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You’re off base. The original definition was putting tax and KYC requirements on people who don’t have, and can’t get, that information. Network nodes facilitat

You’re off base. The original definition was putting tax and KYC requirements on people who don’t have, and can’t get, that information. Network nodes facilitate transactions, they don’t broker them. Its like treating an exchanges electricity provider as part of the equity trade. It’s not tax evasion. The law as originally stated would have crippled the industry in the US.

animal_spirits 5y ago
Interesting, thank you
arcticfox 5y ago
I rarely notice politicians, but Wyden is frequently in the fray on the right side of a lot of issues I hear about. Seems like he got this one right, again.
deegles 5y ago
Devil's advocate for a moment... the definition of a broker is "a person who buys and sells goods or assets for others," or it can mean to "arrange or negotiate" a deal or plan. How is a miner not a broker then? They accept transactions and then place them on a blockchain by performing some kind of work. Sure, at the moment few if any cryptos are definitely securities, but what is going to happen when a company creates (for example) a wrapped SP500 token? A "traditional" broker can't just trust anyone to record a transaction, there is a lot of regulation. Will there be a class of tokens that can only be mined by people who can do KYC on them? Why is a miner exempt from caring about what transactions they accept?
- cwkoss 5y ago
  Miners never have custodial control of the funds in those transactions. They are much more like auditors or accountants than brokers.
  - qeternity 5y ago
    Custodial control is an oxymoron. They are facilitating a transaction. They can choose to accept or reject a transaction. In this capacity, they are most similar to a broker-dealer.
    - cwkoss 5y ago
      I see what you're saying, but a single miner can't reject a transaction, they can really only delay it.
qeternity 5y ago
> The original definition was putting tax and KYC requirements on people who don’t have, and can’t get, that information. You fundamentally misunderstand regulation. If someone can’t/won’t do something, regulation is enacted to either compel them or to outlaw their behavior. Your tacit suggestion that because miners can’t do something means the law is flawed, is akin to saying “oh well burglars won’t pay for the goods so oh well”. If we pass a law that miners can’t follow, then mining becomes illegal. We do this all time, especially in finance. A more realistic example is “WhatsApp is E2E encrypted so traders can’t be monitored”. This means WhatsApp is a non-compliant (“illegal”) facility to transact in most regulated markets.

animal_spirits 5y ago

Interesting, thank you

arcticfox 5y ago

I rarely notice politicians, but Wyden is frequently in the fray on the right side of a lot of issues I hear about. Seems like he got this one right, again.

deegles 5y ago

Devil's advocate for a moment... the definition of a broker is "a person who buys and sells goods or assets for others," or it can mean to "arrange or negotiate" a deal or plan. How is a miner not a broker then? They accept transactions and then place them on a blockchain by performing some kind of work. Sure, at the moment few if any cryptos are definitely securities, but what is going to happen when a company creates (for example) a wrapped SP500 token? A "traditional" broker can't just trust anyone to record a transaction, there is a lot of regulation. Will there be a class of tokens that can only be mined by people who can do KYC on them? Why is a miner exempt from caring about what transactions they accept?

cwkoss 5y ago
Miners never have custodial control of the funds in those transactions. They are much more like auditors or accountants than brokers.
- qeternity 5y ago
  Custodial control is an oxymoron. They are facilitating a transaction. They can choose to accept or reject a transaction. In this capacity, they are most similar to a broker-dealer.
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    I see what you're saying, but a single miner can't reject a transaction, they can really only delay it.

qeternity 5y ago

> The original definition was putting tax and KYC requirements on people who don’t have, and can’t get, that information. You fundamentally misunderstand regulation. If someone can’t/won’t do something, regulation is enacted to either compel them or to outlaw their behavior. Your tacit suggestion that because miners can’t do something means the law is flawed, is akin to saying “oh well burglars won’t pay for the goods so oh well”. If we pass a law that miners can’t follow, then mining becomes illegal. We do this all time, especially in finance. A more realistic example is “WhatsApp is E2E encrypted so traders can’t be monitored”. This means WhatsApp is a non-compliant (“illegal”) facility to transact in most regulated markets.