[2017-10-31] The Race To Ban Or Regulate Bitcoin And ICOs

[CryptoBry]

The race to regulate the cryptocurrency and the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) market has hit full stride. It’s more of a marathon than a sprint, with hurdles.  In recent months over 30 global regulators announced their various approaches to token sales and ICOs. This emerging space is full of promise and potential pitfalls. What happens next?

There are very vocal supporters and detractors from the world of high finance and government. There is Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund telling us that we are about to see massive disruption in FinTech and that it is time to get serious about digital currency, while Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan says Bitcoin is a fraud that will eventually blow up.

There is Japan with 11 regulated Bitcoin exchanges controlling over 60% of the global Bitcoin market, while China has banned the sale of crypto currencies and tokens outright.

And there are others in the race, to name a few: Abu Dhabi has offered guidance on regulating cryptocurrencies and ICOs on an individual case basis; the US SEC has declared that ICO tokens are subject to federal security laws - The CFTC has announced that crypto assets may also be commodities; and, Switzerland and Singapore are leading the ICO market and are popular destinations for startups seeking to raise funds using tokens.

Read more here...

The world of Bitcoin is now a very dynamic one. Almost everyday there are news big and small...some can be positive while others negative. The same dynamism attached to a certain currency have never been experienced before more so that Bitcoin is now an international currency and definitely not limited to a certain country or geographical location.

Bitcoin is definitely here to stay no matter how many well-known people can be against it. Well, if China was not able to kill Bitcoin I don't think any country can do it. Hopefully, we are already in the phase that no government can infect paralysis into it.

Next year, we can be witnessing how Bitcoin can really fly into the sky!

[Falgorn]

Now almost all states are forced to reckon with the presence of crypto currency in the country, and therefore take measures to study the crypto currency and the methods of its possible regulation. This process is inevitable and must culminate in the adoption of certain normative legal acts on this issue. Unequivocally, the approaches to regulating crypto-currency in different countries, especially at the initial stage, will be different. It will take a long time before the countries come to a more or less unified vision of the role of the crypto currency in the society and the ways of its regulation.

[IconFirm]

The reason Bitcoin is so successful is because it is unregulated & is impossible to do so.  Regulation is just an attempt at control, which is impossible of course.

Regulation is not needed or required.  It is because of Fiat "regulation" that Bitcoin was born.

Regulation is fail.

Edit: ICO's on the other hand are 99.9% scams. The scourge of any currency. if peeps are stupid enough to invest in them, that's their fault.

[marckenigsberg]

ICOs can be a great tool for development but they need to evolve into real utility and value.
Instead of governments looking how to regulate bitcoin They should look at how to incentivize it's development.
The countries that understand this and take action now will have huge advantages in the coming years.

[aso118]

I think governments are going to lose this race. They may ban ICOs and fund raising by different companies. But trying to ban cryptocurrencies which are already in circulation is a futile exercise. Their best choice is to have a light-touch regulation.

[error08]

The reason Bitcoin is so successful is because it is unregulated & is impossible to do so.  Regulation is just an attempt at control, which is impossible of course.

Regulation is not needed or required.  It is because of Fiat "regulation" that Bitcoin was born.

Regulation is fail.

Edit: ICO's on the other hand are 99.9% scams. The scourge of any currency. if peeps are stupid enough to invest in them, that's their fault.

I don't think regulation is fail as Government could regulate cryptocurrency at anytime at their will, but why now? Due to bitcoin trading volume getting bigger everyday and its value skyrocket. They just have to regulate exchanges to avoid money laundering or any kind of illegal activities.
If government doesn't have any regulation regarding cryptocurrency, but allows citizens to trade cryptocurrency, then regulation isn't required. But, it will be better if more countries regulate and legalize bitcoin as legal payment in daily transactions such as in Japan, it's needed.

[SixOfFive]

Govt. can't able to control or regulate BTC transactions till now so they want to ban it so that they can win this lost race. But BTC is successful due features like decentralized and anonymous transaction. So if govt. want to regulate BTC, it would be contradictory with these feature.
And I don't much believe in ICO as most of them are fraud and very high risk is involved while investing in it.

[IconFirm]

The reason Bitcoin is so successful is because it is unregulated & is impossible to do so.  Regulation is just an attempt at control, which is impossible of course.

