When Daniel Alexiuc launched Living Room of Satoshi as a one-man bill paying service in May of this year, he did so with one goal: to make Bitcoin more useful for more people. He charged zero fees and simply paid Australians' fiat-only bills for them through a commonly-used regional payment platform BPAY. In return, the Aussies sent Alexiuc the corresponding amount in Bitcoin.
That was, until the state in his homeland of Australia decided that Alexiuc’s customers should have to pay the state 10% of their bitcoins every time they changed hands. The scheme is called the Goods and Services Tax, or GST.
So Alexiuc shut down his popular bill pay service in October. If he chose to comply with the GST, paying bills with bitcoins would become cost-prohibitive.
Then Alexiuc got creative, and Living Room of Satoshi is back in business as of today. Alexiuc says:
"There are now many more options for small Australian businesses like ours to buy and sell bitcoins internationally and locally in compliance with the tax ruling, which has allowed us to reopen for business."
Alexiuc said that if people can’t pay “mundane” bills like utility and credit card statements with Bitcoin, the currency will be less attractive. His final words now that his service is back in action, thanks to a global crypto community?
“The GST ruling has not changed, but the resourceful Bitcoin industry has.”
And so the adage is held true: resourcefulness is more important than resources.
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