What countries accept Bitcoin as a currency?

The trend of bitcoin is gaining momentum in all the countries of the world and users worldwide are interested to trade in this growing cryptocurrency. You can buy bitcoins or earn them. There are many ways to earn bitcoins. You can collect bitcoins from faucets, receive bitcoins by selling your services or products, and produce new bitcoins by mining. Bitcoin has shown rapid growth in its value after its launch and this is why bitcoin users are increasing. Everyone wants to earn profit from the positive movement of this cryptocurrency. Although it is true that you can earn profit by trading in bitcoins but before you really start to earn money in this cryptocurrency it is important to know that whether this currency is legally accepted in your country or not.


Bitcoins are not owned by any business, group, or government so there is no central control on this currency. No one is authorised to control the production of bitcoins. Due to the decentralized nature of this currency the government of many countries are not ready to legally accept the trading of bitcoins. Here's a short summary on which countries accept bitcoins and which do not. The full list of legal status of Bitcoin for most of the countries is available on wikipedia.

Australia
The Australian government has accepted bitcoins in Australia and allowed the mining and trading of bitcoins. The market capitalization of Bitcoin is $6 billion USD and according to the Bitcoin Association of Australia (BAA), the Australian share in this capital is 2%. This value is approximately $120 million. RBA clearly indicated that there is no problem from Bitcoins in Australia because there are no laws that are against bitcoin transactions in Australia. According to major exchanges in Australia there are more than 40,000 users that trade in bitcoins and there are about 200 businesses in Australia that accept bitcoins and this figure will increase soon.

Russia
The use of cyber currencies such as bitcoin is considered as money substitutes and is not permitted in Russia. No legal entities or individuals are legally permitted to trade in bitcoins. The Bank of Russia has given a warning against the use of substitutes such as bitcoin. The government of Russia considers bitcoin as a suspicious virtual currency has linked the use of bitcoin to illicit activites. If you live in Russia and trading in bitcoins then it means that you are doing something that is not legally permitted in the country. Although the Russian police will not come and catch you urgently for few bitcoin transactions but you can earn a place in the watch list.

Canada
Canada has legally accepted the trading in bitcoins. According to the Revenue Agency of Canada, the taxpayers must follow the tax rules when doing the bitcoin transactions just as they do in any other barter transactions. The federal government of Canada announced that it will regulate bitcoin under anti-money laundering. If a taxpayer in Canada is doing the business of mining bitcoins then the income of the taxpayer will be calculated on the basis of the property in the inventory of the taxpayer at the end of that financial year.

China
The Chinese officials do not give any straightforward answer about the legality of bitcoin in China and their unwillingness or inability to give a clear answer directly affects the trading volume and price of bitcoin. In China, if you own bitcoins then it is not against law but there are restrictions for financial companies to process bitcoin payments or do bitcoin transactions. BTC China is the largest bitcoin exchange in the world. In December 2013, BTC China announced that it would not accept deposits in Yuan. In January 31, 2014, BTC China again started accepting deposits in Chinese Yuan. The products that require payment in bitcoins are not getting acceptance in China.

India
Unlike other countries that accept bitcoin, the legal status of bitcoin in India is doubtful. The Bitcoin investment in India is risky because RBI announced that users in India should not risk their money in trading or holding bitcoins. It was the result of this announcement that most bitcoin operators have stopped their bitcoin operations.

Before you decide to put your hard earned money in holding bitcoins, make sure that the bitcoin transactions are legally allowed in your country.