How Should Bitcoin Be Regulated?

[moriartybitcoin]

It should NOT be regulated!

And if it IS regulated, we should ferociously resist compliance ...

[giveBTCpls]

This is an interesting subject because if you regularize BTC you sort of lose that anti-stablishment appeal of the concept. I wonder what Satoshi's views was regulation-wise? Did he want just a 100% free currency careless about what the powers that be had to say about it?

[inBitweTrust]

This is an interesting subject because if you regularize BTC you sort of lose that anti-stablishment appeal of the concept. I wonder what Satoshi's views was regulation-wise? Did he want just a 100% free currency careless about what the powers that be had to say about it?

Here are Satoshi's views:

http://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/

Satoshi was either a Libertarian or anarcho-capitalist/agorist and was distrusting of both banks and governments.

"Yes, [we will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography,] but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years. Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own." - Satoshi Nakamoto

"[Bitcoin is] very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it properly. I'm better with code than with words though." - Satoshi Nakamoto

In the Bitcoin network's transaction database, the original entry has a note by Nakamoto that reads as:

"The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"

[leezay]

The only way to regulate bitcoin is by enforcing AML on all exchanges.

[Mobius]

It should NOT be regulated!

And if it IS regulated, we should ferociously resist compliance ...

The problem with this is that small amounts of regulation will give legitimacy to bitcoin, helping increase bitcoin adaption. If people do not use bitcoin in mass then the price of bitcoin will eventually flame out.

[FUR11]

I think it should be regulated in some way, so companies willing to deal with/in bitcoin have some legal framework and groundrules they can take into consideration. Maybe the 'right' rules have yet to be found and I, personally, don't exactly know how they should look, but I am certain that there need to be regulations.

[giveBTCpls]

I think Bitcoin should be the "official" cryptocoin and a coin like Monero could take the 100% no regulation super anarcho coin with no limits or boundaries on what you do with the money. Only this way people will find enough thrust in BTC imo.

[inBitweTrust]

I think Bitcoin should be the "official" cryptocoin and a coin like Monero could take the 100% no regulation super anarcho coin with no limits or boundaries on what you do with the money. Only this way people will find enough thrust in BTC imo.

No, other alts can create weaknesses and backdoors for corruption by introducing "regulation". Bitcoin by definition has certain core principles that if deviated from will essentially create a new alt. No compromises, No apologies. They can fight it or benefit from it, progress will move on and they ultimately have the choice of whether or not they wish to become the next Kodak.

[inBitweTrust]

It should NOT be regulated!

And if it IS regulated, we should ferociously resist compliance ...

The problem with this is that small amounts of regulation will give legitimacy to bitcoin, helping increase bitcoin adaption. If people do not use bitcoin in mass then the price of bitcoin will eventually flame out.

Bitcoin will gain mainstream legitimacy through better security(hardware wallets), better software design(More intuitive wallets), a history of holding its value and increasing in value, and by providing secure and low cost transactions.

Political Regulation has proven to not work and will only lead to allowing existing banks the ability to steal our technology to extract greater profits while they refute the whole Raison d'être for Bitcoin in the first place.

[Harley997]

Bitcoin should not be regulated, I don't want the banks to think for one second they can get in on this. But it is going to be a very difficult few years for bitcoin with the possibility of becoming very mainstream and regulations, we will soon see.

[bitsmichel]

The bitcoin network is regulated by the network itself, and seems to do well if you compare it to the regulated bank system which continues to suffer from inflation.
I do not think it needs any regulation at present, as it will be in the way of innovation.

[stryker]

I think the various governments have got their words mixed up... I think they meant "how do we tax bitcoin".   Also considering it cost me £30 to transfer £550 between two international bank accounts a few months ago I suspect banks are wondering how to "regulate" bitcoin so they can keep committing daylight robbery on people who simply want to move money around.

[movelikejagger]

If bitcoin will be regulated by someone...it will lose an idea of bitcoin!

