guys stop mis-reading the fincens, summarised guidance page and read the actual full reports..
fincen can only control FIAT. EG the money owned by government that has the symbols of that country £$ etc. this also includes the digital forms that are not on paper or coin but have a same value bases and symbology.
fincen does NOT control world of warcraft gold, bitcoin, facebook credits, magic charms, or whatever else type of currency is floating around the internet.
An administrator or exchanger that (1) accepts and transmits a convertible virtual
currency or (2) buys or sells convertible virtual currency for any reason is a money transmitter
under FinCEN’s regulations, unless a limitation to or exemption from the definition applies to
the person.
FinCEN’s regulations define currency (also referred to as “real” currency) as “the coin
and paper money of the United States or of any other country that is designated as legal tender
and that [ii] circulates and [iii] is customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in the
country of issuance.”
3
In contrast to real currency, “virtual” currency is a medium of exchange
that operates like a currency in some environments, but does not have all the attributes of real
currency. In particular, virtual currency does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction.
This guidance addresses “convertible” virtual currency. This type of virtual currency either has
an equivalent value in real currency, or acts as a substitute for real currency.
in otherwords a digital value of a dollar, yen, pound. is convertable to a physicial banknote or physical legal tender coin. but you cannot class a mtgox /okpay digital dollar as legal tender to pay for court fee's or government taxes. it has to be converted back into banknotes and real coins to pay taxes.
the keyword is convertible which is as described... this will affect for instance places that do penny per clicks advertising that move around pennys and dollars........... not bitcoins, so youtube better start changing their penny per viewing system so that instead of showing $$ totals.. they show X rabbit points or y .. um... smileycoins
its not to do with just reducing illegal activity its to do with partnerships with banks being told that they need to account for every digital dollar to ensure didgy website A does not tell the bank that person Z needs to be credited 1 trillion dollars. where infact no dollars ever passed website A's hand.
this is why amazon is getting rid of the dollar and instead trying out amazon coins, to reduce the need of so many licences.
this may also be a big warning to some mining pools. i believe eclipse does it, where you can withdraw your bitcoin shares directly to a dwolla account as dollars. because as we all know dollars are bad for your health.. stick to bitcoin withdrawals unless licenced,
and giftcoins.me better be careful to. because they offer resellers the ability to put dollars onto giftcard balance which are later (after transmission) converted to bitcoins when you redeam it.
