Didn't some politicians try to shut down Paypal in its early days? I remember that from reading The Paypal Wars.
Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
41–50 of 69 posts
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let me add some nitpicking to complete the obnoxious HN trifecta. The proper ortographic representation of etc is &c. In fact, that's where the ampersand comes from (think ligature form of Et ).
I appreciated this, actually. It's funny how just being in a negative tree gets you downvoted by association--good thing it's just karma, eh?
To be fair, it's less that we're in a negative tree and more that we're not adding value to the discussion.
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I can tell, the suggestion that they might as well soon go about outlawing bartering is a sound one. Neither bartering nor bitcoins use US minted currency, both cannot be traced unless the participants volunteer that information, and both arguably can be used for "tax evasion". I'm not trained in tax law, but it wouldn't really surprise me if legally citizens were mandated to report barters on their taxes.…
As far as I can tell, the suggestion that they might as well soon go about outlawing bartering is a sound one. Neither bartering nor bitcoins use US minted currency, both cannot be traced unless the participants volunteer that information, and both arguably can be used for "tax evasion". I'm not trained in tax law, but it wouldn't really surprise me if legally citizens were mandated to report barters on their taxes.…
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#44Next, WoW gold.
next, money. "I heard that this guy went to his dealer with some cash and walked away with some drugs leaving no paper trail whatsoever."
I think you're joking, but in some jurisdictions having large amounts of cash may be considered grounds for seizing it by the police. Sometimes this leads to abuse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenaha,_Texas#Police_seizures_s...
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#45There's always been an untraceable currency sold and traded globally. Gold. You can't trace it back to the origin, as long as it's been melted down. The only thing is, you can't easily transport it. And lets be honest, how many people are willing to accept gold? This is scary stuff for governments all over the world, not because you can buy drugs or use the currency for illicit reasons, it's because -- taxes and bypa…
"You can't trace it back to the origin, as long as it's been melted down." Allow me to introduce you to the concept of Isotope Fingerprinting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope_fingerprinting So even melting doesn't necessarily prevent tracing.
I'm not sure you can do that with gold because there's only one stable/naturally-occurring isotope, and the most stable other isotope has a short half-life of six months. Labeled gold's radioactivity may be a give-away.
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#46Isn't the time and effort of the government better spent in legalizing the drug trade and earning revenue in the form of taxes rather than trying to fight a war that is obviously unwinnable?
http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say about them.
That applies just as well to this whole thread, doesn't it? I have half a mind to flag the article except the article is actually important.
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#47To paraphrase the Beastie Boys[1], "You gotta fight / for your right / to barrrTER!"
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
"You can't trace it back to the origin, as long as it's been melted down." Allow me to introduce you to the concept of Isotope Fingerprinting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope_fingerprinting So even melting doesn't necessarily prevent tracing.
I'm not sure you can do that with gold because there's only one stable/naturally-occurring isotope, and the most stable other isotope has a short half-life of six months. Labeled gold's radioactivity may be a give-away.
What about trace element analysis?
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I can tell, the suggestion that they might as well soon go about outlawing bartering is a sound one. Neither bartering nor bitcoins use US minted currency, both cannot be traced unless the participants volunteer that information, and both arguably can be used for "tax evasion". I'm not trained in tax law, but it wouldn't really surprise me if legally citizens were mandated to report barters on their taxes.…
both arguably can be used for "tax evasion" You can use US minted currency for tax evasion as well.
And that's illegal as well.
Re: Senators seek crackdown on "Bitcoin" currency
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure you can do that with gold because there's only one stable/naturally-occurring isotope, and the most stable other isotope has a short half-life of six months. Labeled gold's radioactivity may be a give-away.
What about trace element analysis?
That you can do, but it's less effective because separating and purifying different elements is much easier than doing so with different isotopes.