Bitcoin Forum

Just curious what your thoughts are on this subject. It seems that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is having a hearing later this month to discuss virtual currency, and the goal is to "develop thoughtful, nimble and sensible federal policies that protect the public without stifling innovation and economic growth".

Is this "new" Silk Road going to bring tougher regulations, or even an out right ban (which I doubt is even possible, but they may try) on Bitcoin in the USA?

http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/majority-media/chairman-carper-statement-on-the-unveiling-of-the-so-called-silk-road-20-website


"Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Today, Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement on the launch of the Silk Road 2.0:

“This new website – launched barely a month after Federal agents shut down the original Silk Road -- underscores the inescapable reality that technology is dynamic and ever-evolving and that government policy needs to adapt accordingly. Rather than play ‘whack-a-mole’ with the latest website,  currency, or other method criminals are using in an effort to evade the law, we need to develop thoughtful, nimble and sensible federal policies that protect the public without stifling innovation and economic growth. Our committee intends to have that conversation – among others - at our hearing this month on virtual currency.”

Chairman Carper and Dr. Coburn’s committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs began a formal inquiry into virtual currencies in April 2013. In August 2013 Chairman Carper and Dr. Coburn wrote to the Departments of Treasury, Homeland Security, and Justice, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and the Federal Reserve."

A ban on virtual currencies? How the hell are they gonna do that?

No, they feel insulted by the SR2.0 and the actions against SR2.0 will be much harder and complicated then the first one. And this time they gonna hang all sellers and buyers instead of a few.

Explain...so WoW gold is also not virtual? Btc are just zero's and ones, nothing more, nothing less.

Silk Road 2.0 is no news, there was black market reloaded and tons of other onion sites, the name silk road is just what the public knew.
Would not surprise me if this new silk road was some kind of FBI trap to steal bitcoins and arrest honest business men !

Are they that desperate to setup traps and scoop every single bitcoin left?

It could be a trap to damage the btc value in the future. Not just only for the stuff.

So how many of you have written your representative about bitcoin? I would suggest that your efforts writing them will yield more fruit than posting here. The regulations that evolve around bitcoin will reflect your inaction, not the tyranny of government.

The statement by the Chairman is surprisingly positive, in my view.  I think it shows an appreciation for the technology they're up against here.

VS

tl;dr: if you say that bitcoin is "virtual" you believe it is "fake" money, or has a "fake" value.

Trying to ban Bitcoin because of SR 2.0 makes as much sense as trying to ban cash because drug dealers use that...... doesn't mean some politicians wont try.

Bitcoin does not physically exist.
It is a virtual currency. It is also a digital currency. The two do not contradict each other.

Well he said playing "whack a mole" isn't the solution so I don't see them directly targeting Bitcoin.  It's just political posturing so they can make it seem like they're doing something in an area that they simply cannot control.

If I was a BFL customer, I would be paranoid.  Benjamin Lawsky subpoenaed BFL and probably has the order book.

The shittiest thing the Government could do is go down the list and seize assets one by one to make an example.  The majority of the American sheeple won't care.  "It's good for 'murica to get dat drug money off teh series of tubez!!1...duurrrrr"

'murica.  foam finger #1.

I don't know if this is bad or not for BTC but I'm glad to see the site come back up, these politicians need to know they can't control the information like they want to.

I find it funny that people think that BTC is not real currency. "Ohhh, it is 1s and 0s, so it is not real".
But yeah, your little dollar bill is real, right? It is not only ink on a piece of paper that the government can issue and destroy at their will, right?

Can BTC crash and become nothing? Sure! It can happen if people stop using it.
But the same applies to any currency in the world. If people choose to stop using Dollar, Euro, Yen, etc, then the same thing will happen.

rofl thankyou for my lol of the day. the government is going to be thoughtful, nimble and sensible and non stifling. Maybe while they are at it they can train some elegant, graceful, fleet-footed, nimble, dainty, dancing hippopotami. ;D

I wouldn't touch that site with a 10 foot pole. It will bring back the "bitcoins are for drugs" people again.

i just love it when these talking heads in the media make these blankett statements.

1. bitcoin begins togo mainstream

2. in an unrelated event, the US economy begins to descend into the abyss taking the US dollar with it

3. bitcoin explodes

4. government tries to intervene in digital currency

5. mass riots, protest,  violence and revolt


If they dont stop it before #2, they will never stop it. and i say they cant!

oh they could stop if they wanted. it would just mean that they would have to go get jobs.

