Topic: Bitcoin not legal tender in Canada (Read 2877 times)

No other currencies are considered legal tender in Canada either, that's normal and fine. Doesn't mean you can't accept it or pay for things with it.  Last time I was in Canada I paid for my hotel using USD even though USD isnt "legal tender"

To the comments about merchants being less likely to accept bitcoin if it's not legal tender , that's simply untrue.  Especially considering very few merchants who accept bitcoin actually ever receive bitcoins, they receive fiat currency because they use a bitcoin payment processor.

Like others already mentioned legal tender basically just means if you owe money for something offical  such as taxes or a court fine etc etc you have to pay in canadian dollars UNLESS otherwise agreed upon. If someone sues you and you have to pay $100 and you pay $100 worth of bitcoin instead, they can claim you never paid because it's not 'legal tender'. However if someone sues you and you have to pay $100 and you both agree to use bitcoin as the means of payment, then that's perfectly fine and it's considered payment made.

This news isn't shocking or anything that already exists with all currencies in most countries in the world.  One more quick example,  today I exchanged rmb in a bank in china for usd , the bank gladly and is willing to give me usd in china even though usd isn't legal tender in china. legal tender has nothing to do with something being "banned" or not.  You can still receive it, use it, spend it etc etc except in situations where someone demands payment in legal tender only, ie the government asking for taxes.

"Legal Tender: coins or banknotes that must be accepted if offered in payment of a debt."

This news is irrelevant.

Wouldn't this be a good thing (not legal tender) in that they're explicitly saying that they're not going to regulate is as an official Canadian currency.

I think the FBI auction does set a precedence because (a) they've recognized the BTC as an asset with value instead of a basic computer file and (b) they can't auction assets that are not legal - hence, in the US, the auction implies that the BTC are an asset that is legal to own and exchange.  There are also legal exchanges in the US that are operating under US regulations as money exchanges. That also backs up the legality of cryptocurrencies.

no,if any, the precedent they are setting is, they are not illegal.
as above, unless legislated against, everything is legal.
selling pot (in most places) fakes forgeries are already accepted as illegitimate.
If anyone wants to buy my bag of magic beans, please PM me

I meant recognised in terms of legal tender, though agree didnt make that clear.  It not setting a precedent though, back the main point i made, anything is legal until outlawed (or determined its covered by existing law). This sale doesn't mean future legislation cant make them illegal. 

I don't see this as a "falsehood"!

The Govt does NOT auction off pot, counterfeits, forgeries, fake goods, ETC.

They ONLY auction articles that ARE LEGAL.

so IF they do auction any BTC's they ARE setting up a precedent for recognizing them AS a LEGAL product (by their existence, not necessarily ever use of them)

Very, very false, at least in any legal system based in English law (so the old colonials).  Nothing is illegal until explicitly made so by law, though that can include common law not necessarily a statute.  

A point this debate needs is that currency is not the same as legal tender.  Example, Scottich bank notes are widely recognised as currency in UK (with funny looks in England) but are not actually legal tender even in Scotland.  The exact definition of the term legal tender differs from country to country precisely because its the local specification of what is legally allowed to be used to settle a debt (not limited to tax).

I doubt Bitcoin is legal tender in any country unless there one has a open ended definition.  This does not mean you cant use Bitcoin, it just means its not recognised by law.  One receiving Bitcoins as payment for a trade could later say they have not been paid, they could technically say the Bitcoins have been held as security in lieu of full payment in legal tender.  

Another falsehood that the suggested FBI action to auction off their seized Bitcoins makes it legally recognised somehow.  This is no different from them selling off a car, house, boat, painting or anything else seized, they are simply selling an asset.

technically they are money, bitcoin is not.

I put $6500 On the exchange. I also sold a few at 885 CAD and that is also bidding for coin in low $700s. My hypothesis is 1. That most ppl still have no idea about bitcoins massive value, b. Bills from holidays are coming in, c. Chinese New year will pull tons of cash out of btc, c. also Chinese exchange limits going into effect will also deflate trading volume...

Overall it is kind of silly to expend much energy getting coin for %20 cheaper at any given time, when with $300 million in sales transactions, all the force integration and all the other infrastructure, the fact that transaction costs with th crypto are a factor of 10 more efficient, etc, it is perfectly obvious that we will see $40,000 soon.

Why have I got the feeling this is a Canada Vs US thing and got nothing to do with Crypto's 

How much cash do you have? I love hearing people buy Bitcoin. Can you keep us updated?

That's the power of BTC, though. Even if governments decide to "ban" it after treating it like a commodity, it definitely won't really stop people from "using" it if it's worth a lot.

Interesting.. ya know, the more I think about it, the more I believe nations will ban Bitcoins and deem them "unconstitutional" or whatever they need to.. Decentralized things never go over very well with governments

Canada will go the way of the US. The Canadian bitcoin industry has been very responsible and is in regular official communication through one main lawyer with the government. We are no India or China.

If the US moves against Bitcoin, Canada won't be far behind. And remember, if they move against it, it's a badge of honor for bitcoin. Bitcoin is it's own hedge, it's so superior that if it's banned it'll be an admission by the central banks that their system can't survive crypto's adoption, meaning everyone will choose to hold crypto to guard against the poor house as fiat collapses from the straw on the camel's back (the straw being crypto).

Anyways, I'm super glad for all this bearish news because I got a whack of fiat waiting for all the idiots to sell to me (why would you sell below $4000 in the next three months?!?!?). We know that btc will reach $40,000 with Zynga, Overstock.com, etc., and porn industry and the 250,000 ZipZap (or whatever) convenience stores adopting it. The major retailers are lining up to adopt it for payment.

Comparing apple and oranges, here there is a prime example. Saying that bitcoin is not "legal tender" does not mean it is "illegal tender", nor does it means it is "illegal".

only in the same sense that if someone tried to pass off ROCKS to you AS Legal Tender it would be a crime of FRAUD (it would NOT be a crime of using illegal tender).

OTOH if you traded ROCKS for good or services without  the fraud/lie of claiming it was Legal Tender, it would NOT BE A CRIME.


now go back to above and substitute "BTC" for "ROCKS" and may be you're get the idea.

IOW we can trade ANY item for any other item - legally.

The Canadian Government didn't install the ATM, some local resident did. As cool as Bitcoin ATM's are what stops someone from pushing it over and stealing the money out of them as they aren't built like conventional ATMs are?

If something is not legal, then it's illegal. If someone tried to pass off bitcoins to you as legal tender they could be charged as the tender isn't legal (aka is illegal).

They didn't say it isn't legal.

"legal" and "legal tender" are totally different things

TRUE


They did NOT say it was "illegal" by ANY stretch of the imagination.
contrary to what some people who can't use simple English, believe.