Does regulating bitcoins is necessary for global adoption?

[krishnapramod]

Now, there are two scenarios:

1. Users prefer bitcoins solely because it is decentralized and pseydo-anonymous. They do not want it to be regulated by a governing authority.

2. Users who think that even if bitcoins get regulated, it would not matter much. They are okay with accepting the centralized, tax paying, non-anonymous version of bitcoins.

First of all, even if bitcoin is not legalized in a particular country, users do have to pay taxes on conversion. Secondly, it is not entirely possible to enforce a complete ban on bitcoins so if bitcoin is even banned, users can still somhow escape without any legal implications.

But after Japan legalized bitcoins we have seen a tremendous spike in bitcoin price. Solely because when a governing authority backs and legalises bitcoin, not only it gets huge attention, but the citizens of that country believe it is something legal, it is something new, it is something technologically advanced, it is something that has future, it is something that we should try.

So the point is, IMO the more countries legslise bitcoin, the more it would grow, the more the bitcoin community and users would benefit from it. Obviously on the downside decentralization would be taken away, I guess at least partially.

So what's your opinion, do not want bitcoins to be regulated and let it grow on it's own or regulation is required for global adoption of bitcoins.

PS: I mean by global adoption, not 10% of a country's population using bitcoins, but at least 50%.

[Jherek]

I think that most users here would prefer option 1.

Whilst many are celebrating Australia and Japan legalizing bitcoin i think that people are forgetting legalizing something will inevitably lead to regulation of one form or another. Russia is threatening to monitor all blockchain activity in their country on the bitcoin blockchain, and wants to create their own copycat version of bitcoin. How exactly is this good for bitcoin?

Maybe legalizing bitcoin will bring more people to using bitcoin but it's unproven. Has any of the existing countries that have legalized in the past see a noticeable surge in bitcoin users? I don't think so. I mean legalization is good, but it's not necessary. Plus, there are downsides to having legalized bitcoin as i mentioned above.

[romero121]

Yeah, regulating bitcoin only help with the usage of bitcoin  from all levels of people. Global adoption is far beyond what's happening with the ongoing adoption. Only a bigger and better global adoption could lead us towards a mainstream usage which is the long expectation of people who have been using digital currency.

[Sithara007]

Although I would have gone with #1, after much thinking I voted for option #2. If the bitcoins are regulated by the government authorities, then life will get easier for many of us. There will be little harassment, and the tax implications will get a bit more clearer. Bitcoin may gain a large number of new users as well.

[krishnapramod]

I think that most users here would prefer option 1.

Whilst many are celebrating Australia and Japan legalizing bitcoin i think that people are forgetting legalizing something will inevitably lead to regulation of one form or another. Russia is threatening to monitor all blockchain activity in their country on the bitcoin blockchain, and wants to create their own copycat version of bitcoin. How exactly is this good for bitcoin?

Maybe legalizing bitcoin will bring more people to using bitcoin but it's unproven. Has any of the existing countries that have legalized in the past see a noticeable surge in bitcoin users? I don't think so. I mean legalization is good, but it's not necessary. Plus, there are downsides to having legalized bitcoin as i mentioned above.

Here you go, https://news.bitcoin.com/the-japanese-using-bitcoin-expected/

Many merchants and retail stores have started accepting BTC and it is expected that some giant Japanese e-commerce stores would integrate bitcoins by the end of this year. Bitflyer has seen a rapid growth in it's user base since April 1.

[mindrust]

If they legalize/regulate bitcoin, how are they going to collect taxes from the sellers? As bitcoins? Sounds dumb and sensible at the same time. As FIAT? Then how? Bitcoins price is volatile as hell. One day the seller might be looking at profits and the other day it may disappear.

[Nagadota]

If they legalize/regulate bitcoin, how are they going to collect taxes from the sellers? As bitcoins? Sounds dumb and sensible at the same time. As FIAT? Then how? Bitcoins price is volatile as hell. One day the seller might be looking at profits and the other day it may disappear.

Regulating Bitcoin would require global cooperation.  This means regulation of mixing services, extreme regulation of exchanges with KYC laws, and lots of other work from governments to trace the blockchain.

If there's just one place offshore where people can base these businesses and there's still accessible on the Internet, regulation has failed.

Global adoption can happen without it but the reality is that it'll coincide with that adoption.  It'll happen at the same time because adoption = regulation.  Governments can make it appear like support while still monitoring most things closely.

If people want to do illegal things with Bitcoin, they'll probably be able to regardless of regulation, so it's just to do with how governments can handle this situation.

[Prodigan786]

Yes regulating bitcoin is important for global adoption after Japan,s regulation lots of change happened in crypto world. The country where I live even it's under discussion panel hope it will be regulated

[PrinceCaspian]

There are alot of things you need to consider before regulating bitcoins when global adoption is on.Regulating bitcoins will not be in favor of big stake holders so they will definetely not agree into this.But if regulating bitcoins will help the price to be stable then im good to it

[Digitalbitcoin]

Bitcoin is the biggest invention of this century, and this invention have certain characteristics as Anonymous, Decentralized, Instant, And Open Source.