[ensurance982]

How Should Bitcoin Be Regulated?

http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/32273/183UK.pdf?sequence=1

Abstract:

The lack of clarity about Bitcoin’s legal framework has meant that none of the
regulators across the EU have yet achieved sufficient clarity in the legal treatment
of Bitcoin and its stakeholders. This uncertainty poses a number of substantial
risks to Bitcoin stakeholders and creates challenges for regulatory authorities.
Therefore, there is a need for a clear strategy for Bitcoin’s regulation aiming to
ensure the maximum possible balance between the interests of Bitcoin stakeholders
longing for the preservation of Bitcoin’s benefits and mitigation of relevant risks,
and the interests of regulators striving for ensuring the compliance of Bitcoin
stakeholders with the law. In this paper, the author develops such a strategy. Its
implementation provides for the official recognition of Bitcoin as an unregulated
technology, the recognition of that Bitcoin users interacting between each other
and Bitcoin miners are outside the regulatory scope, and the efficient application
of existing legal mechanisms to Bitcoin merchants, Bitcoin exchanges and the
relations between these categories of Bitcoin stakeholders with Bitcoin users. Thus,
the balanced regulation of Bitcoin is achieved in the form of a partial regulation
of the usage of Bitcoin at different levels of Bitcoin’s functionality.

Keywords:
Bitcoin, Banking Regulation, EU Law, Payment Systems, Regulation

That's a very difficult question, indeed! I personally believe that it should be as unregulated as possible, for it is one of the biggest advantages of Bitcoin. But it also needs to comply with the laws of the various countries. So there has to be some kind of compromise or way to adapt those laws to Bitcoin and provide a legal framework for businesses wanting to deal with it!

[Nathonas]

It shouldn't be regulated, period. That's kind of the whole point. If the government tries to ban or control it with taxes and what not, I'm really hoping the bitcoin community will respond by showing the middle finger.

[Koko]

"We've decided that you can use bitcoin, but only if you use a special government sanctioned wallet that subtracts a tax fee from every transaction you make. If you won't do that, you're going to jail for being a terrorist. Thank you and good night." 

[stryker]

I think the point is as I've seen elsewhere.... if the governments want to regulate the exchanges that reside in their territories then so be it... but as for bitcoin it's self, then no, no regulation.... so money has evolved to a point where in bitcoin they can't tax it when you spend it... or charge bob an arm and a leg when he wants to send money to joe.... TOUGH!  social media and the internet has made a world where distribution/publishers in the music industry are all but not needed... they kicked and screamed (and still do) because they want to keep making bucket loads of cash out of every day people... its amazing because now with bitcoin I see exactly the same thing happening again but this time it the banking industry which frankly are the biggest crooks in the history of all things ever!

I'm not against paying taxes... thats just a collection necessary to keep civilisation running (for now)... but I am against the rich getting richer simply because they have money.... this could be the beginning of a world without banks, or at least banks as we know them, well things evolve I guess.

[jjc326]

"We've decided that you can use bitcoin, but only if you use a special government sanctioned wallet that subtracts a tax fee from every transaction you make. If you won't do that, you're going to jail for being a terrorist. Thank you and good night." 

Yes this is the type of thing many fear.  I know the BTC communtiy would resist but would ma and pa shopowners resist or just go along?  Probably go along and we're stuck right back with the same problems as the dollar.

[inBitweTrust]

"We've decided that you can use bitcoin, but only if you use a special government sanctioned wallet that subtracts a tax fee from every transaction you make. If you won't do that, you're going to jail for being a terrorist. Thank you and good night."  

Yes this is the type of thing many fear.  I know the BTC communtiy would resist but would ma and pa shopowners resist or just go along?  Probably go along and we're stuck right back with the same problems as the dollar.

Luckily its full nodes and miners who vote on the direction of the protocol and not just a shopkeeper who uses a third party payment processor. By the time they start keeping some of their profits in BTC and install a full node wallet than they are likely to think the same as we do.

[Hiraga]

Goverments always want their say in things even if it's not their property. Bitcoin can regulate itself and people can decide themselves what they want to spend their money on, if it's crypto's it's their choice, any limitation from regulators is like communists, we'll have to overcome.