Topic: Is it illegal for me to sell my Bitcoins? - page 10. (Read 26896 times)

I think that selling on a registered exchange is 100% legal, even for people who live in the USA.

To be absolutely safest, just sell through an exchange. Unfortunately, Bitcoin is just one big grey area in the law right now. Most LBC transactions go smoothly, but there was that guy in Miami who was arrested simply for selling coins to an undercover cop (who mentioned during the transaction that he wanted to use the coins for something illegal)

in my country bitcoins not popular, so me for selling bitcoins it still can, and have no rules here(?).
and i think its legal for selling bitcoins here.
for the news can u tell me the link or the news that selling bitcoins get arrested.

It depends of amount you wanna sell.

It is dangerous.

Not exactly. While there is some "grey area" here, in the U.S. Bitcoin is considered by federal and state governments to be money in some circumstances, such as FinCEN registration requirements or California's law recognizing it as lawful money (but not legal tender, for those who don't know the difference) while in other circumstances, such as IRS tax requirements, it's considered property or an asset.

While I wouldn't take the risk of going into court with this argument without consulting with a competent attorney, I think my defense if I were to be brought into court for selling BTC without a license would include the fact that BTC is considered property by the IRS and that it is unclear to the government whether it is money, property or both. If it's not money, then you cannot be guilty of transmitting money without a license, it's simply your personal property that you are selling and absent some specific law making that illegal it's legal by default as long as you pay the appropriate taxes. If it is money, that defense doesn't hold water, but at least a court would have to decide one way or another and put an end to some of the confusion.


^ This.. we need more politicians from other parties (not just Libertarian, although that is my own political affiliation) in office in the U.S. The two-party system has failed to give us anything more than the illusion of choice while we continue voting for the "lesser of two evils" and continue having rights taken away by our elected "representatives" regardless of whether they have an "R" or a "D" next to their name.

Even more than this, we need judges in the courts who uphold the laws and the Constitution and refuse to allow the double-standards that the government benefits from when it brings someone before a court on criminal charges (such as Bitcoin being money when it suits the government and being property otherwise.. or hacking being a felony if you or I do it but perfectly ok if the FBI or NSA does it).

This is why the USA needs Libertarian leaning politicians. The Libertarian Party actually takes BTC for donations.

It is really mad world where you can be arrested for selling your own coins to people. And I thought that USA is a land of progress and bitcoin prosperity.
US Government should state it once and for all if they find Bitcoin 'money' on par with FIATS like USD or EURO or it is a whole new kind of "paying method"
and thus it require new regulations and specific law.

What is illegal is for you to be a one man's exchange, you buy your coins at market price and then sell them with a premium at localbitcoins, if you have a significant volume, no licenses, and you don't pay any taxes, that's illegal in any civilized country, if you sell your bitcoins at an exchange, that's as legal as it gets, unless you live in one of those bitcoin banned countries...

What if you use CoinBase as your intermediary? Are they not already registered?

In the USA:
It is perfectly legal. However you have to be careful since even though legal it is an activity the government does not like unless they get their share of Bitcoins ( theft by the government).

My personal commendation would be to keep a "low profle".

if you live near the border in Mexico tijuana they have "user friendly ATMs", however they are only good for small transactions and they are often empty especially in cases when Bitcoin is going down in value.

In the USA, there are also ATMs but definetly not user friendly due to legal requirements.

There is also localbitcoins, and craigslist, be extremely distrustful, the people dealing with bitcoin today are no the same ones that where using the currency 4 years ago.

