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US Treasury Denies It Is Trying To Torpedo Bitcoin
Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog,
In remarks given late last week to the curiously named United States Institute for Peace, the head of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) vociferously denied any attempts at regulating digital currency... specifically Bitcoin.
The speech, entitled “The virtual economy: potential, perplexities and promises”, can be downloaded here for your reading pleasure. But here’s the gist:
http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/speech/pdf/20130613.pdf
- The government views virtual currencies as a “financial service”, and virtual currency exchanges as “financial institutions” that are “as much a part of the financial framework as any other type of financial institution.”
- The government further views that these ‘financial institutions’ have “certain responsibilities.” Namely, to “register with FinCEN” and become an unpaid spy of the US government.
- Resistance is futile. If businesses which provide digital currency services fail to comply, those individuals and companies “are going to be held accountable.” While those who comply “have nothing to fear from Treasury.”
It’s clear that Bitcoin is smack dab on the US government’s radar, despite the digital currency’s tiny market size. But it’s also clear that they don’t understand Bitcoin at all.
They claim, for example, that a digital currency is a ‘financial service’, as if Bitcoin is some sort of mutual fund or home equity line of credit.
Like gold, digital currency is not a financial service. It’s a proxy AGAINST the financial system that takes one’s savings out of fiat currency.
Bitcoin takes things a step further in that it is completely decentralized. There is no Bitcoin issuer that regulates its supply like a central bank, and no tiny elite that has the power to conjure new Bitcoins out of thin air.
As such, Bitcoin itself is nearly impossible to regulate. And the government at least seems to understand this point. Which is why the director so emphatically denies attempting to regulate the digital currency.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
In this short 4-page speech, the Director twice made a connection between Bitcoin and (you guessed it) terrorism. Twice more connected Bitcoin to those who would exploit children. And four times linked digital currency to ‘criminals’ in general.
It’s certainly enough to scare most people away.
And, even though they cannot control Bitcoin, FinCEN is obviously laying the foundation to regulate every business that touches Bitcoin, from exchange houses to swap websites to digital wallet providers.
These companies will undoubtedly be forced to bed down with Uncle Sam and join the Big Brother network of financial snitches.
As we reported a few weeks ago, the government already took down the operators of the Liberty Reserve digital currency service... as well Bernard von Nothaus, the issuer of the now defunct Liberty Dollar.
They even went as far as to brand Nothaus a domestic terrorist for “making, possessing, and selling his own currency”. And even though he was convicted over two years ago, von Nothaus is STILL awaiting sentencing.
It just shows the depths they will sink to enslave people to their fraudulent fiat system. They’ll use any obscure law they can find, and they’ll imprison people if they have to.
And if they can’t, they’ll just regulate an entire industry... all to ensure that people have limited alternatives to their rapidly devaluing paper money.
(As an aside, it’s perfectly legal, and non-reportable in some instances, to hold gold and silver outside of the country, locked away in a non-bank safety deposit box. This is still a great option.)
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Conspiracy Confirmed!
Makes me want it even more.
The Liberty Dollar is perfect 1984 material as it actually contained silver.
Government sucks.
Period.
pods
It's going to be interesting when doctors start to accept bitcoin in the post Obamacare gestapo environment, beginning January 1. I can hardly wait.
We must outlaw teh bitc0inz to stop the pedobear's. I think we can all unite behind this noble cause. I also hear teh bitc0inz supports Hezbollah and gives Sarin to Al CIAda.
You don't have to wait. Doctors are already accepting Bitcoin: http://youtu.be/E4Mqm9F0V30
What you got to say now, Treasury bitchez and Gov trolls!?
Online med consults for bitcoins: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=64287.0;all
That alone...
exactly. that seems to be the general plan:
Will the real Mr Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up
no mention of the Wall Street and Bankster economic terrorists.... par for mudda firkin course.
Because that would require the media to provide balanced reporting and doing their jobs.
Right now 90% of them are flopping around writing coverage that only fresh wrapped fish would deem proper.
Other than Zerohedge and the links to the left. They are all that is left of English Business media that meticulously tears apart a problem and flags issues. The MSM now in Business news, if you followed any of their advice, you'd be broke in a year.