Now if we consider global adoption of bitcoins then it needs to regulate by someone(Organization/Group). So if anyone controlling bitcoins then it loose it one of characteristic of decentralization. If once bitcoin regulated then every address used to receive payments can be identified this means it lose second characteristic of anonymous.

Now still question is if consider to regulate bitcoin who will regulate it?

[xuan87]

I don't think we need to regulate bitcoin, the bitcoin user keep on growing and we can reach 50% of world population to used bitcoin without need to regulate bitcoin but it will take a long time and we need to eliminate the negative news about bitcoin,  regulating bitcoin would increase the speed for global adoption but it will be violated the purpose of bitcoin which is decentralised

[JimmieA]

There are alot of things you need to consider before regulating bitcoins when global adoption is on.Regulating bitcoins will not be in favor of big stake holders so they will definetely not agree into this.But if regulating bitcoins will help the price to be stable then im good to it

Yes, actually there are many things to consider before adjusting btc. If btc is adjusted for sure it will be managed by an organization and when dealing with all addresses will be managed by this organization, user info will no longer be hidden  , the feature that most people like the btc . In short, there are still a lot of things that we have to wonder about.

[franky1]

regulation is not the problem

here are the real problems
1. bitcoin is not ready to jump to 3.5bilion users over night.
2. thinking anything should jump to 3.5billion users over night is a stupid mindset to have anyway(even facebook didnt predict that)
3. current 10mill people only caring about 3.49billion new purely for a price spike so the 10mill can exit back to fiat
4. thinking reducing functionality and halting growth is good
5. devs removing code of fee control and replacing it with wallstreet economics of 'just pay more'
6. devs think bitcoins solution is to divert people away from bitcoin and to use alternative networks instead
7. availability of access(buying in local currency via bank notes in a town people live in)
8. understandability for common man

alot of people will argue "we just need to advertise it more"
to which i will refer them to points 1,2,3,8

alot of people will argue bitcoin cant cope
to which i will refer them to points 1,4,6,7


but here is the thing. blaming regulation is foolish.
many things that are not regulated can get success, as long as they do something, each person that gets it can continue using it HAPPILY even after the first try/use

take fidget spinners. simple, does not need a manual. does exactly what people expect.

alot of people talk to newb's by talking about bitcoins old ethos or the utopian revolution.. which bitcoin has lost
alot of people talk to newb's by talking about bitcoins get rich quick.. which is the 'too good to be true' red flag style of advertising
alot of people talk to newb's by talking about bitcoins bnfits for the unbanked.. but bitcoin has lost that (remember its the POOR who are most unbanked)

until people admit that bitcoins functionality has DROPPED. and stop just thinking just about price..
until people stop only caring about how soon they can run back to fiat with their pockets full as the only reason to advertise
...
then bitcoin should not yet spread to mainstream.

[BitcoinHodler]

being regulated doesn't change much about bitcoin still being decentralized and pseydo-anonymous. what you should keep in mind is that they can never "regulate bitcoin" they regulate services using bitcoin and that is actually a good thing in my opinion. because it simply helps the growth.

and as far as taxes go if you have a problem with paying taxes then it is a different story and it has nothing to do with bitcoin. you are paying it daily one every single breath you take
what makes bitcoin different?
if it is not regulated then you won't be able to find as many places to spend it so it won't matter because you still have to pay taxes for your investment in bitcoin.

[Kprawn]

Where Fiat is involved, you will not be able to bypass local financial regulations and laws. The KYC/AML regulations will always be your first hurdle,

then you will have to deal with local tax laws. Anonymous transactions does not go down well with tax authorities. I am not saying all regulations

is good, but Fiat linked transactions should be regulated to stop things like terrorism funding and other financial crimes. 

[BitcoinzB]

I believe that - for now - it's better for bitcoin to remain unregulated and let it grow on its own. It's just not the right moment.
Regulation will be possible one day, but I'm sure most of us here would prefer it to keep its current status of decentralized and anonymous currency.

[Daniel91]

I believe that - for now - it's better for bitcoin to remain unregulated and let it grow on its own. It's just not the right moment.
Regulation will be possible one day, but I'm sure most of us here would prefer it to keep its current status of decentralized and anonymous currency.

If bitcoin will ever become regulated, I'm sure that many people will leave bitcoin and find something else, still out of reach from government control.
Bitcoin is very popular now simple because it's not regulated and because of anonymity.
If we change it, bitcoin will not be the same any more.
In my opinion, we don't need to regulate bitcoin but fight for global acceptance as alternative way of payments and alternative currency.

