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You may have overlooked the rough diamond: the fact that auditing can be easier. Tax departments can just ask what addresses a person used to send and receive b

You may have overlooked the rough diamond: the fact that auditing can be easier. Tax departments can just ask what addresses a person used to send and receive btc. People have to declare income already (and people hide income), and now people will have to declare bitcoin addresses! It's all online for governments to check. So a DNS-like system over bitcoin addresses is the answer.

Udo 15y ago
Users can generate as many of these addresses as they like- it's all completely anonymous. But even if Bitcoin had features that allowed this sort of tracking, it would still be a non-governmental free currency that is fundamentally at odds with how the old world works. On a technical note, this is what the content of a block address looks like: http://blockexplorer.com/address/1PbLcpBhxrMvgdcjwSgBatg1JiFiNy5kAe http://blockexplorer.com/address/1PbLcpBhxrMvgdcjwSgBatg1JiF...
- adrianwaj 15y ago
  Couldn't the client software just keep track of addresses sent and received in a log file, and when you submit a tax return, you send them that file? They then determine how much tax you owe (either a consumption tax or wealth tax,) and you pay it in bitcoin. The government can then inject or withdraw bitcoins from the money supply as it sees fit to promote or ease inflationary pressure. So the government has two sets of transactions: those accounted for, and those unaccounted for.
  - Udo 15y ago
    In theory, a government-approved client could be implemented that is restricted to only send BTC to other government-registered addresses. There would have to insane restrictions on using and authenticating to the client software. And they would probably require the implementation to safeguard against unregistered addresses sending you money as well. All in all, shoehorning this into something approaching legal compliance would require stripping away every single point that makes Bitcoin worthwhile for end users.
    - adrianwaj 15y ago
      Governments could just setup there own versions of mybitcoin or authorize the private sector to run those versions on their behalf. They can even give tax breaks to those that use it.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]

Udo 15y ago

Users can generate as many of these addresses as they like- it's all completely anonymous. But even if Bitcoin had features that allowed this sort of tracking, it would still be a non-governmental free currency that is fundamentally at odds with how the old world works. On a technical note, this is what the content of a block address looks like: http://blockexplorer.com/address/1PbLcpBhxrMvgdcjwSgBatg1JiFiNy5kAe http://blockexplorer.com/address/1PbLcpBhxrMvgdcjwSgBatg1JiF...

adrianwaj 15y ago
Couldn't the client software just keep track of addresses sent and received in a log file, and when you submit a tax return, you send them that file? They then determine how much tax you owe (either a consumption tax or wealth tax,) and you pay it in bitcoin. The government can then inject or withdraw bitcoins from the money supply as it sees fit to promote or ease inflationary pressure. So the government has two sets of transactions: those accounted for, and those unaccounted for.
- Udo 15y ago
  In theory, a government-approved client could be implemented that is restricted to only send BTC to other government-registered addresses. There would have to insane restrictions on using and authenticating to the client software. And they would probably require the implementation to safeguard against unregistered addresses sending you money as well. All in all, shoehorning this into something approaching legal compliance would require stripping away every single point that makes Bitcoin worthwhile for end users.
  - adrianwaj 15y ago
    Governments could just setup there own versions of mybitcoin or authorize the private sector to run those versions on their behalf. They can even give tax breaks to those that use it.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]