(Mish's Global Economic Analysis is outstanding and he swings a heavy club of reason and sanity, and poke around for Cognitive Dissonance's stuff, outstanding pontification and philosophy.)
Bitcoin rapes babies.
It'll eat your children!
It'll burn your crops, poison your water supply, and bring havoc to your nation!
Bitcoin is a direct spawn of Satan.
Waiiiiiiiit...
I'm confused.
My mom used to tell me that!
Next ting you'll tell me is it's genetically modified and patented by Goldman.
FLASH THIS JUST IN
BITCOIN SENDING MISSLES AND TROOPS TO SYRIA
BITCOIN DENIES SPYING ON INNOCENT BYSTANDERS
BITCOIN USED TO BUY 15 GAZILLION ROUNDS OF 40 CAL HOLLOW POINTS
Teh Bitc0inz makes baby Jesus cry.
The bitcoin slid around the side of the door frame. Back pressed against the wall, BtC checked his corner quickly. A reply of random staccato tacking as bullet wizzed wildly everywhere. BtC wiped his hand on a pant leg to clear of the dirt and blood and pulled his laptop out. BtC steadily loaded the Bitcoin miner and checked on the crunching. 'Soon' he hoped.
"We know you're in there, come out rendered algorithm trading as a capital device!!!" shots rang out a again. "Motherfucker!!" Followed by the steady chug of AR-15 pumping out rounds, followed by various calibres after the fact fired in every direction.
BtC noticed he'd generated a set. He finalized the transaction, then 200 more BtC's showed up, to which they pulled out their laptops and started to mine BtC from their systems. BtC checked around the doorway and as usual the entire room was packed with blind well heeled gentlemen shooting each other and admonishing staff to take paycuts simultaneously with a forced monthly real inflation of 3%.
BtC shook his head then started to generate another set. All the Bitcoins knew it was only a matter of time before those loons shot each other and unicorns that shat skittles then BtC would bring some measure of responsible currency management by proxy of the way Bitcoins are set up. The machines to mine them all haven't been invented yet and would require some really freaky spacial quantum math that about four people on the planet know how to do it....barely. It's absurd complexity and infinite variation with finite dimensions is what makes it impossible to regulate.
The End, best kid's bedtime story ever.
Bitcoin is genetically modified from naturally occuring greed, and is patented by Monsanto. Just like everything else in the world.
Bitcoin rapes babies.
It'll eat your children!
It'll burn your crops, poison your water supply, and bring havoc to your nation!
So it's Government Business as usual.
Pretty much.
With an added fascist twist, one has to pay for net service and procure a device from some hated "capitalistic" company.
Aside from that, the homeless, the destitute & the panhandlers need not beg for this type of "hot money"...the government has a program for them ;-)
And man does that ever have their undies in a bunch!
Yes it does. "Digital currencies" are a GRAVE threat to central banks everywhere. They WILL be crushed under regulation, legal entanglements or outright bans (ask InTrade about that). Currency control is one of the last things sovereigns have at their discretion to sweep the bad debt under the rug. Take that away and they would have to <gasp!> live within their means (or however far they can tax before the pitchfork-n-torches crowd shows up on their doorstep).
I still hold my small BitCoin account. If only out of a morbid sense of curiosity.
"They WILL be crushed under regulation, legal entanglements or outright bans (ask InTrade about that)."
InTrade was centralized. Bitcoin isn't. So it can't be stopped.
There are a lot of fronts that bitcoin stands well on. Even if you forgo using it to hide your wealth, you can still use it as a much better way to buy things internationally than anything else. And those merchants don't have to give a fuck about uncle sam or master card
and as I said a few times, it is a lot easier to mine bitcoins right now and use them to buy PMs than it is to actually mine PMs
I've already received three orders of silver and one order of gold since I've been mining btc - you guys are on ZH for fucks sake and completely asleep at the wheel..
all you ZH haters will still have buyin periods since its price should swoon for the next 6 months but come early next year it should ratchet up a few more notches once this latest ASIC mad dash pans out
Digital currencies are fine with the government as long as they are run, monitored, tracked and logged by the government, and by corollary, the established banking system.
