June 7, 2014

Panhandling ... now with Bitcoin!

I want to thank everybody who has participated in the first 2014 iSteve fundraiser so far.
Due to popular demand, I'm going to try out accepting Bitcoins. I'm using Coinbase as a sort of Paypal for Bitcoins.
This Coinbase startup is backed by the prestigious venture capital firm of Andreesen Horowitz so it has been checked out by people who understand this stuff a lot better than I do.
I've been leery about accepting Bitcoins in the past because I've long been tracked by extremely deep-pocketed organizations out to get me for ideological reasons. (Hi, Heidi! Hi, David!)
But now the IRS has issued instructions regarding Bitcoins. I'm having Coinbase immediately turn all Bitcoins I receive into U.S. dollars and deposit them in my bank account. At the end of the year, Coinbase will presumably send me a 1099 form for filing my taxes.
Payments are not tax deductible.
Below are links to two Coinbase pages of mine. This first is if you want to enter a U.S. dollar-denominated amount to pay me.
This second is if you want to enter a Bitcoin-denominated amount. (Remember one Bitcoin is currently worth many U.S. dollars.)
Thanks for your support.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for making the effort. Coinbase are very reputable. Hopefully the onerous US tax regulation on bitcoin will be fixed soon, and small business will have more flexibility in accepting it.
Anyway, as promised, I'll send you some coin as soon as my wallet syncs.

Anonymous said...

As a new, on-record, annual contributor, I'd really like to know - for my own self-defense - to what orgs do Heidi and David allude in your synedoches.

Anonymous said...

I dealt with coinbase to a minor extent late last year while trying to "ride the bitcoin wave". I would not just assume that they will send you a tidy 1099 with your dealings. I got the impression this bitcoin stuff was still in the wild west of the financial world. Maybe things have changed in the last 6 months, but I would track those records yourself if you're paranoid about being targeted.

theo the kraut said...

> to what orgs do Heidi and David
> allude in your synedoches

google.com/search?q=law+center+heidi

Anonymous said...

Coinbase will be able to give you a list of transactions.