Singapore bucks the trend and welcomes Bitcoin

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/01/09/singapore-bucks-the-trend-and-welcomes-bitcoin-laying-out-tax-rules-for-the-virtual-currency/

by jasonlingx • 13 years ago

53 45 13 years ago

thenextweb.com

jasonlingx5• 13 years ago

What most people do not realise is that it does not matter if China or the US or any country bans or criminalises bitcoin. All it takes is for 1 small country (like Singapore) to embrace bitcoin for it to be worth $1,000,000 a coin. The first country that wises up to bitcoin, starts investing in mining and other bitcoin infrastructure in a big way, and legitimises its mainstream usage as a currency, is going to reap tremendous benefits. And it's only a matter of time before this happens.

josephagoss• 13 years ago

At $1,000,000/btc this would mean all the Bitcoins would be worth twice the value of all the gold ever mined. Seems too optimistic.

ankitoberoi2• 13 years ago

True, very unlikely but still, not impossible.

Considering if bitcoin goes mainstream the demand it will generate can easily take it above $100,000 at least. To give you an example, not a single non-techie friend of mine owns a bitcoin, even today.

neals2• 13 years ago

I once dared to dream of $100 bitcoin. Everybody laughed, nobody wanted to hear about my internet monies on parties.

I think that everything is possible now.

NateDad• 13 years ago

AFAIK, there isn't a single store in the United States that will let you buy anything with gold. There's several places that'll let you buy stuff with bitcoin. Double the value of all the gold ever mined actually seems like a pretty reasonable estimate.

Not trying to say btc will hit $1m... but it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility, especially if it really takes off, which seems more and more likely.

jasonlingx5• 13 years ago

At $1,000,000/btc this would mean all the Bitcoins would be worth twice the value of all the gold ever mined. Seems too optimistic.

hell, $1/btc seemed too optimistic ;)

coldtea4• 13 years ago

What most people do not realise is that it does not matter if China or the US or any country bans or criminalises bitcoin. All it takes is for 1 small country (like Singapore) to embrace bitcoin for it to be worth $1,000,000 a coin.

Not really. That 1 small country can be pushed diplomatically until it gives up on Bitcoin all too easily.

As for the "$1,000,000" thing, LOL, it seems the tulip/gold rush/quick bucks from nothing dream will never dissapear.

jasonlingx5• 13 years ago

Not really. That 1 small country can be pushed diplomatically until it gives up on Bitcoin all too easily.

The fact that tax havens like Monaco, Bahamas, Switzerland, etc still thrive prove that this is not the case.

As for the "$1,000,000" thing, LOL, it seems the tulip/gold rush/quick bucks from nothing dream will never dissapear.

It might be worth considering that bitcoin has already multiplied in value by 1000 times several times, from $0.001 to $1 to $1,000.

threeseed• 13 years ago

Are you serious ? What country is going to deliberately undermine their own existing currency by dedicating taxpayers dollars to mining a speculative currency used substantially for illegal activities. And in the process basically throw their own businesses and people under the bus.

I think you are frankly quite delusional if you think ANY government is going to do this.

oleganza3• 13 years ago

Probably, no state would do that directly, but what some state could do is too notice unstoppable spread of BTC in their territory for some reason (e.g. because of their own fiscal policies like in Argentina) and instead of waiting to become irrelevant, fight, lose all karma and all funding, could develop a guideline to save the face and satisfy greedy interests of the officials. They can do a "special economic zone" or simply develop simple regulation and taxation terms. If they aren't going to stop that thing, they can profit off it over some extended period of time instead of fighting and quickly losing everything.

Of course, it all depends on actual power structures and level of psychopathy. Good thing, Bitcoin does not care. If there's a fight against it, it'll only slow things down, not stop the process completely.

stefan_kendall• 13 years ago

Unless you're a country bound to a currency controlled by another nation.

Say the Euro collapses. There are many countries who may suddenly decide it makes sense to switch to a new currency. Some may consider BitCoin. In the historical case of Europe, this is unlikely, but it could happen elsewhere.

