Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: backpackjackson on July 11, 2013, 05:29 pm
-
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929256.100-bitcoin-sells-out-as-big-business-moves-in.html#.Ud7qJW2cpVJ
-
See see thats exacty what I mean look at my thread above ;)
-
That article is a little misleading. The bitcoin community (going by bitcointalk) seems pretty split on whether regulation is a good thing that should be welcomed or not. But that's irrelevant. The fact of the matter is bitcoin businesses aren't "inviting" regulators to regulate, they're being told by the regulators themselves (FinCEN, for instance) that they have to follow various existing financial regulations.
If you want to run a legal bitcoin-based business you have to follow the currency regulations as you're told or you risk being sued and prosecuted. FinCEN isn't polling bitcointalk for opinions on the bank secrecy act. It is what it is.
-
I've been saying for monthes that it is time for the currency to go under ground and I still am for the following reasons:
1. Regulation means not only will it become less safe but also more expensive. Fee's, taxes, and god knows what else the government will have their hands in the pot.
2. If the currency goes underground it will in the long run make it more prices more stable as the main stream above ground will shy away from it.
3. This will ensure its survival and the longer BC waits harder and more rough the transition will become and we all know it is inevitable. It's not a matter of if but when.
-
That article is a little misleading. The bitcoin community (going by bitcointalk) seems pretty split on whether regulation is a good thing that should be welcomed or not. But that's irrelevant. The fact of the matter is bitcoin businesses aren't "inviting" regulators to regulate, they're being told by the regulators themselves (FinCEN, for instance) that they have to follow various existing financial regulations.
If you want to run a legal bitcoin-based business you have to follow the currency regulations as you're told or you risk being sued and prosecuted. FinCEN isn't polling bitcointalk for opinions on the bank secrecy act. It is what it is.
I agree with your assessment, Bitcoin business are being roped into existing regulations. These kind of regulations exist to support monopoly's (i.e. international banking institutions). BTC is a threat to their financial hegemony, so they feel the need to pressure regulators to control' this new 'rogue' currency.
Money laundering laws are one way to do it. It's all a big joke, though, because the major financial institutions are the biggest money launderers in the world (see: BCCI). Not to mention an estimated $500 billion in global narcotic profits go through US banks every year. These institutions, like all monopolists, believe 'competition is a sin' and they intend to remedy that.
-
Mkultra Nice love your name dam why didn't I think of that name??
-
Mkultra Nice love your name dam why didn't I think of that name??
Thanks catinthehat! ;D
-
Hmmm, this has me wondering if we're going to see another down and up in the value. Value seems to go down anytime government involvement is hinted at or centralization is discussed and then back up as the train keeps on moving. This conflict combined with the ongoing developments about the super spy crews of the world and I suspect people of the general public are still wary while hardcore bitcoiners may be as well because it goes against the ideal of what they've fought to bring into the world. Maybe the rift in the bitcoin community will cause an exodus at a peak value for a lot of the bitcoin idealists, who will look to cash out and move to restart when they realize Big Brother's gonna have his hand in the cookie jar for the foreseeable future. Supply will flood the market and drive price down until people start hoarding them and they become valuable again.
Just an interesting thought I think.
-
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the whole point of Bitcoin to be a decentralized currency? Doesn't being regulated by Fincen defeat the whole purpose of using it?
-
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the whole point of Bitcoin to be a decentralized currency? Doesn't being regulated by Fincen defeat the whole purpose of using it?
Yep which is what has me wondering if the BitBelievers (Yeah I made it up come at me) will cash out and flock to a less centralized and well known bit of currency to continue the ideal they started with but with corrections and lessons learned from the Bitcoin experiment. Because really I think Bitcoin was an experiment.
-
subbed.
this piqued my interest :p
would be nice to have a full text extract in the OP as well. just for those who don't like to click on links :p
-
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the whole point of Bitcoin to be a decentralized currency? Doesn't being regulated by Fincen defeat the whole purpose of using it?
Yep which is what has me wondering if the BitBelievers (Yeah I made it up come at me) will cash out and flock to a less centralized and well known bit of currency to continue the ideal they started with but with corrections and lessons learned from the Bitcoin experiment. Because really I think Bitcoin was an experiment.
The regulations are not specific to bitcoin. They apply to all "virtual currencies".
-
I'm shaking my head right now.
If any of you believe Bitcoin can be effectively regulated, you do not understand how Bitcoin works.
How do you tax Bitcoin? How do you prove someone owns Bitcoin when they can so easily change wallets, send their Bits through the fog, etc.? Taxation is not enforceable unless it becomes fiat currency.
-
I'm shaking my head right now.
If any of you believe Bitcoin can be effectively regulated, you do not understand how Bitcoin works.
How do you tax Bitcoin? How do you prove someone owns Bitcoin when they can so easily change wallets, send their Bits through the fog, etc.? Taxation is not enforceable unless it becomes fiat currency.
Very simply you just follow the trail of Bitcoins when they're cashed out to real currency. Unless you plan on paying for everything in your life with Bitcoins. IDK about where you live but my local Gas station doesn't take Bitcoins as payment...just saying....
-
"the trail of Bitcoins"
*sigh* That's why I said you send them through the fog. You put your Bits through a mixing service that splits your amount into so many smaller transactions that it becomes impossible to tell yours from anyone else'. You ever notice in the blockchain that sometimes your BTCs get sent through transactions that involve a ton of other BTCs? That's what I'm talking about. You can't follow every lead through those mixers.
And I made no statement as to whether or not Bitcoins could replace a national currency. I personally believe they cannot entirely replace it. But again, that's irrelevant from my post. I simply stated that those who believe Bitcoin is itself taxable or can be regulated have not learned enough about the Bitcoin protocol to understand why this is not feasible.