@rofo, have you thoughts on recent australian gov response to senate inquiry into digitial currencies and fintech?
Recommendation 1 and 4 applies to me/NOXT immensely, 2 not so much, 3 I interpret as "finance traditionalists in bed with government will be given keys to blockchain to continue business as usual".
The current legal and regulatory state of crypto. in general is why I'm not rushing into anything before a more baseline framework/understanding is established in the space. I do think most people currently in crypto. will leave and be replaced once AML/KYC becomes mandatory and the shenanigans/manipulation/p&d games forced out of most markets are forced out of here.
I can also guarantee from personal experience all government mentioning of groups, bodies, invitations and advice is little more than posturing at this point. Most emails will go unanswered and those that don't are an "I'm not sure, yet", and there is a particular group in Australia I think I've applied for membership on their website half a dozen times now with zero response. To me it's all an indication that we're just not close to being "there" yet, wherever that is, and I wonder where "there" is with the focus now on centralized, permission-based, closed blockchain applications (defeating the purpose of BTC entirely).
So on one hand my thoughts are I need to be patient and wait, on the other I wonder if there is even a point in waiting if we end up with closed bank and Microsoft
blockchains databases.
+1
I agree that regulatory certainty is still a while away in australia. One implication from those recommendations that I'm still not sure about is how changing bitcoin from being an 'intangible asset' to a 'currency' will effect any possible capital gains tax. It will remove double GST, but CGT I'm still not sure about
As for AML/KYC , I think for the vast majority of people that'll be a good thing when it comes in, and it'll usher in a more 'professional' era for digital currencies. For those that want to stay 'dark' there will still be plenty of alternatives like Monero & SuperNET & Dash & zCash, but for most regular people who want to use an intermediary like blockchain.info, they'll actually want increased regulations if it means they can do less due diligence themselves.
I've found the same thing myself when contacting the ATO & AUSTRAC & ASIC asking there position on crypto currencies - very few people know the regulations inside the government and bureaucratic agencies. One guy from the ATO who did reply did use the phrase "in good faith" multiple times when trying to explain the ATO's policy. I took this to mean in this pioneering phase for crypto, if you do something now that later becomes illegal, but you took steps to "act in good faith" by emailing someone relevant and asking questions, then in all likelihood you'd be OK, but you'd have to alter your behaviour to comply promptly.
I think for NOXT it is OK to jump in now and "act in good faith", but be ready for AML/KYC in 1-2 years time.