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Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

blogs.wsj.com

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Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#11

Post by wernah »

narrator wrote: post #9
DigitalSea wrote: post #2

Uh, oh. This will either be really good for Bitcoin or really bad. I am thinking the Government are going to try and clamp down on Bitcoin and do their best to get their share of the pie through taxes and whatnot. An unregulated currency has surely got a few Federal Reserve members and those with vested interests in currency on the edge of their seats and on the attack. Government backing is the last hurdle for Bitco…

You bitcoin guys think you can push buttons on your computer and code around the system. So naive. Sorry to be a pessimist, but they can just say anyone transferring bitcoin to another party without going through a KYC compliant intermediary is money laundering and then send the swat team out to whatever ip they can track down via NSA whatever. Game. Set. Match. Banks win as usual, all done. They'll take it down just…

Piratebay isn't down?

Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#12

Post by drewblaisdell »

narrator wrote: post #9
DigitalSea wrote: post #2

Uh, oh. This will either be really good for Bitcoin or really bad. I am thinking the Government are going to try and clamp down on Bitcoin and do their best to get their share of the pie through taxes and whatnot. An unregulated currency has surely got a few Federal Reserve members and those with vested interests in currency on the edge of their seats and on the attack. Government backing is the last hurdle for Bitco…

You bitcoin guys think you can push buttons on your computer and code around the system. So naive. Sorry to be a pessimist, but they can just say anyone transferring bitcoin to another party without going through a KYC compliant intermediary is money laundering and then send the swat team out to whatever ip they can track down via NSA whatever. Game. Set. Match. Banks win as usual, all done. They'll take it down just…

They'll take it down just like Pirate Bay, etc.

I think you have unintentionally predicted exactly what will happen.

Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#13

Post by dil8 »

This is more about the government trying get its share of the pie and control and monitor bitcoin. Inherent in the philosophy of bitcoin is a society where no central authority can control the means of exchange. I think the more control the governments puts around bitcoin the more people will be driven to alternative crypto-currencies...

Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#14

Post by nwh »

kdot wrote: post #5

I love how there is no 'one' person in charge of bitcoin, who are they planning on summoning.

None or the developers are anonymous, so one imagines they will be summoned. At least some of them are US based. Even if they don't own or control anything, they'll still be blamed.

Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#15

Post by clarkm »

And apparently Obama has also been asking about Bitcoin recently.

> The president, whose most important job is surely to protect the integrity of the monetary system, smugly asked Schmidt if Bitcoin, one of many growing challenges to currency hegemony, was anything he had to worry about.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/wolff/2013/10/...

Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#16

Post by cinquemb »

vkou wrote: post #10
cinquemb wrote: post #4

I'm excited to see the costly boondoggle that will come from this, because we all know how well the SEC is at regulating centrally controlled currencies.

Considering that the world economy did not completely implode in 2008, I think we could do far worse.

I wasn't really referring to the world economy. Whether it is from dealing legally in bitcoins or undergoing HFT transactions where exchanges can selectively declare self-help, or new financial tools/instruments, the people with the ability to leverage technology in ways where there will be little to no technical capabilities to enforce regulation (due to it's newness) will have more incentive to work outside of governments. By the time government has caught up to the problem, people would have innovated and pushing the bar higher.

But on the global economy, a lot of emerging economies have been hit hard, and the schizo of the market on taper/no-taper utterings tells me this book is still open.

Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#17

Post by ninetax »

oscilloscope wrote: post #7

My favorite recent twist of events is that the US government now has the Bitcoin address with the largest balance: DPR's seized coins held by the FBI. https://blockchain.info/address/1FfmbHfnpaZjKFvyi1okTjJJusN4...

Largest known balance right? Satoshi might have some unknown amount stashed away...

Re: Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Scrutiny

#19

Post by nknighthb »

ninetax wrote: post #17
oscilloscope wrote: post #7

My favorite recent twist of events is that the US government now has the Bitcoin address with the largest balance: DPR's seized coins held by the FBI. https://blockchain.info/address/1FfmbHfnpaZjKFvyi1okTjJJusN4...

Largest known balance right? Satoshi might have some unknown amount stashed away...

The location of all Bitcoins, and therefore the address with the most Bitcoins, is public knowledge. This is an inherent property of the system. If anybody tells you Bitcoin is anonymous, they haven't the first clue how Bitcoin works. Run away as quickly as possible, for they are dangerously clueless.
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