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Comment by gspencley | Hacker News Reader

I can't pay my accountant, utility bills or my property taxes with Bitcoin though. At some point that money needs to be converted to fiat which means I still need a commercial account. And to maintain a commercial account in current year, "Know Your Customer" regulations force the bank to ask you an insane amount of details about your business activities and cash flow.

Even if they didn't, bringing in $120k / year into the account from a crypto exchange would raise a lot of questions and that, in and of itself, would likely get branded "high risk" by the bank since there is a perception that 100% of Bitcoin activity is money laundering.

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> there is a perception that 100% of Bitcoin activity is money laundering.

Let us know what bank you're using so we can avoid it.

You could have an old school exchange where people go in person to shout bids and offers and settle with briefcases full of $100 bills. Those can be used to pay accountants, utility bills and property taxes.

It you live in a big city, it's easy enough to find someone to meet in person and exchange crypto for $1-10k cash a few % below the market rate. Some will even pay above market rate if you can do $100k+.

Facilitating (likely) money laundering isn’t really a great idea

> it's easy enough to find someone to meet in person and exchange crypto for $1-10k cash a few % below the market rate. Some will even pay above market rate if you can do $100k+

In case anyone is wondering, this is money laundering, and if you wind up with the wrong person on the other side, getting arrested and charged is among the better outcomes.

At least with respect to US federal money laundering laws (18 USC 1956, et seq.), there needs to be “specified unlawful activity”, as defined, involved for it to be money laundering.

Running a legal porn site isn’t illegal.

I think what they are saying is that the counter-party in the in-person BTC/USD trade could have gotten those USD in an illegitimate way, and that by accepting those USD in exchange for BTC you’d be partaking in money laundering.

Is there really a legal responsibility placed on an individual selling BTC for cash to verify the source of funds?

I assumed that wouldn't be necessary if not operating like a business with the intention to turn a profit. If I sold my car for cash, would I have the same responsibility?

Accountants have KYC and AML obligations too. Briefcases full of cash are not going to sit well with a legit accountant (and a non-legit accountant is worse than none).

I get it, some people want cash as a concept to be illegal. But we are not there yet. If you have all your receipts in order then using cash is fine.

> I can't pay my accountant, utility bills or my property taxes with Bitcoin though.

If you get Bitcoin in, and then you convert it to USD, why not?

> At some point that money needs to be converted to fiat which means I still need a commercial account.

The answer to this question is in the message you are replying to. At the end of the day there is still a bank with KYC requirements.

And where are those USD going to be stored?

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