Bitcoin Forum

Source #1 (https://cointelegraph.com/tags/bitcoin-regulation) #2 (http://www.wired.co.uk/article/six-ways-to-regulate-cryptocurrency-without-destroying-its-future)

I think that regulation is something that is inevitable and more and more countries will decide to regulate Bitcoin in some way. But I don't think that regulation is equal to centralization. Bitcoin can be regulated and decentralized at the same time.
Regulation means seting some rules how Bitcoin should be treated, what is legal and what isn't, how it should be fitted into financial framework.
I think that regulation could strengthen Bitcoin and help it to be more accepted, we don't have to be afraid of that.

Regulations are set by a central authority without the approval of another parts involved on the situation (Bitcoin enthusiasts). Banks and governments create the rules they want and impose it to you. And with rules the taxes come together... By dealing with Crypto-Currency you will be just working for the government (that doesn't share the risk when you are investing on this volatile market, but wants a peice of the final profit). I think it's very centralized.

But indeed it's inevitable...

I think we will have a combination of both those things happening concurrently. You will have centralized exchanges getting more regulated but at the same time you will have decentralized exchanges getting more popular because of it. The best part about this all is that we let the free markets decide which is better. If people who are getting into crypto truly understand what this game is about, then in 5 years time I think DEX's will dominate the scene more, and I sincerely hope this progression happens.

I totally disagree to that, regulation is not equals to decentralization but will finally lead it to centralization. The way most government view bitcoin is not the same we investors may view it. They may claim to regulate bitcoin but end up placing rules and law that will place bitcoin into the hands of the riches; there won't be normal circulation of bitcoin the way it is now.

I think you have somewhat misunderstood on previous statement. Here regulations means, a country specific framework. No countries will be able to control the bitcoin network. IT will remains de-centralized in all true senses. But the countries may provide regulations on how bitcoin or other crypto currencies should be treated within their country limit. They may legalize it, ban it or impose taxes on it. This is what is meant in the previous statement and that's true!

Regulation is inevitable and the way bitcoin is progressing, majority of the countries will legalize it in near future because that would provide them with a steady flow of tax income and also help the unemployment scenario to some extent. But no government will be able to control the bitcoin network in any way. They can simply tell their citizens about their entitlement within their jurisdiction limit. 

More regulation in bitcoin is inevitable. There are too many illegal activities occurring in terms of money laundering and tax evasion and so greater regulation is needed. In crypto as a whole there are then the many issues with scams and such that regulation will hope to target.

Ecactly that was my point. I don't know why people think that with regulation governments will be able to control Bitcoin network. This only shows how little understanding and knowledge people have when Bitcoin is involved.
Regulation is just legal framework how some government in some country will try to set the rules for cryptocurrencies and citizens who use them. But they can't control Bitcoin network, don't mix these things together!

Regulation of the exchanges is a good idea)) concidering the news about bots manipulating the market, it's essential. So if you were wondering how Bitcoin suddenly appreciated in value by a factor of 10 within the span of one month, well, this may be why

I think imposing regulations will likely to happen for bitcoin, it is because I'm sure that government will not stop until they were able to find ways on how to control the market of cryptos especially bitcoin. Time will come that bitcoin will become legal in the country's market but surely government will control the market as well as exchanges.

all countries are now making regulations about this bitcoin, this can not be rejected by anyone including us [bitcoin lovers]. this is because the government wants this bitcoin also centered by government regulations.

The most possible scene would be, there will be more regulations to happen to make it easier for investors to exchange their digital currency to fiat money. Easy access and governed transaction will be imposed if bitcoin exchange is regulated. This is the future of cryptocurrency where it would be like business and the government would impose taxation in bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, so better to be regulated rather than being banned.

It depends on what the regulations will bring to the table. For instance you can require exchanges to register as companies and have collateral and insurance that will pay for the damages in case of a loss of funds on their part. This is great as the exchanges were always the weak point in crypto security.

On the other hand the regulator may require full disclosure: client's names, coin addresses, balances... That would be a disaster.
I'm of course comparing the best scenario with the worst to give you a perspective, but such things can happen. We can't deny it. That's one of the reasons why i'm afraid of regulations and would prefer more decentralization, even if the exchanges would remain a wild west.

It's true my brother ,, I strongly agree with you, while there is no clear regulation we will continue like this, stick to our principles, to be successful with Bitcoin.
In fact almost all over the world bitcoin is still accepted, it's a sign Bitcoin remains one of the right investment options for the world community ..

