Bitcoin News

In a post on BetaBeat by editor Jessica Roy (@JessicaKRoy) includes confirmation from Dwolla that funds held by Mt. Gox in the U.S. had been seized by the U.S. authorities.  Excerpts:

“‘The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a ‘’Seizure Warrant’’ for the funds associated with Mutum Sigillium’s Dwolla account (a.k.a. Mt. Gox),’ [a representative from Dwolla] said. ‘Dwolla has ceased all account activities associated with Dwolla services for Mutum Sigillum.’”

[Note - Camp BX, based in the U.S., is the only other market exchange that allows accounts to be funded with Dwolla and performs withdrawal of USD balances to Dwolla.   FastCash4Bitcoins performs cash-out service to Dwolla.]

 - http://bit.ly/10wQRvI (Betabeat article)
 - http://i.imgur.com/soOTB5N.png (Dwolla notice received by Mt. Gox customer)
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=205370.0 (Further discussion on the development)

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Reporter Gwynn Guilford ‏(@sinoceros) writes on Quartz.com reasons why China could drive a further bit-boom.  Excerpts:

“They’ve already done the whole virtual currency thing—with Q Coin.”
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“Property, stocks, art, tea—speculation dominates in every major asset market you can think of in China. The Chinese are a people used to high risk-reward investments.”
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“As the online gamer source tells Quartz, ‘the currency’s system is so decentralized’ that it would be extremely difficult for the Chinese government to do anything about bitcoin.[…] And unlike with Tencent, there’s no company or entity to target for regulation. ‘To China’s conservative regulators,’ he adds, “Bitcoin is a game [that’s] way more dangerous.”

 - http://bit.ly/ZgOoc6
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=176010.0 (Further discussion of the article)

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Rick Falkvinge (@RickFalkvinge) posts his view that Bitcoin can change society even more than the Internet has.  Excerpts:

“We essentially have four different types of players that keep the economy going, and by extension, the government funded and operational.
One, there is the government itself, which issues money and regulates banks.
Two, there are commercial banks which are in complete control of the money flow, in exchange for sharing that insight with the government and letting it siphon off as much as it likes to operate itself.
At the bottom of the food chain are, three, corporations which are tasked with using this system, running all its operations through these banks,
and four, the ordinary citizen, who is supposed to be doing actual work and actually produce something that fuels the entire ecosystem.”
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“What bitcoin does is cut the banks out of the loop, and by extension, the government’s ability to operate.”

 - http://bit.ly/10wqNT8
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=166432.0 (Further discussion of the article)

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BitInstant’s Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) was a guest on the Peter Schiff show, hosted by Thomas E. Woods (@ThomasEWoods).

The interview gives a general overview of Bitcoin, from a libertarian perspective, and concludes with Q&A from listener callers.

Runtime: 31 minutes.

 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/696520/schiff-woods-voorhees.mp3 (MP3)
 - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/696520/schiff-woods-voorhees.ogg (OGG)
 - http://www.schiffradio.com/programhighlights?date=20130308

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Forbes contributor and Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis)’s latest blog post makes an argument defending the need for cash to remain as a way to pay.  Excerpts:

“Let’s not kid ourselves, because the end of money, as we know it, really means the beginning of the transactional surveillance State, which makes this a serious debate about the boundaries of State power and the dignity of an individual.”
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“With ultimate tracking capabilities, how does Wolman decide when a government’s ‘right’ becomes a wrong?”
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“Privacy, especially user-defined privacy, sits on a sliding scale that is defined by the individual. One person’s idea of privacy may be anonymity from all and another person’s idea of sufficient privacy may be privacy from aggressive marketing companies and governments but perhaps not from banks. The point being that it is the prerogative of the individual, not book authors or digital money consultants, to determine where one sits on that personal sliding scale.”
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“As Web anthropologist Stowe Boyd proclaims, anonymous cash equals freedom and we should rejoice in that.”

 - http://onforb.es/YoqjgY
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=146661.0 (Further discussion of the post.)

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Forbes contributor and Bitcoin Foundation (@BTCFoundation) board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) considers the impact a government ban on Bitcoin would have on the fledgling currency.  Excerpts:

“The demand for an item, in this case digital cash with user-defined levels of privacy, does not simply evaporate in the face of a jurisdictional ban.”
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“Ironically, the ban would create something like the Streisand effect for Bitcoin generating an awareness for entire new demographic groups and new classes of society.”
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“[Bitcoin is] a bet that career mobility and independent contractor businesses will eventually outstrip the growth of the corporate wage-slave population.”
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“[The government’s] best response to Bitcoin is irrelevancy, or failing that, extreme gold-like market manipulation for as long as possible. The end game for the State is perpetuating the fiat myth — their fiat myth not the populace’s cryptographic Bitcoin myth. They have always known that faith in money is a mass illusion, however they never considered that they wouldn’t be in charge of the illusion.”

