4 ms·

First point is that MS Points or any "points" is something from a company. The company sold you those points and thus are liable for business ethics and so on

First point is that MS Points or any "points" is something from a company. The company sold you those points and thus are liable for business ethics and so on if brought up. BitCoins are not sold. They are traded and generated. There is nothing physical backing them up. There are companies facilitating trades, but those companies neither issue nor value the currency. They only facilitate exchange of hands. The BitCoin network is what issues coinage, yet the network is an agreement between all clients, and thus nobody "owns" it and thus nobody is responsible for the issuing of it. MS Points/Points sold by companies are backed by a physical entity. MS is liable for each individual coin. BitCoins are not owned or backed by anyone, only the changing of hands. Nobody is legally liable for each individual coin.

esrauch 15y ago
I don't think those reasons create the legal differences that you are presenting. Consider the Liberty Dollar [1], it was a currency that is backed by physical entity (precious metals) and it is directly backed by a company. With the exception of a federal law that specifically mentions using metals as currency, Bitcoin and Liberty dollars are direct legal analogues. I think the real difference is the usage intent. Microsoft points are simply gift cards that can only be used for the companies own products, Microsoft is not trying to have microsoft points replace dollars for exchanges between two arbitrary parties unlike bitcoins and liberty dollars. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_dollar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_dollar
dfc 15y ago
I appreciate your response but I'm not really sure it made anything clearer for me. It just created four more questions:) 1. Backed by a physical entity? In this context I always thought backed by a physical entity meant backed by gold/silver/wampum. 2. I appreciate the "something from a company" versus p2p however this seems like a conceptual difference. I am interested in the legal ramifications of this conceptual difference. 3. MS points are traded on secondary markets (10th prestige lobby anyone?). 4. In regards to trading/selling what is the difference between buying a 2000 ms point card on amazon and buying 10 btc on mtgox/tradehill/ruxum/campbx?
- inportb 15y ago
  I suppose bitcoin is supposed to be a currency rather than commodity; so you would not buy 10 btc, but you'd trade other forms of currency for it, or buy/sell goods using it. I think it's only a conceptual difference, because it's all just trade.

esrauch 15y ago

I don't think those reasons create the legal differences that you are presenting. Consider the Liberty Dollar [1], it was a currency that is backed by physical entity (precious metals) and it is directly backed by a company. With the exception of a federal law that specifically mentions using metals as currency, Bitcoin and Liberty dollars are direct legal analogues. I think the real difference is the usage intent. Microsoft points are simply gift cards that can only be used for the companies own products, Microsoft is not trying to have microsoft points replace dollars for exchanges between two arbitrary parties unlike bitcoins and liberty dollars. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_dollar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_dollar

dfc 15y ago

I appreciate your response but I'm not really sure it made anything clearer for me. It just created four more questions:) 1. Backed by a physical entity? In this context I always thought backed by a physical entity meant backed by gold/silver/wampum. 2. I appreciate the "something from a company" versus p2p however this seems like a conceptual difference. I am interested in the legal ramifications of this conceptual difference. 3. MS points are traded on secondary markets (10th prestige lobby anyone?). 4. In regards to trading/selling what is the difference between buying a 2000 ms point card on amazon and buying 10 btc on mtgox/tradehill/ruxum/campbx?

inportb 15y ago
I suppose bitcoin is supposed to be a currency rather than commodity; so you would not buy 10 btc, but you'd trade other forms of currency for it, or buy/sell goods using it. I think it's only a conceptual difference, because it's all just trade.