Just in time for Japan to have no exchanges to regulate. (Other, I guess, than LocalBitcoin. Which may or may not count, and would be hard to deal with anyway.) Or does someone know of one that doens't show up on any of the charts? Gox is the only JPY exchange I've seen.<p>Question is: does this help or hurt MtGox's chance of resurrection? Probably makes it less likely to happen, but somewhat more likely that people will come back if it does.
> Japan's consumption tax, which is set to rise to 8% on April 1<p>So they're actually going through with this, when the economy has been depressed for over a decade...?
Is anyone else skeptical of the government's ability to effectively tax bitcoin? The scale of doing so both technologically and physically seems far too complicated for such a minute market.
IMHO this is a watershed event. It recognizes that Bitcoin has perceived value enough that the regulator is compelled to protect consumers. Never mind how regulation can be gamed internationally, the recognition is so significant I'm going to investigate speculating on Bitcoin's future having kept out so far.
So I'm guessing this will work on the retailer/exchange side? Any transaction of guaranteed value (i.e. not just shifting wallets, but something like BTC->goods or BTC->cash) will just have a built-in extra cost in JPY equivalent, if the party gaining money is definitely in Japan?<p>Sounds great to me, though the volume will be <i>very</i> small to begin with. This is a great opportunity for sites and services to demonstrate legitimacy in the eyes of the law <i>and</i> their users. Of course there will be some dark exchanges and the like for those who'd rather not have a tax record attached to their wallet, but for lots of people this will be very beneficial.
> Banks will be also be prohibited from handling bitcoins while securities firms will be barred from brokering bitcoin trades, the Nikkei reported.<p>Really? Maybe a silly question, but if banks aren't allowed to handle bitcoins... who is? Only individuals? Does this really outlaw ALL bitcoin banks?<p>Yesterday a kind reader posted a translation of a Mt Gox audio statement from Japanese. I'd be really eager to learn more about what's going on here but I keep running into language barriers.
Are they actually regulating <i>bitcoin</i> or <i>cryptocurrencies</i>?<p>What's to prevent everyone from just moving to Dogecoin or Likecoin or some other substitute to stay off book?