Regulation is not needed or required.  It is because of Fiat "regulation" that Bitcoin was born.

Regulation is fail.

Edit: ICO's on the other hand are 99.9% scams. The scourge of any currency. if peeps are stupid enough to invest in them, that's their fault.

I don't think regulation is fail as Government could regulate cryptocurrency at anytime at their will, but why now? Due to bitcoin trading volume getting bigger everyday and its value skyrocket. They just have to regulate exchanges to avoid money laundering or any kind of illegal activities.
If government doesn't have any regulation regarding cryptocurrency, but allows citizens to trade cryptocurrency, then regulation isn't required. But, it will be better if more countries regulate and legalize bitcoin as legal payment in daily transactions such as in Japan, it's needed.

They can't. it's impossible - unless they switch the web off.

Has regulation of fiat stopped "money laundering or any kind of illegal activities"?  No. Of course it hasn't. It has failed miserably. Hence Bitcoin.

[bbc.reporter]

I think governments are going to lose this race. They may ban ICOs and fund raising by different companies. But trying to ban cryptocurrencies which are already in circulation is a futile exercise. Their best choice is to have a light-touch regulation.

What the government can do to slow down the growth of the cryptospace is to ban the operation of cryptocoin exchanges. Make it hard for the people to buy and sell them.

But the government does not hate the technology. I reckon they hate that they cannot control it.

[jhanson]

No matter what they can't control and enforce it. the only thing the US can do is create regulations for ico's. The future holds just about anything

[LuanX3]

I would not agree to banning or regulating bitcoins but on ICOs, that's another matter of discussion. Bitcoin technology is solid, and there is no argument that it has a purpose in this world. However, we can't say that on all ICOs. A lot of them are just scams, probably only 1 out of 10 are legit and really are offering something to the community. That is a big number to look at. So I do think ICOs do really need to be regulated.

[bubblebit]

The China’s failure to control bitcoin is a living proof that it will be what is must be since the day it was invented. This news from anywhere is motivated by insecurity and greed from the one been affected to bitcoin existence. It’s an open secret to all investors that the government and the finance sectors/banks are moving to make it stopped for many times. I’m not against regulation on bitcoin and altcoin but banning is a different story.

This race will not stop until one will accept defeat and that’s not bitcoin and cryptocurrency but them.

[Irvinn]

Everything is quite natural. Previously, the states tried not to notice the crypto currency, considering it as something frivolous, until it got so strong that it began to exert a strong influence on the economy of almost all countries. After this, the states were forced to study the crypto currency and decide what to do with it. After several unsuccessful attempts to ban its circulation, they finally realized that the crypto currency has come for a long time and because it is supported by a significant part of the community, it is necessary to establish at least general rules for its circulation. In this regard, this is a natural process that will continue for a long time, until the states develop a more or less unified approach to the crypto currency.

[Embeco]

The China’s failure to control bitcoin is a living proof that it will be what is must be since the day it was invented. This news from anywhere is motivated by insecurity and greed from the one been affected to bitcoin existence. It’s an open secret to all investors that the government and the finance sectors/banks are moving to make it stopped for many times. I’m not against regulation on bitcoin and altcoin but banning is a different story.

This race will not stop until one will accept defeat and that’s not bitcoin and cryptocurrency but them.

Fully agree and as you do, I would highly appreciate regulations. Actually Estonia and Austria are the first countries that publicly think of clean regulations without trying to restrict Crypto in any way.

[alani123]

This is quite a statement. I agree that governments would look towards ICOs with suspicion. It's just too much of a good deal for ventures looking for funding. No tax, reserves held right under the government's nose with no possibility of seizure, full flexibility to avoid regulation etc. Govt would like to get involved, but I think ICOs would find a way to circumvent such regulation.

[J. Cooper]

You can't ban bitcoin as a network. It's decentralized so in order to shut bitcoin down you would have to shut down each and every singly bitcoin node and bitcoin core cliënt. Which is impossible to do and would require way too much money, would take too many employees and would infringe too many fundamental right and laws. So in shirt there's no way to directly shut down bitcoin other than pulling out the whole internet.

What governments can do is ban exchanges (we've seen this happen in China) but this will only stimulate the development of decentralized exchanges. The free market will come out on top.