Bitcoin at the US Senate

[0x00ff]

Could someone of you native English speakers sum up the speech for the ones not able to understand any word they say as he/she is not _that_ good at English at that level? Thank you sooo much!

There should be a text transcript of the hearing available after...  Will look for a link for that for you.

Great! Thanks in advance!

[deepceleron]

What a waste of time. Talking heads reading storybook time testimony for congressmen, because senators are apparently illiterate(?). Just submit your pre-composed "speech".

(PS: Mozilla, why is pre-composed a misspelling, but "pee-composed" is your suggestion??)

(PS: Secret service: obsolete when currency can't be counterfeited.)

(Sen. Tom Carper now telling a story about seeing the movie "Dillinger" as informing him about financial crime. "We figured out how to deal with that" - he thinks the US government is a movie character?)

[Anon136]

this edward lowry fellow hasn't answered a single one of the questions he has been asked.

[Mageant]

Looking somewhat good so far IMHO.

They do talk a lot about the illegal uses of Bitcoin.
 
They also acknowledge though that there are legal uses and that an appropriate comparison is with the early Internet.

Namely that similar concerns were raised then but of course the benefits - as it has turned out - far outweigh those.

They want to keep the "burden" to the digital currencies as low as possible.

The witnesses say they can "deal" with the changing situation.

[0x00ff]

Do you wan't to know what I as a foreign 'hear' a lot?

"criminals"
"terorrists"
"money laundry"
"computer crime"

and once even

"child pornography"

To me it seems the undertone of that conversation is to associate 'bad things' with 'digital currencies'.

How far is this TV program spread accross the US? Do many people tend to watch this?

[gjgjg]

Looking somewhat good so far IMHO.

They do talk a lot about the illegal uses of Bitcoin.
 
They also acknowledge though that there are legal uses and that an appropriate comparison is with the early Internet.

Namely that similar concerns were raised then but of course the benefits - as it has turned out - far outweigh those.

They want to keep the "burden" to the digital currencies as low as possible.

The witnesses say they can "deal" with the changing situation.

agree, the legit users and investers should be happy, this is as good as it gets from these departments

[phelix]

Looking somewhat good so far IMHO.

They do talk a lot about the illegal uses of Bitcoin.
 
They also acknowledge though that there are legal uses and that an appropriate comparison is with the early Internet.

Namely that similar concerns were raised then but of course the benefits - as it has turned out - far outweigh those.

They want to keep the "burden" to the digital currencies as low as possible.

The witnesses say they can "deal" with the changing situation.

agree, the legit users and investers should be happy, this is as good as it gets from these departments

this

Each department wants to show off how good they are 

[chrsjrcj]

Do you wan't to know what I as a foreign 'hear' a lot?

"criminals"
"terorrists"
"money laundry"
"computer crime"

and once even

"child pornography"

To me it seems the undertone of that conversation is to associate 'bad things' with 'digital currencies'.

How far is this TV program spread accross the US? Do many people tend to watch this?

99.9999% of Americans do not watch the channel this is being broadcasted on. However, the news will probably do soundbits focusing on child porn, money laundering, terrorists/

[NewLiberty]

Do you wan't to know what I as a foreign 'hear' a lot?

"criminals"
"terorrists"
"money laundry"
"computer crime"

and once even

"child pornography"

To me it seems the undertone of that conversation is to associate 'bad things' with 'digital currencies'.

How far is this TV program spread accross the US? Do many people tend to watch this?

99.9999% of Americans do not watch the channel this is being broadcasted on. However, the news will probably do soundbits focusing on child porn, money laundering, terrorists/

These are the branches of law enforcement talking to the law authors.  All they will talk about are the criminals and their ability to catch them.  This testimony will not be watched by anyone unless they are VERY interested in bitcoin.

So far it has been VERY good for bitcoin.  All these folks are bragging about how great they are at getting the bad guys.  The folks holding the hearing are the ones that author the laws.  The main issue is whether they need to write new laws to help the law enforcers stop bad things from happening... so far the law enforcers are NOT asking for new laws or more power, with the exception of maybe more funding for their current programs (but those should be well funded already by the seizures made this year), the lawmakers also get to decide on spending.

