Bitcoin Forum

People now is this hearing in US senate: Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies
But i can not find the stream on the site? WHERE CAN I WATCH THIS?????  I need to see this!!

Greetings!

Edit: Here you find the video: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/DigitalCu (http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/DigitalCu)

cspan?

Can not find it on Cspan. Other ideas on this I NEED to watch this... No one knows or is everyone busy watching the stream  :'(

It will be live here: 3pm EST.

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

simondlr, i don't know the talk about some "enrollment numbers" this is not it....
But i have a stupid question: Do you live in EST can you tell me what time it is there right now? I live in Germany and i thought its now 8:30 pm there, but maybe my calc is wrong sometimes there occur difference because of different daylight savings times...

about 1/2 hr from now

Would someone be willing to post a running update?

hopefully there will be vids on youtube or so on...

This is going to be interesting, my bet is they don't understand it and won't ever, so if the interviewed have any clue the hearing will just crush them. Their debt addicted FIAT brains will weep low interest rate. Who is being interviewed?

here we go!

So this "confused" guy decides our fate?

How can US government decide the fate of bitcoin? Its a global currency with innovated technology.

so far i like the guy, especially his analogy with letters/e-mails.

cracks jokes about the ladies name, love the guy  ;D

Virtual currencies are not owned by America. These guys can't get their head around a peer to peer currency that they can't control!
ha

Virtual currency is not only used for crime....

Ok, I thought this was going to be govt. interviewing hackers but this is retarded... govt. interviewing govt.

woah woah waoh.
"May have been made to facilitate illicit money transfers!"
WTF is this woman on about!!

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ?? How the fuck does bitcoin facilitate Child Pornography??

China doesnt give the fck! lol

Very dissapointing, but not unexpected so far. I'm hoping the pro-Bitcoin speakers will have their fair say!.

Lol im already feeling a hint of a lot of "WE WANT TO CONTROL EVERYTHING" in this hearing

Basically. Please could we control virtual currencies?

no

Haha, yeah I've got 2 chart windows open, one MTGox, the other btcnCNY.  Ones soaring, the other just massively plumetted,  guess which is which :D

Anybody compiling a word cloud of this?

Patriot act x 1

I expect to see high counts of 'criminal'  'money laundering'  'illegal' and 'terrorist'    ::)

All I hear is negative words so far. When do they state the benifits?

Replace the words 'virtual currency' with 'cash' and the same applies.

Untraceable, no transfer fees, easy to buy Child pornography etc...

is it over or it is still live, if it is please can some1 give me link!

Follow the money, bitcoin is ideal for that... these people are not scientists.

I think they're basically saying, they can still arrest people using bitcoins.  I don't think it's that negative.

Live at http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/# . I think it lasts for about 2 hours (25 mins in so far).

I have heard a few encouraging things so far.  They seem to be saying that virtual currencies are not illegal but they are just concerned about tackling all illegal use of the virtual currencies.  Mythili Raman said, "The department is encourage about the cooperation of the virtual currency organizations."  

I guess the real question will be how they tackle the criminal use of the virtual currencies?  I am all for that but I am sure it will cause some more restrictive use.   It is not an easy problem to solve though.

At least I am not hearing them say that they need to do away with Bitcoin, thankfully.

Homeland Security is up now though.  We will see how friendly they are to Bitcoin. . .

\

you got that right. bitcoin will fail to pass.

Yeah, this sort of sucks. Only three witnesses from government agencies, FinCEN, DOJ Criminal and Secret Service. They will OF COURSE have an "everything is criminal" mindset. Where are the FEC, SEC, CFTC, bitcoin industry witnesses?

600 now.. 100 by the end of the week.

You have to remember that the guy testifying now only has one job.  That is to investigate financial crimes.

He isn't there to say anything positive about anything except himself and his division.

Yes, they are basically saying they will try and stop any illegal use of it. They are not saying they want to stop all use of it. Big woop.. BUY THE DIP

Edward Lowery with Homeland Security is foretelling growth of the currency and the use for illegal activity.  He is talking about some investigations and how some of the criminals have been charged and convicted for money laundering and how they work with other agencies.

He is bragging about apprehending 4000 cyber criminals, primarily talking about Liberty Reserve and some others.

He said, "Digital currencies are a tool used by a wide range of criminals."

He does say at the end that while digital currencies can provide some benefits they are a challenge to law enforcements.

It sounds like he would rather not have any digital currency.

Good analogy by Sen. Carper.

