Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: The OrigFredFlintstone on August 14, 2013, 04:24 am
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http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/congress-starts-looking-into-bitcoin-95464.html
Congress starts looking into Bitcoin
Physical versions of bitcoins are shown. The homemade tokens with codes protected by tamper-proof holographic seals are a retro-futuristic kind of prepaid cash. | AP Photo
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be traded or used as a form of payment. | AP Photo
By ZACHARY WARMBRODT | 8/13/13 12:00 AM EDT Updated: 8/13/13 12:08 AM EDT
A Senate committee is pressing federal regulators and law enforcement officials to explain how they plan to oversee Bitcoin and other virtual currencies as the issue gains increasing attention from government officials concerned about the role these new markets will play in the future.
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Monday sent letters to several agencies requesting that they disclose their virtual currency policies, how they developed them, how agencies are coordinating and finally what they plan to do going forward.
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“The more folks that we talked to related to this issue, it became very clear to us that this is not a sort of technology that’s going away,” a committee aide said. “This isn’t something that’s a flash in the pan. It’s something that’s going to be with us.”
The committee is planting its flag as state and federal officials step up scrutiny of the four-year-old, $1.2 billion Bitcoin marketplace, where a start-up industry is trying to navigate emerging government concerns related to money laundering, tax evasion and investment products.
Many regulators have yet to publicly state their views on whether virtual currencies need better oversight and the letters could force them to give their most comprehensive views yet on the subject.
Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and ranking member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sent letters Monday, which ask for information on a range of virtual currencies while naming Bitcoin as an example, to the Homeland Security Department, Justice Department, Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Office of Management and Budget.
“As with all emerging technologies, the federal government must make sure that potential threats and risks are dealt with swiftly,” the senators said in the letter. “However, we must also ensure that rash or uninformed actions don’t stifle a potentially valuable technology.”
The letters follow two months of committee interviews with government officials, academics and representatives from the finance and tech industries. The panel has not scheduled any hearings or settled on whether to draft legislation.
Officials who have talked to committee “seem to be having the right thoughts and right conversations” but some have made public comments over the past year “that seem not to be sort of in line with what another department said,” the committee aide said.
The committee is concerned, according to the aide, that if regulators do not figure out a plan now for what to do about virtual currencies they will miss the opportunity early on to control risks that these markets pose. That could create a situation where agencies later overcompensate to address problems that arise, diminishing the benefits Bitcoin and other markets could provide to consumers.
“Talk to anyone in Silicon Valley or in New York — we don’t have the best reputation here of being ahead of the curve on a lot of these issues,” the aide said.
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“Talk to anyone in Silicon Valley or in New York — we don’t have the best reputation here of being ahead of the curve on a lot of these issues,” the aide said.
Heh.
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“As with all emerging technologies, the federal government must make sure that potential threats and risks are dealt with swiftly,” the senators said in the letter. “However, we must also ensure that rash or uninformed actions don’t stifle a potentially valuable technology.”
That's a novel approach.
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lol. yeh i cant remember the last time the gubmint took a rash or uninformed action that had serious consequences. oh wait, yes i can. it was when they claimed iraq had WMDs, drummed the US into a decade-long war which cost the lives of hundeds of thousands of people, and created more debt than we know what to do with. ::)
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This is actually VERY good news for bitcoin, in every possible way. Whether you like it or not, for BTC to be adopted mainstream.. this conversation with the government/regulators/lawmakers was unavoidable. Last year at this time BTC was on the fringe (kinda), now we're on the cusp of mainstream (kinda), and a year from now it will be mainstream (ish).
If the average joe sees that the government has some kind of oversight or "consumer protection" (whatever the fuck that means), they'll be more inclined to take BTC seriously and jump on the bandwagon. All this mainstream attention from both congress and even the subpeaonas from NY state are GOOD publicity, and necessary. Notice the bitcoin price steadily rise all day?
Woahhh, we're half way there..
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“As with all emerging technologies, the federal government must make sure that potential threats and risks are dealt with swiftly,” the senators said in the letter. “However, we must also ensure that rash or uninformed actions don’t stifle a potentially valuable technology.”
That's a novel approach.
Their staff are probably among the best silk road customers.
And we're all well aware of how much congressional staff do, in comparison to the congressmen themselves.