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Comment by chollida1 | Hacker News Reader

Probably good news for investors long term. Bitcoin again continues to grow up and be treated as an equal to bonds, stocks, etc.

If you are a holder, or HODL as the kids say, then you get the benefit of long term rates, if you are a short term trader then you pay the short term capital gains rates, just like any other currency/commodity. trade.

Concrete rules will bring in more conservative money.

This was the last loop hole that some people were concerned about wrt to taxes and virtual currency trading.

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without wash trades to pump up its value, what good is bitcoin for??

- bitcoin isn't usable as a transactional currency. it costs $30-40 per transaction. Plus other currencies are gaining steam, and offering other choices for people to transact

- bitcoin isn't rare to be a store of value.....everyday there's a new viable cryptocurrency springing up

- bitcoin isn't safer than dollar.....it can drop 90% in any day; no official entity is going to prop it up and make sure it doesn't crash. it can be banned by countries (and has been by a few)

- bitcoin isn't easy than square cash or visa or wires.....it can take several weeks to send money. plus the transaction fees are high

> bitcoin isn't rare to be a store of value.....everyday there's a new viable cryptocurrency springing up

What makes bitcoin 'rare' isn't the fact that it's a cryptocurrency, just like what makes a dollar 'rare' isn't the fact that it's a piece of paper.

It's the network (i.e. hash power) behind it.

> without wash trades to pump up its value, what good is bitcoin for??

Can you please explain in clear terms how a wash trade pushes up the value of bitcoin?

I can see it increasing the volume but not the value.

I do not think bitcoin has this problem because of the volume, but "painting the tape" is done to a lot of alt-coins by shark-pools.

It’s a double edge sword I guess, because if these are treated as securities - many exchanges will need to subscribe to a lot more regulation and start providing tax paperwork (1099s included) - requiring them to have an SSN on file, removing loads of the anonymity people may be fond of.

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