Quote from: blogospheroid on April 04, 2013, 01:16:13 PM

Quote

Quote from: oakpacific on Today at 03:32:16 PM
Quote from: blogospheroid on Today at 03:08:02 PM
Guys,

I'm reposting my comment from another thread as it is relevant to this thread as well.

Quote
The pseudo-anonymous nature of bitcoin will prevent anyone from legally claiming that they lost it.
So, even genuine losses like hacks cannot be offset as losses for tax purposes. What effect this will have on bitcoin as a store of wealth is something unknown.

If the BTCs never get moved, then they are lost. If they do someday, then it's tax evasion and jail time for you, it's very easy for the authority to set your address on watch, and sends them an alert whenever an activity is detected.

You can always say that someone hacked your account.

EDIT : forgive the formatting, I meant to reply to agree with Gordonium's statement.

Precisely, I meant that only.

You cannot prove a loss.
You cannot claim insurance.

With stocks you can do one, with art or buildings, you can do the other. This will make many rich people vary of holding wealth in bitcoin.

Insurance is actually quite simple, the insurance company will only provide insurance for a properly secured address, and demands you to make paper wallets backups and take other precautions beforehand, you can only receive your proceeds if all your precautions fail through force majeure or similar reasons(e.g., paper wallet and cold storage laptop both destroyed in a fire), rather than your own fault.