BitCoin might be a harbor in the face of runaway inflation. Even the swings of BitCoin pale in comparison to periods of massive inflation in several countries.

vitobcn• 13 years ago

I do think that countries not satisfied with the current status quo (e.g. USD having a dominant role) could embrace Bitcoin. Obviously, it will tend to be smaller or with less stable currencies, but that is simply where you start.

Zigurd2• 13 years ago

Converting to a cryptocurrency could be a viable alternative to "dollarization" or other end-games when nations have currency crises.

recuter• 13 years ago

If you consider for a moment how governments mishandle regular currencies you'd realize that there is no country of any size (other than possibly Sealand) whose bureaucracy would be able to cope.

In other words, nobody will risk their career to push for it even if they thought it was a good idea.

merloen3• 13 years ago

If Singapore chooses bitcoin, what will happen to the SGD? If it will be phased out, who will buy the current owners of SGD bitcoins? If not, what are the advantages of adopting bitcoin?

brazzy• 13 years ago

Actually, that $1,000,000/BTC rate is the biggest obstacle to this scenario and pretty much guarantees that it will never happen: do you really think any government with with even a tiny shred of responsibility OR self-interest will tie their economy to a currency of which about 1/3rd is held by less than 50 completely anonymous people?

jasonlingx5• 13 years ago

Any country that is not the USA controls only a tiny fraction of money supply in the world anyway. Going all in to bitcoin mining would actually increase their control of money supply, especially for the first movers.

ljlolel• 13 years ago

Are you joking? Switzerland? The world works that way today? You know who owns the 35 trillion dollars in offshore accounts?

Zigurd2• 13 years ago

I always thought it would be interesting if Venezuela started accepting bitcoin for oil.

thisiswrong3• 13 years ago

Or if El Salvador and Panama dropped the USD as their currency and used BTC.

neals2• 13 years ago

So much good news and so little bad news, though the market seems bearish.

VMG2• 13 years ago

The ghash.io story is very bad news

oleganza3• 13 years ago

GHash.IO is not news. If you were going to invest in Bitcoin, you were supposed to learn about how it works. It's not hard to understand that building a huge mining farm does not require zillions of money. Especially, if you expect BTC value to grow a lot, you should have accepted that there will be huge interest in mining. If you still feel that BTC is a good deal and miners with 50+% of hashrate won't be dishonest in practice, then you buy. Otherwise you don't. Everyone who is skeptical does not go into this game, and those who move the price to $1000, accept it. (Those who don't learn much about BTC, but still buy are most probably short-term speculators who quickly exit the game anyway; or eventually stay and learn.)

thisiswrong3• 13 years ago

Bearish!? You do realize that if you invested 6 months ago, your investment has risen by 1000% ?!

Also, these recent price rises are nothing compared to what will hit when mass adoption happens in 2014. It's all about perspective. Try to ''zoom out'' when thinking about where bitcoin will go.

http://blog.panampost.com/joel-fensch/2014/01/02/bitcoin-set...

nubela• 13 years ago

Er hm er hm. As a Singaporean, we built casinos, we have $10000 bank notes, we have no capital gains for parking capital in Singapore. And now Bitcoins. I wonder what that points toward.

swframe2• 13 years ago

given how easy it is for law enforcement to tap into our internet activities, I suspect bitcoin use is the perfect red flag for them; it is a different kind of bitcoin mining. it is kind of a joke actually; there is some dude trying to secretly buy something that he doesn't want the cops to know about but his use of technology to hide his transactions is the signal that alerts the police to take a closer look. even if he is just buying drugs, his use of bitcoin justifies increases to the law enforcement surveillance and budgets. and the funny part is that we are paying for it. bitcoin makes all of us more vulnerable to surveillance. If you are into bitcoin because you've found a way to get more out than you put in, then by all means continue to do so. If you're into it because you don't want to be tracked then you're lying to yourself.

drcode3• 13 years ago

In other words, don't stand up for your rights because it will only make them mad. Better just accept your fate and don't rock the boat.

swframe2• 13 years ago

Using bitcoin doesn't give you more rights; If you are doing something that the government wants to stop, then bitcoins gives you more rope to hang yourself.

we have a long history that shows how to change your fate and rock the boat without getting yourself killed/jailed. bitcoin doesn't seem to be capable of doing that.

Singapore bucks the trend and welcomes Bitcoin

Related Stories