English

After the first Bitcoin-related verdict in the Netherlands, the judge stated that bitcoin is not considered “real” money. The bitcoin community, led by Bitonic (with the cooperation of SOLV and the Dutch Bitcoin Foundation) is taking the judge's statement to a higher court by giving reasons as to why bitcoin should be defined as money.

Labeling bitcoin as a medium of exchange instead of money could have a big impact on individuals and companies who are engaged with this virtual currency. With this campaign, Bitonic and the community examines the question as to what could be expected if bitcoin, by law, would be treated the same as money. Hereby specific jurisdictions will be taken up to answer this question, such as: “Real property, trust and estate law”, “Taxes” and “Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing”.

The aim is to point out their conclusion that civil law will become more efficient and organized when bitcoin and money are equated. In order to continue this campaign their appeal needs to be funded, by integrating crowd-funding they are hoping to accomplish this goal. The minimum amount that needs to be collected is €15.000, Bitonic will donate more than 1/3 (10 BTC + €2500), this amount is needed for costs in regards to hiring lawyers. Excess money will be used to hire external experts.

What exactly is the money going towards (lawyers and experts to do what – for example will you try to push solutions found in other jurisdictions)?

As we already mentioned, a Dutch judge made the statement “Bitcoin is not money” during the first bitcoin-related verdict. This decision was based on many misinterpretations. By bringing this case to a higher court we will need to hire lawyers. We are already working together with the law firm SOLV. The costs involved in the entire process (hiring lawyers and taking the case to a higher court) are 15,000 euros (19,419 dollars). The excess money we will receive will be used to hire experts from a variety of disciplines, such as: experts in financial institutions (Dutch Central Bank), experts in legal discourses, entrepreneurs and other prominent authorities.

The current interpretation needs to be changed and improved and this is the reason why we are bringing the case to a higher court.

In the first stage, the law firm SOLV will provide the judge with arguments as to why the current interpretation needs to be improved. This first step is the most important one since it requires the judge to reconsider the previously made statements and will hopefully change the current laws and regulations in order to prevent mistakes in future bitcoin-related cases.

If bitcoin were to be classified as money, many other jurisdictions would benefit from it as well - this is what we are trying to demonstrate.

Below are written some of the arguments of the law-firm SOLV on why bitcoin should be classified as money:
1) Just like traditional currencies, Bitcoin can be used as a payment method and an increasing amount of places (shops, restaurants etc.) are already accepting bitcoin as a payment method.
2) Just like traditional currencies, the value of the bitcoin is not objected by the intrinsic value but by the face value of the coin.
3) Just like traditional currencies, speculations on Bitcoins are made by the appreciation and depreciation value of the currency.
4) Also international, authoritative organizations in the financial world such as FinCEN, consider Bitcoin as a currency. For example; not that long ago an American federal lawyer classified bitcoin as money.