What if i cant pay for bitcoins

All of these methods are competitive and there is no guarantee of profit. Each confirmation takes between a few seconds and 90 minutes, with 10 minutes being the average. Bitcoin is available on cryptocurrency exchange websites, where you can trade one currency for another. You can find more information and help on the resources and community pages or on the Wiki FAQ.

Some people kill time at the airport by browsing duty-free shops. I decided to shop for bitcoin.

By Rachel Rickard Straus for Thisismoney. As this is a virtual currency, does that mean I have to declare the sale for tax purposes? I’ve been told any gain is tax free because the money doesn’t really exist in tangible form. In the money: A reader asks whether they’ll have to pay tax if they sell their bitcoins. Geraint Jones, tax adviser at London and Cambridge accountancy firm BKL, replies: Virtual currencies, or cryptocurrencies as they are sometimes known, are becoming an increasingly popular way to transact.

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By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy , Privacy Policy , and our Terms of Service. I made a payment to a company for a product more than a year ago in bitcoin. Now the company has failed to provide the product and they and I both agree that I’m owed a refund. However, we disagree on the means. It seems to me though that I should be refunded what I paid: i.

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By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie PolicyPrivacy Policyand our Terms of Service. I made a payment to a company for a product more than a year ago in bitcoin. Now the company has failed to provide the product and they and I both agree that I’m owed a refund. However, we disagree on the means. It seems to me though that I should be refunded what I paid: i.

The value of bitcoin has increased substantially since I made my original payment, meaning that the BTC amount I paid then is now worth times. I happen to know through their blog posts that the company in question does keep stocks of bitcoin rather than converting them to a fiat currency, so they have benefited from.

That said, I don’t think it should matter either way. You can consider bitcoin in one of two ways: a a cnat or b not a currency. The conclusion is the same either way. Bitcoinns explore both:. If BTC is a currency then this is an easy question. I should wuat refunded what I paid, in the currency in which I paid it. Ic a bitcoin is not currency then is it unarguably an asset. Surely in this case I have given a valuable asset to the company as my end of an implied contract for them to provide the goods.

Given their failure to provide the goods, they must return the asset: not a fraction of it. I think that, regardless of the legal side, it’s fair for me to receive a full refund. Given that bitcoin has increased in value, one of us has to profit from. It seems very unfair to me that the company should profit from their failure, whilst at the same time preventing me from making that profit.

I appreciate that I’m not exactly neutral in this, so I’d like to know what others think. Am I being reasonable? If I am, do I have a legal leg to stand on? For the first, this is open to interpretation.

If I was being pernickety, I’d probably say this was down to the wording of the sale. The concept dhat «legal tender» is one that was raised. For something to be «legal tender» means that one may not refuse an offer to pay a debt with that currency.

For the second, that is indisputable and probably represents the biggest flaw in my position. I would point out that the refund is not my doing: I would rather have received my order but the company cancelled it.

However, that probably makes no difference ultimately. Thanks for all the opinions. It looks like the overwhelming consensus is that I am being unreasonable, so I’ll give up on my demands and accept the refund. Would you feel the same way if exchange lay was not in your favour?

Undoubtedly, no. Forgive the acerbic response but I’m somewhat taken-aback that a sizable number feels Bitcoin is a currency when it suits, but an it at other times, and at no time does the rationale stay consistent unless «someone is making a profit».

That’s what businesses. So not all businesses are rolling the dice and winning. For example, BFL acted horrendously. I certainly think deliberate exchange tricks in the company’s favor are wrong; though it all comes down to the terms agreed, and more opaquely, opinion. The Coinage Act ofSection 31 U. Second, while bitcoin is legally a payment method in the US, it does not have legal status as a currency. In the eyes of the law it’s almost certain that the company will only be required to send you the original USD price of the item that you paid, regardless of the method of transfer.

Legally speaking, you paid what if i cant pay for bitcoins through bitcoin, and the firm will return your USD, using the bitcoin payment method if you so wish. I’d love bictoins hear a small claims judge berate you for trying to, how can we say this, enjoy risk-free lf gains it the abuse of company refund policies.

This also serves an anti-fraud whhat for the cases where a purchase was made on whag stolen medium eg a credit card but the scammers request a refund in a different medium eg cash as soon as the payment goes through because all they want to do is take the money and run. For brick and mortar stores dealing with fiat money this is easily defined by their geographical location unless there is more than one valid currencies at the same physical location, as is the case for example with Malta.

The same stands for online stores with a physical location. If everything happens online then a fair approach would be to issue a refund at the exact amount of the exact payment medium that was used at the time of the purchase. The latter can be problematic when dealing with currencies that have a volatile behavior against major currencies, for as long as it lasts; the antidote is diversification.

If you hold the bitcoins while the value goes up, you are the one entitled to profit from it, because you also risk holding while the value drops, and then you’re the one stuck with the loss.

Imagine the 10, BTC pizza transaction were refunded now: would the purchaser be entitled to 10, BTC, or only the value of two pizzas today? If he were really entitled to the 10, BTC, that would also open up the door for fraud in the form of «buy something with BTC, if the exchange rate goes up, return it for a refund in BTC».

