Is bit coin legal in the US?

[statikeffeck]

Have you heard about Tor?

Sort of, which is why I suggested that forcibly shutting such a system down would be impracticable if not impossible.

[1715027826]

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[1715027826]

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[humble]

There's an interesting draft of a paper examining the US legality of Bitcoin at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1817857

The author is looking for feedback.

[benjamindees]

You might have issues if you opened an exchange with branches in multiple states, and offered transfers between them.

Otherwise, unless you really do the research and know the meaning of literally every word, I'd take US code with a grain of salt.

[prometheus2020]

Bitcoin's legal status will be entirely dependent upon it's rate of adoption, and specifically how it effects the velocity of the USD.  The feds won't care too much about this until it starts interfering with the banking system.  At that point they will throw everything at bitcoin.  It won't just be the US either as every other central bank will not take too kindly to having a form of currency out of their domestic control.

That is exactly the problem, and the beauty, of bitcoin is that it aims for the very heart of the global financial system.  The only way governments have any control over their economy is through the banking system via the central banks.  If bitcoin takes off in any meaningful way it will be a direct threat to the very foundation of all governments, without control of the currency (and the economic power that comes with it) governments -all of them- have very little power.

The question of the legality of bitcoin at this point in time is moot.  The real question is how long it will take before simply having bitcoins will get you labeled a domestic terrorist.  That is the endgame.

[Basiley]

Have you heard about Tor?

Sort of, which is why I suggested that forcibly shutting such a system down would be impracticable if not impossible.

but manipulation/tampering for misuse purposes can discredit Tor quite quick.
let alone technical aspects[Tor unsuitable for real-use]
if you SERIOUSLY concerned - check I2P or similar systems/networks.

[chretienm]

I am not a lawyer.

But it looks to me like No, just running Bitcoin doesn't make you a "money transmitting business."  To be a "business" you have to be charging people for your service.

If you're running Bitcoin to buy or sell goods or services in exchange for bitcoins, I'd say you're not in the money transmitting business.

However, if I were to start a company in the business of buying and selling Bitcoins, or that was a Bitcoin payment processing intermediary that took a percentage of transactions between buyers and sellers, I'd talk to a lawyer and jump through all the legal hoops (looks like here in Massachusetts I'd need a license and would have to post a $50,000 bond).

Or to put it in more concrete terms:  I am not a money transmitting business when I use my credit card to pay for something from Amazon.com.
And Amazon.com is not a money transmitting business just because they accept payments.

However, Amazon Payments, Inc. (Amazon's Paypal competitor) is licensed as a money service business in a bunch of US states.

I now most people won't believe this but a STATE in the above legal quote does NOT include Florida Virginia etc because there are three different definitions of THE UNITED STATES and the law refers to one that means the US GOVT and all that it has jurisdiction over which is DC and some territories but NOT any of the FIFTY Sovereign states. Remember the states created the federal Govt which has now become a rogue bastard tyrant serving the elite bankster puppetmasters.

[chretienm]

See here
http://www.famguardian1.org/Subjects/Taxes/ChallJurisdiction/Definitions/freemaninvestigation.pdf
for proof about what I said about the law referring to states does NOT mean any of the fifty states.

[Bind]

The government, our leaders more specifically, are going to do whatever they want to protect their interests, unless the supreme court says otherwise.

Those interests are not you and I.

Those interests are protecting the people that got them into office, and again, I do not mean the voters, in general.

Most are dupes, while some are adepts.

Those interests are the insidious influence indoctrinating our kids, poinsoning us, manipulating us, trying to strip us of our wealth, land, and creator-endowed rights (un-a-lien-able birth rights), in order to create a two-class world of subjects enslaved by debt, serv(ic)ing the rulers.

It will only end when the people of the world stand in unison, stating, "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!"

You ever hear of how to cook a frog?

You see, to cook a good tasting frog, he needs to be alive when you cook him, much like a lobster, or else it wont taste as good, and if you put him in hot boiling water he splashes around and jumps out. However, if you put him in lukewarm water and turn the heat up slowly, he does not notice the difference until its to late and he passes out to be cooked good and proper.

That is the average world citizen... A frog in the pot slowly getting cooked through incrementalism and gradualism ... who doesnt even know its happening, and they usually malign or laughs at those that try to educate them.

So I dont really have much hope for the bitcoin or the citizens of the world in general.

but hey I hope I am wrong and I really like the bitcoins =)

[Crs]

“We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government,” Tompkins said.

[Tanu10]

My one reservation is the involvement of the thiel foundation. And national currencies are money.

[Tanu10]

national currencies are money. And I wonder what his opinion would be on bitcoin.