Is Bitcoin the New Swiss Bank Account (And Is That a Problem?)

[LCSociety]

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/is-bitcoin-the-new-swiss-bank-account-and-is-that-a-problem-cm597377

Last week, President Barack Obama said he believes a balance must be sought between privacy and security. As one example of the risks of strong encryption, and seemingly referring to cryptocurrencies, Obama pointed out that if government can't access phones, "everybody is walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket."

...Several Bitcoin wallet apps currently offer "zero knowledge security" which ensures user data by generating private keys completely client side.

But what happens if Pandora's Box is opened? What if encryption is weakened or even broken by state agencies?

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, sees trying to break the encryption protecting one phone as having "extremely damaging implications" for the rights of many millions of people worldwide, with possible effects on their physical and financial security.

Obama, meanwhile, seemed to suggest that this kind of financial security should in fact not be absolute. He believes a balance must be struck, suggesting encryption should be weakened to allow government agencies access to encrypted phones in certain cases.

Simply, yes. Bitcoin is Swiss banking 2.0, but without the bankers

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[jethrorn99]

Swiss Bank is known for keeping a lot of illegal money there because of their secrecy law. If you safe a lot of money there, you'll get a lot of suspicion.

Bitcoin isn't as famous as Swiss Bank in secrecy. Bitcoin maybe will be used as the new Swiss Bank Account because of bitcoin's anonymity.

[n0ne]

Swiss Bank is known for keeping a lot of illegal money there because of their secrecy law. If you safe a lot of money there, you'll get a lot of suspicion.

Bitcoin isn't as famous as Swiss Bank in secrecy. Bitcoin maybe will be used as the new Swiss Bank Account because of bitcoin's anonymity.

Swiss has the same banking system with a small variation in the regulation and accessibility. Now when we talk of bitcoin it's totally different. It has got a anonymous nature on transaction but if a particular person's bitcoin address is known anyone can find the particular person's balance.

[Carlton Banks]

Problem? Nope. Because everyone can have a Swiss Bank account in their pocket, not just Barry and his pals. Literally everyone (minimum brain activity required, of course)

[7788bitcoin]

Problem? Nope. Because everyone can have a Swiss Bank account in their pocket, not just Barry and his pals. Literally everyone (minimum brain activity required, of course)

I think the only problem is that the "money" aka bitcoin, is not accepted by many... Hopeful this will gradually change...

[beerlover]

Well the government (in particular the US gov) has a tendency to poke its nose into everyone's private matters  For example they tried to force Apple to decrypt the contents of their phones so the state officials could use the harvested data as evidence in prosecutions but Apple stuck it to them in the end.

they are all gonna fold sooner or later. this is just for the public, the US government is going to force them to release that information to them eventually.

Yes, the government of USA can do that and they will do that, they will encrypt the data of all the users as it is not hard for them to persuade USA, but currently they do not because the importance may not be that much to them right now.

[GingerAle]

... and, yah know, bitcoin is completely traceable and linkable... so I'd prefer a swiss bank account (or any regular bank) over bitcoin if my concern was privacy.

[BitcoinPenny]

Yes. (No.)

Me

[Slowturtleinc]

Obama is all about stripping rights under the guise of protectionism. This angle he is currently playing out is to get their hooks preset instead of having to put them in afterwards. If encryption does become a issue we will create something new that stifles the issue temporarily.
It will just become a ongoing cycle and that will be the end result,change or die.

Letting government dictate any privacy you are allowed online is like bending over and asking for another.

[BlueStackz]

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/is-bitcoin-the-new-swiss-bank-account-and-is-that-a-problem-cm597377

Last week, President Barack Obama said he believes a balance must be sought between privacy and security. As one example of the risks of strong encryption, and seemingly referring to cryptocurrencies, Obama pointed out that if government can't access phones, "everybody is walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket."

...Several Bitcoin wallet apps currently offer "zero knowledge security" which ensures user data by generating private keys completely client side.

But what happens if Pandora's Box is opened? What if encryption is weakened or even broken by state agencies?

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, sees trying to break the encryption protecting one phone as having "extremely damaging implications" for the rights of many millions of people worldwide, with possible effects on their physical and financial security.

Obama, meanwhile, seemed to suggest that this kind of financial security should in fact not be absolute. He believes a balance must be struck, suggesting encryption should be weakened to allow government agencies access to encrypted phones in certain cases.

I also agree with that phenomena that bitcoin is a swiss bank accounts in our pockets, as it happens only in the Swiss banks accounts and in bitcoin that the data about from where the money has gained is not required .