I read the Coindesk article on 'taxable vouchers' and the impression I get is that the UK Gov don't, at this time, want to commit to classifying Bitcoin. Once they've decided on their rules, this CIPHERTRADE exchange will either get the go ahead or not. It rests on the toss of a coin, but either way, the new exchange offers no protection for US investors from the SEC and therefore is not a viable solution for ActM.
That is also my conclusion as well, unless there is more data to take into account that I am unaware of.
Stereotype took it upon himself to chase down the answers to questions I posed in this thread. See here:
https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php/topic,7176.msg55118.html#msg55118"Actually, there's a way around this. BuyAHash has already sought legal counsel on this issue, and there are ways to make your company compatible with the SEC I will work to advise Kate on this issue, to ensure that CipherTrade and their securities can work inside the SEC's current and future framework." -Benny
Here's a quote from the Coindesk article;
A voucher
As Tom Gullen described on his blog, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) seems to be classifying bitcoins as vouchers, which means VAT would be due on any sales.
A 20% mark-up on bitcoin prices would make UK exchanges untenable. In addition to Gullen’s statement, an independent source told us that HMRC had given them the same classification.
We also spoke to Dr Tom Robinson of the UK-based bitcoin exchange BitPrice and consulting firm Blockchain Consulting, who recently attended the Financial Innovators Summit at 10 Downing Street.
At the time, it was said that he “left the meeting feeling largely optimistic”.
However, his subsequent communications yielded the following statement from HMRC: “Our Policy teams’ view is that these are not currency. It is our view that the provision of bitcoins is the sale of vouchers. These are likely to be ‘single purpose’ vouchers.”- - - -
So if they are vouchers, this new exchange is workable in terms of SEC acceptance, however the '20% markup on prices' will make the business 'untenable'.
I must be missing something here. Could some kind soul put me out of my misery please? (I'd guess it could be to do with the fact that the 20% markup on prices would apply to a btc/fiat exchange and not a securities exchange?)