Topic: FinCEN renamed "stored value" to "pre-paid access", let's hire a lawyer! (Read 2498 times)

Its not about saving bitcoin, its about not being arrested by accepting it.

Bitcoin aside, I suspect we're going to see a lot less businesses selling things like gift cards, mobile phone credit, pre-paid Visas and the like if they have to verify the identity of the buyer for each sale.  The administrative burden will just be too huge for a lot of small businesses to continue offering those things or it would slow down their normal operations too much (in the case of businesses like supermarkets).

Anyone (business or natural person) that exchange pre-paid for something must keep records of each transaction for five years, require personal identification and report "suspicius activities" to FinCEN.

Why do so many people worry about how the law (and courts) will view bitcoin? Bitcoin was designed to route around centralized, authoritarian interference. There is no "silver bullet" in the law that will ultimately save and protect bitcoin because:

1. the laws can always be 'adjusted' to accomplish the aims of the State;
2. bitcoin doesn't need saving -- laws and regulations written specifically for bitcoin would perversely enhance its legitimacy.

what is this going to mean for the bitcoin consumer and bitcoin merchant?

No, accordingly to FinCEN "monetary value" doesn't need to be redeemed for national currency:

"[a]ccess to funds or the value of funds that have been paid in advance

I've made a different thread because i think the main point here is hiring a law firm to have those questions answered. I think many people here will benefit from that.

There's a related thread here.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/anti-laundering-policies-us-51980

Also here.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/fincens-prepaid-access-town-hall-meeting-vienna-va-46971
....

It would be a very wrong decision to classify bitcoin as "pre-paid access". Pre-paid access means paying for credit that can later be redeemed for national currency. Buying a commodity, including a digital one like bitcoin, that has a value that fluctuates in the market, is not tantamount to credit that exists in a pre-paid card.

The new rule was designed to be technology neutral and is meant to be adaptable to a range of products, such as a plastic card, an internet system, or a mobile phone network.

[Criteria that determines if a product is subject to the new rules include] whether the product is reloadable, can be transferred to other consumers, and, […] can be used to transfer funds outside the United States.

We will be publishing [a] proposal for public comment very soon [on the requirement that tangible prepaid access is declared] when it is transported across a border, similar to the existing declaration required for international transport of cash and monetary instruments.

An entity that engages in money transmission in any amount is subject to the BSA rules.

The term ‘currency dealer or exchanger’ [has been replaced] with the new term ‘dealer in foreign exchange,’ a term used to include the exchange of instruments other than currency as a category of MSB.

It is recognized that AML/CFT regulations need to be applied not just to banks, but rather to a range of financial and other types of commercial institutions. Why? The reason is that any way that you can move money—any way that value can be intermediated—can be abused by criminals”.

Violations by much smaller entities might also merit monetary penalties.

Over the past year FinCEN has been engaged in an initiative to identify unregistered money services businesses, primarily independent money transmitters.

Now that FinCEN has established a solid regulatory framework for prepaid access in the United States, we must continue to promote analogous steps in foreign jurisdictions.

This doesn't look good.