Congress plans to regulate cryptocurrencies

[geac.xraekhurcoe]

'Congress submits bill making it illegal to hold cash, Bitcoin, or other assets outside of a bank without informing them in writing'

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5

What is your thoughts on this ? Could this happen ?

[ebliever]

Not realistically. There would be so many breaches due to honest ignorance or happenstance as to make the law a joke. Nor is there any realistic means of enforcement. It would simply accelerate the adoption of privacy tools in cryptocurrency.

[tekno]

another speculative news but these will damage bitcoin price and i guess some investors going out after this news

[Emoclaw]

2 words: not happening. This bill will never pass but even if it does, the American government will have no way of knowing who owns Bitcoin.
Now if informing the government that you're a holder is all it takes to be 100% clear, I see no issue whatsoever.

[franky1]

'Congress submits bill making it illegal to hold cash, Bitcoin, or other assets outside of a bank without informing them in writing'

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5

What is your thoughts on this ? Could this happen ?

the section you quote has NOTHING to do with crypto

"digital currencies" are things like a coinbase DOLLAR balance, or a loyalty card DOLLAR balance or a paypal DOLLAR balance... not crypto

[leonair]

This will happen maybe in the future but I think it is not yet fully implemented and there is a lot of debate will take into this before it will happen, if they will regulate it then they must have a concrete regulators in cyber or internet world because implementing this is more hard compare regulating a law or currency in the real world.

[Basmic]

Why do I have to inform American Bank about what I store bitcoins on the Japanese stock exchange, or do not know where the electronic wallet. It's not real. But this is a bad signal. We see that no government is going to legalize bitcoin. Fighting with him will only increase.

[lisa255]

Why do I have to inform American Bank about what I store bitcoins on the Japanese stock exchange, or do not know where the electronic wallet. It's not real. But this is a bad signal. We see that no government is going to legalize bitcoin. Fighting with him will only increase.

I do not agree with you. Japan legalized Bitcoin, Australia, too. This suggests that bitcoin is accepted only by those countries that are doing well with the national economy.
  Countries will develop and take crypto currency

[Haladay]

'Congress submits bill making it illegal to hold cash, Bitcoin, or other assets outside of a bank without informing them in writing'

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5

What is your thoughts on this ? Could this happen ?

We have to understand this properly, would regulating cryptocurrencies be an harmful or beneficial thing for digital assets. By regulating, they can make them legal to use and trade or they can make a wided prohibition.

[exstasie]

'Congress submits bill making it illegal to hold cash, Bitcoin, or other assets outside of a bank without informing them in writing'

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5

What is your thoughts on this ? Could this happen ?

the section you quote has NOTHING to do with crypto

"digital currencies" are things like a coinbase DOLLAR balance, or a loyalty card DOLLAR balance or a paypal DOLLAR balance... not crypto

The fact that the bill specifically references tumblers (mixers) makes me wonder if that is the correct interpretation. Coin Center did put out a blog that suggested that the bill was largely redundant in regards to existing law. However, the blog also played up the worries around declaration and seizure of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin:

Coin Center also honed in on fears that digital currency holdings could be subject to declaration and seizure at the US border, with Brito noting that, at present, the bill calls for a report on how customs agents might approach this process.

https://www.coindesk.com/coin-center-us-senates-digital-currency-bill-is-counterproductive/

[Cicero2.3]

'Congress submits bill making it illegal to hold cash, Bitcoin, or other assets outside of a bank without informing them in writing'

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5

What is your thoughts on this ? Could this happen ?

the section you quote has NOTHING to do with crypto

"digital currencies" are things like a coinbase DOLLAR balance, or a loyalty card DOLLAR balance or a paypal DOLLAR balance... not crypto

The fact that the bill specifically references tumblers (mixers) makes me wonder if that is the correct interpretation. Coin Center did put out a blog that suggested that the bill was largely redundant in regards to existing law. However, the blog also played up the worries around declaration and seizure of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin:

Coin Center also honed in on fears that digital currency holdings could be subject to declaration and seizure at the US border, with Brito noting that, at present, the bill calls for a report on how customs agents might approach this process.

https://www.coindesk.com/coin-center-us-senates-digital-currency-bill-is-counterproductive/

Its kind of a double edged sword in that respect isn't it? By requiring declaration the government implicitly endorses bitcoin as a legitimate store of wealth. Right now anyone that knows even a little about bitcoin knows how to move coins around as they travel.

[exstasie]

Its kind of a double edged sword in that respect isn't it? By requiring declaration the government implicitly endorses bitcoin as a legitimate store of wealth. Right now anyone that knows even a little about bitcoin knows how to move coins around as they travel.

Indeed, they're paying attention now because Bitcoin already has universally-accepted value. It's not incredibly liquid, but it's liquid enough that Bloomberg and the like have tickers for it.

