Thursday, May 30, 2013

Senate Banking Committee Staff Monitoring Bitcoin

This should come as no surprise. Federal regulators are considering beefing up their oversight of bitcoin and other virtual currencies, reports The Hill.

From The Hill:
In March, as the currency's value started to climb, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued the first guidance clarifying that virtual currency administrators and exchangers would be treated like any other financial institution under the Bank Secrecy Act.

Bitcoin watchers like Timothy McTaggart, a partner at the law firm Pepper Hamilton, thought the FinCEN guidance was “a little unusual” and a recognition by the government that it may have not been paying enough attention to the virtual currency market. 
Agencies most likely do not need new legal authority to expand their oversight to the new currencies.
“I think that an argument could be made that the regulations are in place, it's just a matter of clarifying that this unique, novel thing that we know as bitcoin is indeed covered by the regulation,” said Ryan Straus, a lawyer in Seattle with the firm Graham and Dunn.

An aide with the Senate Banking Committee wrote in an email that “staff have been monitoring the use of various new digital currencies, as part of their routine oversight work, and will continue to follow developments in this area.”
Government monitoring anything is not a good sign. At this point, I would say the government is about 3 steps behind Bitcoin. Will they in the near future come down with a heavy hand on Bitcoin? The longer it takes for government to act, if they plan to do so, the more difficult it will be for the government, as,over time, more forces will become aligned with those promoting Bitcoin.

2 comments:

  1. Is there anyone or anything the Feds don't monitor?

    ReplyDelete
  2. when they decide to strike, we could count on them to lose a lot of time bikering about what tactics use.

    ReplyDelete