Florida Judge: Bitcoin Is Not Money
Scott Morris | July 28, 2016
Bitcoin seems to be in the news almost every day.
Recently a judge in Florida upset enthusiasts of the cyber-currency by declaring that the bitcoin was not money and dismissing charges filed against a developer of websites who is alleged to have accepted as much as $2,000 from undercover officers to use for nefarious purposes.
The Circuit Court Judge said that the court was an expert in the field of economics, but it is clear to even someone that has limited knowledge in that area, that the Bitcoin has quite a ways to go prior to being an equivalent to money.
Legal advantages exist to not giving bitcoin a definition of an actual currency. Companies that accept bitcoin as a payment might be in trouble for not registering as transmitters of money without a license.
New York forces operators to have a BitLicense.
The big advantages to using bitcoin are enjoyed by the online sports gamblers of today. The cyber currency makes transactions online with sportsbooks both easy and fast.
Using a credit card and getting an acceptance is often hard to do and options offered by banks typically bring high fees and delays in waiting until the funds are paid or credited.
However, using bitcoin, players can fund their betting accounts or be paid within seconds.
Sports bettors online need to be educated on the risks as well as rewards of using the bitcoin for transactions with betting sites online.
There are online sites that rate sportsbooks that accept bitcoin, which sportsbooks convert bitcoins and which sportsbooks are using exclusively bitcoin.
Bitcoin has been stable of late following the bitcoin halving that took place in early July. The closing price of bitcoin as of July 26 was 651.08, while on April 27 the closing price was 445.01.
