Bitcoin Forum

The EU’s executive body has promised new legislation in the Spring to make sure the exchanges and users of virtual currency platforms such as Bitcoin are identifiable and traceable.
Seems price of Bitcoin will fall down?

I don't have problems providing my ID when withdrawing to fiat but why would the price of bitcoin fall down this move will make bitcoin more legitimate across Europe and won't be associated only with shady deals over the Internet. I am only worried about paying taxes on cryptocurrencies.

its all about the FIAT hoarding exchanges.
relax

Time will show. But I don't think so. That can do what they want but there is no way of ensuring all users of Bitcoin is identifiable. They can do what they want with exchanges running in EU but they cannot control the Bitcoin network.

I don't think this is as bad as everyone thinks, one of the things that is holding bitcoin back in my opinion from mainstream mass adoption is the fact that it is associated with a lot of dodgy dealings, I know myself when mentioning it and also when it has been in the news it is never as positive as it should be.

If that stigma of it being 'illegal' can be reduced or removed I would envision a lot more people taking it seriously as a real use currency.

Yeah I second that. If there is a way to trace back all the Bitcoin scammers the image of Bitcoin will be cleared and people will think of it as legitimate Internet money and not like thieves are out there to steal your cash every day because they can.

I think this is a good idea.
If something is legal , the better it is.
Price will not fall because of this i think.

From what source did you read this?
I think that is good news. Legal is better.

+1 shutting down non legit fiat hoarding websites that dont want to follow basic consumer protection rules will clean up bitcoin as a sideeffect.

having basement dwellers who hide behind proxies and hoard millions of euro's of customer funds, should never happen. especially letting them continue long enough to hoard enough to then make the gox/cryptsy claim of hacking.

we need legit and trusting third parties if normal folk are going to get into bitcoin

So what difference from current situation? Because I had already send copy of my ID card to validate account at exchange. I worried my ID card could be misused if their database is hacked, but exchanges requesting ID card proofs already or you have to look elsewhere if your worried about someone else misusing your identity...

if the exchange is registered as a MSB (money service business) then it is asking for data for official reasons that are mandated by the rules of being a MSB.
if its not registered to any financial institution/agency, then who knows what they are doing with the data

Much as we'd enjoy seeing this news pull the price down, it seem like it didn't. Exchanges and cash out services are already asking IDs even before this news sprouted.
So i don't think this will affect the price as well. try again.  ;D

I don't expect any reaction.

My guess is that, since the EU is not about to end Bitcoin anonymity (how could they?) - there'll be no impact on price.

not to mention that the market right now it's not exactly populated by the so called average joe, but more by manipulators, and people that will buy bitcoin no matter what...

 http://fortune.com/2016/02/03/bitcoin-europe-crackdown/
here is the source!
They say "Still, the Paris attacks last November created an atmosphere in which the European Commission must be seen to be doing what it can. For virtual currencies, this is the fallout."
I was wondering whether this could lower the price or increase it.
I do think as you but I was also thinking that anonymity is a plus too to increase the mass adoption of bitcoin, just like cash is for money (whether this is dodgy or not).

It might even make Bitcoin a bit more popular by the average joe now Bitcoin is being "less anonymous" and thus less "shady". Their worry is that Bitcoin's "anonymity" is the reason why so many criminals are using it. Perhaps their view on this might change due to this "news". Who knows. :D

The EC is pushing for additional regulation for *exchanges*, Bitcoin anonymity is not under threat. The article is pretty dire (I've read worse though) but it does manage to qualify its breathless "bye bye Bitcoin anonymity" sound bite.

In general, if the EC says something and the media then say OMG EU BAN! - it's bollocks.

By the sound of it you can't fart near a European exchange without having to provide evidence of the food that made the smell so not much is gonna change.

I think that price is almost always affected by negative news, so yes, I think this will make Bitcoin go somewhat. As others, I do not have problem in providing my info to withdraw to fiat either, or even to use some exchange, if that means protection later when the exchange falls.

I don't see why. Even most of the bitcoins are used at the dark web and such kind of people want to remain in full anonymity. But bitcoin is regulated in the same or almost the same way even in other countries (including USA) and these actions were not reflected at all at the price of bitcoin when was made. So I do not see the reason why this time may be different.

These action were waited and will be even more frequent in the future. If the most developed countries make such kind of regulations soon or later every other country follow those. And I think that these action only can make stronger bitcoin and its status in every country in which are made.

Well when this news was released the other day which has now had time to get around the price actually increased by about $30 so there was a small reaction but not what you would have thought and that price has come back down a little now but still higher than pre news.
This does not bother me at all and in fact it is probably a good thing to keep track of the exchanges and hopefully make them accountable.
There can still be p2p trades if people still want anonymity while buying so where is the problem?

For years, the Bitcoin economy has operated in relative freedom from the hand of state governments. With the EU’s proposals, that era may be coming to an end.Its a very bad , but in USA its okey!

In what way is it OK in the US but not in the EU? It seems to me that there is nothing being proposed here that isn't already implemented in the US.

in usa it's not okey, there are even more contorl about exchange and stuff, take new york for example it was even removed by anymajor exchange, and now they operate only with gemini exchange, due to heavy restrictions about bitcoin

if all these regulation will help bitcoin grows among those average joe i'm fine with it, but i will avoid it like the plague

As for us the average users, we shouldn't be that badly affected at all, so there's no reason to panic.

That being said it wont affect the price as much as the current block size issue does.

If EU create some kind of anti bitcoin law then it will be only respected in EU zone. What will stop people from using Russian or Asian Exchanges?
All they achieve by pushing that unfavorable law is situation when bitcoin trading will move outside EU.

Even with that law people can easily buy and sell stuffs for bitcoin without exchanging that for fiat. I don't think there will be any price reaction for this.

Well, some, perhaps most, trade on EU exchanges will continue - for the same reason that some, perhaps most, US residents continue to use US exchanges - regulation makes them feel they're safer. But yes, people who don't want to give up their anonymity will simply trade outside the EU (or trade OTC - as far as I know this proposed measure doesn't affect localbitcoins).

There is a already request to provide ID Card to validate your account in EU Exchange. I do not see any difference.
There will be price reaction on such preauction if Bitcoin is mainly used because of anonymity by some black market activity.

I think it's only to remove bitcoin from black markets, price might fall a little bit down, but not alot, it will be better for everyone except black market users

First, they can't do that, even if they try they couldn't block anonimity %100.
Second, there is no source for that news. Show us the source if you say something reasonable.

It's FUD, but like all good FUD it has some basis in reality:

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/criminal/files/com_2016_50_en.pdf

The tl;dr version is: European exchanges will be subject to AML/KYC, bringing them in line with exchanges in the US.

I guess "Bitcoin exchanges: European-US harmonisation imminent" doesn't have quite the same ring as "EU is about to end bitcoin anonymity". Though it does have the advantage of being factually correct. I live in the EU and this will affect me ... not at all.

For laughs, here's what price has done since this shocking announcement. (http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD#rg180zczsg2016-02-04zeg2016-03-02ztgSzl)