[GNC] Bitcoin is legal currency in El Salvador - why notadd BTC?

[Colin Arndt]

To set the record straight, David is correct. Over a long period of time I had BTC set up as a custom security bringing in quotes via Yahoo JSON. You simply need to enter ‘BTC-USD’ as the symbol, since this is the format Yahoo Finance uses, as well as allow 8 decimal places (Fraction traded = 1/100,000,000). Attached is a screenshot of the full settings I used in the Security Editor.

Michael, it seems your concern with bringing in quotes is that Bitcoin is not sufficiently liquid or available for public trading? In a former life I traded Bitcoin and I can tell you that is certainly not the case (unless you live in China or a handful of other oppressive countries where it is banned). John made the point earlier that its primary use is as a speculative vehicle, not a currency, used by traders. That is certainly true. Others have mentioned how much is traded daily (I can’t remember how many billions it is at the moment). It is highly liquid.

Considering this is an issue that regularly comes up on the list, it might save everyone some time if there were a statement or section on the Wiki. (Just searched around and didn’t find one). 

I would be happy to contribute something incorporating John’s earlier comments: Bitcoin is not supported as a currency in GnuCash and will not be until it is added to [insert ISO standard he mentioned]. However, it can be added as a custom security with [lengthier version of the instructions I gave above]. 

Best,
Colin



> Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2021 17:57:05 -0500
> From: Michael or Penny Novack <stepbystepfarm at comcast.net>
> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Bitcoin is legal currency in El Salvador - why
> 	notadd BTC?
> Message-ID: <ad513a4f-e95c-5abd-1096-40ed8334bfd4 at comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
> 
> On 12/9/2021 4:20 PM, David G. Pickett via gnucash-user wrote:
>> I would think you can treat it as a security and probably get quotes imported just like for stocks.? But I suppose that begs the question of how easily you could receive BTC or the like into one of your security accounts.? Does GNUCash do income in securities?
> 
> I will repeat, it is a big assumption "probably get quotes imported just 
> like for stocks". You can get quotes for widely held publicly traded 
> stocks. Stocks that are liquid. Far less easy to place a value on 
> closely held stocks or any stocks that are not publicly traded on a 
> major exchange. Do you know what OTC or "pink sheets" mean?
> 
> Michael D Novack
>