Regarding the border regulations, I think it's inevitable that the government tries to pass such regulations, if only to deter people from hiding their assets when crossing the border. Many will comply out of fear, and that's what they want.

The fact is that it's not even clear that having access to BTC private keys means that you are "in possession" of the funds. What if both you and your wife have access to the keys (and what if it's a brainwallet?) and you're the only one traveling?

[nidacoinlove]

2 words: not happening. This bill will never pass but even if it does, the American government will have no way of knowing who owns Bitcoin.
Now if informing the government that you're a holder is all it takes to be 100% clear, I see no issue whatsoever.

Yes I think it is not something traceable to look who is holding bitcoin. Thought the US revenue and tax agencies are claiming that they could trace around 30% to 50% of the bitcoin transactions but I think it is not possible for them to trace it. Also I've heard that the US government is thinking to apply tax on bitcoin. This again is a conflict because tax can be claimed only on legal matters while the US government has not recognised the bitcoin yet so, before they take any steps of tax collection from bitcoin they must legalise it first which they will never do because they look at the bitcoin as a threat for the dollar and also for their supremacy.
I think nothing is going to be happen in this regarding.

[ivrynx]

this is one of the problems of the US government, they all just want to take your money, even your bitcoin. I do not understand why is it no yet legalized in US, since it is also a leader in information technology, or is it just because they have a lot of consumers,  making it look like they are on top. This move will just create pandemonium on their country, one of the reason why bitcoin was created is to have an alternative currency that everyone could use, since their inflation rate is so high, and we should also consider their national debt, their country is not that stable, it just seems to be stable due to the media creating a lot of distractions to more important news. I think if all Americans would find out what is happening to the world because of them, and not giving a blind eye, they would see that their government is trying to manipulate and control them. They should be weary that most powerful nations in asia are mining their own bitcoin, and in time the value of their bitcoin would surpass that of the western world and there will be a change of power. I can see that this plan of their congress may happen and there will be consequences, what they need to do is think twice or otherwise.

[yugyug]

this is the sad reality, when anything that is hot, the governement intervention takes place and try to regulate for the reason of they want a piece of it. when the crypto was not as hot 3 to 4 years ago, they are just neglecting it because they think it would not last long and may burst like a bubble sooner but now the crypto was proliferated then they want to take control of it.

[helars2008]

Whether the bill is pass or not they are gonna have a hard time in implementing it.
It wouldnt be easy to track bitcoin hodlers.
It isaid that they will only allow you to hodl coins if you informed them through writing, then there isnt anything that would prevent you from not writing to them.
Why would somebody divulged such information to government. If they really wanted to track you down then let them do it themselves.

[subSTRATA]

'Congress submits bill making it illegal to hold cash, Bitcoin, or other assets outside of a bank without informing them in writing'

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5

What is your thoughts on this ? Could this happen ?

oh it could definitely happen, the actual problem is how enforceable the law would be. downloading movies and music through p2p means is considered illegal in the states, but its a pretty widely known fact that a large number of people do it anyways (and if you dont, you might actually be living under a very large rock). i dont doubt that a government with enough resources could potentially be able to set up an infrastructure solid enough to track bitcoin network related traffic, but the real matter lies in physically enforcing people to not use bitcoin. this would either mean mass sending of cease and desist letters, eventually culminating to physically sending law enforcement to a location. it's just not economically feasible, and there's too many existing ways to bypass detection.

[Cicero2.3]

this is one of the problems of the US government, they all just want to take your money, even your bitcoin. I do not understand why is it no yet legalized in US, since it is also a leader in information technology, or is it just because they have a lot of consumers,  making it look like they are on top. This move will just create pandemonium on their country, one of the reason why bitcoin was created is to have an alternative currency that everyone could use, since their inflation rate is so high, and we should also consider their national debt, their country is not that stable, it just seems to be stable due to the media creating a lot of distractions to more important news. I think if all Americans would find out what is happening to the world because of them, and not giving a blind eye, they would see that their government is trying to manipulate and control them. They should be weary that most powerful nations in asia are mining their own bitcoin, and in time the value of their bitcoin would surpass that of the western world and there will be a change of power. I can see that this plan of their congress may happen and there will be consequences, what they need to do is think twice or otherwise.

The US government has not represented the people for a very long time. We pay lip service to the idea of being a government for the people and by the people but the political oligarchs look after the financial oligarchs and vice versa. War is big business, bad food is big business for the huge food companies and for our pharmaceutical industry. The average American is just along for the ride.   

[StockBet.com]

Can you copy and paste the quote from your link to the Congress site?

I glanced through it and I don't see where it says that.

[Cult]

2 words: not happening. This bill will never pass but even if it does, the American government will have no way of knowing who owns Bitcoin.
Now if informing the government that you're a holder is all it takes to be 100% clear, I see no issue whatsoever.

Pretty sure there are already a few very good databases of USA citizens who own bitcoin, it's pseudo-anonymous, not absolute-anonymous...