Bitcoin Forum

Hello everybody.  I'm an attorney that works with start-ups and the finance industry.  I tackle formation issues, together with intellectual property and commercial matters.  I'd just like to introduce myself.

I've lurked here for a bit and read a lot of people asking for a referral for a lawyer who is an expert in US bitcoin law.  I'm sorry to say that there aren't any.  In fact, there's really no such thing as bitcoin law, in the traditional sense.  There are a few rules and some guidance given by FinCen, but almost nothing from state authorities and even fewer actual, live cases.

There are plenty of attorneys who specialize in financial services regulation, but those of us who are interested in bitcoin know what we don't know - "known unknowns" as one of our leaders once put it.  

I hope that I can help around here!  I can't really give legal advice on the boards because I'm working with limited information.  Nonetheless, I will provide general information as best as I can.

Welcome to the forum.  As far as I know at this point there are no laws concerning bitcoin and the US government does not even recognize it as a currency.  I am sure this will change but would certainly appreciate knowledge as we are running a variety of bitcoin businesses. 

To me, bitcoins are like the Internet in 1995.  It was a very good time to get into the Internet business back then, and it's a great time to get into the Bitcoin service industry now.  Welcome to the forum, and I may hit you up if I'm forced to do any work in the US :)

Rosa

off topic, just curious what kind of attorney are you?

R U a criminal lawyer?

Welcome to the community, lots of opportunity for business/clients within the Bitcoin world.

Its a pleasure watching entire businesses and new fields popup around bitcoin, welcome

Your a lawyer, im a buisiness owner. A good match :D

I need a lawyer for a bitcoin startup!   Are you comfortable with FinCEN and BSA?    I keep looking around where I live but I can't get any love over here.

my website is http://cashintocoins.com.   Does anything stand out as "OMG Take it down before the fbi shows up"

Welcome to the internet.  We are all lawyers here.

Welcome

Welcome. Can you tell me why lawyer jokes often make mention of sharks?

Welcome,

  This is definitely a good time to learn about this up and coming form of transactions.

  I would recommend mining and trading a bit just to get a better handle on all this works.  The experience may pay off when clients begin asking about this stuff.

Welcome

Welcome

The only difference between Bitcoins and Swagbucks or any other Ticket/Credit system is that Bitcoins are POPULAR. When things get popular then greedy folks want to put their hands in and control it. Bitcoins = Barter and as of right now that is legal. If Bitcoins were outlawed then you could just write a ".01" on a piece of paper and hand it to the person.

That reminds me of the commercial quote, "I'm not a doctor but I do play one on TV". Only in this case it is, "I'm not a lawyer but I do play one on the Internet".

Welcome!

Welcome. Its great to have lawyers interested in bitcoins before they start going after it. Nothing is more frustrating then people who do not know what they are doing trying to control something with potential.

If bitcoin works as advertised, you'll need to find a new profession.

Hello.

Thank you for the warm welcome! Thanks for your PMs, as well. There are a lot of people out there with real-deal bitcoin matters and I'm happy to be of assistance however I can.

Looks like we're going to need a lot of lawyers getting bitcoin established without making many of us political prisoners.

If you thought the IRS going after the Tea party was bad just wait till your IRS agent gets a whiff your into bitcoin...

Harvey Levin.... the man has done well for himself!

WELCOME!!!

We dont like your type round these parts.. JK :D

Hello

Also JK :)

Hi!

Welcome to the forums,
it's nice to see lawyers on here.
All of my law friend's consider it too risky/boring when it's quite the opposite. haha

Hi!

+1

Yes, this. I think too many people are getting wrapped around the popularity of bitcoin and suddenly thinking it's something more than a virtual currency--with emphasis on virtual.

Welcome to the forums

hello

$80k in MTG cards? This guy has it figured out.

Welcome. I look forward to reading your posts on subjects that are important to us all.  Thanks in advance for any value added to the discussion.

Welcome to the forums!

Welcome to the forum and the world of Bitcoin!  :)

Welcome, And remember to tell them, "Things Can Take a Long Time"   :)

That is probably the most important bit of legal advice I could ever give.

Welcome to the forum, good luck and have fun here  ;)

Welcome :)

It's the wild west right now - we're going to need people like you!

yeah the people who can teach us  a commercial law and fights againts scammer

welcome U

One of the problems plaguing bitcoin right now is the time it takes to get coins. Bank transfers can take 4-5 business days which, taking into account the weekends, could be over a week before you are able to purchase BTC.

Many people are reluctant to accept a faster form of payment like PayPal, credit cards, etc. because the transactions are reversible and you can't get the BTC back.

What would you think of an exchange that sold a digital object of value such as an ebook or music, then included a free amount of BTC? Since BTC are essentially "play money" and of no legal value, their inclusion would not be part of the transaction, just a freebie from the seller of the digital product.

This would mean people who paid with PayPal, etc. couldn't reverse the charge once they'd received the digital product.

Any legal issues?

Welcome to the community, lots of opportunity for business/clients within the Bitcoin world

Welcome!

Presuming you have a good working knowledge of Bitcoin, can you give us your take on where you see US Law going in terms of attempting to regulate it or outright outlaw using bitcoin?

Thanks.

Sure.

Bitcoin and other forms of virtual currency are already regulated on the federal level.  The states are typically slower to respond to these kinds of issues.  No state, as far as I know, has given any  regulatory guidance, let alone passed any new amendments directly addressing virtual currency.  Some states, like California, have very broad money transmitter regulations that already include virtual currency.  Some States, like New York, have laws on the books that are too vague to tell whether they apply to virtual currency.

As to the future: Bitcoin will not be "outlawed" at the federal level.  I don't see any evidence of that whatsoever.  To the contrary, I see the federal regulators giving very explicit guidance about how they intend to enforce the existing laws to include virtual currency.  It will be regulated.  The state level will, by definition, be inconsistent.  It's not out of the question that some states will refuse to grant money transmitter licenses to bitcoin businesses.  The nature of state sovereignty permits them to do so.  But is it likely? No.  I believe that the states will eventually follow the federal trailblazers at FinCEN and adopt similar regulations.

Great to have you aboard!

Bitcoin is not play money.  It is, at minimum, valuable virtual currency.  Moreover, the law, as to financial transactions, follows function, not form.  Financial transactions, by their nature, can be structured in creative, complex ways to avoid the letter of the law.  Courts have always looked to the function of those transactions, not the structure, to determine how they ought to be regulated.  Thus, an exchange that sought to circumvent money transmitter regulations in that way would probably just be treated as if they hadn't.

tl;dr: Obvious evasion is obvious.