Hacker News Reader

Good point. Assuming ad absurdum that all exchanges (fiat/BTC) will be forbidden, does bartering via a 3'rd party - in this case BTC subjects to the same regulations ?

For example: instead of "I exchange 3 bananas for 3 apples" to "I exchange 3 bananas for 3 btc which I can exchange for 3 apples".

View on HN

I'm not quite sure I grasp the idea of bartering via a 3rd party, but it sounds a lot like a credit card processor or similar, which are certainly regulated.

Our existing established currencies (USD, EUR, etc) were born out as an easier way of bartering (i.e. don't have to carry the the weight) or in form of exchangeable IOUs (I'll pay you back when I'll harvest).

I was just wandering if BTC could take the role that the shells used as money by our ancestors.

To add on top of that, for bartering there is no sales tax, etc.

BTC is certainly intended to take on that role. Whether it can is the big question.

Note that barter isn't actually exempt from taxes at all. Transactions are taxed at the market value of the barter. People generally ignore this, but they only get away with it because the transactions are tiny. If e.g. Exxon started selling oil by barter, the IRS would take its share.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com