The Australian Tax Office (ATO) recently released its long-awaited guidelines on how bitcoin businesses and individual users will be taxed in Australia. The guidelines are similar in nature to those issued by Singapore in January, which received a mixed response from the bitcoin community.

In summary, bitcoins will not be regarded as ‘money’, and will be taxed in a similar way to other non-cash or barter transactions. As in Singapore, this raises the specter of double-taxation for some bitcoin transactions. Likely to be impacted most are businesses who have been transacting in bitcoin and treating it equally to the national currency, the Australian dollar (AUD).

Titled Tax treatment of crypto-currencies in Australia – specifically Bitcoin, the four-page guideline document is a “general in nature” draft version only, and not yet legally binding. The ATO has also not indicated when the rules will begin to apply, or whether (in the case of IRS guidelines in the US) they will be applied retroactively.

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“Transacting with Bitcoin is akin to a barter arrangement, with similar tax consequences”, the paper noted. “The ATO’s view is that Bitcoin is neither money nor a foreign currency, and the supply of Bitcoin is not a financial supply for goods and services tax (GST) purposes. Bitcoin is however an asset for capital gains tax (CGT) purposes.”

Items such as shares, bonds, loans, derivatives and foreign currencies are regarded as ‘money’ or ‘financial supply’ under existing regulations, and are not subject to GST (similar to sales tax or VAT in other jurisdictions).

These definitions are bound to cause some controversy. The bitcoin industry had argued that the broad definition of money could also include bitcoin, and asked for it to be defined as such. Were bitcoin to be defined as ‘money’, ‘foreign currency’ or even ‘financial supply’, exchanging it would not incur GST. This may, however, require legislative change and would likely have wider implications for other forms of non-money units, such as store loyalty points.

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Coins has launched its second bitcoin startup in Southeast Asia with the formal opening of Coins.co.th in Thailand. Led by CEO Ron Hose, Coins launched its Philippines-based bitcoin exchange and merchant processing service Coins.ph in March, at the time enrolling two larger merchants – MetroDeal and CashCashPinoy – in its services. While coinciding with fewer supporting announcements, its entrance into Thailand’s market, however, may ultimately prove more telling for bitcoin’s progress in Asia as a whole.

Coins.co.th has been exchanging baht and bitcoin in Thailand since its soft launch in June, when it received its e-commerce registration from the Huay Khwang District Office. A report by Bangkok Post states that the district office has deemed bitcoin as a form of commodities trading, clearing the way for the company’s regulatory approval.

Jaturong Jantarangs, the Bank of Thailand’s senior director of the payment systems policy department, reportedly told the media outlet that trading bitcoins for baht does not require approval or a license from the central bank. As such, Coins.co.th claims that its exchange is now ‘fully legal’ under Thai law.

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The move can be seen as a positive sign for bitcoin’s progress in Asia, given that the Bank of Thailand was widely believed to have banned bitcoin in 2013. The determination also follows statements from the Bank of Thailand issued in March that suggested it did not consider bitcoin a currency.

While it is not being treated as a money services business, Coins.co.th indicated that it does need to follow related laws such as Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code and Consumer Protection Act, as well as its anti­-money laundering (AML) regulations. Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa, who will manage Coins.co.th, added that he expects bitcoin’s legal situation in Thailand to become more clear over time, as local regulators learn more about the market and its potential.

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In what seems like a development which is the latest blow to bitcoin prices, Bitcoin prices have slumped to its lowest level since May late last week. The decline has since been largely attributed to a worsening short-term news outlook, as well as the industry’s margin traders, though alternative theories have been proposed.

At press time, at least one notable industry analyst, along with a host of exchange users are suggesting that margin trading may have once again played a factor in today’s decline, as a flash crash observed on popular bitcoin trading platform BTC-e caused the price of bitcoin on its exchange to decline sharply to a low of $309.

That price was observed on BTC-e at roughly 07:36 (UTC), and was followed by similar declines across other major bitcoin trading platforms including Bitstamp, Huobi and OKCoin, market analysis shows. Notably, this is not the first time such a large flash crash has been observed on BTC-e. For example, this February, the price on the exchange declined nearly $500 in just over one minute.

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Data analysis shows other major exchanges soon responded to declining prices observed on BTC-e, with a sharp drop observed across their order books at roughly 07:37 (UTC). By 07:46, the price of bitcoin on Bitstamp began its decline, landing roughly $20 below its starting point to touch $462.01 and hitting a daily low price of $442 at roughly 08:51.

Major China-based Huobi and OKCoin also recorded less notable drops during this time. For example, Huobi’s price decline began at 07:37, dropping from ¥2880.1 to ¥2788.1 by 07:45. Likewise, OKCoin saw prices on its exchange fall from ¥2880.4 at 07:36 to ¥2785.3 by 07:45.

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