Bitcoin Forum

Hi all,

just want to throw out a question. Whats your opinion on the regulation of cryptos to a securities status (global scenario) ?

As an example, in Switzerland the financial regulatory agengy FINMA has set regulations that will limit the possibilities for new ICO's and provide more safety for investors.
(see: https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2018/02/20180216-mm-ico-wegleitung/)

Resumed, I think it will be good for the market and future of ICO's but others think it will suffocate new startups. I would be very interested in some opinions on the subject.

Thanks

It is a good. At least Bitcoin already gained recognition.

The regulation of cryptomarket can protect from scams, but this is just the official reason: actually, the cryptomarket is already regulated by an open source software. When governments propose some kind of rules, they only want to control the system an to put taxes on it.

The need of more secure investment in ICO has been drastically increasing as the amount of scams we encounter are also rising day by day. Most of the promising projects turn out to be a scam like confido was one.
If the government has some plans for reducing these frauds then it's really good.
Other countries should also adopt and implement these solutions for reducing scams and giving the right projects and ICOs what they deserve.
Similar steps have been taken, and ICO 2.0 was created.
Read more about it here- https://coincodex.com/article/1329/vitalik-buterin-suggest-improvements-to-ico-model/

It is to help lessen and discourage scammers in harming other people in the cryptocurrency world. And in my opinion, this is actually great because bitcoin is being recognized in some countries and they are accepting through methods such as this. This could be the start of something good to the bitcoin community.

When regulated that means it is already popular and that is good because users will have confidence to use bitcoin.
Bitcoin as long as regulated to protect the interest of the users, this would be very good for us, some might make a FUD but that is normal
in the crypto market, eventually the market will recover and we are gonna go green in the long run.

It would depend on the country itself, of course, as they deal with the issue differently, but in general:

a) Security movement is tightly regulated, so even peer-to-peer trading may be scrutinized
b) Miners may be considered as a "security issuer", so they will need to register themselves, and their sales would have to be tightly regulated
c) Selling Bitcoins may require even individuals with small amounts to have permits

Still, I imagine each case will have to be looked at individually, so the smaller players may not be affected at all, not to mention that it's likely impossible to track every single transaction. We'll see, I guess.

I don't think miners will be regarded as a security issue. Remember, they don't send any transactions at all, they just maintain the ledger, they are accountants.

With a), there have been a lot of scam ICOs, so there will be regulation which means ICOs will only be done for real projects

and c) would come under existing money laundering rules. So large movements will be scrutinised, but small movements not. (Because who on earth launders small amounts like $100?)

Regulating bitcoin as well as the ICOs can be an advantage for the industry, this can help to lessen or even eliminate the fraudsters and scam projects. This will attract more investors and can help improve the crypto market even more.

There are both good and bad things when ICO's are regulated. ICO's can easily be rifed with fraud, Created for money laundering and also pose a high risk to investors. That being said this is not always true but a one side of the story. For me I would say regulations are necessary to get your money back in case of such scams happen and the SEC as clearly stated the same. If you don't want the regulations get ready to forget about your investment.

Regulations have always been seen as restricting or limiting factor in the transactions. But I don't really believe in that one! The regulations for good purpose that might be 50% good for us and 50% for the advantages of the government such as keeping the records of all your transaction and later it can get caught into the taxation etc. But that is not important, whats important is the safety of our funds and we must know where the money is really going. If the money is going into right place which is kind of pre-verified by the regulatory authorities by KYC means then I think that is the best thing for the investors only. About the new start ups, I don't think that it will be problem at all, its just small upgrade with many advantages. Off course they are going to play in billions of dollars and they wont bother by few of the regulations.  :)

Regulation sounds awful for any cryptocurrency investor but regulation is one of the best thing for cryptocurrency users in order to not get scammed. There goes my opinion. I don't like losing my anonymity but regulation at least prevents from being scammed in a way and helps in safeguarding my funds to some extent.

Regulating the crypto currency is actually against the inventory of the crypto currency because it was found to be used as a decentralized technology which means we don't need anyone's permission for using it but now the government are regulating it to make money from it.