It will give all the doubters and haters in the press something to complain about, so in that sense it is bad news.

yea and by not dressing up in spandex and fighting crime im practically raping woman in dark allies myself ::)

yea no thanks, instead of getting on my knees and "pleading" with the tyrants to not violate my rights, i think ill dedicate my effort towards learning to program better so maybe i can help to make this sort of technology more resistant to attacks. or you know one of 1000 other things that might actually be useful instead of deluding yourself into believing "congressman" gives 1/10,000th of shit about your preferences.

"call your congressmen", so pathetic. oh lawdie please dont beat me so hard massa. grow some balls, asking someone for permission to have some of your rights is just another way of giving your rights away.

I have few objections against drugs being sold or used, not that i am a (heavy) drug user....
(i also think the laws and drug wars are getting it wrong, but that's another issue)

I do however think it is very bad for bitcoin owing to the "gutter press" that like to blame bitcoin for drug use.... and they seem to totally ignore that many more drugs are brought with Dollars, Pounds & Other currencies than have ever (and maybe will ever) be bought with Bitcoins.....

Personally, i also think, that if the only place someone can buy drugs from is via an overprice hidden website, these people should not be taking drugs anyway.... If they "get a life" they would find that drugs are widely available in almost all countries and at a much better price that via hidden websites.... and with much less risk... (no dealer has ever asked me for my address (or to publish it to a website, that i have no control over), and if they did, i would find a better dealer!)

"DPR/new DPR" says that the site is about freedom... hahaha.....NO.... it is about making money for "DPR".. and it is only a matter of time before the "new DPR" is caught.... and over punished....
I may admire "DPR's" spirit but his business sense is lacking as opening a hidden site to sell drugs is as good as painting a big target on his back (saying Drug Dealer Here! Come and find me!). The FBI (and other agencies) will already be working on finding him/her/them....

People should stay safe and buy drugs in the tried and tested, old fashioned way, what has worked for 1000's of years.

everyone I know that used it thought it was more a question of QUALITY rather than price...yeah we can pick all that stuff up on the street, but quality varied quite a lot, whereas with silkroad it was consistently good (So, although more expensive it was worth it a lot of the time).

I must admit that some of the resin that was sold did look nice... the Nepalese Tempale Balls were tempting, but still over priced. However if you ask around (if you know the right/wrong people) i would think most things can be bought on the street too.

The US based bitcoiners will be gutted in favor of Chinese, exactly what happened to auction market places like E-Bay.

This reminds me of the piratebay, if the U.S government can't even stop a fairly innocent filesharing site how the hell do they think they're going to stop a fully fledged international drug trading website that now knows the U.S government really is out to get it and will take measures against any attempts to seize the website. You can bet that there will be all kind of encryption put on the thing along with some lessons learned from Kim Dotcom about where to host your domains.

Not to mention the decreased risk of getting mugged or having your car impounded.

They must admit defeat and leave drugs, internet and bitcoin alone. In whack-a-mole game moles always win. And all those senators must shoot themselves because all their actions of banning, regulation and ruining other peoples life's turned out to be a total failure!
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i think it proves that shutting down a site like SR makes no sense, since they'll eventually pop back up.

i don't know if bitcoin being forever attached to illegal drug trade mean good or bad news? on one hand, it gives government more of a plausible excuse to crack down on it, but on the other hand.. it means there will always be demand for BTC.

Bitcoin isn't any more attached to illegal drugs than USD is, it's just a currency, and people are inevitably going to use a currency for illegal things.  The only reason it's such a big deal is because the government is using it as an excuse to attack Bitcoin without admitting that they're afraid of it.

Silkroad 2.0, yeah nice FBI honeypot. Good luck with using that.  :D

but that doesn't matter. i'm not disagreeing with you.. but a lot of people think of bitcoin being synonymous of illegal goods and services.

thats my thinking. i read somewhere that some of the core developers from silk road 1 would be building it. wouldn't dpr be able to finger those people? it seems like it wouldnt be very smart of them to get back into the business unless of course they were returning as double agents.

So is the U.S. Dollar.

USD, WoW-gold, BTC, it's all equally digital and virtual.

It's the backing behind it that makes the difference.

USD: greedy banks and corrupt government
WoW-gold: some game company
BTC: mathematical laws and the power of cryptography

I'll take my chances with Bitcoin.