It's all about control.
EVERY TRANSACTION IS TAXABLE/TRACEABLE when it is digital- the ultimate dream of every govt
I just bought a bunch of shirts from Thailand directly using BTC.. no tax.. you guys are freaking stuck on loonybin about btc
how can any of you still be on the internet these days the way you are petrified of da govment?
I don't think they were referencing btc today, but in general what the motive for the .gov is with respect to digital currency. It's not btc itself, it's whatever digital currency the .gov wants incorporated ON THEIR TERMS and under their control. You bet, once in place, you will be monitored, tracked, and taxed. Maybe not btc, but surely some other mechanism. So simple to monitor everyone with computer programs.
and a pox!
and a GYPSY CURSE
Gypsy curses are the best.
"For this offense you will be dragged through all 18 holes of a poorly maintained golf course by deranged camels -- nude!"
Holy smokes! I promise I'll be good
Whatever you do, do not fuck around with gypsies. That's the lesson here.
especially ones that own camels.
Sad, but they are right...that the bitcoin will be eventually eaten by the spawn of the creature from Jekyll Island!
Major drug dealers operate in US Dollars - in fact, weighing the money by the ton.
BAN THE US DOLLAR!
Maybe FINCEN should look into how this drug money is handled/laundered?
Oh wait, they get a cut, I'm sorry.
Can you say hyprocritical?
I knew you could.
pods
They hate the Euro too, as it comes in 200 and 500 EUR notes. They hate that kind of competition cutting into their Velocity of Money.
Ban the Euro! /s
Bitcoin is a tool. Bitcoin is an inanimate virtual object.
Director, please quit relating a tool as 'terroristic'.
A tool created as a proof of concept, and utilized by con men and fools, each thinking they're getting one over on the other.
Let's leave government out of this discussion, shall we?
You need TOR for that....
Bitcoin: For all your Drug and Child Pornography needs.
Seems to be a lot of that stuff going around before Bitcoin was a thought.
Yes! Yes! Outlaw Teh Bitc0inz because of the pedobears! IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN!
Wanna know what your government will look like in 50 years when the majority of voters is women? Look no further than Xeno.
lol...before a gleam in bitsters eye.
I'll say again, as a concept, as a device, to keep prying eyes away from what someone chooses to do with their money, bitcoin is ok in my book.
But, its clearly not money...money is universal.
Like throwing gasoline on a fire, offering risk free (relatively) trade of the stuff has only encouraged the internet drug trade and child through Silk Road.
Go back to Huffpo where you belong
Not all, I'm afraid there's still plenty of drug dealers and other criminals that insist on cash.
What a stupid comment.
Last I checked, the US Dollar is used as intermediate in those you list above, PLUS it finances and enables wars, government sponsored NSA cyberterrorism, legalized Wall Street theft, grand scale government corruption, and the ongoing war on the middle class.
Bitcoin - as well as any other currency - is ultimately just a tool. Your sort of wharrgarbl about one or the other really just exposes your myopic bias, nothing more, nothing less.
Bitcoin - as well as any other currency - is ultimately just a tool. Your sort of wharrgarbl about one or the other really just exposes your myopic bias, nothing more, nothing less.
In the eyes of big brother, if you try to operate outside of the system you are a threat to the system and therefore a terrorist. It's pretty simple.
King Dollar!
To this day, the only monetary unit never once used for anything nefarious ever. Fact.
Yea, the working group has no interest in any commodity that competes with the central bank's asswipe. I am too fucking cynical to buy that. Fuck you Treasury.
Obey or be dealt with. No other solutions or choice in the matter. Sounds like Freedom to me....
No shit, since when has the government EVER been concerned with laws?
Oh right, when WE break them.
pods
What HASN'T the Obowel Movement lied about?
Figure it this way, If it comes out of the Obowel Movement's liehole, the opposite is true....think AFFORDABLE CARE Act.....
What HASN'T the Obowel Movement lied about, down arrowing cowards?
