Living Room of Satoshi Review: Bills, Salary in Bitcoin in Australia

Description

Living Room of Satoshi (LRoS) is a platform that allows you to pay utility bills, phone bills, and credit card bills with bitcoin or Lightning via BPAY in Australia. You can also convert your paycheck to bitcoin. Furthermore, it offers a number of other services, including a bitcoin wallet, an exchange, and a merchant platform that allows businesses to accept bitcoin payments.

Why is it called “Living Room of Satoshi”? Our company is named in honour of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious and pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. Nobody really knows for sure who he is, or what he is doing now. But we like to imagine that when Satoshi has a bill to pay, he kicks back at the end of the day and pays it in his living room. Hence, “Living Room of Satoshi”

How Living Room of Satoshi works

You first need to create an account on the LRoS website. You must be verified in order to use the service. In Australia, KYC is a legal requirement for all centralized exchanges.

To pay your bills, you need to provide the biller’s BPAY details and your Customer Reference Number. In order to accept merchant payments, merchants must sign up and connect their bank account to the LRoS platform. Following that, they will be given a unique QR code and a link to share with their customers. When a customer scans the QR code or clicks on the link, they will be directed to the LRoS platform, where they will be able to pay with bitcoin. LRoS will convert Bitcoin to AUD and transfer the funds to the merchant’s bank account automatically. Bills that you can pay in Bitcoin in Australia include electricity, gas, car registration, phone, and more.

To convert your salary to bitcoin, you need to generate your Unique Payroll Details and inform your employer that you want your pay account information changed to your Unique Payroll Details. This can be accomplished by downloading, signing, and submitting a pre-filled salary transfer form. Each pay day, you tell LRoS how much of your salary you want converted to bitcoin. When you receive your salary, the bitcoin portion is instantly converted and sent to your Wallet of Satoshi, and the AUD portion is paid directly into your regular bank account.

LRoS also has a “Pay Anyone” feature that allows users to send money to any Australian bank account, regardless of whether the recipient accepts bitcoin or not.

Every dollar you spend on bills and payments earns you 5 Living Room of Satoshi rewards, redeemable for gifts, gadgets, or cold hard cash.

You can pay any bill that has the BPAY logo and Biller Code. More than 45,000 businesses accept payments using BPAY. You can also pay to any Australian bank account, even your own.

Fees

The calculated exchange amount displayed on the homepage is all-inclusive and the only amount you must pay. There are no additional fees because Living Room of Satoshi profits from currency spread, which is the difference between the buy and sell price of Bitcoin. The currency spread can vary depending on market conditions. So, while you won’t be charged any upfront fees, you may end up paying more than you expect when you convert your Bitcoin to Australian dollars.

Living Room of Satoshi Tax

Before you start using Living Room of Satoshi, there are some important tax implications to consider.

If you sell your Bitcoin for Australian dollars at a profit (called a capital gain), you may have to pay capital gains tax on some or all of that profit. This depends on how long you held the Bitcoin and your overall income. All your earnings, including any crypto gains, must be declared to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) regardless of which platform you used.

Any rewards you earn through Living Room of Satoshi are considered income and must be included in your tax return. Even when using BPAY to pay bills with your Bitcoin, the ATO still views it as a disposal of Bitcoin and potential capital gains tax may apply.

Note that these are just general guidelines, and your specific situation might be different. It’s always best to consult with a qualified Bitcoin tax professional for personalized advice. You can also use Bitcoin tax software such as Koinly, which automatically and easily import all your Living Room of Satoshi transaction data. The software creates tax forms and reports that are in accordance with the tax laws in Australia.

Is Living Room of Satoshi Safe?

Living Room of Satoshi has been operating since 2014 and has a generally positive reputation within the Australian Bitcoin community. They haven’t experienced any major security breaches or loss of user funds. The company holds an Australian Financial Services License and is registered with AUSTRAC, the Australian government’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulator. In addition, it is authorized by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.

They claim to use industry-standard security practices, including secure cold storage for user funds and multi-signature wallets. However, the specifics of their security measures are not publicly disclosed.

Converting a portion of your salary to bitcoin requires a wallet. While Wallet of Satoshi offers an easy way in, it’s important to note it’s a custodial wallet, meaning they manage your funds. However, once you receive your bitcoin, you can freely transfer it to another wallet or cold storage for increased security.

The platform needs your personal information to verify your identity. In some cases, they are required to disclose your personal information, including your IP address, to AUSTRAC and other authorities. They may also store your personal information with their data provider in the US.

The value of Bitcoin, which LROS primarily uses, can fluctuate significantly. When paying bills with Bitcoin, the exchange rate at the time of the transaction determines the amount paid in Australian dollars. This can lead to slight variations compared to the original bill amount.

Living Room of Satoshi Alternatives

If you’re looking for alternatives to Living Room of Satoshi (LROS) for paying bills with Bitcoin in Australia, here are some options to consider:

• BitPay
• CryptoSpend

More information

• LRoS updates: @roomofsatoshi
• LRoS bill payments statistics
• FAQs
• Customer reviews