What do you mean? Regulation can block many scammer? If you say this, what Korea when get the regulations and they still get many of scam and hacked through their exchanges? Does not add up here when yu said regulations can help them to find out the scammer and can prevent it from happens. Both of these thing does not have relation at all, between regulation and hack, there is no really personal reason to have. As long as you have tight security then it should not be the problem at all

Well I think one of the reasons the market is so unstable at the moment is because it is saturated with new projects. I think making it harder to complete an ICO will hopefully filter out most of that saturation allowing only the projects worth while to succeed.

ICOs definitely need regulation. Then again a fool and his money are easily departed. I like the challenges presented in finding  a decent ICO and if you think about it, there are probably thousands of companies started everyday around the world so if there are 10 ICOs every day, it's not really a big deal.

Regulation is good as it brings confidence in the technology. However, the right balance must be implemented. Enough to keep frauds away but just enough to keep the environment safe for growing companies. There's just so much scams out there, i do think measures should be put in place.

I don't think the regulating crypto currencies will identify the scammers.

The governments are regulating the crypto currencies for the sake of earning purpose not for the detect scammmers or the terrorist they want to make money from everything.
But in crypto currencies the tax implementation may not work for too long because when people change to crypto to crypto transaction then they no need to pay any taxes to the government.

The regulations of cryptocurrency has gained popularity not in the outside world but in the mainstream media. We need to prevent those scam ICO's and projects and this is good move to there government.

If crypto is regulated, I think we can all agree it should be regulated by an independent and objective party who will regulate it fairly. This is what is best for crypto and for society at large to have regulation which shows neither preference nor favortism.  :)

However from initial data available on this topic, we can see that banks want the power to regulate crypto. Notions of private sector banks regulating other aspects of the private sector such as crypto could be a bad precedent for many different reasons. In theory regulation is carried out independently by the state to ensure equality and fairness in markets.

Having banks regulate the financial industry would be an extreme overstep by them. They shouldn't have the power to regulate in the same industry in which they compete. That would give them power over all of their business competitors.

Yep, but they are the source of Bitcoins, so it could be ruled that they are the issuer.

It's not really about money laundering, it's about how securities are typically regulated. We don't know how it will translate to crypto, of course, but that's how it usually is with current securities.

Regulation of the encryption market is a good thing, and countries tend to identify ICO as a security.

The U.S. stock exchange's official website released a digital currency regulatory document. Tokens should comply with U.S. securities laws, and the digital currency exchanges and investors that line the ICO should comply with the rules.

Securities tokens are already regulated as traditional securities assets. Regulators can't define the status of utility tokens.

In my thoughts about the regulation of cryptocurrency in a country, it is better regulated than being banned. Regulations means no harm to investors and it gives security to the nation as well. It is made to minimize the crime that is involving in cryptocurrency like drug money and scam.

For these particular ICO regulations I think it is appropriate thing that government should put guidelines in order to minimize fraud from the project creator. It is also good thing that government recognized the crypto as a legal tender.

I think some will raise their eyebrow because for the crypto to have regulations it will violate the crypto vision of decentralization. But if there will be no regulation then who among us will control the scams ICO, and the government I think is the best fit regulatory body to do that job.

At least this would help eased the mind of other investors who are not yet into cryto to join invest and support to help the community be a better for the real deal and lessen the number of scammers.

If we talk about regulations and the securities status of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, it is already done by the bitcoin management, they already provide a strong security to their site to avoid scammers, but on the other side between crypto business and government, I don't ever heard any regulation and securities that protects people who access cryptocurrency like bitcoin. It is only the management solely having the regulations and securities to their customers and without any assistant from the government, maybe the purpose of bitcoin management is to avoid direct control of government and also to evade any force of taxes payments.

Its actually a mixture of the two because if we think that regulation will suffocate new startups then we are not concerned with the funds. Regulations is meant to decide the amount of capital startups will be needing before coming to the market and the intervals it will be needed but what we see today is startups coming to the market (a global market for that matter) then raise more than what is needed at the time. Since they don't need everything at a goal, it then means they have to keep the amount in a hardware wallet or convert to fiat. Converting to Fiat will not be possible because of the amount involved and keeping in hardware wallet till when its needed and if price was high when it was gathered, and price low when its needed, it then mean that the fund will not be able to do what its meant for and we thereafter shout scam.

