Bitcoin Law: What US businesses need to know
by Marco Santori [Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation’s Regulatory Affairs Committee]
This is a basic primer on the state of US law as it applies to digital currency entrepreneurs.
If the last few months have taught us anything, it is that there will soon exist a new and evolving body of law: The Law of Digital Currency, or, as some would prefer it: Bitcoin Law.
-
[...] 'virtual currency' is something of a loaded term, and bitcoin may not even be best described as a currency at all.
-
[In addition to regulators FinCEN and the SEC, the] consensus among legal professionals is that two more government agencies might soon have a hand in the market as well: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
-
Some have called [FinCEN's issuance of guidance] bitcoin’s 'watershed moment' because of its clear, unequivocal positive message: bitcoin is not illegal. The negative consequence, though, was just as obvious: Many bitcoin businesses models are illegal.
-
In effect, the [Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)] deputizes financial institutions, requiring them to act as the government’s foot soldiers in its war on money laundering.
-
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-law-what-us-businesses-need-to-know