I ask often, but Obowel voters cower more often......
Like I maintained......those Obowel wipers are cowardly!!!!
The down arrows you receive are from us that see both political parties as being two sides of the same coin. You've been here for 17 weeks, that is ample time to learn such.
If you don't understand, stick to fox news comment boards.
Correct, one foot out of the matrix is one foot IN the matrix.
pods
Now that would definitely be confusing.
I think pods was alluding that stackin has discovered ZH, therefore one foot is out of the matrix.
Yet, he also plays partisan games, showing that he cant dislodge his other.
He'll snap out of it, some people just really like to cling to their team.
All will fail against bitcoin.
Did you forget the /s?, or are you one of those winkleweenies?
He has a pretty cool wizard avatar tho.
That's Pai Mai
Cage match! In the mofo cage!!!1!
when your segment of internet is disconnected for good and when the power goes out, you won't be so smug.
But I will be. I have gold & silver. Your btc are worthless to me.
** edit: 3 people with sandy-vagina-coins are gonna be very sorry when the lights go out
Bitcoin > Terrorism. A-yup. They're just pissed because the Fedsters won't get their vig.
....competition and all that....hehehehehe
This is a "one Ponzi" world, ya can't dig into their profits dontchaknow.
Keep voting. Pull my finger.. We need your consent to keep Uncle Sham goin'.
Simon Black, how do I learn more about subspace interdimensional lock boxes? I'd like to store my gold at a non-terra datum in conventional spacetime, but the lift costs for Mercury-Venus Lagrange Point injection are a bit, may I say, "steep"...could you send a pamplet? Also, is there a catalog for your handcrafted llama-fur socks? thx, Park
+1 I just snarfed scotch out my nose upon reading that.
SYSTEM NOTICE: You have used up your daily quota of snark. To increase your snark quota contact ZH Customer Support and ask for the premium snarking package. Thank you! Team-ZH
Now thats funny, I don't care who you are !!!
Hulk ... laugh!
Thank you Park AND cougar!!
I miss the good old days when simon complained about having to drive last years Mercedes because the ferrari was overheating.
I always wondered why he spent so much time in Bangcock Thailand.
If you can't store it in extra-solar orbit, it's not yours?
One pic that describes the Russia-US relations... (just taken at the G8)
http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-06-17T211055Z_1_CBRE95G1M...
They both have interlocked fingers - a sign of enmity. Putin has wide opened legs with no smile... he feels dominant... Obama legs are not totally open and with the face he's doing... he feels weak compared to Putin and that pisses him off due to his ego.
Their relation and egos could end up being very dangerous since the whole thing is over Syria.
Who do you think sucked his thumb longer?
Putin has chunks of guys like you in his stool.
I bet they've already done the DNA tests on that one.
Chick Norris is Putin's maid.
This is for you Otto. I've been busy lately, but still love my sports.
Did Vladimir Putin steal Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring? | Boston Herald
Vladimir Putin denies stealing Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring - CBSSports.com
good luck to that cheesepope trying to get it back.
lulz.
What's a cheesepope? I keep swing this and don't what it is...
You were just given the numerator Iridium Rebel.
It's up to you, to figure out the second half of the 'legend/biblical side' of things.
They have mediterranean origins.
Is it like a cheesemonger?
I'm not telling you IridiumRebel . You're too smart, and will figure it out over time. (another hint)
Jeebus. I'm gonna have to google this and have anti-Semite added to my Main Core dossier. Great.
It has nothing whatever to do with midgets. Of this I am confident, having researched it extensively.
So the SEC won't get involved?
LMAO Knuks. Nice work. Slap that Cheetah, around.
Fucking. Love. Knukles. You good too Yen. Otto is a little angry, but I got love for him.
I propose me midrare.....with an apple in my mouth as he and other Russian beauties roast me over a spit in a Siberia. A lovely Bordeaux with a port glaze and fingerling potatoes would suffice. It'd be the biggest shit he ever took. The satisfying kind that has that semi feel of orgasm when the shit tale leaves his anus.
Edit: I would like to state for the record that Vladimir Putin is tougher than me.
