Topic: Bitcoin Laws Imminent - page 2. (Read 6324 times)

The USA something is looking at bitcoin - so what?  The US is a "bit" player in this, so the 90%+ rest of the world won't care.

Gox in Japan, TH in Chile, US courts in US.

I read that ycombinator site regularly (Hacker news)...the comments lead me to believe most there are anti-bitcoin.

Due to the massive funds involved in drugs, a lot of corruption occurs in connection with drugs. Gary Webb exposed a CIA operation which sold cocaine from a South American guerilla to LA gang members which in turn exploded the crack epidemic. Recently, planes involved in CIA transports of suspected "terrorists" to and from secret detention centres have been proved to transport cocaine. Afghan heorin, the amount of corruption is immense, Karzai's brother is widely accepted to be a very major actor in that trade. In the 80ies, much of the construction in Miami would not have taken place in absence of cocaine trade.

Of course corruption takes place in many other spheres; in Italy the Comorra control waste management and "dispose" of the waste in "unorthodox" manners, and in some areas cancer prevalence has increased by 30%. The control could not occur without collusion with parts of the authorities. The Comorra have even invested some money in the resurrection of the World Trade Centre.

EDIT: And then there is Mexico too.

The crossed out line is due to no actual evidence; I just checked.

What makes you think that corruption = drug money? Are you so brainwashed that you automatically associate things? What do drug lords have to gain from government projects and are they in position to gain most from whatever the project may be? If not them, who would be the one to gain the most from it? Are you ever going to ask the questions that really matter?

"Vienna-based UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in an interview released by Austrian weekly Profil that drug money often became the only available capital when the crisis spiralled out of control last year.

"In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital," Costa was quoted as saying by Profil. "In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor.""

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/01/25/financial-un-drugs-idUSLP65079620090125

"Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/dec/13/drug-money-banks-saved-un-cfief-claims

in that case th price would go through the roof

Some people think that national governments are extremely corrupt and are engaged in huge black projects funded by drug money etc etc.

In such a case, wouldn't they be interested in *using* bitcoin rather than banning it? With a suitable PR covering of righteous indignation against the illegal uses but nothing actually effective getting done that shuts bitcoin down?

ZOMG way to tip them off!

He states his intent in his reply to you:


It WAS total bait.

I recommend you read "The Art of War".

Or do you like being in the dark?

No we need to be aware of this stuff. You made no error other than perhaps starting out with a skeptical tone.

Thx for the heads up.

Agreed.

It did get me thinking though. If the US Gov were to go after BTC and put US miners 'out of biz" and push all that mining activitiy over seas, there would be blowback.

The rest of the world would love to get off the USD and giving them access to a viable currency may just hurt them more in the long run than help them. It wouldn't give the USD any credibility as the damage is done. People are already stocking up on gold and silver in case of currency collapse....

Anyway, how can they prove BTC is being mined as a currency if it comes to it? I heard it was a novelty item.... 

The disanalogy is that you use your music privately, just listening to it.  Money needs outlets in order to have value: venues and exchanges.  There is no equivalent need for exchanges and vendors in the music industry.  Those are vulnerabilities to bitcoin's value that would leave our personal wallets totally intact.

I would be willing to donate to a digital currency lobbying organization.  Even though we cannot match the bankster numbers, we could make it interesting.  It's not like bitcoin will be shut down completely.  It's a question of how much legal danger and restriction we will face, and we live in a democracy: it's partly up to us.

Exchanges are the big problem right now.  Mt. Gox would be legal if it registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency as a money transfer service and complied with their regulations. Japan's regulations for money transfer services are quite flexible, and were specifically intended to encourage new Internet-based forms of money transfer.  The regulators do insist on audits, will check that the customers' money really is there and is held in accounts separate from the business's own funds. For the amount of money Mt. Gox is handling, those requirements are quite reasonable.

Exchangers will be the very first, pools second, big miners third. I never expect them to go after the little guys though, thats IF they go after anyone to begin with... They could just tax the exchangers and make a shit-ton of money. Why does everything have to be so damn negative all the time?

I agree that sources would be helpful, but I think this community is reacting too defensively.  We need to think about the legal issue and how it will effect bitcoin, because there are too many interested parties for bitcoin not to the be the target of the law.  It's not just the anti-drug, anti-laundering, anti-terrorism types.  The real push will come from VISA, banks, and such.  And their pockets are very deep indeed.

This is from Source Watch:

Lobbying expenditures

In the first three quarters of 2009 the sector's lobbying expenditures broke down as follows:[4]
Total for Finance, Insurance & Real Estate: $246,451,462
Total Number of Lobbyists Reported: 2,441

Insurance $90,164,227
Securities & Investment $47,354,408
Real Estate $36,831,069
Commercial Banks $27,347,713
Finance/Credit Companies $18,532,559
Misc Finance $13,525,932
Accountants $7,158,218
Credit Unions $4,937,336
Savings & Loans $600,000

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced on Sept. 8, 2009, an advertising campaign of at least $2 million aimed at defeating the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The Agency was proposed by the Obama administration to regulate more closely mortgages and credit cards. Certain practices would be banned and would require financial firms to offer loans with less complex language.[5]

Political contributions

Since 1990, the financial industry has made $2.2 billion in political contributions to lawmakers, more than any other industry tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics. Since 1998, the earliest available data, Wall Street has also been the top spender on lobbying activities, at $3.6 billion.[6]


So...

If you think lawmakers have anything other than the best interest of these banks at heart, you're sorely misguided.  And of course they will make bitcoin illegal.  The only question is when and how, which I thought the linked article explores rather well.  We must prepare for and/or fight the coming legal battle, not pretend it isn't happening.

No, this isn't trolling, it's reality.  Let's make the best of it.

I waisted 10 minutes reading that ****!  Can we get a mod to delete this thread please.

...well stopping the US guys from mining wouldn't be too bad..giving the rest of the world a chance to mine...
And Norway should be next. They also have ridiculous low electricity prices, subsidized by the government....

BR
GC

Pure link bait. Don't waste your time with this clown (NERDr) or the hit piece post.