If Bitcoin is going to be a mainstream technology, then it will gave some kind of government regulations. If it is just a black market currency, then it can exist without regulations. It really depends on how we as the users of it want it to exist. I think the direction it is going now is to be mainstream and regulated. I don’t think we can change its course now unless governments decide to ban it.

Feel free to create a union of Bitcoin enthusiasts that will hire some good lawyers and economists (honestly crypto society is lacking of them), make some summits where you will invite government authorities and bankers, discuss the situation around cryptocurrencies and how it can work in current society, then prepare a project of the healthy crypto regulation and push it to the government. Then it will be approved by both sides. Does it sound too hard? Unfortunately I haven't see a strong will to do something like that. Both sides only scream that everything is bad.

IMO there would be more regulations that will occur and its really inevitable.There are countries that already implemented regulations to bitcoin users at the moment.If banks would do such matters then bitcoin will become less decentralized.We all know that one of the reason why bitcoin is useful to every individual is because of its decentralized nature.Although it is a good idea of putting regulations  to bitcoin than completely banning it.It will depend on how we use it also,if banks will be more threatened of bitcoin then things in the future will be unpredictable.

Its more of inevitable because you’ll never know when the price will increment of decrement.

Bitcoin is more likely dependent on the economic status of the world and the country.

Bitcoin is just digitalized and can be transformed into physical monetary value.

For me it'll stay decentralized banks will never appreciate something they can't control and even they try they will be had a really hard time to figure out regulating  bitcoin so i really think bitcoin will gonna stay decentralized for a long time

Regulation is something we could never avoid. Though nobody can really regulate Bitcoin by itself, the government can impose regulatory parameters on the buying and selling of the said cryptocurrency. There is actually no problem if nobody will be converting Bitcoin to fiat but this is not the case because we still have to use the fiat money when dealing with Bitcoin. Everything will revolved in the buying and selling of Bitcoin. That is where the government can impose regulations and as long as there will be the government existing then this is something we can never get away from...most especially the most important part of the regulation: the tax. At any rate, we should not be worrying too much on regulations because this is much much better than what the China did (the ban).

I prefer the first option where decentralisation still occur to crypto currencies, but unfortunately that will not happen, when crypto got bigger more people will use it, and if using crypto doesn't need to pay taxes, all people will use it and then the country will lose it's income, the government wont let that happen and  I am more happy crypto currencies  being regulated than they got banned

Regulating the Industry will actually be a good thing in the long run as for me regulation means mass adoption with this kind of technology, as people felt more comfortable to invest in cryptocurrencies and those who sees the true potential of Crypto focuses on getting others, including international and national government bodies as they were trying to put past issues behind them such as high profile criminal and some suspension of trading.

Therefore, regulatory measures should not only to focus on security and the price stabilization but also the position of bitcoin as a currency and should revise some existing laws and create new ones. Full cooperating among countries should be done as it is difficult to regulate when regulations vary from country to country as it will take many debates to end in regulatory resolution.

Helping to create this for the future of cryptocurrencies with the users and those developers.

But I think it also depends on each governments, which previously did have an a good depiction into bitcoin / cryptos., I'm sure it will lead to a more positively / support to the benefit of the country and its citizens. Well the point is definitely trying to do the best for the progress of the country and its citizens.
But anyway., I'm sure, the whole governments will indeed support the existence of this alternative currency.

I think it has happened? many local exchanges provide terms of identity verification to be able to exchange and transactions on their sites. and the government is behind them. because of a requirement by the government. even users are required to do close up photos for verification. and many bitcoin users do that? it seems that many users are not too concerned about the missing decentralization?

That could be possible, governments wants to centerned the regulation of bitcoin to them. Bitcoin has its own rule they are going to reproduce to all bitcoiner who loves to involve with bitcoin. I consider myself as a follower because in every rules that they are going to implement they would allow to go on for the steps. They set up rules not for fun but for the good and when you have cryptocurrencies you are going to exchange it first before going to declare as a real money.

Inevitably a new industry has been created and dealing directly with money. Governments want their part.

As bitcoin increase its popularity, government are also taking notice. I do not know if we need regulation or not but i think the regulation of bitcoin or cryptocurrency is inevitable. As we can see now US wants the customers information of the exchanges.