Otto- you made my day. That's one funny-ass comment right there.
that's great- my new wallpaper. putin is probably itching to go kick the shit out of that trash talking pussy canuck harper.
Otto......some more pics of Putin/obummer from today.........
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2343401/Obama-Putin-look-awkward...
anyone seen francis today?
Reading the visuals.
Putin: Showed that little squeege who's the fucking boss. And I don't give a rats ass about how his Irish feelings have been hurt. Useless cunt.
Obie: God I hate this shit. I best look tough for Reggie. Reggie!
It does kinda help to have a leader who at least looks tough. Our guy looks like he just had a bad tuna sandwich. I'm surprised Putin isn't clad in a Russian bear headdress, loin cloth and AK-47.
Now that Putin is single, he can show up with an Amazoness and rub miss manliness in their faces.... After he finds some more artifacts and rides a wild bear
Hopefully the voters in Calgary southwest remember what a disgusting popinjay of isreal harper turned out to be.
And the serfs will have to die because of his ego.... and his nobel peace prix
He may be an asshole- but he'll always be a Zionist puppet.
That picture speaks volumes:
Putin: "You've been a bad boy Barrack."
Obama: "Yeah, I know it."
"trade" "mark" . . . "trademark"
Fiat is the last bastion for criminal activity.
Ironically, Fiat is the last bastion of economic freedom, until faith in Fiat is lost.
Safes, will always include Fiat in their inventories, if not just for sentimental value.
emphasis on a 'non bank' safe deposit box!
Hardened, cement encased SAFE.
Meh, safety deposit boxes have been raided here in the UK.
yep
Fine, if uncle Sam doesn't want bit coin.
That still leaves the rest of the world.
"Oh no, we're not trying to shut down the terrorist-infested child-mol'stn' nest of degenerate criminals. No sir. Go right ahead and sink your money into them. We double-dog dare ya."
cougar_w Cash will always exist! Governments can't fight wars without it.
Having the ablity to legally & anonomously purchase an item is my right!
It seems my humor has surpassed the esoteric and entered into the sublime.
I will now leave behind this mortal search for meaningless truths and become one with the total mind of The One Carlin.
I appreciate your humor. I, also enjoy George Carlin. (egosentric or esoteric)?
I'm still buying silver.
I'm buying West Vagina farmland, some toys, then smore silver with the leftovers......then some silver each month as long as I still get a pension, measly as it is.....
Hedge your bets...add some Au, food, ammo, and water to your stack.
rice
One day people people around the globe will quickly realize that the USSA doesn't produce anything and notice all of our gold has been shipped east. The only people listening to clowns like "the director" will be Rahm and Namny Bloomburg.
Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Since Bitcoins are not made of metal, this law doesn't apply to them. But it is clear that the authors of this law didn't want anything but US currency being used within the US. (It would appear that attempting to buy something in the US with Canadian or Mexican coins could potentially land you in prison for up to 5 years.) I think the law will be extended to Bitcoins if they start to become popular.
This is the best way to stifle competition to the "legal tender". As the economy becomes more desperate they will have to start using the FEMA camps to contain the black market overload of convictions. Perhaps summary executions would be more cost effective for the land of the free.
Humph.
And I thought the criminal activity was bailing out malfeasant banks and failed corporations with taxpayer money by the FED, the Treasury, and the CONgress.
The Treasury has a "Financial Crimes Enforcement Network"???!!!???
They must have their hands full.
So it take it that it's not just the SEC that has a huge porn collection.
Bitcoin will be long forgotten once the Gold Bullion Debit Card is opeartional. It allows people to hold their gold outside the banking system until an transaction is done by a debit card, then just enough gold is sold (in milligrams) to offset the tranasction. The currency is merely a brief intermediary.
That will never work.
Now if it were based on heroin you might have something.
I think I must be channeling the dark, disillusioned ghost of Groucho Marx today, or something.
Tell that to the billions of people around the world (especially CHina & India) who own gold.
Is it true that Cats absorb the souls of their prey?