Internet was feared by these same people back in the day.  The internet was thought to be the downfall of society at one time. 

this hearing is going great imo

Well done Mythili !!
Well said

FinCEN appears to be very pro virtual currency according to this hearing.

Justice Department seems to be neutral.  Prosecute criminals.  Leave valid businesses alone. 

Secret Service seems against it.  But once again they're against everything, so no surprise there. 

I'd say this hearing is turning out very positively.  Atleast alot more positively than it could have gone.

Sen Tom Carper gave the analogy that in the early days of the internet that people said it was a concern for bad things but has become a use for great innovation.

Now the other speakers are commenting on this.

So far the speaker from FINCEN is saying that innovation is very important and it part of who we are as Americans.

Raman said that as an emerging technology the law enforcement is attune to the illegitimate uses but she is saying that the virtual currencies are not illegal in themselves and that there are legitimate uses as long as they comply but we need to be watchful.

Lowery from Homeland Security is focusing on the threats but not the positives.  

I think they're just saying, their department needs more money to track violations of bitcoins.  That's all they want anyway, a larger budget for their dept.  Win-Win.

+1

Noone can expect, they say "We are the state. We are the regulators and we absolutely don't give a shit!". Sure they say, they want to enforce their laws to defend crime.

...and if you look at all of these comments assuming the conclusion is "...as such my department needs more funding" they're all consistent. Imagine that.

i hate this woman raman she is so dumb

Yep, I see coin validation in our future.

Ah, beat me to it. Guess I should have read the new comments before posting.

"We feel comfortable that the statutes we have available to us now, are broad enough to cover what we have been talking about today."

Justice Department is saying we don't need any other tools to combat virtual currency crime.
That may be the best quote of the day.
Justice Dept expressly telling Congress to just give us more $ but don't pass anymore laws.  Excellent.  

http://i43.tinypic.com/1z2he7c.jpg]http://i43.tinypic.com/1z2he7c.jpg

Is it some kind of cream?

They all keep talking about virtual currency.
Guess they'll need a couple more years to understand what's happening.

this hearing couldn't possibly go better imo.  everyone has talked about the future challenges, acknowledging that bitcoins are here to stay.  and this capper guy loves bitcoins so much he probably had his wife buy a couple thousand before this hearing.  bitcoins are a lock to hit 1k by end of the week.

"cash is still the best medium for laundering money"

Wow.  Even the Secret Service is admitting the cybercriminal is not inclined to use Bitcoins. 

He says there should be a distinction made between Bitcoins and other virtual currencies. 

Off topic but it's hand sanitizer.

This is big.. US is getting behind it. The negative speak just has to be said... let the buying games begin.. Who will hold all the BTC, China? USA? India? Middle East? Only 12,000,000 to go around right now.

Probably doesn't hurt that the U.S. government now owns about $70,000,000 worth of bitcoins lol

Its interesting as heck
No wonder the price is moving

Where are the other speakers?

According to this link some non public servants should also be here today.?
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/beyond-silk-road-potential-risks-threats-and-promises-of-virtual-currencies

If they had a brain they would simply state that ALL bitcoin transactions are completely traceable. Bitcoin has nothing to do with crime, it helps the government trace everything. One day they will understand that bitcoin is direct democracy, and it can't be stopped!

What do these old-timers know about virtual currencies?  :P It's all about maintaining control.

Edward Lowery is actually the best speaker by far.
He at least does talk about "Digital currency", and not "Virtual Currency".
And he's being very reassuring, imho.

He's got a few bitcoins, for sure.  ;D

So much discussion its hard to just focus on one thing when they keep going
This is damn interesting hard to say haha

Looking forward to the second recess so we can all discuss this
For once politics is super interesting XD

Anyone know who is on the second panel coming up after this break?

But that's actually not true if you don't reuse addresses.

hehe, they know more than they would want anyone to think they do, USD being virtual currency in itself is being world's reserve currency at the same time ;)

Next program on C-SPAN3 is scheduled at 9pm ET, thats 6 hours from the beginning of the show! Is this hearing taking so long?

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

I think there are like 3/4 different panels speaking on virtual currencies... will try find the schedule

Now talking about what to do to try to keep virtual currency businesses in the USA.
This is hyper-positive.

I make exceptions in my schedule when it comes to real news in bitcoin

1) 'present laws are good enough'
2) 'virtual currency is not illegal'
3) 'keep jobs in USA'
4) 'just send us more money - that's all'

lol.  Government is no threat yet.

