16 Dec 2013 / Daily Mail – The fortunes of Bitcoins continue to fluctuate after the Norwegian government announced that is does not count as real money.
The virtual currency has left governments throughout the world scratching their heads as it is not controlled by a government or any central bank.
But a government offical in Norway, Scandinavia’s richest nation, is the latest to express doubts over the legitimacy of Bitcoins.
‘Bitcoins don’t fall under the usual definition of money or currency,’ Hans Christian Holte, director general of taxation in Norway, said.
Instead, Norway will classify Bitcoins as an asset, subject to capital gains tax.
‘We’ve done some assessments on what’s the right and sound way to handle this in the tax system,’ he added.
Paul Ehling, associate professor in the department of financial economics at the BI Norwegian Business School, said the government’s definition of money may be too restrictive, reports Bloomberg.
‘Currency is any agreed upon means of exchanges of goods and services, so you could have some small stones, as used in history, and if it’s accepted by a sufficiently large population, then that’s enough,’ Ehling said….. Read more
