From the utopia of a currency offering privacy and financial freedom to its users to long awaiting Government regulations all over the world, Bitcoin has had a long but not flat road and "it died" hundreds of times till date. In my country, Romania, Bitcoin is/was for a lot of time associated with a 90's ponzi scheme called Caritas. Caritas still has the resonance with loosing money in the minds of many Romanians, even now after decades, and too often, unfortunately, Bitcoin is associated with it.
Not everybody is doing that though. There are plenty of "smart guys and gals" that have understood what Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are and are mining, trading or investing in such assets. Some are doing that for years while some like myself are only a bit more than a year older in the environment. We all were in a shadow of uncertainty regarding Romania's position towards cryptos regarding of how old we were in this crypto world. There are Bitcoin ATMs in the country, there are online exchanges, one of them was owned by some guy that has some law problems and was recently closed, but the environment wasn't regulated till... recently.
Yesterday it came out on the news that as of 2019 every person that has gained profits with trading/investing cryptpcurrencies will have to pay a 10% tax for the profit. It's only net gains that we are talking about. How are they going to calculate that I don't have all the details about and I hope they have already figured it out. All I know is that whoever took profits in 2018 will have to fill his paper work to pay his crypto taxes till March 2019. Thus it means that cryptocurrencies have finally found their "legal place to sit" comfortably in Romania's economy and that's a good thing in my opinion.
People that would have bought cryptos before but were not clear with taxes and regulations regarding such assets can now "finally enter the game" and start pouring money on the market. Don't expect billions, but for me this is a step further for the mass adoption of cryptos. Now I know where I stand, what I have to pay when I will sell my cryptos at a profit and how much of that profit is actually mine without having the thought in the back on my mind that one day the "Romanian IRS" will knock at my door asking me for "their money". A number that might surprise me...
Clarity is what cryptos needed in Romania and now they have it. Some that are not "tax fans" might not be that happy preferring the past uncertainty, but I like having everything clear. In Satoshi Nakamoto's vision Bitcoin was probably not designed to wait for regulations and SEC approvals and so on but looks like the big players are trying to fit it in these patterns so he won't remain "the currency of drug dealers and criminals" anymore. Yes, the pioneers of Bitcoin that were screaming for privacy, financial freedom and decentralization a few years ago are now patiently waiting for regulations and financial institutions to get involved. In here Bitcoin has finally been regulated and now we know clearly where we stand.
Source of images: https://pixabay.com/
Thanks for attention and have a great day!
Adrian
I love how you said it - "Yes, the pioneers of Bitcoin that were screaming for privacy, financial freedom and decentralization a few years ago are now patiently waiting for regulations and financial institutions to get involved. In here Bitcoin has finally been regulated and now we know clearly where we stand."
Thanks. That's how I felt saying it.