It has been close to a year since the peer-to-peer decentralized digital currency bitcoin topped $1,000. Soon after the price collapsed to half that value, financial experts and banking officials called for the virtual currency’s utter demise. Of course, bitcoin is still here, and it could eventually transform into the “Internet of money.”
Andy Yee, a Google policy advisor for its Asia-Pacific division, published an article for the Internet Policy Review that put forward the case that there are various segments of the bitcoin economy that should be aimed for regulation that is modeled on current digital frameworks.
When separating the digital currency ecosystem into an assortment of layers, Yee argued businesses that connect with consumers and investors should face some level of regulation. However, developers and users would be weak targets considering the broader nature of the Internet.
The article further discussed any future regulations that are installed by governments or the bitcoin industry itself should not prevent innovation in this sphere but still take into consideration the numerous concerns that law enforcement agencies, consumer safety proponents and financial regulators have.
Here is what Yee wrote in the paper:
“The logical and user layers are populated by private actors from the bitcoin community and real economy respectively. These actors are small and can easily escape from regulation and enforcement. At the information layer, intermediaries of various kinds have emerged to bridge the two networks. Their position in the Internet architecture enables them to capture information flows and identify wrongdoers. In addition, they are larger and more established actors, making them more amenable to state regulation.”
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http://www.coinbuzz.com/2014/09/03/google-analyst-thinks-bitcoin-internet-money/
