If this is the case, then someone should get in touch with Dr. Roudik and brief him of the facts. The Library of Congress is an important resource for American lawmakers, world policymakers, journalists and students - more so its branch, the Law Library of Congress. Imagine how many people are laboring under the assumption that Auroracoin is without any utility. If Dr. Roudik is sufficiently convinced, who knows, he might write a new analysis and the LoC could be updated. There are only three cryptos (Bitcoin, Litecoin and Auroracoin) mentioned in the entire LoC - the biggest library in the world, containing over 158 million books and documents. Take advantage of this rather than allowing statements like " they cannot currently be used for payment of goods or services in Iceland" go uncorrected.
The portion in Roudik's article that you allude to, goes like this,
emphases mine:
The present use of Auroracoins has been dubbed limited , as they cannot currently be used for payment of goods or services in Iceland. Instead, commentators claim, the digital currency will be used simply for speculation. (Daniel Cawrey, How Auroracoin Is Forcing Digital Currency Discussion in Iceland, COINDESK (May 1, 2014).)
He is reporting the situation as it was, namely that no suppliers of goods and services accept
AUR at the moment, hence the coins cannot be used for purchases. He then goes on to cite the widespread
view that the use of alternative cryptocurrency such as AUR is mainly for speculative
purposes.
He is not making any claim about goverment restricting the use of AUR here.
Also I think a lot of people are confused about what "legal currency" means here. ISK is a legal currency,
dollar is a legal currency.
If a currency is not "legal", it does not mean that it is
illegal in the sense of "not permitted to use". It means that it is not backed
by laws, and lacks the official state protection. You use non-legal currency at your own risk, and this point is stressed in
the official publication of the Central Bank of Iceland, and indeed in most central bank statements about cryptocurrency.
The notable difference with Auroracoin and Iceland, compared to other cryptos, are the tight capital controls that
try to prevent leaking of national currency abroad, but as said before, it does not have bearing on actual use of AUR in
exchanging goods and services, although it
does hinder speculative investment within Iceland. Or such is my understanding
at least.
The high price will be based on AUR having a active role in Iceland. No one is buying this coin because it's a tech marvel, if it is declared illegal it will be the fastest ones to dump their coins that will end up losing the least. This is all the gamble we taking because without it this is just another coin with nothing to offer.
