Will regulators be rolling on the floor, stamping their feet, upon hearing that Bitcoin payments will be integrated into the Shopify e-commerce platform? According to attorney Kevin Thompson, that could be the case. But will the slow down the cryptocurrency adoption movement? That remains to be proven.
BTC on Shopify, good news for crypto?
The news could have had the effect of a bomb in the crypto ecosystem. But that doesn’t mean the entire Bitcoin community is unanimously optimistic. Indeed, issues that mix regulation and mass adoption are likely to emerge.
Researcher Matt Ahlborg is on the optimistic side. He published a tweet about this integration. According to him, this announcement is a major event in the history of BTC. Indeed, this integration will be one of the first initiatives that will allow bitcoins to be exchanged for a physical good without going through a KYC.
The integration of bitcoin payments is very good news, according to Matt Ahlborg’s tweet.
“What Jack Mallers is really saying is that you will soon be able to convert your Bitcoins in the real world without going through an exchange’s KYC. If this is true, it is in fact an extremely substantial and important development for Bitcoin.”
Matt Ahlborg
For those who don’t know, Jack Mallers is the CEO of Zap. It’s a Bitcoin investment and payment company that trades on the Lightning Network
Paying in Bitcoin, yes, but after taxes
However, attorney Kevin Thomspon had some reservations. Because, according to him, this event, although important, could pose some administrative problems for the Shopify platform.
The main pitfall, according to the lawyer, is that the purchase of goods in bitcoins may “frustrate” regulators. Because this type of transaction will allow bitcoiners to dispose of their cryptos without going through the tax system.
Second, this event could encourage large stores to follow suit. As far as e-commerce sites are their main competitors. So Thompson foresees an administrative and tax storm for Shopify from regulators.
Attorney Kevin Thompson spoke out around the impact of bitcoin on Shopify :
“This is really going to frustrate the regulators. The tweet below is obvious: if you can easily spend BTC via Shopify stores, it will be easy for people to throw BTC “off the grid” and avoid taxes. Regulators will likely respond by creating reporting requirements for Shopify.”
Tweet from attorney Kevin Thompson:
Other Twitter users have spoken out on this issue. They also believe that the government will take steps to try to regulate purchases of physical goods in cryptocurrencies. However, they also believe that regulation will not be able to stop the bandwagon. In this case, it would be better, for some, to establish a tax-free threshold. This would allow as many people as possible to take advantage of the integration and become familiar with cryptocurrencies.
Although the regulation may try to set up tax and administrative steps to Shopify. It is not the only one to turn to BTC payment solutions. Since the boss of eBay had also hinted at integrating crypto payments on its platform. This would also be a good vector for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. Inasmuch as eBay and Shopify – through all the sites built on the platform – generate a daily transaction volume of several million dollars.
