Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
1–10 of 194 posts
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#2Well, my own submission just got [dead]ed --no indication as to why-- but I'll paste my comment here as well:
I know very little about Bitcoin or money transmission laws. Unlike other currencies it does not seem to have fundamental dependence on any centralized arbiter, though the practicalities of large exchanges like Mt. Gox seem apparent to me. That lack of dependence on a Fed-like body appears to me like its biggest advantage, above any other potential for anonymous payment and laundering. I'd like to know what exactly is entailed in becoming compliant with money transmitting and laundering regulations and whether Bitcoin in its current form could become effectively compliant. Is that even a meaningful concept, or does the structure of Bitcoin fundamentally preclude coming into effective compliance?
[dead]ed submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6201643
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#3Well, my own submission just got [dead]ed --no indication as to why-- but I'll paste my comment here as well: I know very little about Bitcoin or money transmission laws. Unlike other currencies it does not seem to have fundamental dependence on any centralized arbiter, though the practicalities of large exchanges like Mt. Gox seem apparent to me. That lack of dependence on a Fed-like body appears to me like its bigg…
> whether Bitcoin in its current form could become effectively compliant
Why couldn't it be? The entire transaction history of a wallet is preserved into the future. As soon as you correlate a BitCoin wallet with a person, you have their entire history with that wallet. It seems more like a government's wet dream than anything else.
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#4Well, my own submission just got [dead]ed --no indication as to why-- but I'll paste my comment here as well: I know very little about Bitcoin or money transmission laws. Unlike other currencies it does not seem to have fundamental dependence on any centralized arbiter, though the practicalities of large exchanges like Mt. Gox seem apparent to me. That lack of dependence on a Fed-like body appears to me like its bigg…
"I'd like to know what exactly is entailed in becoming compliant with money transmitting and laundering regulations."
This. Someone with more understanding of financial regulation, please step in and explain what it is the government would actually want from the currency. This sounds scary to some extent but there's no real reason that it needs to be. I assume it is to enforce real-world identities at the USD/BTC exchange point.
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#5Looks like the price of Bitcoins just made a good jump at https://www.mtgox.com/ . Are speculants thinking that if the us government are geting involved it validates Bitcoin further?
Edit: Screenshot of the jump: http://i.imgur.com/G5Dk7Nh.png
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#6Unpopular opinion of the day: bitcoin is real money, and the government will regulate it and control it as such.
In my opinion, the end-game is this: bitcoin addresses are taxable, with occasional tax agents spot-checking large accumulations of bitcoin to determine if said addresses fall within their jurisdiction. Bitcoin has the unusual ability to have a very tight trace on where a given virtual coin goes: that just makes the ability to watch the money easier.
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#7Well, my own submission just got [dead]ed --no indication as to why-- but I'll paste my comment here as well: I know very little about Bitcoin or money transmission laws. Unlike other currencies it does not seem to have fundamental dependence on any centralized arbiter, though the practicalities of large exchanges like Mt. Gox seem apparent to me. That lack of dependence on a Fed-like body appears to me like its bigg…
> whether Bitcoin in its current form could become effectively compliant Why couldn't it be? The entire transaction history of a wallet is preserved into the future. As soon as you correlate a BitCoin wallet with a person, you have their entire history with that wallet. It seems more like a government's wet dream than anything else.
ehm, no. you can create brand new wallet for each transaction and wallet on its own is not connected to your real identity in any way. it's more like government's worst nightmare.
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#8Well, my own submission just got [dead]ed --no indication as to why-- but I'll paste my comment here as well: I know very little about Bitcoin or money transmission laws. Unlike other currencies it does not seem to have fundamental dependence on any centralized arbiter, though the practicalities of large exchanges like Mt. Gox seem apparent to me. That lack of dependence on a Fed-like body appears to me like its bigg…
Financial regulations have little do to with the Fed. They apply to transactions in money, not money itself. It doesn't matter whether the transactions are denominated in USD or Euros, and now apparently Bitcoin.
It's not meaningful to ask whether Bitcoin could become compliant. Bitcoin exchanges and processors could become compliant. This means having in place systems to detect money laundering, etc. it might be even easier in Bitcoin, given how much transaction state is stored in a distributed fashion forever.
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
> whether Bitcoin in its current form could become effectively compliant Why couldn't it be? The entire transaction history of a wallet is preserved into the future. As soon as you correlate a BitCoin wallet with a person, you have their entire history with that wallet. It seems more like a government's wet dream than anything else.
ehm, no. you can create brand new wallet for each transaction and wallet on its own is not connected to your real identity in any way. it's more like government's worst nightmare.
As I understand it, if you want to receive bitcoins with wallet A and send those same bitcoins with wallet B, you would need to transfer said bitcoins from wallet A to B. And each transfer is recorded in the blockchain.
Re: Every important person in BitCoin just got subpoenaed by NY financial regulators
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
> whether Bitcoin in its current form could become effectively compliant Why couldn't it be? The entire transaction history of a wallet is preserved into the future. As soon as you correlate a BitCoin wallet with a person, you have their entire history with that wallet. It seems more like a government's wet dream than anything else.
ehm, no. you can create brand new wallet for each transaction and wallet on its own is not connected to your real identity in any way. it's more like government's worst nightmare.
It's more traceable than cash, less than bank accounts.