| Lets say you make a 50% gain on btc. You have made money, but haven't realized the gain. You pay taxes when you realize a gain. You're argument is based on semantics, and not convincing. At the end of the day, whether you traded BTC for DOGE or for IKEA couches, you were able to buy more of the second thing after you traded your BTC. You sold it. You realized your 50% gain. Its farcicle to argue that by trading BTC for DOGE you're not realizing your gain. You're no longer tied to BTC, and your purchasing power increased at the time of the trade. Your wealth converted to USD went up. You sold your asset. You owe taxes. > If I tell you I'll pay you 10000 dollars for the pocket lint in your pocket, did you just make a gain of 10k? Yes. this is exactly how it works. you made a $10k profit. Its not a capital gain, but you made a profit and owe taxes. You dont owe them 10k, but you owe them part of it. If you then go and invest that 10k on physical capital in order to make more lint, then you can deduct that again as a business expense because you've essentially lost 10k on an investment (assuming 100% depreciation). > The value of something is completely relative, speculative, and ever-changing. This is why the thing that matters is when you realize your gain by selling the asset. It doesn't matter what you sold it for, you either realized a gain or a loss and that has tax implications. |
Do you realize a $10/gain, and owe money on that? If yes, let's say you return the toaster, and your Bitcoin is refunded. Do you still pay taxes?