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No. It turns out the EU delegates were more worried about their own governments getting Wikileaked than they were about "payment neutrality," so the proposals
by rprasad 14y ago
No. It turns out the EU delegates were more worried about their own governments getting Wikileaked than they were about "payment neutrality," so the proposals were put on the backburner.
People don't seem to understand that it's very easy to kill bitcoin, the same way they killed online gambling in the U.S.: make it illegal to transfer money to bitcoin exchanges or to financial institutions known to violate these regulations. This would kill all the legitimate exchanges and essentially prevent legitimate users from using bitcoin. This solution also has the advantage of being jurisdiction agnostic; the rules would apply only to US banks (or if such laws are issued by the EU, to EU banks) or to other financial institutions operating in the U.S. or with U.S. customers. It's also (relatively) trivial to implement such a blacklist--financial institutions can act on a dime if jail time is at stake.
- Dylan16807 14y agoIs it really so easy to outlaw an arbitrary product? Gambling has a history of regulation as a vice. But bitcoin? What about suddenly outlawing trading cards? It doesn't seem that simple.
- pavel_lishin 14y ago> Is it really so easy to outlaw an arbitrary product? Like hemp and alcohol?
- Dylan16807 14y agoHemp itself isn't outlawed, and the drug law again goes into 'vice'. And alcohol isn't an example of a law at all. Don't even joke about a bitcoin constitutional amendment.
- mrgoldenbrown 14y agoUnfortunately, Bitcoins are not arbitrary products, they are currency (or at the very least a currency analogue), and governments have plenty of history regulating currency. There are also potential regulations/taxes/inspections of every single arbitrary good entering the country.
- dbpatterson 14y agoMoney laundering is illegal, and it isn't too much of a stretch to imagine the US political system deciding that bitcoin amounts to laundering money.
- darkarmani 14y ago> People don't seem to understand that it's very easy to kill bitcoin, the same way they killed online gambling in the U.S.: make it illegal to transfer money to bitcoin exchanges or to financial institutions known to violate these regulations. What happens when people don't need to "buy" money with their bitcoins and just use it for goods?
- mrb 14y ago"People don't seem to understand that it's very easy to kill bitcoin, the same way they killed online gambling in the U.S." No, online gambling was hardly "killed" in the US: the illegal annual market is estimated to be $4-6 billion [1]! Similarly, Bitcoin would not be "killed" by declaring it illegal, it would most likely continue to prosper like online gambling. "This would kill all the legitimate exchanges and essentially prevent legitimate users from using bitcoin" I don't think so. There are many other ways to acquire bitcoins: you can sell goods/services in exchange of coins, you can mine, you can buy them from a friend in cash, etc. [1] http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-03/bitcoin-making-online-gambling-legal-in-the-u-dot-s-dot http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-03/bitcoin-maki...
- stefanix 14y agoThe bitcoin argument is harder to negate: There is nothing fundamentally wrong with a free currency.