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Author Topic: Bitcoin at the US Senate  (Read 67072 times)
Mike Hearn (OP)
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November 10, 2013, 11:50:12 AM
Last edit: November 13, 2013, 11:47:44 AM by Mike Hearn
 #1

On the 18th November, which is a bit over a week from now, members of the Bitcoin community will be testifying in front of the US Senate in two committee hearings:

1) Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) committee

2) Senate Banking committee

The hearings have been called so US representatives can learn about Bitcoin and in particular, about its impact on law enforcement and banking. The HSGAC hearing will have two panels. The first one consists of members of US LE agencies. The second is the industry panel and will have, amongst other people, Patrick Murck of the Bitcoin Foundation on it.

For those who don't know Patrick, he is pretty much "the Bitcoin lawyer" and is one of us - he has been involved behind the scenes with Bitcoin for a long time now, I talk with him frequently and I know he will do a great job. That said, Patrick was not our first choice. Actually the Senate invitation was for Jon Matonis, who was our first choice. Unfortunately Jon couldn't make it on such short notice. Gavin would have been our second choice, but he is in Australia visiting family at the moment and also was not available.

The selection of the other panelists are also, I think, good news for us - they're people with a strong understanding of the Bitcoin space, people who have got credibility and achievements under their belt. Unfortunately my understanding is that it would be a faux pas to reveal their names here for some reason, but you'll find out who they are in a week.

edit: the names of the people appearing in front of the Senate Banking committee have now been published

Preparatory work has already begun and Foundation staff are working on some written testimony that will be submitted along with the oral testimony. Patrick will be heading to DC soon in order to start rehearsing and preparing. As executive director, Jon is of course going to be instrumental in figuring out what we're going to say, although he's being helped by other members as well of course. If you want to suggest ideas and contribute, go join the Foundation and post to the forum.

In recent times I've occasionally seen people sometimes question what the purpose of the Foundation is. Well, this is one of the reasons it was created. There are many powerful institutions in our world run by people that simply don't or won't take part in forums like bitcointalk, mailing lists and so on. The way they operate is by holding meetings, conferences and hearings like this one. The Foundation not only funds development but acts as a bridge between these two very different worlds.

Thanks,

Mike Hearn
Chair, Law & Policy committee
Bitcoin Foundation
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November 10, 2013, 01:20:02 PM
 #2

On the 18th November, which is a bit over a week from now, members of the Bitcoin community will be testifying in front of the US Senate in two committee hearings:

1) Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) committee

2) Senate Banking committee

The hearings have been called so US representatives can learn about Bitcoin and in particular, about its impact on law enforcement and banking. The HSGAC hearing will have two panels. The first one consists of members of US LE agencies. The second is the industry panel and will have, amongst other people, Patrick Murck of the Bitcoin Foundation on it.

For those who don't know Patrick, he is pretty much "the Bitcoin lawyer" and is one of us - he has been involved behind the scenes with Bitcoin for a long time now, I talk with him frequently and I know he will do a great job. That said, Patrick was not our first choice. Actually the Senate invitation was for Jon Matonis, who was our first choice. Unfortunately Jon couldn't make it on such short notice. Gavin would have been our second choice, but he is in Australia visiting family at the moment and also was not available.

The selection of the other panelists are also, I think, good news for us - they're people with a strong understanding of the Bitcoin space, people who have got credibility and achievements under their belt. Unfortunately my understanding is that it would be a faux pas to reveal their names here for some reason, but you'll find out who they are in a week.

Preparatory work has already begun and Foundation staff are working on some written testimony that will be submitted along with the oral testimony. Patrick will be heading to DC soon in order to start rehearsing and preparing. As executive director, Jon is of course going to be instrumental in figuring out what we're going to say, although he's being helped by other members as well of course. If you want to suggest ideas and contribute, go join the Foundation and post to the forum.

In recent times I've occasionally seen people sometimes question what the purpose of the Foundation is. Well, this is one of the reasons it was created. There are many powerful institutions in our world run by people that simply don't or won't take part in forums like bitcointalk, mailing lists and so on. The way they operate is by holding meetings, conferences and hearings like this one. The Foundation not only funds development but acts as a bridge between these two very different worlds.

Thanks,

Mike Hearn
Chair, Law & Policy committee
Bitcoin Foundation

Hope everything will go smooth and they can understand how big it is.
Keep doing great job!
Thanks!

franky1
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November 10, 2013, 01:24:48 PM
 #3

video's of patrick so people know his 'style' and get to know him more then just a name

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMC-oSoaOcY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWLgSHHFaI0 - one minute - 05 seconds into video


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November 10, 2013, 01:54:12 PM
 #4

On the 18th November, which is a bit over a week from now, members of the Bitcoin community will be testifying in front of the US Senate in two committee hearings...

Waste of time. A decentralized currency doesn't need that.
arklan
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November 10, 2013, 02:03:06 PM
 #5

On the 18th November, which is a bit over a week from now, members of the Bitcoin community will be testifying in front of the US Senate in two committee hearings...

Waste of time. A decentralized currency doesn't need that.

Obviously there isn't a need. But trying to spread understanding and such can't be seen as a bad thing, right?

i don't post much, but this space for rent.
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November 10, 2013, 02:03:43 PM
 #6

thanks mike for that info and the professionalism of the foundation. good luck!

franky1
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November 10, 2013, 02:13:51 PM
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On the 18th November, which is a bit over a week from now, members of the Bitcoin community will be testifying in front of the US Senate in two committee hearings...