This is 100% positive for bitcoin so far in that there is no new damaging output requested.  
There may even be some positive effect if there is a more structured refinement of the FINcen pieces which are currently overreaching depending on how they get interpreted.

[Anon136]

Do you wan't to know what I as a foreign 'hear' a lot?

"criminals"
"terorrists"
"money laundry"
"computer crime"

and once even

"child pornography"

To me it seems the undertone of that conversation is to associate 'bad things' with 'digital currencies'.

How far is this TV program spread accross the US? Do many people tend to watch this?

99.9999% of Americans do not watch the channel this is being broadcasted on. However, the news will probably do soundbits focusing on child porn, money laundering, terrorists/

These are the branches of law enforcement talking to the law authors.  All they will talk about are the criminals and their ability to catch them.  This testimony will not be watched by anyone unless they are VERY interested in bitcoin.

So far it has been VERY good for bitcoin.  All these folks are bragging about how great they are at getting the bad guys.  The folks holding the hearing are the ones that author the laws.  The main issue is whether they need to write new laws to help the law enforcers stop bad things from happening... so far the law enforcers are NOT asking for new laws or more power, with the exception of maybe more funding for their current programs (but those should be well funded already by the seizures made this year), the lawmakers also get to decide on spending.

This is 100% positive for bitcoin so far in that there is no new damaging output requested.  
There may even be some positive effect if there is a more structured refinement of the FINcen pieces which are currently overreaching depending on how they get interpreted.

its funny, i learned a lot about government today. there is little to no organization, no cooperation, definitely no interest in "bringing down bitcoin" the only thing these department heads are interested in is panhandling. They seriously couldn't care less about digital currencies, they are just trying to use this as an opportunity to say "look we have done such a great job, look how many bad guys we caught, please either A) give us more money or B) increase the scope of our bailiwick.

[wtfvanity]

The guy cop just said:
we all know digital currencies are not illegal.


haha nice.

[crazy_rabbit]

The guy cop just said:
we all know digital currencies are not illegal.


haha nice.

NICE? It's AWESOME! It's LEGAL, they want to help protect it, and they want the US to keep Bitcoin innovation in the USA! AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME!

[Mageant]

The witnesses are saying they do not need any new laws and they want to "keep the burden as low as possible".

This means they will only continue to do as they have done so far, such as requiring the "providers" (exchanges) to register with FinCen and comply with KYC/AML laws.

To sum it up, Bitcoin is LEGAL and no new laws are needed.

So a relatively good result, I would say!
 

[cr1776]

Carper can be something of an idiot - I met him in Delaware in law school - but he isn't showing a lot of idiocy here and not as much as Biden showed at the same time.  He seems somewhat positive, his last quote was something like: "it is possible to have the benefits of a virtual currency and facilitate the kind of criminal activity we've talked about today."  Certainly a positive for Bitcoin (and all the alt-coins).

Perhaps he has become more informed and intelligent over the years, but so far I'm not seeing any huge red flags (although I did miss a little bit part way through).

The guy cop just said:
we all know digital currencies are not illegal.


haha nice.

[Wilikon]

Could someone of you native English speakers sum up the speech for the ones not able to understand any word they say as he/she is not _that_ good at English at that level? Thank you sooo much!

They will try to regulate it for the good of the children. But their tools are fine tuned for centralized targets, so...

[DeathAndTaxes]

The witnesses are saying they do not need any new laws and they want to "keep the burden as low as possible".

This means they will only continue to do as they have done so far, such as requiring the "providers" (exchanges) to register with FinCen and comply with KYC/AML laws.

To sum it up, Bitcoin is LEGAL and no new laws are needed.

So a relatively good result, I would say!
 

Except FinCEN has stated all miners who exchange virtual currency for real currency are exchangers.

[rogue13]

anyone notice how the market reacted/is reacting to this? wow

[0x00ff]

Thanks you all for the sum up of this show and your nice replies. Good news anyways.

[porcupine87]

anyone notice how the market reacted/is reacting to this? wow

First very nervous. Than the news "it is legal" and back to the formel level. Beginning with the end statements -> to the moon.

[davida]

$750 high on Mtgox... I guess over $1000 by the end of today.