A sliver of precious metal could be embedded into a paper document and be used as cash. A banker could not wantonly create money because the money has no value unless it has the metal of equal value embedded. Gets rid of counterparty risk as well. Better than whats there now but not as portable or concealable as bitcoin. There would be black market exchanges in various countries so you would not have to physically transport the cash if it gained international recognition.
I don't see where Bitcoin is linked to terrorism directly in the speech.
The Director should refrain from disparaging his moral betters.
You mean her moral betters ...
Jennifer Shasky Calvery has been FinCEN director since September 2012.
http://cdn.americanbanker.com/media/newspics/shasky_jen3_365.jpg
The real issue is that bitcoin is there to enable free trade, i.e. "underground" economies. Once fiat is converted into btc or btc is earned off the radar the parasites are out of the equation. There is no need for parasite enabled or authorized systems. All they can really do is try to destroy the blockchain, fudge the internet, or provide draconian consequences for those caught using btc. Like PM's (and cash), btc is peer to peer but more portable and concealable and easily secured than PM's. Those that understand the concept of money know the cat is out of the bag on this type of money. Even if they find a way to destroy btc something similar and more indestuctible that enables authentic free trade will replace it.The concept will survive because it is wanted, needed, and its time is here. This must terrify the slavers who understand what is happening and I am sure they are trying to find a solution. The only solution I can think of is a global police state with the death penalty for those caught engaging in underground economic activity. I don't know how you spin granny selling banana bread from her kitchen as terrorism or pedophilia, which our central planners engage in themselves. Economics is an important dimension in the war for freedom and btc will play a major role in that dimension.
All they have left at this point is mind control, i.e. BS and FUD
The Bitcoin Channel
...Of course criminals scrupulously avoid virtuous currencies like the US dollar.
Bitcoin....
Can you hold it?
..................
yes you can print bitcoins to paper and then electronically shred the electronice files from your hard drive. In my opinion the biggest problem with bitcoin is that its just another currency.
" just another currency"
What does that mean? Please expand.
Currencies fail. Don't get me wrong, I think I like bitcoin, but if swiss banks couldn't stand up to US govt intrusion, how can bitcoin? And how long until someone cracks the encryption keys?
The Fed's electronic-QE...
Can you hold it?
When huge retailers like Amazon.com start accepting Bitcoin, it will hit a critical mass that no one, least of all the Federal Government, will be able to stop.
At that point, it won't matter whether you can exchange it for dollars or not. THis is what TPTB and many others dont understand. That BTC is a true currency. You don't need to be able to exchange it for dollars anymore than if you go to your local grocery store and need to exchange your dollars for Yen. You will be able to buy virtually anything you want with BTC, making currency like US dollars and Euros, and brick and mortar financial institutions like JP Morgan and Bank of America, obsolete.
The fact that you can also do Bitcoin exchanges at virtually any neighborhood in the US (just search"bitcoin" on Craigslist) even strengthens BTC appeal.
The genie is out of the bottle an no one can put it back in.
slow down.. its not there yet.
it has about 2 to 3 steps of an eco system but most merchants are in a quandry to have to switch out most of their btc sales for either expenses where almost all are not in btc and at some point convert to show tax in $$$
a few businesses can pay some of their costs in btc (rent, web dev, hosting, etc) and amazon might be able to do that somewhat.
what you really wanted to say is once PECO or someone providing electricity takes btc then you will see some next level shit
look internation first.. and small shops with low expenses.. they will lead the early phase
Same happened to NORFED when they supported Ron Paul in 2007 and were raided by the FBI, Bernard von Nat Hause is still awaiting his sentencing from a sham trail.
bitcoin is the real goal of the current trend: one currency... how long it took the Europeans to have a common currency??? well we willsee how long for a global currency.
Brilliant insight. Brilliant! this is the NWO's single currency, being introduced as a rebel geek underground cult.
fwiw: Will the real Mr Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up
Who runs this bitcoin? The same brat class that run fiat. Different name; same scam. Much like Microsoft vs Apple. Bull$hit.
It is not gold or silver. It is just another scam.
if your theory is correct then you better create a Bitcoin income stream - soon those fiat mongers are going to make it so you can only buy Preciousss with BTC!