US government nabbed $2.9m in May Bitcoin seizure More information has come to light regarding the US government's recent seizure of funds from online accounts belonging to Mt. Gox, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange. El Reg reported in May that the Department of Homeland Security had frozen an account with mobile payment processor Dwolla belonging to Mutum Sigillum LLC, a …
Here we go, Germany, New Zealand, US all grabbing a share of a virtual currency. This attempt at regulation are the first steps to grab a share of the action, to get their cut and to claim ownership.
Yet it is a virtual currency, it doesn't belong to any of them so what right do they have?
Oh, I forgot, they can just change the law to bebefit themselves can't they.
it's legitimate to pretend that you are not a dog - but the moment you yank your chain you will come under legislation for "real" activities
I found this item of interest recently, btw:
The FATCA legislation attempts to combat bank privacy on many levels and for many reasons including the American state’s desire for more effective tax collecting. According to U.S. tax law, every American taxpayer is obligated to fill out tax forms and pay taxes for their income attained not only on U.S. soil but overseas as well. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not distinguish where the taxpayer lives, since U.S. taxation is based on either residency or citizenship. Therefore America remains one of the two states worldwide that tax their non-residing citizens. The other is Eritrea, a country not known for an exemplary human rights record.
it's legitimate to have a virtual currency - but the moment you connect to the real world you will come under legislation for "real" currencies.
Exactly. As long as a currency is virtual, it's an idea. The moment it touched existing financial structures it was no longer an idea, it started to affect those existing structures, and thus became subject to the laws governing those.
There's a lot of talk about evil governments, but it must be self evident that if Bitcoin were to be successful it would also become THE money laundering tool par excellence (AFAIK, haven't dug too deep into how this could be prevented).
The Feds can still control the point where you switch bitcoins to cash and vice versa. But not possible to control transactions entirely in bitcoins. They are fighting a losing battle.
Already there are various meets where you can buy bitcoins in person for cash. Or you can sell something for bitcoins rather than cash and get some that way. If enough people hold bitcoins it gets harder and harder for the Feds to regulate, just like they can't really regulate what goes on with the cash they print, hence it's the medium of exchange of choice for most drug dealers and hit men.
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