Bitcoin Is Officially a Commodity, According to U.S. Regulator
Set aside what Bitcoin enthusiasts <i>want</i> it to be for a moment, and think about the transactions that are actually happening.<p>Is the majority of the usage pattern currency-like, where people are getting paid in BTC and buying things with BTC?<p>Or is the majority of the usage pattern that of a commodity, where people are mostly buying and selling it for fiat currency, and trying to do so at a profit?<p>I would strongly suspect the latter: the <i>vast</i> majority of BTC transactions (other than transfers between personal wallets) are the buying and selling of BTC for fiat currency.<p>Even most "Pay with Bitcoin" businesses are this way: in reality, all you're doing is selling your Bitcoin to an exchange who will convert it to USD and pay the USD-denominated price of the item you're buying. Gold certainly can't do this so conveniently, but the principle is the same: I want to buy something, so I sell some gold and use the USD to buy things.