Irrespective of the disadvantage that it might bring, I still feel regulations will do more good than harm for the market and would even ensure that milestones are achieved before coming to the market to raise more funds under another guise.

Don't just focus on the other side of the coin, That would be correct, Government authorities may use the opportunity to abuse their power over the regulation imposed by their laws but on the other side this will filter out the qualified ICO's from a scam project, there's no guarantee that 100% there will be no scam projects but the positive outcome of the regulation can bring more investors on cryptocurrency, there is no such thing as perfect system or law everything has its own flaws whether there is a regulation or none.

Cryptocurrency have been existing and operating behind government I mean there are no regulations about it being imposed by a country but nonetheless some country doesn't ban it. I think imposing regulations on cryptocurrency would benefit most of the users, there would be possible taxes to be imposed but it is better than getting it banned. It will also add security for the user and their transactions.

Regulations of cryptocurrencies market is good if our governments and regulations authorities are truthful and not putting cryptocoins market in the front for they regulations. Our governments cannot be trusted and what ever will make the citizens happy is what they hate. Therefore I will said cryptocoins regulations is evils and I will not pay any tax on it to any government.

There will be regulation soon, the government will not allow that crypto will exist that they cannot benefit on the technology.
Regulating it will minimize the illegal  activities because exchanges will be oblige to comply with the KYC and report to the Anti Money Laundering Council.

I don't think the regulation of crypto currency can stop the illegal activities but it is better than totally banned because people of that country can get the benefits it.But the regulation is not good new for the investors because if it was regulated then they need to pay huge taxes becaus most countries are charging the taxes upto 40%

I think it's good it won't suffocate the new start ups at all. Reversely they will get regulated status and thus trust factor for such start up companies would be far greater than the other.

Switzerland is having good time with the crypto currencies as they support everything which is involved with money. I like this country for this reason only and I have heard they support the black money too. Gosh that's beautiful country then.

Few regulations would do great to hide that up.

It may be not just for control. The governments may have imposed taxes in order to generate revenue. Crypto is something beyond their control, and akl that they could do is impose regulations or choose to ban it from their country. To take advantage of the vast growing number of crypto users, they could impose taxes so that they may have some revenue and use it to develop the country. It is their role to provide protection for the citizens from scams like ICOs.

It will surely have an impact with the price. But if its purpose is to protect the investors, then it’s a good thing for the bitcoin community. Moreover regulating the Bitcoin would mean the government acknowledged its existence and has allowed more Bitcoin investors. On the other hand, regulating would benefit the government because of taxation. Government will get what they want and Bitcoin will be more secured which will draw more investments. It’s a win-win situation.

Bitcoin will do nothing to help governments. Fiat stimulates the production. Cryptocurrencies stimulate speculation. Legalization and regulation of the ICO to raise money for lending and the development of production. But it will be difficult to control the technology. For example, a person who comes up with an economical engine for alternative fuel can easily find funding for their project and in a few years can turn the whole world order. Governments are very afraid of this.

I partial agree with you as you backed up your statement with proper example. However the partial denial is because of your opening line that bitcoin can’t do anything for government. The thing can do much more than we could imagine if government properly regulates it. Considering the fact that Switzerland is regulating it for themselves only as they will easily be able to incur the charges on bitcoin holder. They know very well there are lot more people in the Switzerland alone who would be interested in investing into bitcoin and thus the government itself can benefit from the taxes. So you see it has got potential to fund them.

I'm pretty much interested in the regulation since currently, the lump of ICO's are just there to grab money and not anywhere be useful to society. With regulations, you will know who are really serious with their projects and will got through all regulations to see them come to fruition.

In a way,I think the regulation can in a way improve security and also reduce the risks of ICO scams. Ooh, did I just say reduce, why not say stop? You see, even the government’s regulation can’t prevent scams from happening, it will always happen and some people will fall victim. The government itself is corrupt, I don’t even support the idea of regulation.