[Red-Apple]

regulations are not bad on their own, it is how the regulation is and how it is enforced. it can be simple rules as what we have when using fiat or it can be extremely restrictive with high taxes.

look at what Japan did. their regulation is a good example and it helped the adoption a lot. now there are a lot more businesses in Japan accepting bitcoin and this will only grow over time.

it is a new age with cryptocurrencies and it is happening. better adapt fast. and in a regulated world, we should expect some level of regulation for bitcoin too.

[krishnapramod]

regulation is not the problem

here are the real problems
1. bitcoin is not ready to jump to 3.5bilion users over night.
2. thinking anything should jump to 3.5billion users over night is a stupid mindset to have anyway(even facebook didnt predict that)
3. current 10mill people only caring about 3.49billion new purely for a price spike so the 10mill can exit back to fiat
4. thinking reducing functionality and halting growth is good
5. devs removing code of fee control and replacing it with wallstreet economics of 'just pay more'
6. devs think bitcoins solution is to divert people away from bitcoin and to use alternative networks instead
7. availability of access(buying in local currency via bank notes in a town people live in)
8. understandability for common man

alot of people will argue "we just need to advertise it more"
to which i will refer them to points 1,2,3,8

alot of people will argue bitcoin cant cope
to which i will refer them to points 1,4,6,7


but here is the thing. blaming regulation is foolish.
many things that are not regulated can get success, as long as they do something, each person that gets it can continue using it HAPPILY even after the first try/use

take fidget spinners. simple, does not need a manual. does exactly what people expect.

alot of people talk to newb's by talking about bitcoins old ethos or the utopian revolution.. which bitcoin has lost
alot of people talk to newb's by talking about bitcoins get rich quick.. which is the 'too good to be true' red flag style of advertising
alot of people talk to newb's by talking about bitcoins bnfits for the unbanked.. but bitcoin has lost that (remember its the POOR who are most unbanked)

until people admit that bitcoins functionality has DROPPED. and stop just thinking just about price..
until people stop only caring about how soon they can run back to fiat with their pockets full as the only reason to advertise
...
then bitcoin should not yet spread to mainstream.

A few worthy points indeed.

1. Yeah, bitcoin is not ready right now, but regulation is also a slow process. I honestly believe without getting a legal status from most of the developed and developing countries, bitcoin would not have global influence. It would simply remain as a pump and dump currency.

2. Yeah, most of the people who are into bitcoins are just for the sake of speculation. They do not give a damn about scaling issues, for most of them bitcoin is like a short-term investment, a get rich quick scheme. This is where regulation is important, not to interfere with trading or similar activities, but to steer bitcoin to it's main zone, P2P payment system, installing bitcoin ATMs, making bitcoin avaible for purchasing day-to-day stuff and the outcome of this would be price stability. Just random pumping and dumping would not be able to influence the price.

3. Everyone has a perspective on looking at the scaling debate, but from whatever angle you look, it is evident that two sides are not able  to make a compromise which eventually would stagnate the growth of bitcoins. The diversion is happening, from the past couple of years many alts have shown a considerable growth and if the scaling issue goes on users would readily choose some alternatives.

4. Regulation would make bitcoins more accessible. Tie-up with banks and enabling local currency deposit or withdrawal for BTC is a possibility. But something like this would take the whole decentralization away.

5. IMO common man is the average guy, neither highly educated nor illiterate, family man, follows government rules and regulations, is not glued to latest technological updates and here is also why regulation is important. Government pushing bitcoin forward as a legal currency is somewhat like comparing BTC to a family member of their local currency and that gets attention. Common man gets to know about it, government rolls out a simple how to use bitcoin ad, and since it's not a complicated process, the common man would grasp it.

I believe almost all exchanges do follow KYC and AML regulations. The moment you convert BTC to your local currency anonymity is gone. Buying directly with cash might be an exception. On rest of all BTC conversions tax is imposed so basically in countries where bitcoin is not banned, still using bitcoins cannot be considered completely anonymous. Government cannot centralize bitcoins, it would be impossible, levying taxes is another thing.

Is regulation necessary? Nope if it wants to stay as a pump and dump currency, a bubble. Yes, if it wants stability and be defined as a proper currency.

[oktana]

regulations are not bad on their own, it is how the regulation is and how it is enforced. it can be simple rules as what we have when using fiat or it can be extremely restrictive with high taxes.

look at what Japan did. their regulation is a good example and it helped the adoption a lot. now there are a lot more businesses in Japan accepting bitcoin and this will only grow over time.

it is a new age with cryptocurrencies and it is happening. better adapt fast. and in a regulated world, we should expect some level of regulation for bitcoin too.

Bitcoin regulation must be gradual, if done simultaneously will disrupt the balance of fiat currency, this is a serious problem where bitcoin will become viral instantly to the smallest economic joints in a country. For a developing and corrupt country, this is not an easy task, a long review and debate about national budgets and regulations is required.