I do not understand that why is everyone against regulations. It has its own advantages like you will see less manipulations. Currently, the big investors are making the most of the bitcoin growth.

I think both - crypto's will become more regulated and people will start using more and more decentralized solutions like decentralized exchanges instead of current centralized.

Also, regulation of some kind is inevitable. Governments wants taxes. But with decentralization services, you will need to pay taxes only when you are converting to fiat.

But banks are not those who will regulate Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies but governments. It's not banks who make the law but government and that makes difference.
Banks could try to influence the law in direction they would like it to be but still they don't make the final decision.
Seems that some people have troubles to understand how the states are functioning

Regulating bitcoin cannot be avoided ,it was decentralized but the government want to gave an authority by it,imposing tax and implement some rules and regulations by crypto.But they cannot do that for now because no one can rule out for it but as we say it was inevitable,time will come it will happen.

It will be a bloody war. The philosophy behind bitcoin was exactly to escape from central authority but, onf course, central authorities won't reonunce to their power so easily.
Now we can see a lot of try to ban bitcoin or to control it. Who knows who will win, we'll see.

There is a thin degree of misunderstanding in terms of “regulation” and “centralization” as discussed in the quote. We all are aware that digital currencies have largely operated in a regulatory vacuum since bitcoin's debut in 2009. But governments and central banks are starting to pay closer attention, warning investors about potential scams. However, this “regulation” refers to the protocols and parameters laid down in a country specific framework. The central banks are trying to regulate Bitcoin into the same framework internationally. This has nothing to do with it being centralized or decentralized. Hence, they cannot be equated.

Bitcoin from day one has been created on the platform of decentralized digital currency. Top government officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos also signaled that more regulation could be on its way. Hence, if the central banks start to regulate the exchanges in their own individual framework, Bitcoin will definitely re-organize its mining process so that the implemented regulations could be further decentralized all the more.

I'm going to start by putting a highly possible scenario in here which looks like what is bound to happen in my country. Here goes:

The Central Bank in my country has distributed a circular on their website and several news agencies have gone through it and broadcasted it on TV channels and newspapers. What the circular mentions the following - "The use of Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies as a form of Legal tender / accepting as a form of payment is illegal" By outlawing Bitcoin in my country to be used as a legal tender, no single brick and mortar store, or an online service will be able to receive payments in Bitcoin for the goods and services they sell. So now, people can either personally send and receive Bitcoins only for trading (like a derivative or a stock), as a gift or for any personal deals (a barter maybe) which doesn't attract the regulator's attention.

After this was done, the very same week (or I guess the week prior) several Income Tax departments were alterted to visit Cryptocurrency exchanges to collect KYC/AML details of investors to track taxes paid (capital gains for long term or taxed directly as Income from other sources under the normal tax bracket). After this, every High Networth Individual's who've invested in crypto's were sent a letter to pay their taxes for the profits they've made on cryptocurrency sales. I'm assuming even other small investors are also on their radar.

Right after all of those, last week, several private banks have restricted accounts of all cryptocurrency exchanges forcing them to switch their accounts into Government owned banks. Also, the Citi Bank group as well as another private bank have restricted their customers from purchasing cryptocurrencies using credit and debit cards. If you're assuming people can trade on LocalBitcoins, yes they can, but there's no saying as to when the Government can start a campaign to track the sellers and buyers on this website since most of these sellers make use of local bank transfers or 3rd party payment services and they're easily trackable to both parties accounts, unless ofcourse you take the high-risk of buying / selling face-to-face.

The regulators are already starting to brand cryptocurrencies as "Cryptoassets" and are attempting to give it a bad name by going to the extent of calling it a ponzi scheme (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=174985) to scare off new investors who aren't aware of it.

Now, looking at all of these restrictions imposed, I'm sure there's a regulatory body formed to regulate all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. With this, people can no longer buy or sell Bitcoins with ease, and they'll be tracked. Also, the coins bought can only be used as a derivate or a stock within the country and not for payments or buying your food due to the "not legal-tender" restrictions. So basically all investors are just relying on the price of the cryptocurrencies based on its value in foreign markets, which upsets me.

