Bitcoin Forum

How is this legal? I thought it would be at best a very dark shade of grey because of money laundering laws

Buying and selling bitcoins is perfectly legal in almost all jurisdictions with only some exceptions.

I'm just speaking as a layman, but while I can understand private individuals changing amounts for personal use, high volume traders opening shop to profit from selling money, *seems* like it's crossing a line that is out there.

I don't wish to stir up a hornets nest or contribute to painting BTC in a bad light, I'm kind of hoping for an explanation as to why it's perfectly legal. I would have thought there would be laws applying to BTC resellers operating under respective jurisdictions, just like there are with Ukash and paysafecard etc

Clearly each situation depends very much on the jurisdiction where you are conducting your trades.

Having said that the recent cases of private high volume traders arrested in US and Canada where a set-up as far as I've been able to read. At some point the undercover agent mentioned to the trader that the money used to buy coins was coming from illegal activities and then they were busted. Bottom line: you clearly are in danger zone if you knowingly buy or sell assets that come from illegal activities. Of course this is true for bitcoins as well as any other asset. Other than that if you buy or sell using legitimate money transfer mechanisms, and these includes cash up to the limit permitted by law, I don't see where the problem is unless you are trading with somebody in a country where Bitcoin is banned like Ecuador or Bolivia.

Thanks for the input, I guess I just approached currency trading with a pessimistic attitude. I come from a background of pro gambling, with online wallets having very stringent checks and KYC rules, and cross wallet transfers are next to impossible. Even peer to peer transfers within wallets are usually subject to high scrutiny.

So... for such high volumes to be openly traded by facilitators here blows my mind!

You can do anything you want as long as its not on the list of explicitly illegal things, its automatically presumed legal. But now its different because bitcoin has no legal precedent, it is presumed ILLEGAL until decided otherwise. Anything not pre-approved is illegal by default. This is a very dangerous path we're heading down.

It'snot considered legal as bitcoins are not recognized due to users investing bitcoins for gambling and casino games. People earning it in a legal way are again considered using bitcoins for illegal purposes and due to that, even I get scared of transacting via bitcoins. I hope it is legalized soon.

i think exchange is legal. no doubt about it
that make exchange illegal is "how user get the money"
so maybe government suspect exchange as money laundry
because they think user who transaction on the exchange doing illegal thing to get the money

it's legal but not everywhere, there are some country that have banned it, like china and russia i think

i think its banned in russia. in china there are restrictions aplied to banks. all rmb and cny money transfers connected to bitcoin are restricted.

Have you asked yourself that same question about fiat? I mean after all it is just paper with no value so why would that be legal but this illegal. It has restrictions in a lot of countrys that are trying to prevent money laundering but to be honest there are more methods of laundering than bitcoin as it is just a drop in the ocean, now the banks are the real players  ;D

The same reason fiat is legal. People hire hitmen, buy drugs, and gamble with cash on a daily basis. But governments haven't made it illegal because, well, it's money. Bitcoin is actually LESS anonymous than fiat is, as well, so if they plan to ban Bitcoin based on anonymity, cash has to go first. And then what do we buy things with, rocks? People will just trade rocks for their prostitutes.

Bitcoin is not banned in Russia, actually its legal status is rather complicated. The Russian telecommunications regulator has blocked access to a few bitcoin-related websites because the cryptocurrency “contributes to the growth of the shadow economy” (bitcointalk.org is still accessible, but bitcoin.org is blocked, for example).