-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 04/02/2013 01:55 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: > Till it starts to get exchanged for hard currency bitcoin is merely a > token of barter - you barter X bitcoins for say legal services. Or a > dime (or is it 10 bitcoin) bag of weed. Or whatever.
Hard currency is merely a token of barter, just one that's gained widespread trust. That's a quantitative matter rather than a qualitative matter! > Once it starts getting exchanged for hard currency - the point where > this exchange takes place WILL get regulated. That's inevitable. And it is exchanged for hard currency, which has recently (in the US) been defined as a money-handling business and therefore prone to anti-money-laundering regulations, which is thankfully a good thing IMHO - - the US government could have taken the opportunity to make things a lot harder for the bitcoin community, rather than giving it a green light under the existing regulatory frameworks. And closing the growing opportunity to use it to launder money is a good thing for everyone; not only does it hinder criminals, it also helps to avoid Bitcoin gaining a bad reputation for money laundering, making it more legitimate in the eyes of the masses. There are many markets where Bitcoin can be traded for many conventional currencies - take a look: http://www.bitcoincharts.com/markets/ > Any widespread use of bitcoin for illegal activities will also, > inevitably, attract interest - but more from the ATF, FBI or similar > agencies worldwide, compared to financial and tax regulators. Indeed! > --srs (iPad) ABS - -- Alaric Snell-Pym http://www.snell-pym.org.uk/alaric/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAlFa16sACgkQRgz/WHNxCGrX7ACePgfoXQQJjN2J/z/mWCzMO5WF iDUAn1cPUqn06T99hIrrx0LijuEFcNsR =ewVc -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