So long as Jennifer is running the show over there, the government is under good guidance and the right philosophy to let bitcoin grow well.

Fantastic! This sounds great! the Government says they can handle it, they want Bitcoin Jobs to stay in the USA!

With great powers come great responsibility
Register with Fincen
Put in Place AML Anti Money Laundering
Maintain Records and Provide Suspicious activity reports to Fincen

Jennifer Shasky Calvery

Ending statement was really good. too!!  FYI, as posted in another thread.  Coinbase is out of bitcoins to sell.

WOAH!

I've never sold to coinbase.  But about to sell them about 10 as a test.  How long do they take to transfer the funds to my bank account from the time I transfer them the coins?

2-3 days

It is "normal" ACH so usually 3-4 business days (sometimes 2 days it varies by bank).  No faster or slower than any other ACH transfer (Dwolla -> Bank, PayPal-> Bank, etc).

Would you agree that coinbase is as reliable a business to sell my coins to as any, and I shouldn't expect any problems?  (Now that bitcoins are worth so much, I'm almost obsessive compulsive about my security)

(Sorry for the offtopic question, but coinbase was brought up, so I thought I'd ask.)

if anyone wants to sell, sell to me, ill buy now

Here comes the child porn guy.  Ugh.  

As noble as his mission may be, everyone's pretty much going to need to ignore everything he says with regard to "virtual currencies".

Edit:  Someone named their site "Pedo Empire"??  

2nd Edit:  Although he did comment that bitcoins are traceable and every transaction is public.  Interesting.

Would it be possible for someone to create a summary of this after?  I gotta go and won't be able to follow it for a bit.

I like the way he's publicizing bitcoin is a public ledger.

I get Ernie Allens point but its more like
You can't argue against CP so run in fear
That said at least he is addressing the problem with a logical framework

I see a replay on C-Span Stream 1 for 10:30 today
If someone makes a download will totally download it for later :)


BITCOIN FOUNDATION!!!!

Pedo guy just finished: "There is a secret Internet for drug deals, assassins, and child pornography".
But then he says that the US shouldn't push virtual currencies underground and offshore to uncooperative governments. "Absolute Internet anonymity is a prescription for catastrophe."

The FinCen person didn't seem too worried about Bitcoin.

Up now, the Bitcoin Foundation speaker.

As far as I know most problems have been with BUYING BTC from coinbase not SELLING so you should probably be fine.  Although I don't have a lot of knowledge, I only did a couple of test transactions with them.

this guy from the bitcoin foundation isnt exactly inspiring.

jesus is this bitcoin foundation for real? i could give a better improvised speech

Yeah, there is no problem in selling them.  They just can't get enough of them right now.  Someone said in the other thread, that they work like a brokerage.

But the chick in the background is.

Most of us weren't going to say it.  But we were all thinking it.  :D

this is seriously pathetic.  the bitcoin foundation guy is talking more about regulation, and less about the value of bitcoins, than the crime enforcement guys.

Glad to see someone talk about the issue of opening and maintaining bank accounts for Bitcoin related enterprises.   Just about every Bitcoin related company has faced banking challenges.  Banks often close accounts without recourse even when no fraud or illegal activity has occurred.

Foundation member please use more spirit

+1

(though maybe it's a good thing that the face of bitcoin is a little dull)

yeah, and maybe if you lost your leg when a drunk drive slammed into you that would be good cause cause you're upper body would become so strong.  don't be ridiculous.  this guy is an embarrassment.  he's not just a dull speaker, he didn't have any worthwhile content to offer

Maybe I think if your at the forefront of history you should be a bit more livid about it
But maybe that's just me

"Circle Internet Financial"? "Jeremy Allaire", their CEO, is speaking. They were established three weeks ago. They have $9 million in capital from a VC.

FINCEN seems to be in favour of Bitcoin. The DoJ doesn't want to ban Bitcoin either. Chairman seems to have an open mind and doesn't want the US to loose any Bitcoin related business. Good news so far.
I missed the child pornography guy. Was probably bad for Bitcoin.

Love the asian women who sits behing Patrick Murck. She agree to everything he said :)

Jeremy is smart bringing up that a chinese, a japanese and an european company are leading the exchange market.

Why is there only one guy in the committee?

