Topic: This is why decentralization and resiliency is most important... (Read 1015 times)

I knew Venezuela wasn't a nice place to live, but it's worse than I thought. I hope they'll get a decent lawyer arguing that laws restricting BTC are very new, and that they were about to close their mining operations.

It's also clear that if you plan to go on holidays and pay with BTC, you should not go to Venezuela.

When having financial freedom and protecting your wealth is an illegal act, you are probably already living here:

Well, adoption of Bitcoin in Venezuela has increased hugely in the last few years. So if a law puts a significant portion of the population in breach of it, there must be something wrong with it.

clearly your understanding of innocence is different than mine.  Were escaped slaves innocent?   They were breaking the law...

Many would argue that an understanding of innocence based on fundamental human rights and morals is superior to one based on laws/statutes of a particular regime at a particular point in time.

This was also in the press section about Venezuela and I saw something else yesterday about Venezuela outlawing mining.
https://thestack.com/world/2016/03/17/venezuelan-government-lambasts-bitcoin-as-currency-of-criminals/

what a sad news....   

These guys aren't innocent... it's a shitty thing for the Venezuelan government to do, but they were breaking laws, and the miners knew this. Holding foreign currencies (including Bitcoin or USD) is illegal in Venezuela. They knew that what they were doing could be grounds for legal troubles. They should have been using a VPN and done their mining more covertly, like the other miners in the country.

I'm not supporting Venezuela or damning Bitcoin users in Venezuela. I'm only pointing out that these two were not innocent.

even if not a crime because the word bitcoin wont be found in any law statue in the country. the police and government will find a way to seize the bitcoins and then sell them off. making a profit.

im hoping someone closer to the case knows the addresses where the funds are. and can analyze where it moves. and if the government there would sell them off publicly or privately.

but i do hope the miners were not stupid enough to leave the private keys on the seized laptops

"The bottom line according to the article – bitcoin is a currency for cybercriminals and that terrorists and criminals were the “main advocates” of the cryptocurrency."

well, guys, we must admit it's something related to the actual thing...

  DHL/Fedex VAT declaration ... is the only problem with mining device.

think smart before incrimine the network.

Who is they?   Everyone running a full node?    good luck with that.

Venezuela will do anything to protect it's failing economy and the Venezuelan bolívar. They are afraid that Bitcoin will counter measures against capital flight. It is a last ditch

effort from a desperate and corrupt government to manipulate people's finances. Bitcoin = Freedom and they will not allow that for their citizens. Their track record is not very

good, when it comes to the history of their currencies :

History

While Venezuela was federated with Nueva Granada (modern Colombia) and Quito (Ecuador) in Gran Colombia, 1821–1830, the monetary laws in force were those of Colombia.

Bolívar prohibited (June 20, 1821) the circulation of all copper coin and all post-1810 royalist coin that had not been counterstamped at Bogotá. Only milled coin (new or old) and the old Spanish macuquina were permitted to circulate.

Congress ordered all gold and silver coin minted in Gran Colombia to meet the old Spanish standards (Decree of September 29, 1821). Gold and silver were minted at Bogotá and Popayán, while the Caracas mint produced copper cuartillos (1/4 real) between July 14, 1821 and its closure on October 31, 1822. This copper coin was legal tender to one peso fuerte. Coins were inscribed REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA.

The monetary law of March 14, 1826 provided for a gold coinage based on the Colombian gold peso (peso colombiano de oro) of 1·797238 g, and a silver coinage based on the Colombian silver peso (peso colombiano de plata).

Bolívar's monetary law of November 6, 1828 confirmed the unrestricted circulation of macuquina, and the Department of Venezuela decreed (September 17, 1829) the obligatory acceptance of silver macuquina—a seller who refused legal macuquina being subject to a fine or imprisonment.

José Antonio Páez, who eventually came to lead the separatist movement in Venezuela, reopened the Caracas mint in 1829 and authorized a silver peseta (2 reales) and a copper cuartillo. The Caracas mint then closed for good (October 1830).

Is there a official source or any other source for this report?

Correct. Apparently, (at least AFAIK) there are no concrete laws that make this illegal. However, the government has started to recently spread propaganda against Bitcoin and this is the first arrest (since the propaganda). It seems that they are afraid of losing even more control even though they're the ones who damaged their own country.

I don't see why not. There is pretty much consensus on achieving more transaction capacity on chain (be it a 2 MB block size limit or Segwit). I'm certain that someday after Segwit an increase can happen, they just need to agree on an exact value.

ok, wake me up when you have consensus on that, since the limit is part of the consensus layer.

(in other words, not gonna happen)

oh. so it's because the government is corrupt. I got scared for a moment because I thought there are some laws about bitcoin (not just in Venezuela) that I wasn't aware of.

That's the most likely outcome that the debate is going to have.

They seem to be focusing on the important problems in their country.

You can arrest anyone for anything in corrupt countries.

Is Bitcoin already declared as illegal in Venezuela?
Shitty government over there. They ruined everybody's life.
And when you look for a way out of this dilemma you get a kick in the butt.

i never read that they are not allowed to mine in that country. anyway, i fear that their corrupt police&gov will find some laws to punish them 

what? can they just arrest the miners only because they have miners? do they have a law prohibiting bitcoin mining or something?