I do not believe in Bitcoin as a currency, for the reasons you listed. It is slow (no one is going to wait 15 minutes at Starbucks for their transaction to confirm) and difficult to use. But I do view it as a digital version of gold. Gold has worse transactional problems than Bitcoin and it is more difficult and costlier to store. You're not using Gold as a currency but it has been a very good store of value across human history.

The volatility will continue until it is more widely adopted - it certainly does not have gold's history (I own gold as well). But I believe that it can serve the same function as gold in a more modern way. I definitely think it has a place in one's portfolio.

This and your astonished-and-surprised follow-up posts made me google this.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-bu ... ence-guide



Form 8300 appears to apply to businesses. The form has business information collected, not personal.

If someone sells a plane and is not a business and is not in the business of selling planes, how does IRS 8300 apply?

I do not even see a law cited, but it appears to do with the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 which does not apply to individuals.

Did I google incorrectly?

OK, I have only been on this forum since Dec of 2015, but this has to be the mother-of-all-thread drifts...

From plane inventory levels, to ad-hominen attacks on brokers, to money laundering, to the vagaries of banking marijuana peddlers, to crypto currency. And it is only Monday.

Can the Jeffs throw a penalty flag when the thread drifts this far off of the fairway?

What's next, whether or not Elvis and Jim Morrison are holed up in a New Jersey motel, or are raising alpacas together in Peru?

……

As long as everyone is being civil, I saw bring it on. The depth of knowledge on BT is outstanding. I learn something new every day. Not all of it is useful mind you, but I learn things nonetheless....

Businesses must file an IRS Form 8300 for any "green" cash transaction that exceeds $10,000.00. We are also required to complete a Form 8300 for cash transactions less than $10,000.00 if we consider it to be "suspicious".

The form requires us to collect name, address, occupation, SSN or TIN. Personal information is indeed collected and reported.

With your experience on here for six years I can't believe you think this is odd. BT is just a bunch of conversations going on simultaneously and drifts are a part of any interesting and worthwhile conversation. Besides, the Jeffs have been clear about what is and isn't allowed in the TOS and interesting, informational discussions is allowed. If we didn't drift threads there would be thousands of threads with a few posts in them. How could any of us keep up then?

With your experience on here for six years I can't believe you think this is odd. BT is just a bunch of conversations going on simultaneously and drifts are a part of any interesting and worthwhile conversation. Besides, the Jeffs have been clear about what is and isn't allowed in the TOS and interesting, informational discussions is allowed. If we didn't drift threads there would be thousands of threads with a few posts in them. How could any of us keep up then?

It's a complicated space but FINCEN has published guidelines which are a starting place for banks in their compliance efforts in MRB banking. It's quite complicated and very time consuming for a bank to open and then manage compliance for an MRB related account. There are significant risks for errors. So, not many banks are currently in the business and those that are charge significant fees to do the work.

If you think about it there is actually a lot of public good here. In the first place cash obviously attracts a higher level of crime of all kinds. So, keeping the cash highly regulated and regularly taking it out of circulation not only reduces a variety of crime but actually improves law enforcement and makes regulatory and law enforcement activities by government agents easier (which was the purpose of the AML, SAR, Patriot Act and other requirements in the first place - to allow [force?] private businesses and individuals to assist law enforcement in their work).

I'm not aware of any credit card companies that allow their services to be used for the purchase of marijuana and as far as I know there is no current credit card use in any part of the business that is consumer facing. Some dispensaries have developed their own "cards" but they are just preloaded cash or debit cards. Some dispensaries have their own privately owned ATM's as well though we don't allow them in our customer's locations as they just make it all the harder to enforce AML compliance.

I'm a conservative person and my wife actually led the efforts to block medical marijuana in our state. But it's water under the bridge and not speaking politically at all, but practically, I look forward to the federal government doing some things to clear confusion and streamline business and compliance operations because this product, and the industry that is developing around it, isn't going anywhere. In the meantime it's a lucrative and growing part of our banking operations and has been very interesting to be involved with from a business perspective.

Are you sure about this?? I watched a multiple episode documentary (forgot the name) regarding the pot business and everyone in the business complained that the toughest part of their business is the fact that it is an all cash situation b/c they were not allowed to open accounts at banks---b/c gonji is still illegal in the eyes of the guberment-----And they back the banks via FDIC and other means

Maybe that has since changed but would be hard to imagine how as pot is still illegal in the eyes of the feds and the feds back most banks (FDIC).

Matt

Chip,
I believe that the principal reasons for these laws are to raise revenue. There is nothing that I am aware of stopping a person from paying taxes (in cash) with illicit money and never having to declare the source by invoking their 5th amendment rights. Would there be a penalty for paying for an aircraft or anything else with that cash if required forms were filed? Or a legal liability to the seller as long as he was not aware of the source of the funds because it is none of his business?

Are you sure about this?? I watched a multiple episode documentary (forgot the name) regarding the pot business and everyone in the business complained that the toughest part of their business is the fact that it is an all cash situation b/c they were not allowed to open accounts at banks---b/c gonji is still illegal in the eyes of the guberment-----And they back the banks via FDIC and other means

Maybe that has since changed but would be hard to imagine how as pot is still illegal in the eyes of the feds and the feds back most banks (FDIC).

Matt

And, of course, the inevitable complaints about thread drift that by themselves generate significant additional thread drift. Not unlike the emails warning about SPAM that are themselves SPAM.

Are you sure about this?? I watched a multiple episode documentary (forgot the name) regarding the pot business and everyone in the business complained that the toughest part of their business is the fact that it is an all cash situation b/c they were not allowed to open accounts at banks---b/c gonji is still illegal in the eyes of the guberment-----And they back the banks via FDIC and other means

Maybe that has since changed but would be hard to imagine how as pot is still illegal in the eyes of the feds and the feds back most banks (FDIC).

Matt