Meanwhile, $750 and 5000 CNY all time highs on the markets....

brito is super bullish on not adding new regulations and gives solid rationale for it

This guy does'nt seem to care at all, he made me laught many times :)

https://i.imgur.com/LA3ie1d.png

If this keeps up the fear might be gone this is a second wind lol

TF is famous now, Jeremy Allaire just talked about him! ;D

I can't help wondering that the Mt. Gox accounts belonging to the Chinese state and the Japanese ruling class have been getting some healthy action with Dollar deposits recently..... just sending a statement of the wire details to the US Treasury and the Fed would be the most amusing thing ever.... if you could get a reaction shot on camera, of course

Satoshi is Al Gore!

Senator Carper just revealed it!

He broke the code.  Now Al Gore is going to need to go into hiding. :)

What's the vote he keeps talking about?

Not sure.  It has nothing to do with virtual currencies.  Just that the Senate has other business so the hearing has to end at 5:30 EST.

The absolute biggest take home message I got from viewing this senate hearing, was that BTC is here to stay.

Looks like the CSPAN site already has it up
http://c-spanvideo.org/program/DigitalCu

yes that is the full url

Agreed

I never thought I'd see the day when Americans would embrace communism with both arms  :D

yes yes yes

That's a vote on the House floor. Bells ring and indicator lights come on all over the Capitol when the members are called to vote. Has nothing to do with what the committee is doing.

Please at least use the correct terminology.  It might be fascism, it might be totalitarianism, it might be a Police State, it might be the end of financial privacy but the quote has absolutely nothing to do with communism.

All bad governments in all forms =/= communism.

It turned out he couldn't care less about missing children. He was pretty much the front figure of big corporations and organizations making a case against privacy/anonymity

i think the child abuse guy was actually one of the bigger proponents of bitcoins.  he said the laws in place now are fine.  that laws only need to deal with bitcoins on the "exchange level." 

100% agreed. REALLY positive.

BUY

After the law enforcement / regulatory panel was so positive, I was so afraid one of the Bitcoin proponents on the second panel would say something stupid to screw things up.  I'm happy to see that didn't happen.

im having this feeling that we will slowly see bitcoin be incorporated into financial system while dollar fades away with light & fireworks. foundation will program wallet. bitcoin businesses will be future banks. crazy brainwashed warmonging robot-like governmental agencies will enforce that online justice is done and declare WORLD ON CYBER CRIMINALS ending WAR ON TERROR. we will become future millionaires while our voices are becoming less distinct since most of us will be enjoying the new wealth we acquired. this will be phenomenal transfer of wealth. our community as it is today will most probably disappear slowly and the gaps will be filled with less intelligent greedy forumers whose intentions are only to gain wealth quick and easy. this will be what i feared the most. bitcoin will become just like another fiat being controlled by slightly different bunch of people, eventually over time being implemented into usa government. this fiat will be better structured, much smarter, and as a result more punishing. i believe that a true bitcoin community that we have today will have to move into other circles of alternative currencies that are under less attention and not yet regulated. i strongly believe that they will force all alt currencies representatives to comply with fincen or being barred from open official usa crypto trade. we will eventually get us into strongly anonymous crypto currency spaces just like those being actively developed as we speak. im afraid the final confrontation the west will be facing is to be able to regulate exchanges (banks by then) of china & russia. failure to comply will automatically create redlists (maybe a division for every country in the world). we might have national wallet apps being created that are restricting/regulating/monitoring trades between other wallet apps. By then we will be exactly where we are now – in a totally controlled financial environment satoshi wanted to free us from.

That chairman is Satoshi man.

Really, it was nice to follow the hearing. I really believe that today was a good day for the community of Bitcoin.

Alternative currencies with stronger privacy measures will flourish at some point. Its like, if you cant get a high-tech M16, get a used AK-47 instead. Sure as gravity it is

So the big question that I heard from the Chairman was to the first Panel "What do you need from the legislative branch?" and all 3 panel members basically stated that they were doing fine with the tools(laws) currently on the books.

That's a huge plus for bitcoin with the apparent lack of need for more legislation.

I watched the entire presentation and I felt it went well for the bitcoin community.

I guess stronger privacy measures will be integrated into Bitcoin itself. No need for alt. Win-win.

One thing surprised me is gambling didn't get a mention.

For anyone who missed it
http://c-spanvideo.org/program/DigitalCu

You guys missed the whole point...
This Trojan Horse Dude spelled it out clearly...
Raise Barriers to Entry from zero to $1-2 million Reg Fees...
Then HIGH ongoing compliance costs... because money is "special".

Every bank and well-financed BTC business wants High Barriers to Entry...
And that is what we will get codified in law by the Govt.