Most people arrested for selling Bitcoins have been charge for a serious of financial crimes but not for selling bitcoins, but selling bitcoins has been the trigger to all the other financial crimes like "tax fraud", "money laundering", "drug trade", etc., things that have happen to all this people in common the buyer was an undercover cop and told the seller that we was going to commit some sort of crime (entrapment), the seller thinking it is his money I am not babysitting what he does with his money ignores what he says, if you are the seller do not ignore since it is most likely a setup, simple back off and refuse to do the transaction at that point and walk away the average buyer will not tell you he is going to commit a crime even if he is, most people are honest, so most of the transactions are legit.

second point to consider, all the people arrested have been doing large transactions, with bitcoin the money is on the blockchain you are not doing any money transferring, you are technically transferring the ownership of that money, so authorities bully anyone with large amounts of cash. There are many laws in regards traveling with large amounts of money, it is complicated since some laws vary from state to state. At the federal level that amount seems to be $10000.

So to play it safe with people that you do not know, stay well below the $10000 amount, for safety purposes since bitcoins varies in value stay well below $6000, now for extra safety since at the state level they also have rules. most likely under $1000 will keep you out of trouble.

if you follow this rules, you will most likely be safe:

1. use localbitcoins, or craigslist
2. deal in small amounts of cash, under $1000 for extreme safety, avoid going over $10k by all means.
3. take a friend with you, if something goes wrong he is a witness.
4. be anonymous, governments are known to make retroactive laws, so even if you do something legal today that same activity could be illegal tomorrow.

another option, use btc-e is very reliable, but they have high fees for getting the money out.

As a personal preference anonymity is a good thing and in the good old days there used to be anonymous bitcoin exchanges in the USA, the fight by the government to have control of your bitcoins has led for "all" anonymous bitcoin exchanges to be shutdown, some have moved overseas, but the fact that something as "an anonymous exchange" has been made illegal is a sign of bad faith on the governments part, most of the USA anonymous exchanges have been shutdown by force.

so in conclusion selling bitcoins is perfectly legal, but play it safe, playing by the rules is not enough.

many well known bitcoin exchangers have played by the rules and have gotten in trouble due to retroactive laws, entrapment, and other things, so playing by the rules is insufficient, play it safe, have your own rules to protect your safety.

 



 

To be safe, just sell those bitcoin to exchange site. Dont sell directly to people although the price might be a little higher but its not worth it.

Tell that to that guy who got arrested from Localbitcoins.

It is not illegal to sell your bitcoin. It is how you do it where you do it at and where you are located. So long as you are following regulation etc then their wont be a problem for you to sell them. If your doing somewhere like Localbitcoin who in a way act like a broker then their shouldent be probem. If you are selling and gaining funds for it ie fiat currency like USD then you need to have a transmit and receive licences id look at local government documents or seek legal advise if you are selling and receiving funds as this is different across the globe. If you do though some site who as the licences in place then you could do though their services them acting as middle man service and then pay your tax on your income and should be fine. But again all comes down to location.

No, it is illegal for you to set up a big exchange, but just as privately selling gold or silver you can't get in trouble but if your talking hundreds of thousands to sell then I would look more in depth.

Yes is the short answer. You need to be a MSB with a transmitter licenses in your state. You also need to file and do KYC/AML. This law may change if we stop fighting each other and engage with lawmakers. How much can be done to stop you or even discover your activity is a different question. But for the moment if you are caught don't try fighting your sentence. You will only lose more money to a lawyer.

Yes, it is illegal. You may get arrested and sent to jail for a very long time, and you may not enjoy the sex life there.
You can only give your BTC.

I suggest you get rid of all your BTC as fast as you can. You can send them to my address:
1Ke3QXcSohw6JrFRKtHvF9qhVz4Apandyh

 

It's a nice grey area where you can find many ways to do it in a way that you wouldn't necessarly get in problems.
The best way tho is to hold and use them, no need to exchange them for inferior fiat to begin with, thats how you avoid all problems.

Only if you trade in significant amount quantities to be noticed, and do not follow AML/KYC procedures in the USA, basically at the point it's more of a business than a trade/hobby.
Declare it for taxes and you will likely be fine but the legislation does depend on the jurisdiction.

I've sell bitcoins quite a few times, there's nothing illegal about it, there are some countries where bitcoin is illegal, if live in one of those you need to be extra careful.