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JAPAN MAY SLAP regulations on bitcoin including taxing transactions, a report said Wednesday, as the global digital currency suffered another alleged theft that cast doubt on its reliability.
Tokyo will issue new guidelines, possibly this week, which would pave the way for firm rules that could see banks and brokerage houses restricted in how they deal in the virtual unit, leading Nikkei business daily reported without citing sources.
Regulators around the world are grappling with how to handle the currency, and Japan would become one of the first major economies to set firm rules for the unit.
US Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen has said the Fed had no powers over a currency that only exists virtually with no central authority behind it. Several countries, including Russia and China, have heavily restricted how bitcoins can be used.
The Nikkei report, which follows a similar story by the leading Yomiuri Shimbun on Tuesday, came a day after an alleged theft by hackers forced a Canada-based online business serving bitcoin traders and investors to shut down.
That followed the spectacular failure of the Tokyo-based MtGox trading exchange last week, setting off alarm bells over bitcoin, which backers have promoted as a low-cost alternative to traditional currencies such as the dollar or Japanese yen.
Bitcoin is generated by complex chains of interactions among a huge network of computers around the planet.
MtGox, which at one time reportedly processed 80 per cent of global bitcoin transactions, last week sought bankruptcy protection and admitted that it lost half a billion dollars worth of the digital currency.
Regulations
The Nikkei said Tokyo would define bitcoin as a commodity, like gold, which would mean gains from trading the unit would be subject to taxation, while any bitcoin-linked revenue among firms would also face a levy.
Under the proposals banks would be barred from opening accounts or serving as bitcoin exchanges, while securities firms would not be allowed to broker trades in the unit, it added.
But it was unclear how authorities would enforce any future rules given the challenge in tracking an opaque currency which critics fear could be used to finance organised crime and terrorism.
A lawyer for MtGox has said about 750,000 bitcoins belonging to customers had gone missing from its digital vaults, along with about 100,000 units of its own store of the unit – worth about $560 million in all based on current prices.
Supporters insist bitcoin is sound and the problems lay with MtGox, which they said was badly managed and unable to cope with the burgeoning popularity of the young currency.
Referring to MtGox, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday that “it’s difficult to know whether there was a crime or a simple corporate failure”.
On Tuesday Canada-based Flexcoin, which billed itself as a bank for bitcoin, said someone attacked its systems and stole nearly $600,000 worth of the virtual unit, forcing it to shut down.
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Joe Duffy and the rest of the lads on RTE salaries can cover mine and others 5 euros. Thanks
Well said Brian, I always spend at lease 15euro a week in local businesses anyway, but not because Duffy and the rest of the overpaid wasters in RTE (our national disservice broadcaster) say we should. Perhaps if they stopped robbing 160euro a year from me I would be able to spend more in local businesses and in turn create a few honest jobs with realistic wages for people who actually need it.
I hear Joe Duffy is to work all next week for €5 instead of €8,000.
Well, actually I made that up.
I plan to use the M50 each way later….does that count?
If everyone spent an extra €5 everyday, it would amount to about €8bn of extra activity within the economy during the year. This €8bn would support thousands of extra jobs. Fiver Friday highlights how a seemingly small amount can have such a dramatic effect on the economy.
Precisely Conor. I’d like to see if anyone disagreeing can suggest a better, PRACTICAL idea?
Excellent idea I gave up cigarettes and now plan to spend my money in the local shop instead
The example I gave is obviously very simple. One would have to raise questions such as the inflationary effect this notional €8bn would have on the economy, the effect it would have on savings, taxation, borrowing etc. Modelling like this can never give you the true outcome of what really happens, but it does give one an indication of how the economy functions and how it reacts to different measures.
if 4 million of our population spent €5, that would amount to only €20 million spent. are you suggesting this acts like a catalyst for the other €7.08 billion??
“If everyone spent an extra €5 everyday” …. €5 x 4.5m x 365 = c.€8bn
Dear Mr. Deluded
How did you work that one out Einstein? Wasn’t great at maths but i reckon that works out at around… just shy of 2000 euro a year for each person….so if you live in a family …of lets say 6….that works out at around 12000 euro a year…yeah. Yes you are deluded…but don’t worry your not alone.
Dear Mr. Fairtale Fiver
So what do we do with all the fairytale fivers? An extra diet coke with the JD down in the local is it…or maybe half a dozen extra sausages in the butchers. It’s pathetic to have to come to this “Fiver Friday” nonsense, but It’s real. It’s really amazing what the media can do to some people.
Dear Mr Practicality AKA Dave Finn
A PRACTICAL Idea would be to ….maybe to take your finger out of your ass as your picture clearly indicates you enjoy. Or maybe consume a big spoonful of cyanide and jump off a cliff!