Then they'll methodically shut down all businesses "not in compliance"...
Which is about 99% of the businesses here.

The beginning of the PayPalization of BitCoin.

its interesting that what mithily said was that they are happy to work together with other agencies to fight criminals. she listed almost all governmental agencies who can help to fight crime except nsa. and in the end added "and other agencies" - she obviously meant that they are strongly unable to track down the users without their help. expect nsa to get funded to the max and to be "on the frontline" to combat anonymity techniques within bitcoin. mithily also mentioned that “those” agencies must be sitting at the table too. It shows you how far detached nsa from all the lawmaking in usa, especially after snowden bonanza. also all these governmental representatives were afraid to talk out of their mind and kept on reffering to their (scripted) statements. the fbi guy was treated like a little boy as he struggled expressing himself properly. department of justice lady even said that its hers department brought down liberty reserve - as if fincen's nagging and fbi's actions didnt help at all. its funny to see how they artistically submerge each other's faces into the mud. pathetic. during the second part the pro bitcoin representatives at least spoke less of reading material and actually expressed themselves - showing that they are more human. the speaker is probably realises that the government agencies are only doing what they do best - seek and destroy in their own narrow field of influence without asking much questions. unfortunately its that group of agencies that we as a community will end up fearing most for changing bitcoin dramatically. they pose the biggest threat to the original values that we had in place since creation of bitcoin. These brainwashed gangs will go to any extent and break relations with any country in order to reach their goal. i call it a sad day.

It wwas pretty positive i guess!

You are somehow certainly right in your statement. But you forget about one thing and that is the community. It is us against the big NSA now. We control the code and we provide the power for it. But yes, it is going to be an ugly digital war against our digital freedom. But I am ready to fight for it, just for the sake of our kids. With the integration of digital currency into our society we can make another world where the community also has something to say against all those bankers and politicians. I truly believe today is a good day for the Bitcoin community, but it is also the day where the government openly says that they are coming and has the intention to stay.

ugh I wish I could acquire bitcoin at a faster rate and get rid of the hackers trying to PM me "selling bitcoin"

im afraid as long as we have these sort of people representing communities then everything will eventually get regulated. if bitcoin foundation represent this community then why they didnt disclose what they were going to say to the world prior to their speech? why do we have to find out about that through leaks? why do they make decisions on our behalf? did anyone on this forum heard about any of this before the leak? it disgusting what happened! it blatantly shows to the government that we are not united, easily dividable, easily manipulated into playing by their rules.

Not the businesses that use Bitcoins for transactions.  Just the exchanges, brokers, and dealers. The ones that handle other people's money. Over half the Bitcoin exchanges have failed, taking customer funds with them.

This hearing probably is a lose for the shadier exchanges. With all the major US regulators indicating that they have no fundamental problem with Bitcoin, attention will be focused on the bad actors. Like Mt. Gox not paying out customer funds.

A possibility of course I hope that the ones that stay around will remember our foundationial beliefs and bring us back to the light side

Doesn't help at all for several reasons. For one thing, you are only as anonymous as the others who use it with you, because once they reveal their identities, then you can be isolated. The probability of you being found increases over time, as more and more downstream trail on the public ledger reveals more and more identities.

BitCON just can't be made anonymous. The only way is to build in the anonymity into the protocol of the coin.

http://c-spanvideo.org/clip/4473922

The asian woman behind patrick murck is satoshi nakamoto!!!

And every single miner who exchanges mined Bitcoins for fiat currency.   The guidance doesn't even provide a carve out if the miners uses a registered exchange.


The status quo is a lose for 100% of Bitcoin exchanges, not the "shadiest".... 100% as in every Bitcoin exchange in operation and every one that every existed.  There isn't a single Bitcoin exchange, broker, or deal with a MT license in all fifty states.   The closest anyone came was Bitstamp and when they got all their licenses (at tremendous expense), every bank shut off their bank accounts and refused to do business with them.

I feel weird I just liked Chairman Carper on Youtube
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/majority-media/key-senate-committee-holds-first-congressional-hearing-on-virtual-currencies

In the USA...

sorry to disapoint you, but BTC dont care about borders..

:D   +1   Nice call !


https://i.imgur.com/DUNPcF3.png

Yeah, she kept nodding her approval through the whole hearing.

Poe, nice lady

Any links to the video of Tony Gallippi's testimony ??

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/VirtualCu#

Perfect! Thanks