Comment Re:US will ban if they can't tax it (Score 1) 207
That's a curious theory, on par with Slashdot Beta.
What's interesting about BTC is you don't "own" coins.
You need to define what you think ownership is, and then compare it to ownership of other items that we commonly call money.
The public ID is recorded as having "coins" assigned to it; much like if you have a username on a World of Warcraft server, the server has a database record that says your username holds a certain number of warcraft gold tokens.
Well, I don't own the servers at my bank. There is nothing in this Universe, other than virtual association of some monetary units with the number of my bank account, that says that I have money on my account. But you wouldn't say that I don't own the money that my bank holds for me, would you?
Some more strict debaters may say that no, I don't own that money; it's just the bank has a debt to me, payable on demand. But from every practical point of view (that excludes high-flying economists) I do own that money. What is the test for ownership? I guess it's quite simple. If I may have access to it at any time, and if I can spend it in any way I want. I guess the money at the bank satisfies that test. BTC in your wallet is also technically owned by you because you are free to spend them on anything you want, or to destroy (by deleting the wallet.) There is no authority other than you who can do it (aside from the 50% attack.) If you ask any IRS agent, any lawyer, any judge they will tell you that you own a thing if you exercise full control over it. The duck test, if you wish.
I cannot say what laws govern in-game toy money, but most likely they are just game items that you collect during the game. As long as they are not declared money, or other goods in real world, they are just part of the game; you cannot call the police if a demon of 34th rank jumps you and robs you of all your gold.
BTC is declared to be money, for better or for worse. This means that it is now regulated as money. You'd better declare BTC that you hold in foreign accounts, and pay tax on all your BTC income. Welcome to the club of big boys, BTC. And, by the way, the big boys don't like you at all, and the system is biased against you. Such is life.