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Arizona Senate votes to accept tax payments in Bitcoin (fortune.com)
24 points by nokcha on Feb 11, 2018 | hide | past | favorite | 10 comments


I can’t wait for the obsession with “Blockchain Technology” to final fizzle out for the few realistic non-groundbreaking applications to emerge.

Every “out of touch with tech except when some crazy new dangled “stuff” seems to be printing money” is coming out of the woodwork to get a slice... except they’re the exactly people being fleeced to print this new money.

They don’t understand the the reason adding blockchain to your name gives you a 100% bump in stock isn’t because blockchain technology is revolutionary, it’s because of people just as clueless as they are and just as scared of missing out.


It’s just the dotcom bubble all over again



"the primary goal is to foster technological innovation in the state"

“sending a signal to everyone in the United States and possibly throughout the world that Arizona is going to be the place to be for blockchain and digital currency technology in the future.”

So this isn't the solution to a problem, it's an advertisement.


An advertisement is a solution to a problem (a problem of people's behavior not being what you'd prefer it to be.)


> Includes a provision mandating that cryptocurrency payments be converted to U.S. dollars within 24 hours of their payment

So there’s a massive, planned liquidation period (Aka tax time) - this can’t be exploited at all.


Tax season is almost 4 months long in the US.


My intuition was that taxes would be paid mostly near the deadline. I ran the numbers [0] based on IRS numbers to check this intuition. While it is a matter of degree, and it is definitely less pronounced than I initially thought, the last week sees roughly double the number of filers than the minimum week, with another peak in early February.

I'm not aware of a comparable comodity market where there would be a seasonal, forced sell-off to actually speak to the effects. I am, however, convinced that this at least presents an opportunity for adverse behaviors which could make this an untenable policy.

It also doesn't speak to that there are 8 months for the markets to prepare for exploit this period.

[0] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/2018-and-prior-year-filing-seas...

Results (2017):

Week : Filers (Millions)

January 27 : 8.3

February 3 : 11.1

February 10 : 11.4

February 17 : 9.6

February 24 : 8.9

March 3 : 8.1

March 10 : 7.6

March 17 : 7.2

March 24 : 6.9

March 31 : 7.5

April 7 : 8.9

April 14 : 13.1

April 21 : 13.9


Tax filing and tax payments are not necessarily simultaneous.


Cool. Call me when I don't have to calculate capital gains taxes every time I spend Bitcoin.




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