sCapital News Friday, March 7, 2014
www.kelownacapnews.com B19
showcase ▼ MONEY
Take wooden nickels over bitcoins YOU WORK HERE
Robert Smithson
er must pay all wages in Canadian currency.” That’s just about as plain a direction to B.C.’s employers as you could ask for—pay your employees in bucks, not bitcoins. Statutorily speaking, a bitcoin isn’t worth a wooden nickel.
Robert Smithson is a labour and employment lawyer, operating Smithson Employment Law. www.smithsonlaw.ca
Hi
Two Eagles Golf Course
Century 21 Real Estate LLC has raised approximately $2.4 million US in 2013 across North American in support of Easter Seals. This donation is about 10 per cent higher than in the previous year, and brings the total contributions to Easter Seals by Century 21 franchisees and agents since 1979 to over $108 million US. This past year, the Kelowna Century 21 Assurance Realty Ltd was among the top eight fundraisers for Easter Seals in North America. “We are really pleased to achieve this level of success with our fundrais-
ing efforts for B.C. Easter Seals,” said MyraPark, partner and managing broker of the Century 21 Assurance Realty Ltd. office in Kelowna. “Together with managing broker Kim Heizmann and the rest of the team in Vernon, we are working hard to make even more of an impact with our inaugural Easter Seals Splash of Colour Family Fun Run/Walk happening on April 19.” A generous donation of chocolate by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and sponsorship by Safeway will ensure that the Splash of Colour Run is a true Easter celebra-
tion, Park says. Splash of Colour registration is open to individuals or teams. The registration fee is $35 per person, or fundraise a minimum $50 and your registration fee is waived. Both Kelowna and Vernon events also require a large number of volunteers to help out on the day. Details and online registration to participate and/or volunteer is available at www.splashofcolour.ca. Easter Seals Splash of Colour replaces the previous Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay held in Kelowna, but still continues to support Easter Seals Camp Winfield.
The perfect place to call home!
Centrally located in a private and quiet enclave, the community of Elkridge has homes for every stage of family life. Move into one of the fully finished single family homes or choose a home plan and customize it to meet your needs. Value at its best!
Walmart
gh
Elk Road
According to the Associated Press, a “coalition of virtual currency companies said Mt. Gox went under after secretly racking up catastrophic losses. The exchange had imposed a ban on withdrawals earlier this month. By Tuesday, its website returned only a blank page.” There were published reports that $350 million worth of bitcoins had been stolen over several years as a result of flaws in its payment software. The AP also reported that “Mt. Gox’s origins are rooted in fantasy instead of finance. The service originally specialized in trading colourful cards featuring mythical wizards and derives its name from a game. The initials stand for, ‘Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange.’” Yikes. Colourful cards featuring magical wizards? I’m imagining currency displaying a picture of Voldemort, which in Canada would quickly come to be referred to as a “Voldie.” In any event, there are now reports of employers seeking to pay their employees in bitcoins. In Poland, web developer EL Passion announced: “After much interest in the company about bitcoin and crypto-currencies in general, we’ve decided to provide our employees with the choice of having their salaries paid in bitcoin.” Apparently, the employees embraced the concept and over half indicated an interest in participating. In Australia, 21st Century Media and Education Group of Companies has commenced paying some of its employees’ salary in bitcoin. 21st Century also happens to be the parent company for 21st Century Bitcoin Exchange, so it’s no surprise the company has agreed to pay employees in the digital currency. In the U.S., www. coindesk.com/companies/bitpay, the world’s largest digital currency payment processor, has released its https://bitpay.
com/bitcoin-payroll-api” \t “_blank” Bitcoin Payroll API, which allows employers to pay employees in bitcoin. After receiving requests from its own employees, all of whom are paid to some extent in bitcoin, BitPay decided to develop the payroll application for others to use as well. Here in British Columbia, our Employment Standards Act is explicit on the topic of currency. Section 20 of the Act (“How Wages Are Paid”) states that “An employ-
Pr i N at ces o $ s G 32 ta ST 9 r , N ,9 tin o 00 g PT T
W
hen I was a youngster, people I considered to be old fogeys (they were younger than I am, now) used to say: “Don’t take any wooden nickels.” The modern equivalent of that caution might be: “Don’t take any bitcoins.” According to Wikipedia (the repository of all knowledge): “In the United States, a wooden nickel is a wooden token coin, usually issued by a merchant or bank as a promotion, sometimes redeemable for a specific item such as a drink. The saying ‘don’t take any wooden nickels’ is considered a lighthearted reminder to be cautious in one’s dealings.” Compared to bitcoin, wooden nickels may seem like a pretty good deal. At least a wooden nickel is something you can actually hold in your hand. So, what exactly is a bitcoin? Again, according to Wikipedia, “Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency introduced as open source software in 2009 by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto. “ It is a cryptocurrency, so-called because it uses cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money. “Conventionally, the capitalized word ‘Bitcoin’ refers to the technology and network, whereas lowercase ‘bitcoins’ refers to the currency itself.” I admit that, having been born in 1961, the concept of a virtual currency is a foreign concept to me. Back then, Al Gore hadn’t yet invented the Internet, a wristwatch had to be wound up at least daily, cable television (13 channels!) was a revelation, there was no such thing as a “Loonie” (much less a “Twoonie”), and telephones were still used for talking. So, the concept of virtual currency doesn’t exactly land easily with me. Where, precisely, is this stuff located? Who is safeguarding it? How is its value determined? Can I use it to buy coffee? Bitcoin’s bid to become accepted as a standard form of currency took a large hit, recently, when one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, Tokyobased Mt. Gox, vanished into the night.
Century 21 backs Easter Seals
w
ay
Co
97
ug
ar
Ro
ad
Every home we build includes; 4 stainless steel appliances, granite kitchen and a fully fenced and landscaped yard. Call Audrey Houghton 250.878.2777
KELOWNA
Show homes open for viewing. Located just past Two Eagles Golf Course off Elk Road.
www.elkridge.ca The developer reserves to the modify prices without notice. E.&O.E