't make that clear. It's entirely possible that user funds are stored in a bank account, owned by Dwolla, and that bank account is FDIC insured. If that's the case, then that bank account is only insured up to $250,000 USD.
      - jimrandomh 15y ago
        > My question would be, are individual Dwolla accounts protected on a per depositor basis? Or, is it just Dwolla Corp's own bank account which is protected under FDIC. The former. If it were the latter, then writing "Dwolla Deposits Are Protected By The FDIC and NCUA" on their web page would be fraud.
        eli 15y ago
        I'm almost certain you are wrong about that. Dwolla is not listed in the FDIC database.
        sgornick 15y ago
        "Dwolla Deposits Are Protected By The FDIC and NCUA" Yes, every dime you have in your account is protected by the FDIC and NCUA. The same way that amounts in your PayPal balance are protected. http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-security-and-partner-overview/ http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-security-and-partner-overv...
        eli 15y ago
        OK, I'm glad that their banks are insured, but if Dwolla goes bankrupt are you sure I'll get my money back? I'm not. PayPal does the same thing, but at least they're upfront about how it works: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/travelers-outside https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/travelers-ou... And I don't keep money in my PayPal account either.
    - eli 15y ago
      The website looks fine, but the service seems kinda shady. They are "not a bank" so that FDIC insurance doesn't apply to you it applies to whatever bank account they are using to hold everyone's money. If they go bankrupt I am not confident I could get my money back.
  - jarin 15y ago
    I haven't checked out Liberty Reserve, but I have a Dwolla account and it is pretty non-shady.
meric 15y ago
A few weeks ago 1 bitcoin was only 0.8 US dollar. Now it's 8. My 0.05 BTC is now worth 0.4. Should've gotten more.
- getsat 15y ago
  I gave away my last 10 BTC a month ago on HN. Oh, well. I'm going to wait until BTC is proven to be government-proof before getting back into it, if ever.
- waterlesscloud 15y ago
  It's down to 6.5 now in the last couple of hours. Very little volume was required to drive it down so much (10s of thousands of USD). BTC isn't even vaguely stable, in either direction.
joe_the_user 15y ago
If this becomes common, it will certainly be a test of bitcoin's legal status. Seeing how the IRS and Social Security calculate what taxes, if any, you have to pay will be interesting...
- jared314 15y ago
  There is a good chance it would be treated as another foreign currency. So, you would file in USD using a current conversion rate. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=130524,00.html http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=130524,00....
tectonic 15y ago
What's the best way to exchange my bitcoins for USD?

25 points by ncarlson 15y ago

jarin 15y ago

It would be kind of a cool experiment to try to get everything past the first $5000 in client work (or whatever covers living expenses, taxes, savings, and beers in your area) per month paid in Bitcoin. There needs to be a really easy way to do it though for clients who don't understand the concept, maybe some kind of service where a client can pay with credit card and it converts to Bitcoin and sends it to the recipient's account. Maybe an alternative would be to just make a policy to buy Bitcoin with whatever you get over your quota each month.

ncarlson 15y ago
I think what's needed most at the moment is an easy way for US dollars to be exchanged for Bitcoin. This was easy enough when Mt Gox was accepting Paypal. However, now that Paypal has suspended Mt Gox's account, anyone wanting to work with that exchange now has to jump through additional hoops by opening up a Dwolla or Liberty Reserve account. Personally, I found these sites to be rather shady looking.
- sgornick 15y ago
  Dwolla looks shady? Seriously? http://www.dwolla.com http://www.dwolla.com Incidentally, they are FDIC and NCUA insured: http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-deposits-are-protected-by-the-fdic-and-ncua/ http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-deposits-are-protected-by-...
  - ncarlson 15y ago
    > they are FDIC My question would be, are individual Dwolla accounts protected on a per depositor basis? Or, is it just Dwolla Corp's own bank account which is protected under FDIC. Their website doesn't make that clear. It's entirely possible that user funds are stored in a bank account, owned by Dwolla, and that bank account is FDIC insured. If that's the case, then that bank account is only insured up to $250,000 USD.
    - jimrandomh 15y ago
      > My question would be, are individual Dwolla accounts protected on a per depositor basis? Or, is it just Dwolla Corp's own bank account which is protected under FDIC. The former. If it were the latter, then writing "Dwolla Deposits Are Protected By The FDIC and NCUA" on their web page would be fraud.
      - eli 15y ago
        I'm almost certain you are wrong about that. Dwolla is not listed in the FDIC database.
        sgornick 15y ago
        "Dwolla Deposits Are Protected By The FDIC and NCUA" Yes, every dime you have in your account is protected by the FDIC and NCUA. The same way that amounts in your PayPal balance are protected. http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-security-and-partner-overview/ http://www.dwolla.org/help/dwolla-security-and-partner-overv...
        eli 15y ago
        OK, I'm glad that their banks are insured, but if Dwolla goes bankrupt are you sure I'll get my money back? I'm not. PayPal does the same thing, but at least they're upfront about how it works: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/travelers-outside https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/travelers-ou... And I don't keep money in my PayPal account either.
  - eli 15y ago
    The website looks fine, but the service seems kinda shady. They are "not a bank" so that FDIC insurance doesn't apply to you it applies to whatever bank account they are using to hold everyone's money. If they go bankrupt I am not confident I could get my money back.
- jarin 15y ago
  I haven't checked out Liberty Reserve, but I have a Dwolla account and it is pretty non-shady.

meric 15y ago

A few weeks ago 1 bitcoin was only 0.8 US dollar. Now it's 8. My 0.05 BTC is now worth 0.4. Should've gotten more.

getsat 15y ago
I gave away my last 10 BTC a month ago on HN. Oh, well. I'm going to wait until BTC is proven to be government-proof before getting back into it, if ever.
waterlesscloud 15y ago
It's down to 6.5 now in the last couple of hours. Very little volume was required to drive it down so much (10s of thousands of USD). BTC isn't even vaguely stable, in either direction.

joe_the_user 15y ago

If this becomes common, it will certainly be a test of bitcoin's legal status. Seeing how the IRS and Social Security calculate what taxes, if any, you have to pay will be interesting...

jared314 15y ago
There is a good chance it would be treated as another foreign currency. So, you would file in USD using a current conversion rate. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=130524,00.html http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=130524,00....

tectonic 15y ago

What's the best way to exchange my bitcoins for USD?