So in short:

1) They'll regulate all exchanges
2) They'll make cryptocurrenceis not a legal tender
3) They'll then call it a ponzi scheme as it's no longer a legal tender cause they've outlawed it and the price is purely the sole intension to invest or sell.
4) They'll tax your cryptocurrency investments as capital gains (20-30% tax maybe) or part of the tax bracket and call it a cryptoasset. [I honestly don't mind the taxation part of it]
5) They'll ask banks to block customers who buy/sell cryptos outside of the exchanges in the country.
6) They'll then launch their own version of a cryptocurrency so people will obviously use it since they feel the safety of "regulation"

Overall, this is how I feel they'll regulate it elsewhere as well. I think those who already own crypto and haven't bought it via exchanges but have earned it online and not sell it for fiat will probably be the ones who could buy stuff from foreign vendors and utilize it without attracting much attention for a short time. I think confidential transaction and future BIP's in Bitcoin will make it difficult for regulators to track funds.

The government indeed sets the rules, but as long as a bank within these rules decides to prevent people from using their service in combination with crypto, they can do so at any time. In other words, banks don't need governmental approval for any of their actions as long as it happens internally and doesn't collide with the laws they as financial institution are subject to. It's just a matter of logical thinking. Banks on their own have a lot more power than you people can even imagine. If they control your wealth, which is the case, they control you.

It's an expected inevitability I'm afraid, with the flow bitcoin is on right now
and the margin of success it possess. Governments and banks are surely to take
notice and action as they undeniably must recognize and adapt to bitcoins position
in the economy and market in the future. With the success and popularity of cryptocurrency,
being decentralized and volatile has it's issues with banks. Regulation is the said imposed solution
which entirely may exhibit some positive and negative efficacy on bitcoins and the people who support
and utilized them. I believe it will definitely succumb to regulation in general soon. It's only a matter of time.

I'm seeing more regulation as the trend now. Countries closing to cryptos aside, it does have its benefits. It makes it less likely that an exchange would somehow just shutdown without notice with all the coins disappearing into thin air for example.


I guess we can all agree that that's most people's concern. Our local exchange for example already have photos of our government IDs and pretty much all information a bank would ask from new clients. Even if each exchange only allow you to make a single account, should the gov't regulator compel them them to give up your info, they'd have a pretty good idea of your worth in crypto. Then they can just monitor transactions being made with your exchange address. It's not hard to see that you would pretty much give up anonymity if you are to transact with an exchange.

Of course people can make new addresses and load that up by buying face to face but they wouldn't be able to convert that to fiat via exchange without revealing themselves.

I believe that soon all countries will begin to regulate bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. This can not be avoided because it has a huge impact on the world's financial turnover.   

I don't think regulation of exchanges means that they could control the news or even controlling bots, and did you have any prove to back this up? Regulation is inevitable but also necessary because if bitcoin, exchanger, miner or anything about bitcoin being regulated means that they stand equal with other investing instrument which will remove recent FUD from the market. It may become not so annonymous anymore for people using bitcoin but the investor will gain stable increase from the market shares.

As bitcoin continues to grow this would call the attention of the government and they will regulate it.
It would be easy for the small countries to regulate bitcoin if big countries have already started regulating it as they can easily copy
the regulation and will use it as a standard way to regulate bitcoin, I think this does not only apply with bitcoin but the entire cryptocurrency.

You have your point too.I think having this fact could mean regulation is now inevitable because whether we like it or not,bitcoin can soon be regulated by the officials in the government.I think it's a positive reaction since it will be easier for the investors and the exchangers to make transactions using bitcoin.

For me both will be possible.If government and banks accept bitcoin,the people will be regulated by it and it can cause a centralized currency,because a third party is present on it.The more the regulation the more it can be centralized.

i think it is not impossible to regulate the decentralisation system, because decentralised system of crypto is only the opposite of centralised system, it is not "outlaw" so there should be a better system that can regulate decentralisation system, the government should find a formula to regulate this instead of against and try to erase the system, because it is proved to be effective and efficient and also could create more opportunity for people and business in general.

I agree with the ideas of regulation cuz too many illegal activities like cheating is occurring.
But I  think the regulation would not break the decentralisation system but increase the transparency. 
So, I guess the important thing is strike a balance between user privacy and  trading security.
And as long as no one can fully control the system directly or indirectly, the dentralisation system will still work.

I think as the years go by there will be more of Regulation than Decentralizing especially when banks would agree to legalize cryptocurrencies. Of course at this time it is merely a dream because most banks are trying to find a way on how to go about these cryptocurrencies that have been emerging like mushrooms growing everywhere and people placing money in their bank accounts from these coins.

