Micropayments are taking center stage and Finland exempts Bitcoin from VAT. Here are the cryptocurrency highlights of week 47:
- It is now possible to make purchases on Facebook and iTunes with Bitcoin thanks to a workaround figured out by Coinbase. The Bitcoin payment processor is teaming up with payment service RewardsPay to enable the previous.
- At about the same time, Coinbase has also enabled micropayments for its users. Micro transactions have become economically viable as a result of the low transaction fees in cryptocurrencies, which is why tipping tools such as the Dogetipbot have been thriving this year.
- Bitcoin tipping service ChangeTip even reached a milestone this week as it exceeded 10,000 user generated tips in one day. This number is lower than the number of user generated tips per day by the Dogecoin tipping service Dogetipbot, but it should be noted that the value of the average ChangeTip tip is higher.
- Bitcoin is underway to becoming a formal currency Finland. The Finnish Central Board of Taxes has exempted the digital currency from Value Added Tax. This is an important distinction from many other countries that classify Bitcoin as a commodity. It would, however, be too soon to celebrate as the European Union is still working on EU-wide rules on Bitcoin VAT.
- Despite a strong increase in the price of Bitcoin in the previous week, in which the price even went above $440 per coin, it is now back at the level it was two weeks ago at about $355 per coin.
