Quote from: JoeyD on March 26, 2014, 08:24:14 AM

I think someone should clear things up a bit to the powers that be.

How can bitcoins actually be "owned" by anyone? There is no property on the Bitcoin network, although it could be used for administrative purposes of property. Nobody actually owns Bitcoin or bitcoins, were talking about a digital ledger with entries that are bound by a set of mathematical rules here.

- You can have access to a key-pair which is found and even though it's astronomically hard to find that exact key, it is not "owned" by you.
- That key gives access to a spot on the Bitcoin-train-network, but neither that spot, nor the network, nor the room (bitcoins) on that network is actually owned by any individual person.
- To be able to make use of the transportation-space on the Bitcoin-train-network you have to convince someone to send some of it to the part of the train you found the keys to. It just so happens that money is one of the easiest way to convince people, but that does not change the property aspect of anything.

Are train-tickets also considered property for the IRS? How about cellphone-network subscriptions? After you send an sms for example, can you still be considered "owner" of the digits or the network? Do you have to keep track of every good sms and keep a log of the monetary value you ascribe to that sms the moment you received it and file that in your tax-form?

All that is necessary for something to be owned is for it to be scarce, Bitcoins are not unlimited therefore they can be owned. If it is scarce then there can exist a conflict over who has the right choose how that scarce object is used, property rights over scarce objects eliminates this source of conflict.

The Bitcoin network as designed cannot be owned, but Bitcoins can. Bitcoins and the Bitcoin network are not the same thing.