I think cryptocurrencies exchange platforms should be regulated and ico projects should also be regulated as this is the major area people are using to scam people. Investment is good if you are sure your fund is going to get back to you but many people has lose money through bitcoin and there is no one or regulation authorities to report to. Bitcoin has  one of the best technology and blockchain technology cannot be regulated and in reality its should not be regulated.

It seems that imposing regulations on cryptocurrency exchangers is inevitable. Many countries are already planning to impose their own kinds of regulations and at the same time puttjng a tax on every bitcoin transaction. Not all regulations are restrictive, but it's still depend on what country you are residing. Regulation can be also a protection from the illegal use of cryptocurrencies.

Yes this is true that's why the governments afraid of cryptocurrencies although it is not the main reason why they should fret.It is the services and other platforms that is scamming the people.They should be regulated not bitcoin and its technology.Bitcoins image is being negged by those people,governments should reconsider the regulations on crypto currencies.

I feel like this will end up in a fight between the banks and the people, but ultimately there are a few people who just can't understand how these cryptocurrencies work, so they'll just side with the bank. If we're to have this debate anytime soon (within the next 1-5 years probably), then it's likely that the answer would be "no regulation, more centralization" because the banks would definitely win in the short term. They have too much of a current standing with the general population, so it doesn't make sense that they would lose out to some technological development. However, into the future, when most people do know about it, it's possible that bitcoin becomes a regulated currency.

Regulating bitcoin is Inevitable although government will have a really hard time regulating bitcoin so it will gonna take some time too before it happens, in my point of view it will have a great effect in bitcoin for security and many others but bitcoin created decentralized and it is of the features of bitcoin that is interesting.

I think it would vary from country to country. It takes an international collaboration to regulate bitcoin itself. No single entity has jurisdictions over it. So the resulting regulations would vary country to country. I expect that 3rd world countries would be more lax on their laws, making it more "decentralized" and rich countries would have more regulations.

Well but anyhow behind it.. most of the countries governments still thoughts it will disturb the country's financial system, and worried for a variety of certain reasons. But it's also possible.. in over time the most governments of each countries will insist to accepting if bitcoin is more directing to a more positively things that can advance the country and its citizens in economic life.

I think regulation on bitcoin or cryptocurrency in itself is very hard to implement because it us decentralized. All they could do is to regulate exchanges which i think would also bitcoin users will benefit because of frauds and hackings of exchanges lately. When the government will regulate those exchanges, their service to the bitcoin holder will greatly improve.

Yes it is not easy to regulate bitcoin by it self in local government of the country because as we know bitcoin is decentralized and no one person involved on this to be blamed about in bitcoin. So, implementing regulation on bitcoin that is impossible happen that's why some of the countries  they are banning bitcoin their because of that reason. And talking about government bank they push away bitcoin because bitcoin is their big competitor someday, if all people have bitcoin account who was go to in the bank and save their money of course no one can do that.

Without much argument I am sure that there will be more and more regulations in the future. Government or any financial institutes would want to acquire the blockchain but they are not acquiring it because there is not much regulations currently.

More decentralisation will reversely lead to desrtruction of national economy and thus making it weak one. That’s why it is in so ambiguous list and will take time to rebrand itself.

Regulation is inevitable because this is the only way for every country to become safe of using the Bitcoin and be benefits of using it thru Bitcoin tax. As of now many countries are now adopting Bitcoin and the numbers keep on increasing because of the positive outcome by most of the countries that legalized it in which the central banks will now fully support and will not be threaten anymore of Bitcoin existence in their country.

I think in order to making BTC more valuable to everything and usable and interesting for everyone it should be more regulated. But the banks can't do it. Its regulating on the decentralization. As long as cryptos are handled like shares, it will be mostly an exchange object.

The banks just don't like they have no hand over it and missing out winnings from it. Its most likely that governments (probably in combination of banks) will drop their own crypto.

That is quite easy to say but it look like a dream. The European countries still get some perks over being more oriented towards development and coping up quickly with the market trends. But situation is hundred and eighty degrees to what we are facing here in third world counters. We are hopeful for the good days when we would be easily accessible to bitcoins in official terms.

Every time a certain system or technology becomes popular, It seems that the government authorities comes in to the scene, and become more intense in imposing regulations and control. But if these rules and regulations are made to benefits the users and patronizers of bitcoin, and will really make a positive impact in the economy. Then why not? We all hope that this will bring a larger market cap and wider coverage for the entire crypto world.