What about self regulation?

But they can define a utility token as a security token to my understanding

I am believe that regulation is needed for safety. Investor must be looking for safety for their fund and regulating the investment on crypto can make it. I am believe if no regulation, it must many scam ICO

It gives more trust to the investors and positive sign that the system will be more available. Securing and regulating any form of business is a good advantage of development. It's also a way to advertise and let more people knowledgeable about the business.

People should realize that it doesn't make a damn difference what status regulators "give" bitcoin. It was created since BTC doesn't give a shit about regulators and what they think. It's a peer-to-peer currency that cannot be shutdown and that's all that matters.

There are concerns that regulating cryptocurrency is against the intention of crypto - being decentralized. However, change is really inevitable in everything, cryptocurrency is going mainstream for now and it's moving in economy so the government see the need of it being regulayed. I think it is better than being banned.

With the current increase in the scams and worst case scenarios of the ICO im sure implementing fewer regulations or more wouldn't be bad idea. Regulatign something is always taken as something bad happening or something with which the regulated stuff will get destroyed. But its not the case always. Many times regulations can bring fruitful results for the sake of investment and our own security by providing the extra law enforcement for us.

Switzerland has always been good player in regulating their own money and obviously money that is being driven from external countries. However crypto currencies is blessing for them and they know it very well that its worth supporting it.

The purpose of regulation is to prevent people from using ico for fraud!

Protect investors' money and invest in the right projects!

Yes, it's true. They offer serious regulation also having in mind that the technology is in its first steps, I think they are taking a fairly good approach

The problem with this regulation that will for sure be put in a motion in the other countries is that it will probably make it difficult for new promising ICOs that ain't scam to make a progress trough and push their plans till the very end. I support this regulation from the Swiss but that will bring the new problems.
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Many developers don't have enough financial support to push their projects till the very end and this regulation will maybe require even more money that they won't have. Investors also won't recognize the projects because they won't have enough of the needed advertisement. It is up to us to wait and see how will this regulation change the future possibilities of the cryptocurrencies in the development phase.

These would really be the implications on such regulation steps where it would mainly affect the range on where those ICO would able to market their project because of such restriction or regulation but eventually even on such blockage if the project do have the potential that would caught up investors attention even where those peoples or investors residing it cant really completely stop for them to invest.

For ICO projects to develop in the long term and truly bring value to the community, it is necessary to have regulations. These rules will help curb fraudulent ICO projects to protect investors' assets, make good ICO projects more transparent and attract more investors.

The regulation of cryptocurrencies is being done not to benefit us but benefit the governments they want to obtain profits out of this and they are seeing the market is just not a fad, they understand now that cryptocurrencies are going to be part of the new economy, right now the market is small but it will grow tremendously in the next years and they want to obtain their share.

Though there are many people who are against regulation for cryptocurrency because this would implicate centralization as oppose to what is the suppose purpose of it which is decentralization, I think we need it because there are so many people who are taking this opportunity to scam other people and not be held responsible for it because there is no applicable rule in which they can be convicted for the illegal doings that they committed.

The move to recognize cryptocurrency as security then would mean that ICOs would be regulated as well and this would prevent some people behind those ICOs that have the purpose to just scam people and take investors money and run away with it. Though there are issues regarding AML, as long as we can support where our money came from then I think we would be safe.

this is what gives me headaches: Fight fire with fire
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/13/imf-christine-lagarde-calls-bitcoin-crackdown-cryptocurrencies

I think there is no way around a proper regulation and a smarter market, I hope this happens before we find the root of the movement infected by the old system.

Good!!!, The financial regulatory agency FINMA seems very keen and understand with the development of crypto until determined to provide more security for its investors.
I'm very optimistic this appropriate and wise step can protect the value of crypto that has been there before in order not slump deeper especially bitcoin.

In theory we will not need regulation, every investor in the market of cryptocurrencies will be a responsible person investing only in solid projects and using his money responsibly but we know that is never going to happen there are many people that invest in very doubtful coins so even if I really do not like it I understand why some people are calling for regulation.