Bangladesh will jail Bitcoin traders?

[pawel7777]

Pretty fucked-up news:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/11097208/Why-Bangladesh-will-jail-Bitcoin-traders.html

Bangladesh's central bank has warned against dealing in Bitcoin, saying anybody caught using the virtual currency could be jailed under the country's strict anti-money laundering laws.

 The Bangladesh Bank, which regulates the impoverished country's banking industry, said it issued the order after reports in local media of Bitcoin transactions through various online exchange platforms.

 "Bitcoin is not a legal tender of any country. Any transaction through Bitcoin or any other crypto currency is a punishable offence," the bank said in a statement on Monday.

 Bank officials told AFP separately that anyone found guilty in Bangladesh of using Bitcoin could be sentenced to up to 12 years in jail.

And not very long time ago:

Bangladesh get its own Bitcoin Foundation

http://cointelegraph.com/news/112354/bangladesh-get-its-own-bitcoin-foundation

EDIT:

Found the link on reddit, one of the comments:

[–]rizzledizzle 30 points 4 hours ago

As a Bangladeshi, this is stupid but expected from the government. It's also not going to be enforced.

The country is so poor and corrupt, anything goes. I believe VOIP is still considered illegal to try and help the national telephone subsidy, but everyone still uses Skype/Facetime/etc.

If the above is true, it's possible that it's just a standard Bangladeshi gov's response to every new technology...

But can you imagine going to jail for 12 years for sending bitcoins? Madness.

[Beliathon]

"Bitcoin is not a legal tender of any country. Any transaction through Bitcoin or any other crypto currency is a punishable offence," the bank said in a statement on Monday.

 Bank officials told AFP separately that anyone found guilty in Bangladesh of using Bitcoin could be sentenced to up to 12 years in jail.

Sounds like the Bank is making the laws over there. This is what happens when you give banksters power.

[LiteCoinGuy]

they have a police? 

[BADecker]

Bangladesh is a common law nation, based on British common law. If the people understood how powerful this is, they could almost outlaw the government. In the event you are interested in how common law can be used over there, look at how Karl Lentz is teaching people to use it in the United Kingdom.

http://www.unkommonlaw.co.uk/

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=127469&cmd=tc

Many of the Talkshoe recordings are hosted by Bali, from the U.K. I don't know where his family is originally from, but with a name like Bali, might even be Bangladesh.

[robhimself]

Pretty cool country they've got there. Banks being scared of bitcoin is pretty cute at this point.

[riiiiising]

we should start a petition to make them change their minds!

[RedhatCAT]

I don't think they will be able to enforce this. The trading of bitcoin is simply too difficult to track by the police, especially when it is done in secret and not in the open

[betterchoice]

we should start a petition to make them change their minds!

no ,we should ignore it !

[counter]

It is very telling when a nation bans Bitcoin.  It's one thing to warn people about it using at their own discretion but when you ban Bitcoin it makes me wonder what the real reasoning behind that decision is.  It's also telling that corruption is so high in Bangladesh and I can imagine a small amount of people would be threatened by the lack of financial control Bitcoin would bring if the people of Bangladesh decided to adopt Bitcoin.

[bornil267645]

even without the Ban, people here in Bangladesh is pretty restricted in terms of using Bitcoin. Because we don't have any local trading system to accept bitcoin. So what the hell should I do with my bitcoin in Bangladesh.

[wasserman99]

Bangladesh is a common law nation, based on British common law. If the people understood how powerful this is, they could almost outlaw the government. In the event you are interested in how common law can be used over there, look at how Karl Lentz is teaching people to use it in the United Kingdom.

http://www.unkommonlaw.co.uk/

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=127469&cmd=tc

Many of the Talkshoe recordings are hosted by Bali, from the U.K. I don't know where his family is originally from, but with a name like Bali, might even be Bangladesh.

It is, in theory possible to overthrow any government regardless if "the law" allows for this to happen. I would however doubt that they would attempt to overthrow the government of Bangladesh in an attempt to be able to use bitcoin, the benefits are simply not there for the people to try to do that.

[RobFordWotWot]

Serves them right. If they start getting the internet and figuring out how much the clothes they make sell for: the government's fucked.

[BADecker]

Bangladesh is a common law nation, based on British common law. If the people understood how powerful this is, they could almost outlaw the government. In the event you are interested in how common law can be used over there, look at how Karl Lentz is teaching people to use it in the United Kingdom.

http://www.unkommonlaw.co.uk/

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=127469&cmd=tc

Many of the Talkshoe recordings are hosted by Bali, from the U.K. I don't know where his family is originally from, but with a name like Bali, might even be Bangladesh.

It is, in theory possible to overthrow any government regardless if "the law" allows for this to happen. I would however doubt that they would attempt to overthrow the government of Bangladesh in an attempt to be able to use bitcoin, the benefits are simply not there for the people to try to do that.

The idea isn't to overthrow the government. The idea is to protect yourself from the government.

In English common law, there are basically only 3 things that the government can get you for:
1. If you harm somebody;
2. If you damage his property;
3. Breach of contract.

The government can make all the statutes stick, if you don't fight them on common law grounds. But if you fight them common law, nothing sticks except the above 3.

Individual use of Bitcoin can't be stopped in a common law country, unless it can be proven that the Bitcoin user has violated one of the 3. And there has to be literal harm to a person shown, or damage to his property. Breach of contract is really damage of property.

[leezay]

Can't expect a country like Bangladesh to embrace technology innovation.

Some people prefer to be remain staying in the cave or on the tree. Let them.

[Bitcoinpro]

Propaganda

[TaunSew]

Likely some capital control measure but the irony is that the upper class and middle class in Bangladesh already has the means to move their money abroad.

So the end result is this is just a sickening move to deprive people the opportunity to have a bank account.

If I recall the main issue they've had with MicroCredit was the fact that practically nobody has access to a bank account in India, due to class and/or caste discrimination.   Bitcoin is finally a means for these people to have a near-equivalent to a bank account but no surprise that the upper class elites are hostile towards Bitcoin.

[seriouscoin]

Likely some capital control measure but the irony is that the upper class and middle class in Bangladesh already has the means to move their money abroad.

So the end result is this is just a sickening move to deprive people the opportunity to have a bank account (AFAIK - when I used to read about Micro Credit in India, the number one issue they encountered was the fact that almost nobody had a bank account due to banks unwilling to provide that service for the rural poor in the Indian sub-continent.  Bitcoin is a means for these people to finally have a bank account or a near-equivalent).

yeah at what cost?

[tokeweed]

those poor poor bitcoiners. they didn't do anything wrong!

[darthcoin]

Bitcoin is freedom. You express the value of your hard work, your sweat and effort the way you want to, not because of the mandate of some financial/governmental entity. Thus, it is natural and expected that many governments will fear the onset of a system that allows the citizenry to escape from financial slavery. The slaves are revolting. Bitcoin is a litmus test for showing which governments truly respect the will of the people versus those that seek to keep them financially burdened by a decrepit, inflated, debt based fiat money system.

[collinstar]

Wow... Talk about stupidity from Bangladesh's government. One of the countries that could most gain with Bitcoin remittances, says it's ilegal to use it. I wonder if someone within Bangladesh's central bank has a high stake in the remittances businesses.