P.S. I love Ireland…….its just sad to see what its become.
I wonder if my dealer will sell me an extra fiver’s worth of weed?
organic spray tan for fiver in maynooth.at 40 years of age i have never had one done,think for once i should treat myself instead of thinking of everyone and everything else 1st.but still cant make up my mind
Careful of that ; they’ll just roll you in grated carrot salad !
go on Mary!!!!! do it
feck it people i m going in
Go for it Mary and don’t feel one bit guilty about treating yourself you deserve it
Yaay , with a colour like that , ye’ll get to run a bank :)
didnt do it on the way down saw 6 chicken fillets for a fiver got them instead
So the world has gained a chicken dinner and lost a banker ….There’s hope for us yet !
you said it john think its best if i stay pale and interesting ha ha ha
as my mam use to say(lord have mercy on her) what you never have you never miss
You could just put Heinz tomato soup in your bath it’s cheaper with the result
I know that product placement is the coming thing , but this is too much !
I got a part time job to help pay the bills, but for telling them at welfare; I had my dole and rent allowance suspended, so I received less than half the money this week for finding a job.
So sorry local business’s, no spare fiver in the jar this week.
it’s a great idea! can anyone lend me a fiver?
A few pints at lunchtime i’d say
Please tell us where to find these cheap pints :-)
already spend €3.20 on coffee. Wait, did it not meant to be just €3 after VAT drop???
Some fantastic fiver deals around the country today…….cannot seem to see any in Leitrim though……have asked on facebook and on various websites too…..come on all you Leitrim businesses…..If you want extra people to visit your shops/restaurants etc today…..give us an offer we cannot refuse…
Why would 2 people give me the thumbs down on my remark I wonder.? Maybe they are 2 businesses how just couldnt be bothered to give any deal to their customers to encourage extra business !!
MT Pockets are getting in on the Fiver-Friday……. Classic Burger, Regular fries and Regular soft drink… 5euro (saving 4.50euro)….. sweet!
http://www.eddierockets.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/fiverfri-voucher-secure.pdf
Thanks for that Eamon.
Just back from empty pockets, brilliant deal. The waitress was very nice and asked where we had heard about the deal, i said twitter. She asked would we normally come here and we both said no, she pointed at the menu and said well it still is reasonable. So i told her it isn’t reasonable to get a chicken burger for 7 quid without chips or a drink on a working lunch. She agreed.
As a whole i think it is a good idea and i dont care for the local business man or entre-whatever. Its a good idea to get bums on seats, if that means lowering your prices and making people WANT to part with their cash then do it. As a whole these places should look at their pricing, im not saying give stuff away for minimum price and i can hear people rattle on about rates and water charges and crippling this and crippling that. Don’t charge extorionate prices for services or your product and people will buy. Too many places stuck in 7 euro chicken burger and 17 euro caeser salad land for the times we are in.
I spent my money today because it was reasonable and i got a deal, not because someone nattered on joe duffy about injecting my fiver into the economy. Tomorrow will be Saturday and i won’t be going to eddie rockets.
Didn’t know about it but think its a good idea we need to keep local small business alive. Maybe 5 is a bit much 2 would be more acceptable perhaps.
It’s a great idea “FIND” Cow’s lane in Temple bar has lots of lovely things for under a fiver and it’s an independent small business and while there you could have a nice coffee and cake in the Queen of Tarts. It’s a lovely day in Dublin so come out and spend a fiver today and support your economy in a real and positive way.
You don’t own it by any chance?
The shop keepers of Ireland have been helping themselves to our extra fiver for years.
Its a good idea if you have it to spend. I don’t see why people are being so negative. Brian, I’m sure Joe Duffy will be spending an extra fiver too. I doubt he would promote it unless he was planning on doing the same himself. As for his salary, would you say no if you were offered his salary? I think anyone who would refuse it would be very foolish. I don’t begrudge him a bit of it.
You actually think Joe Duffy deservres to be paid over €400,000 out of the public purse when children cannot get the medical care they desperately need?
Here’s one for ya… Cafe Royal on Stephens street upper or lower not sure which is great value for food and all pints are only 3 yoyo’s each and we are talking all the major brands. It closes at 8pm but is perfect for having a drink after work on a Friday. You don’t have to order food it’s a bar even thought it’s called cafe royal. So go out and spend your fiver lol….
Kieran, i didn’t say i thought he deserved it. No more than film stars deserve millions for making movies or soccer players deserve tens of thousands for playing football. What i actually said that was not many people would refuse it if they were offered it.
have your say