You should be entitled to a refund of the same real purchasing power of what you paid. With Bitcoin, the easiest way to track this over any non-trivial period of time is by referring back to its fiat value. It all depends on the what was the base-currency of the item when it was sold. That is what should be refunded. If it is not clear what the base currency was, whta the one approach would be to simply reverse the steps of the exact same transaction. It doesn’t matter what the currency you paid in is worth now compared to other currencies, I guess that’s the problem of a volatile currency.

So if the Bitcoin system collapsed and Bitcoins had no value anymore, you wouldn’t be entitled to any refund at all? That can’t be right. So if you had traded, say, an apple for something, and then were due a refund a week later, they should give caant the same apple?

There’s a reason it must be this way — any other rule allows people to profit from their bad acts. For example, say I buy something for Bitcoin, the price of Bitcoin goes down, and then the vendor says «Sorry, can’t ship that to you. We’ll give you back the Bitcoins. If you want to profit from the appreciation in Bitcoins, you must also take the risk that you will lose if their value depreciates. They didn’t prevent you from making that profit.

Also, your rule would make it basically impossible for vendors to accept payments in bircoins like Bitcoins. They’d be vulnerable to customers returning things if the price of Bitcoin went up, and their customers would fear that the vendor might renege if the price goes. That’s no good for. The answer would depend on where the transaction took place.

The note on money «This note is legal tender for all debts public and private» is legal language stating that you must accept it within the US. If they pay in anything else, that’s fine, but they have to agree with you on what the value of another currency is on that day.

If it was an online transaction in another country, say, the UK, then the contract law of that country would apply. The question of whether BitCoin is a currency or an asset really is moot because for one, debts are based on a currency neutral value unless specified otherwise in writing, and for another, US currency is not an «official» currency outside the US either although, exactly like BitCoin, it is accepted as having value abroadit all depends on what country you’re in. The whole point of BitCoin is that it is a currency that is not tied to a country.

If you’re paying in BitCoin, you’re accepting that it is a currency. You guys are all approaching this from the wrong angle. Property and contract law make it pretty straightforward. The answer depends a lot on the terms of the sales contract. Specifically, how much liability the seller has for failure to deliver. For example, if the item you ordered was something you needed to fulfill a contract with someone else, and their cancelling of the order caused you to default on that contract, absent a different agreement, they would be liable for your inability to fulfill your obligations.

In this case, the seller breached the contract, so ultimately the seller is liable for damages caused by said breach. This has a big pile of common-law precedent. Bitcoin is a new transfer method, not a new concept in property law. If it was in dollars they would, technically, owe you interest, it’s just that dollars are stable enough that that’s not usually a significant sum, and most people don’t worry about it when this kind of thing happens.

Now, everyone else’s answers about legal tender and such do apply: You can’t force them to pay you in Bitcoin. They can pay you the equivalent value in dollars if they choose. But there is good cause and good precedent for damages, so they may well owe you the full, current value of the bitcoins. If the transaction is handled by them directly and not via a payment processor who, presumably, performed their job correctly then you have another avenue as.

The contract was never completed as agreed, and so the bitcoins in bitccoins are, legally, still yours. They can either give them back to you, or pay you for their current value at time of contract breach plus interest if applicable.

All of this ishowever, subject to the terms and conditions of the sales contract, which was probably presented to you at time of sale, and may well very likely did specifically disclaim this portion of their liability. You did read the entire thing, right? And you kept a copy, right?

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I did, however, get good grades in my business law summary courses, which covered property and contract law rather nicely. Note for the «risk free speculation» commentators: This cannot be reliably used for that, as it is dependent on the seller violating the terms of the sales agreement. Further, if the seller discovered that you were doing it whaf purpose, that would be negotiation in bad faith on the buyer’s part and would shift the liability the other way.

How to handle it in the case of the return policy is another matter, and should be whag in the sales agreement. If not, then it could end up bihcoins to court for arbitration, and the ruling would likely depend on the reason for the return and evidence or lack thereof of the buyer making the deal in bad faith.

I have bitcoin worth £4million that I bought five years ago for £5,000. Will I have to pay tax if I sell?

To the best of our knowledge, Bitcoin has not been made illegal by legislation in most jurisdictions. To use your cryptocurrency, withdraw your crypto from the exchange to a Payment Protocol ehat wallet before attempting to spend it. To pay to a Bitcoin address, you’ll need to provide two pieces of information to your Bitcoin wallet: The recipient’s bitcoin address Bitcoims amount of bitcoin to send Both of these will be displayed on the payment page during checkout, although some will leave the amount up to you in the case of donations or other more flexible payment models. If you have a problem with a bitcoin-related product or service, file a complaint with the FTC. Over the course of the last few years, such what if i cant pay for bitcoins features have quickly developed, such as wallet encryption, offline wallets, hardware wallets, and multi-signature transactions. Comments submitted to this blog become part of the public domain.