Waste of time. A decentralized currency doesn't need that.

bitcoin doesnt need it. but if your wanting to swap FIAT for bitcoin at any point then it does need some government approval.

if you dont want this then stop working for a business that pays salary in FIAT, stop going to FIAT acceptig shops/stores to buy food/clothes and dont fill your car up at FIAT priced gas stations. instead find the bitcoin alternatives and you will never need to worry about government regulations affecting you directly.. even though regulations will still affect the merchants you deal with, if they have to convert to FIAT, so theres no way to prevent regulations, there is only ways to limit how much it extends to you and affects you directly

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Please do your own research & respect what is written here as both opinion & information gleaned from experience. many people replying with insults but no on-topic content substance, automatically are 'facepalmed' and yawned at
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November 10, 2013, 02:30:18 PM
 #8

Good luck guys!

It's great to know it's going to be approached with level-headedness.

Tip: BTC 1LbHAZv2mbZZMTu2k4xLcg8p5q4FatgkA7. Doge DFVzezccAsdq1LQwrPTDe1nMXKrL7aEUWY. FUNK: CXfgJPSbY1C5paVwiSHnm942tJPyK9xSfy
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November 10, 2013, 02:30:50 PM
 #9

On the 18th November, which is a bit over a week from now, members of the Bitcoin community will be testifying in front of the US Senate in two committee hearings...

Waste of time. A decentralized currency doesn't need that.

bitcoin doesnt need it. but if your wanting to swap FIAT for bitcoin at any point then it does need some government approval.

if you dont want this then stop working for a business that pays salary in FIAT, stop going to FIAT acceptig shops/stores to buy food/clothes and dont fill your car up at FIAT priced gas stations. instead find the bitcoin alternatives and you will never need to worry about government regulations affecting you directly.. even though regulations will still affect the merchants you deal with, if they have to convert to FIAT, so theres no way to prevent regulations, there is only ways to limit how much it extends to you and affects you directly

Shouldn't we first extend 10 tx/sec limit before trying to bring millions ppl to Bitcoin?
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November 10, 2013, 02:56:11 PM
 #10

We should send Richard G. Brown from IBM.

Failing that, short notice and all, send his arguments.
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November 10, 2013, 03:22:50 PM
 #11

Tell them they (the governments) made a huge mistake when they decoupled fiat from gold, and that bitcoin fixes that problem so that they can't do the same "mistake" again
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November 10, 2013, 03:27:32 PM
 #12

Good luck guys!

It's great to know it's going to be approached with level-headedness.

Yes that is what I thought. Patrick can explain Bitcoin well without sounding evangelical.
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November 10, 2013, 03:28:39 PM
 #13

Senate don't give a damn, they just wanna destroy BTC Grin
Mike Hearn (OP)
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November 10, 2013, 03:59:54 PM
 #14

You can also post ideas here, of course. Although I think Patrick prefers to use the Foundation forum, I read both.
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November 10, 2013, 04:23:53 PM
 #15

Dunno, especially since it involve that "foundation"...

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November 10, 2013, 04:30:47 PM
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You can also post ideas here, of course. Although I think Patrick prefers to use the Foundation forum, I read both.

What are you trying to say? Are you trying to say the Foundation represents all of Bitcoin or just its members?  You seem to want to sidestep this important issue with a vague reply.  Sure, anyone can post anything anywhere but is the Foundation claiming to represent those interests of people who post here or just their members who pay?

They don't even care about foundation members. The Foundation is a way to make rich its "founders". That was obvious from the day 1 when they violated their own by-laws.
Mike Hearn (OP)
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November 10, 2013, 04:48:52 PM
 #17

Nobody, not paying members of the Foundation nor anyone else, has the power to force Patrick to say anything in particular in front of the committee hearing. It will be him taking the oath and giving the testimony, not "the Bitcoin community".

However, Patrick is a reasonable man who listens to input and advice. Unsurprisingly given that Foundation members pay his salary, he primarily listens to them. I've also been giving him input and ideas, and I read this forum. So if someone comes up with some good ideas or talking points I would try and ensure that gets his attention.

To put it bluntly, I think all the above is obvious and common sense. If you would like to contribute, start thinking of intelligent things that could be said instead of flaming people and picking fights.
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November 10, 2013, 05:02:46 PM
 #18

On the 18th November, which is a bit over a week from now, members of the Bitcoin community will be testifying in front of the US Senate in two committee hearings...

Waste of time. A decentralized currency doesn't need that.
You are talking bullshit (as usual I guess - hence the high ignore ratio ?).
As of today, world is **not** decentralized or distributed like Bitcoin. So it is obvious that a bridge between the two worlds is necessary.

If the bridge we have is a good bridge is a matter for another discussion. But I myself am satisfied with it. For now.

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November 10, 2013, 05:10:24 PM
 #19

Bitcoin exists exactly to solve the problem they created. Going to speak with them is useless, if it would be useful then we would not need bitcoin, we would just go there and tell them "ehi what about stop printing money like there is no tomorrow, what about the current financial system being totally fucked, what about frozen money, what about trillions and trillions of debts, what about bailing out banks with people money etcetc"

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November 10, 2013, 05:11:05 PM
 #20

You are talking bullshit (as usual I guess - hence the high ignore ratio ?).

Wrong guess.


As of today, world is **not** decentralized or distributed like Bitcoin. So it is obvious that a bridge between the two worlds is necessary.

U r wrong again.
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