Nobody has the authority to regulate Bitcoin

[virtualmaster]

Nobody has the authority to regulate Bitcoin:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/27/janet-yellen-federal-reserve-no-authority-regulate-bitcoin?CMP=twt_fd

[pening]

I'd say the more obvious case is that Bitcoin has no authority to be regulated: there is no one, person or organisation, which controls Bitcoin.  You'd have to apply some draconian, global legislation between all countries, and they cant even agree on easy stuff like free trade.

Interesting quote though: "“Bitcoin is a payment innovation that’s taking place outside the banking industry. To the best of my knowledge there’s no intersection at all"... but they can regulate that intersection.

[acoindr]

“Bitcoin is a payment innovation that’s taking place outside the banking industry. To the best of my knowledge there’s no intersection at all, in any way, between Bitcoin and banks that the Federal Reserve has the ability to supervise and regulate. So the Fed doesn’t have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in anyway,” said Yellen.

Right on! You got that right. Who would have thought the central bank for the US would join others like the central bank for Cyprus saying, essentially, it's not their business. Right. On.

[Lauda]

“Bitcoin is a payment innovation that’s taking place outside the banking industry. To the best of my knowledge there’s no intersection at all, in any way, between Bitcoin and banks that the Federal Reserve has the ability to supervise and regulate. So the Fed doesn’t have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in anyway,” said Yellen.

Right on! You got that right. Who would have thought the central bank for the US would join others like the central bank for Cyprus saying, essentially, it's not their business. Right. On.

Hopefully their stance stays like this.
This is a good thing.

[acoindr]

Hopefully their stances stays like this.
This is a good thing.

That's the thing about clear public statements in politics. It's quite hard to reverse them.

[repentance]

Saying that a given entity currently has no power to regulate something means little.  They can be given that power or it can be given to another government agency. 

[acoindr]

Saying that a given entity currently has no power to regulate something means little.  They can be given that power or it can be given to another government agency.  

They can be given that power from whom? JP Morgan? A government can only do what its citizens allow it to do.

That's why governments that wish to retain as much power as possible (basically all of them) restrict their citizens as much as is practical, because not doing so empowers them. Ultimately so long as citizens have little ability and sentiment to violently resist their government any government can remain in power, e.g. communist regimes like Russia, China, North Korea etc. The U.S. is interestingly unique, because its legal framework was specifically crafted to keep too much power from consolidating into government, while empowering ordinary people (e.g. freedom of the press, right to bear arms etc.). So the U.S. tests its boundaries instead with regard to the U.S. Constitution (see NSA, Snowden etc.). At the end of the day, though, there is so much power simply in controlling money that sufficient control over that is enough for any government to get away with most anything. Bitcoin, however, will push back on even that.

This has been your daily civics lesson.

[DooMAD]

Possibly the most sensible words I've ever heard from the Fed.  They may have just clawed back a shred of respectability there.  Fingers crossed they keep this new-found sensibility up.

[bitjoint]

Possibly the most sensible words I've ever heard from the Fed.

Maybe because a woman said those words?   It would be curious if she gets elected as the next chair(man?)...

PS: Just learnt that she is the current chair(woman?)... lol

[Vitamin]

Saying that a given entity currently has no power to regulate something means little.  They can be given that power or it can be given to another government agency.  

I seem to remember her predecessor, Ben Bernake, saying the same thing.  Considering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency is far from the only alternative currency in the US, or even the oldest, it's not hard to believe the Federal Reserve doesn't see it as something particularly difficult to deal with.

[Snail2]

They can be given that power from whom? JP Morgan? A government can only do what its citizens allow it to do.

That's why governments that wish to retain as much power as possible (basically all of them) restrict their citizens as much as is practical, because not doing so empowers them. Ultimately so long as citizens have little ability and sentiment to violently resist their government any government can remain in power, e.g. communist regimes like Russia, China, North Korea etc. The U.S. is interestingly unique, because its legal framework was specifically crafted to keep too much power from consolidating into government, while empowering ordinary people (e.g. freedom of the press, right to bear arms etc.). So the U.S. tests its boundaries instead with regard to the U.S. Constitution (see NSA, Snowden etc.). At the end of the day, though, there is so much power simply in controlling money that sufficient control over that is enough for any government to get away with most anything. Bitcoin, however, will push back on even that.

This has been your daily civics lesson.

In an ideal world you would be right. In this world unfortunately governments tend to seize power if it's not given to them voluntarily. The US isn't much better. Maybe the US politicians need to turn up with more some more convincing BS then other governments but at the end of the day they will seize that power just like their colleagues in North Korea.

[dharmapuriharithaa]

Politicians are already hitching to control Bitcoin. Even they don't have authority they will try to regulate.

[whtchocla7e]

Bitcoin itself may not be regulated but you can sure as hell regulate the users of Bitcoin.

Don't expect the free ride to last much longer.

[anth0ny]

Saying that a given entity currently has no power to regulate something means little.  They can be given that power or it can be given to another government agency.  

They can be given that power from whom? JP Morgan? A government can only do what its citizens allow it to do.

When was the last time that US citizens didn't allow their government to do something? 1776?

repentance is right. Moreover, Yellen didn't say nobody has the authority to regulate Bitcoin. She said the Federal Reserve doesn't. The title of this thread is completely wrong.

[Bitcoinpro]

Nobody has the authority to regulate Bitcoin:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/27/janet-yellen-federal-reserve-no-authority-regulate-bitcoin?CMP=twt_fd

TO bad for Yellen she lives in a dream world 

[bananas]

So stop believing in exchanges that say you cannot withdraw BTC due to KYC/AML! Bitstamp is doing that, smells like the next Mt. Gox;

[AnonyMint]

Why would that cabal of private banks want to stop what is working so well for their planned NWO currency future.

They (via their DEEP STATE and NSA) appear to have designed Bitcoin this way.

You really don't think "Satoshi" was our friend?

[sergio]

Yellen is correct in her statement, so that is really good news for Bitcoin, and was able to make that senator to shut up.

in brief:
Decentralized: not regulated
Centralized: Regulated

That is why decentralized open source exchanges are very important to take place in the near future.

Bitcoin will help boost the US economy and that is a really good thing, even better it will prove that good economies are not based on debt.

[00ph8al]

They might not be able to regulate bitcoin but they will definitely try to find a way to regulate their citizens using it.

[Chillin_with_beer]

Governments can't regulate bitcoin transactions, but they can regulate businesses, and tax goods.
Transactions will be harder to trace, but once you have matched one address to a person, you can easily identify contact addresses.
Some taxes will be harder or impossible to collect, like tax for property, inheritance, large gifts etc. It will still be possible to catch tax dodgers when they screw something up though.