Bitcoin Forum

The state of Utah's monetary declaration signed last week (Sept 26th) is primarily considered relevant to gold/silver.
However, look at the wording for point #1 (bolded below); "all people enjoy the inherent and unalienable right to lawfully acquire, hold and use as a medium of exchange whatever form or forms of money they may prefer.."  Utah may be a good state to incorporate bitcoin businesses.



Utah Monetary Declaration

WHEREAS, money, as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of measure promotes economic activity, growth and productivity by facilitating specialization and trade, the accumulation of wealth and its long-term investment, as well as accountability in setting prices, tracking progress, and settling accounts;

WHEREAS, natural money – precious metal coin – by virtue of its inherent qualities of recognizability, measurability, uniformity, divisibility, durability, portability and scarcity has reliably retained its purchasing power, notwithstanding periodic fluctuations, over the centuries and millennia of human history, serving as an effective medium of exchange and store of value often without any governmental declaration to require, legitimize or perpetuate its adoption and operation as such;

WHEREAS, sound money, by retaining stable purchasing power over time, best serves societal needs by substantially reducing the uncertainty of inflation risk for creditors and deflation risk for debtors as well as encouraging saving and investment among the general populace and benefiting the economic zone in which it circulates by stimulating the economy and by attracting foreign capital and commerce to the region;

WHEREAS, history attests that monopolistic monetary systems frequently engender currency debasement, resulting in serious consequences such as lost purchasing power, inequitable wealth redistributions, misallocation of productive resources, and chronic unemployment, and that, as the cornerstone of a free market and society, the right to choose, whether between suppliers of goods and services, political parties and candidates, or between alternative media of exchange, effectively promotes the general welfare;

WHEREAS, for the equal protection of all people, rich and poor, the open circulation of complementary and competing currencies should be fostered and promoted by every sovereign state, including those of The United States of America pursuant to their monetary powers (expressly reserved in article 1, § 10 and in the 10th amendment of the United States Constitution) to monetize gold and silver coin as an alternative, voluntary medium of exchange, and as an effective check and balance against debasement of the national currency by the national government which is constitutionally precluded from demonetizing state legal tender, through disparate tax treatment, discriminatory regulation, the threat of suppression and seizure, or otherwise;

NOW THEREFORE, we the undersigned hereby declare and affirm that:

1.     As an essential element of true liberty and of the pursuit of happiness in a free society, all people enjoy the inherent and unalienable right to lawfully acquire, hold and use as a medium of exchange whatever form or forms of money they may prefer, including especially gold and silver coin.

2.     All free and sovereign states bear the moral, political and legal obligation not only to refrain from debasing their own currencies (except under the most exigent circumstances) and from erecting barriers to the unfettered circulation of monies issued under the authority of their sovereign trading partners, but also to affirmatively defend and protect against fraud, counterfeiting, uttering, passing off, embezzlement, theft or neglect by requiring full transparency and accountability of all state chartered financial institutions.

3.     No tax liability nor any regulatory scheme promoting one form of money over another should apply to: (a) the holding of any form of money, in a financial institution or otherwise; (b) the exchange of one form of money for any other; or (c) the actual or imputed increase in the purchasing power of one form of money as compared to another.

4.     Except in the case of governmentally assessed taxes, fees, duties, imposts, excises, dues, fines or penalties, the authority of government should never be used to compel payment of any obligation, contract or private debt in any specific form of money inconsistent with the parties’ written, verbal or implied agreement, or to frustrate the intent of contracting parties or impair contractual obligations by invalidating the application of a discount or surcharge agreed to be dependent upon the particular medium of exchange or method of payment employed.

5.     The extent and composition of a person’s monetary holdings, including those on deposit with any financial institution, should not be subject to disclosure, search or seizure except upon adherence to due process safeguards such as requiring an adequate showing of probable cause to support the issuance by a court of competent jurisdiction of a lawful warrant or writ executed by legally authorized law enforcement officers.

We hereby urge business leaders, educators, members of the media, legislators, government officials as well as judicial and law enforcement officers to use their best combined efforts to reinstate and promote the legal and commercial framework necessary to establishing and maintaining well-functioning, sound monetary systems based on choice in currency.

The signatories hereto concur in the general principles expressed in the foregoing declaration notwithstanding specific reservations some may have as to how such principles should be interpreted and applied in practice.

Wow, nice!

Mormons already except Bitcoins as donations in all their Church collection baskets - didn't you know that??!!

 ::)

I just imagined a collection basket with a QR code taped to it.  ;D

Utah's government really deserves a lot of praise for this. Really happy about it.

It means also that if the Federal Government made gold or Bitcoins illegal as money (it already did that once with gold years ago), it would put them directly in opposition to Utah. Let's hope Utah holds firm in its decision.

If they couldn't preserve their religious freedom against the feds, what makes you think they can protect their right to trade in gold? At best, a federal crackdown would inspire resistance, but would probably succeed at its anti-gold goal.

I just want to point out that the tax on less than 1500 dollars worth of precious metals in California is not American. It is ridiculous.
It is in place so we cannot logically acquire precious metals in small amounts without giving them a huge cut.
It'd be like going into a store and asking for change for a twenty, and them charging you sales tax on the 10 and two 5's.
We cannot simply dump gold in the ocean and ruin it though, i.e. Tea Party.
GO UTAH!!!
Bring America Back!!!

Who is responsible for this? May we suggest the politicians and lobbyists accept donations in... ... starts with a b...

I think that probably the freedom to use whatever one wants as currency would generally be accepted by the public, while the freedom to objectify as many women as one wants would generally be shunned by the public.

Here's an interview King World News did with Ken Ivory, the Utah State Rep who spearheaded the "Utah Legal Tender Act". Happens to be excellent, IMO.

http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2011/8/22_Ken_Ivory.html (http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2011/8/22_Ken_Ivory.html)

Excellent point. The public at large wouldn't call it "trading gold". They would call it "evade all the taxes you want and attack the US dollar".

What I actually meant was, it's a bad analogy.  There is no presumption of cutting into another person's rights as a person with currency freedom, as is the case with polygamy.  So, all spin aside, people would IMO be more likely to support currency freedom than polygamy -- so much so, IMO, that the two can hardly be compared realistically.

Spin it like you said though, and it certainly could go the wrong way.

I just imagined an evil-doer "donating" his smartphone into the collection basket  ;D

Mormons don't do a collection basket.  They have "tithing envelopes" in the foyer, people deposit their check and cash into an envelope and hand it to their bishop.

One of our employees is a Mormon bishop.  He does our accounting.  I wonder what he would say if I suggested to him that he accept Bitcoins at his congregation.  Like if I went to OfficeMax and had a stamp made up that said "we accept Bitcoins" and a QR code, just as a gag, and tell him he can stamp all the tithing envelopes with it.  He probably wouldn't go for it, but he'd probably laugh pretty hard, which would make it something worthy to do with a video camera in tow.

This is great news. I imagined the law was written for gold (and maybe silver) alone.

News like this gets people thinking about money - about what it really is. And that's the glimmer of hope in these times of decay and decline.

Actually, we don't have collection baskets, we hand donations in in plain envelopes so nobody (except the clergy/clerks, who keep records and such) can see how much you donate. Actually, bitcoins would serve quite well for donations to such a charitable organization as a church.

It has been mentioned before that a great way to help bitcoins grow is to suggest to charities and non-profits to take donations in bitcoin. Maybe I can suggest to the church to publish a bitcoin address ...

That would never happen in my opinion. The LDS Church avoids anything that brings unnecessary controversy to its doors.
The members on the other hand should be good candidates for adopting bitcoins.