 - http://onforb.es/112nF0u
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=139516.0 (Further discussion of this article)

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Businessweek writer Max Raskin shares how there are a number of ways that Bitcoin is a value transfer system unlike any other. Excerpts:

“There’s one currency in Iran that has kept its value and can be used to purchase goods from abroad: bitcoins, the online-only currency.”
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“’I believe that bitcoin is, or will be in the future, a very effective tool for individuals who want to avoid sanctions, currency restrictions, and high inflation in countries such as Iran,’ [Jeremias Kangas of LocalBitcoins.com] wrote in an e-mail.”
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“Regulators can’t easily track the transactions, since bitcoins aren’t issued from a central server.”
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“At online store coinDL.com, shoppers can use bitcoins to buy Beyond Matter, the latest album from Iranian artist Mohammad Rafigh. Anyone in the U.S. downloading songs, which fetch .039 bitcoins or 45¢ each, risks violating U.S. sanctions.”
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“Rafigh has translated some bitcoin software into Farsi for his friends. ‘I love Iran, and if bitcoin is good for me, it can be good for more Iranians like me.’”
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“Iranians working or living abroad can send bitcoins to their families, who can use one of the online currency matchmaking services to find someone willing to exchange bitcoins for euros, rials, or dollars.”
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“The uncertainty [of Iran’s rial] has led some Iranian software developers to ask clients to pay them in bitcoins. ‘Anyone with a computer is able to own, send, and receive them.’”

 - http://buswk.co/Tuo2Ov
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128473.0 (Further discussion of the article)

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Vitalik Buterin from Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) writes on ways Bitcoin has entered the conversation from governments and mega-corporations.  Excerpts:

“As a result of the secretary of the Central Bank of Finland publicizing that bitcoin is legal to use in Finland, many businesses have seized the opportunity to accept bitcoin.”
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“The legal concept of e-money in Germany applies only to instruments that ultimately derive from legal tender currencies, and so Bitcoin is effectively classified as a commodity.”
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“Brazil’s [CVM, securities regulator], ordered the administrator of the ‘Grupo de Investimento Bitcoin’ to suspend what the CVM considered to be an illegal investment fund [which accepted funds only in bitcoins].”
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“Congressman Ron Paul had a subcommittee meet to explore the concept of parallel currencies.  […] Although Bitcoin itself was mentioned only briefly, the hearing provides clear evidence [that the] monetary landscape is changing.”
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“NH State Rep Warden asked the Deputy State Secretary if [accepting bitcoins for campaign donations] was acceptable, the Secretary said yes [with restrictions].”
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“A job posting by Lockheed Martin, an American global aerospace and security company with strong ties to the US military, asking for a “Counter Threat-Finance Analyst [with] knowledge of emerging alternative and mobile payment methods (Bitcoin, Secondlife, etc) desired.”

- http://bit.ly/VKk1re
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=113061.0 (Further discussion of the article).

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Timothy B. Lee (@BinaryBits)’s latest post on Bitcoin explores a frequently raised topic regarding Bitcoin and the law.  Excerpts:

“Nothing like Bitcoin existed when current laws were written. A wide variety of laws regulates banks, money transmitters, currencies, and securities—but none of these categories are a good fit for bitcoins.”
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“Nikolei Kaplanov says ‘so long as you are purchasing legal things and you’re conducting yourself in a manner where you’re making regular exchanges in person or through a company online, there are no legal hurdles whatsoever.’”
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“Kaplanov said it was ‘not a laughable argument’ that Bitcoin miners are money transmitters, though he did think it was a ‘huge stretch.’”
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“Bitcoin exchanges need to register as money-transmitting services with the relevant state or federal authorities and comply with regulations governing money-transmitting services, Kaplanov said.”
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“Bitcoin products keep arriving, and if their popularity grows, states may take a more active interest in regulating the currency than they do now.”
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“Shutting down the network in one country is unlikely to have much effect. It will continue to operate in other jurisdictions, and users in the jurisdiction where the technology is banned can easily participate in Bitcoin transactions via VPN.”
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“[Kaplanov] thinks it would be a bad idea for the US government to do anything dramatic, such as try to outlaw the cryptocurrency.”

- http://bit.ly/T4c3WT
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=103022.0 (Further discussion on the articles)

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Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) describes in a post on Forbes.com how Bitcoin makes it possible for Wikileaks supporters to continue funding even though it has lost access to the financial payment systems due to pressure from governments.  Excerpts:

“Wikileaks has taken in over $32,000 equivalent in more than 1,100 separate bitcoin donations throughout the blockade (1BTC = $10.00). But these amounts may be significantly higher, because it does not even include the individually-generated bitcoin addresses that WikiLeaks provides for donors upon request.”
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“Money was never intended to act as a form of identity tracking or payments restriction and this is why the option for anonymous and untraceable transactions is so vital as society moves to a world of digital currency.”
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“[The financial blockade] should be offensive to most free-minded people that you are not the final arbiter of how and where you spend your money.”

- http://onforb.es/P9GKsH
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=101991.0 (further discussion on BitcoinTalk)

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