Is Bitcoin Really Money Now?

To mark the 15th anniversary of the first known use of Bitcoin as money (to buy pizza), I’d like to draw your attention to a recent court decision from Australia. The court ruled that Bitcoin should be considered a form of money.

Personally, I’m not convinced that Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies qualify as money. After all, money is something that at least someone is obliged to accept as payment. With crypto, acceptance is always voluntary - no one is legally required to take your coins.

That said, in practice, “money” is whatever the legal system recognizes as such. Remember that scene from Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, where the characters discover a cave filled with Australian banknotes printed by Japanese authorities during World War II? As one of the characters puts it: if Japan had won, those bills would’ve been a national treasury. But since it didn’t, they’re just historical artifacts.

So if a court in Australia declares Bitcoin to be money, we may have to take that seriously. I think the next logical step would be to require sellers who accept Bitcoin to hand over the goods regardless of where the coins came from - no more “sorry, we don’t take Bitcoin from gambling sites.” After all, that’s how it works with real money: if you received payment, you must deliver the product.

Interestingly, users of rabbit.io often treat crypto as money without caring what state institutions say. For example, when swapping XRP for TON, a customer might message support saying, “I sent the money, but accidentally transferred a bit less than intended. Can you still process the exchange?”

And what about you? Do you consider crypto to be money?