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The time for that has passed, you have Coinbase listed on the NASDAQ, you dont just make something like that illegal overnight. As I said the ship has sailed, s

The time for that has passed, you have Coinbase listed on the NASDAQ, you dont just make something like that illegal overnight. As I said the ship has sailed, squashing it is harder now that crypto firms can hire their own lobbysists

oneoff786 5y ago
Sure you can. Executive order. Boom.
- zonethundery 5y ago
  That's not how executive orders work.
  - dsr_ 5y ago
    It almost is, actually. The power of an executive order to control the behavior of the executive branch is untestedly unlimited. Part one would be a note of the laws establishing the Treasury Department's mandate to regulate financial instruments. Part two would be a finding that cryptocurrencies are harmful to the interests of the USA. Part three would be an order to the Secretary of the Treasury to determine what businesses are involved in cryptocurrencies, and to take the following sanctions: ... prohibit any transfers of credit or payments between financial institutions, or by, through, or to any financial institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and involve any interest of the sanctioned business; prohibit any United States financial institution from making loans or providing credit to the sanctioned business; (iv) prohibit any transactions in foreign exchange that are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and in which the sanctioned business has any interest; (v) prohibit any United States person from investing in or purchasing significant amounts of equity or debt instruments of the sanctioned business; Form and specific sanctions taken from EO 2021-27505, from December 17 2021.
    - Spivak 5y ago
      This is why purely from a "theory of governance" standpoint I find it crazy that Congress is even allowed to establish agencies in another branch that wields power reserved for them.
    - nybble41 5y ago
      > The power of an executive order to control the behavior of the executive branch is untestedly unlimited. "Untestedly" being the important part. There is no practical limit on the orders that can be issued but actually enforcing those rules on anyone outside the executive branch is a different matter. Also, you skipped over the parts of EO 2021-27505 where (a) it required declaring a (rather dubious IMHO) state of emergency, (b) the sanctions were previously authorized by Congress in the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, and (c) all the sanctions applied to "foreign persons", not citizens. There is no state of emergency, sanctions were not authorized by Congress, and you want to sanctions citizens of the United States and locally-owned businesses.
  - oneoff786 5y ago
    Yes it is. For example, the emancipation proclamation which outlawed slavery. Also Japanese American internment camps. You think shutting down Coinbase is bigger than that?
- steelstraw 5y ago
  How? Given that Bitcoin is code and code is free speech.
  - oneoff786 5y ago
    If you give me a Bitcoin and I give you an apple, that’s trade, not speech.
echelon 5y ago
Remember prohibition? The minute the fed considers Bitcoin and crypto to be a risk, they'll axe it. Coinbase or not. I think the CIA likes having Bitcoin as a means for foreign nationals to exfiltrate money. That's harder to do now in certain countries, but still possible. And the FBI likes being able to watch where the money flows.
- cdiddy2 5y ago
  I am fairly sure there would be constitutional issues with banning it. After all its just some characters/a string. We went through a lot of this with the cryptography wars in the 90s
  - Spivak 5y ago
    Something something color of your bits. And even if you somehow managed to convince someone that a digital asset was speech you still have to contend that commercial speech isn't as protected.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    The law is not a computer system. Illegal numbers[0] are a thing. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number
  - oconnore 5y ago
    Bitcoin clearly qualifies as "interstate commerce".
  - oneoff786 5y ago
    Even if that were true, the government need only block the exchanges which are a financial service.
- AlexanderTheGr8 5y ago
  Not 100% sure but tornado cash means that FBI can't really watch where the money flows (if the criminals are smart enough to use tornado cash)
newaccount2021 5y ago
Zerverus 5y ago
Let’s force Meta to give up WhatsApp…..

oneoff786 5y ago

Sure you can. Executive order. Boom.

zonethundery 5y ago
That's not how executive orders work.
- dsr_ 5y ago
  It almost is, actually. The power of an executive order to control the behavior of the executive branch is untestedly unlimited. Part one would be a note of the laws establishing the Treasury Department's mandate to regulate financial instruments. Part two would be a finding that cryptocurrencies are harmful to the interests of the USA. Part three would be an order to the Secretary of the Treasury to determine what businesses are involved in cryptocurrencies, and to take the following sanctions: ... prohibit any transfers of credit or payments between financial institutions, or by, through, or to any financial institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and involve any interest of the sanctioned business; prohibit any United States financial institution from making loans or providing credit to the sanctioned business; (iv) prohibit any transactions in foreign exchange that are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and in which the sanctioned business has any interest; (v) prohibit any United States person from investing in or purchasing significant amounts of equity or debt instruments of the sanctioned business; Form and specific sanctions taken from EO 2021-27505, from December 17 2021.
  - Spivak 5y ago
    This is why purely from a "theory of governance" standpoint I find it crazy that Congress is even allowed to establish agencies in another branch that wields power reserved for them.
  - nybble41 5y ago
    > The power of an executive order to control the behavior of the executive branch is untestedly unlimited. "Untestedly" being the important part. There is no practical limit on the orders that can be issued but actually enforcing those rules on anyone outside the executive branch is a different matter. Also, you skipped over the parts of EO 2021-27505 where (a) it required declaring a (rather dubious IMHO) state of emergency, (b) the sanctions were previously authorized by Congress in the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, and (c) all the sanctions applied to "foreign persons", not citizens. There is no state of emergency, sanctions were not authorized by Congress, and you want to sanctions citizens of the United States and locally-owned businesses.
- oneoff786 5y ago
  Yes it is. For example, the emancipation proclamation which outlawed slavery. Also Japanese American internment camps. You think shutting down Coinbase is bigger than that?
steelstraw 5y ago
How? Given that Bitcoin is code and code is free speech.
- oneoff786 5y ago
  If you give me a Bitcoin and I give you an apple, that’s trade, not speech.

echelon 5y ago

Remember prohibition? The minute the fed considers Bitcoin and crypto to be a risk, they'll axe it. Coinbase or not. I think the CIA likes having Bitcoin as a means for foreign nationals to exfiltrate money. That's harder to do now in certain countries, but still possible. And the FBI likes being able to watch where the money flows.

cdiddy2 5y ago
I am fairly sure there would be constitutional issues with banning it. After all its just some characters/a string. We went through a lot of this with the cryptography wars in the 90s
- Spivak 5y ago
  Something something color of your bits. And even if you somehow managed to convince someone that a digital asset was speech you still have to contend that commercial speech isn't as protected.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  The law is not a computer system. Illegal numbers[0] are a thing. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number
- oconnore 5y ago
  Bitcoin clearly qualifies as "interstate commerce".
- oneoff786 5y ago
  Even if that were true, the government need only block the exchanges which are a financial service.
AlexanderTheGr8 5y ago
Not 100% sure but tornado cash means that FBI can't really watch where the money flows (if the criminals are smart enough to use tornado cash)

newaccount2021 5y ago

Zerverus 5y ago

Let’s force Meta to give up WhatsApp…..