It's extremely fortunate for Bitcoin that the government considers it a commodity, not a currency. The fact that creating Bitcoin is called "mining" instead of

It's extremely fortunate for Bitcoin that the government considers it a commodity, not a currency. The fact that creating Bitcoin is called "mining" instead of "minting" probably helped set that frame of reference. If Bitcoin were a currency, then min(t)ing Bitcoin would be illegal in the US. You can look at Liberty Dollars for an example of the federal government cracking down on private mints, even when they don't claim to be making US Dollars. And yeah it would be great if fewer people got taken advantage of or stolen from in the Bitcoin sphere, but I'm pretty sure that if you told Bitcoin developers they had a fiduciary duty to users, they would just quit or go into hiding. (I am not a lawyer and this armchair sure is comfy)