Does using Bitcoin avoid the trip to the local government tax agency with $51,000 in hard currency? They'll accept payments in anything, as long as anything is US dollars.
Does using Bitcoin help assist someone who has a debit card purchase marijuana? Bear in mind that this person is likely non-technical. They're also physically present at a marijuana distributor, and sufficiently difficult processes will cost them a 30 minute car drive to another marijuana distributor, who transacts via cash and an ATM or using the ATm->distributor's account loophole.
Does using Bitcoin help Totally Not A Marijuana Dispensary LLC avoid the scrutiny of its bank's compliance department such that they can maintain a business bank account, write checks to employees and vendors, demonstrate a credible revenue/expense history and thereby secure credit, and otherwise plug into the mainstream financial system? For example, will large wire transfers coming in from an identifiable company in Tokyo, or their cutouts, raise less flags than dealing in equivalent amounts of cash, like every pizzeria, car wash, laundromat, video arcade, etc in America?
The last one might not be obvious, so as someone who has extensive experience with American and Japanese banks doing routine wire transfers between each other: this reads as Very Effing Exotic to risk/compliance officers and even if you're utterly aboveboard you'll be asked to explain yourself a lot. I get to have a quick chat with the manager of my bank branch for every single wire, and let's just say it is a very good thing that I have a US passport, an accountant on speed dial, a stack of invoices and contracts, sterling credit, and the interconnected stack of social privileges which let me convince skeptical people that I'm an "international professional" rather than "drug dealer" in five minutes of conversation.
> They'll accept payments in anything, as long as anything is US dollars.
Sometimes, not even then: "One dispensary owner told me about taking seven thousand dollars in cash to the Washington Department of Revenue, to pay his monthly tax bill. He was turned away, because the teller refused to deposit his “drug money.”"
Interesting legal/tax follow question? Does he still owe the tax money? I presume that argument won't go down well with the tax man, but could be interesting if he got to court.
I would have expected you to think a little more creatively than this! Bitcoin is a replacement for banking, in this case, for legal marijuana businesses. It just might not be the (best|most practical|answer) for these businesses at this point. Also, the issues you present are problems created by existing financial institutions. Bitcoin doesn't exist to solve problems caused by $BANK, or to create a buffer between $BUSINESS and $BANK: it exists to replace $BANK.
To think that your curated list of issues that Bitcoin does not solve is in any way a reason that there aren't many other issues it does solve is fallacious.
Does using Bitcoin help assist someone who has a debit card purchase marijuana? Bear in mind that this person is likely non-technical. They're also physically present at a marijuana distributor, and sufficiently difficult processes will cost them a 30 minute car drive to another marijuana distributor, who transacts via cash and an ATM or using the ATm->distributor's account loophole.
Does using Bitcoin help Totally Not A Marijuana Dispensary LLC avoid the scrutiny of its bank's compliance department such that they can maintain a business bank account, write checks to employees and vendors, demonstrate a credible revenue/expense history and thereby secure credit, and otherwise plug into the mainstream financial system? For example, will large wire transfers coming in from an identifiable company in Tokyo, or their cutouts, raise less flags than dealing in equivalent amounts of cash, like every pizzeria, car wash, laundromat, video arcade, etc in America?
The last one might not be obvious, so as someone who has extensive experience with American and Japanese banks doing routine wire transfers between each other: this reads as Very Effing Exotic to risk/compliance officers and even if you're utterly aboveboard you'll be asked to explain yourself a lot. I get to have a quick chat with the manager of my bank branch for every single wire, and let's just say it is a very good thing that I have a US passport, an accountant on speed dial, a stack of invoices and contracts, sterling credit, and the interconnected stack of social privileges which let me convince skeptical people that I'm an "international professional" rather than "drug dealer" in five minutes of conversation.