RE: CoinDesk article "Bitcoin Needs an Aggressive Legal Defense"

[H.Badger]

RE: CoinDesk article "Bitcoin Needs an Aggressive Legal Defense" by John Matonis

"What government permits with one hand, it restricts and strangles with the other."

Indeed, especially financial regulation.  Fiduciary law enforcement no longer restricts itself to discovering and prosecuting the scofflaws.  They want to oversee the asset transfers of all citizens, innocent and outlaw alike.  The regulators want us all to stand naked in a spot light.

A recent story in the news, the IRS seizes $33,000 from a restaurant owner in Arnolds Park, Iowa.  The IRS' rationalization for the confiscation?  The owner deposited less than $10,000 per deposit to avoid triggering a government report.  This person is not alone, in 2012 the IRS confiscated the assets of 639 businesses and individuals without charging them with a crime.

Regarding financial transactions and the confiscation of assets, we've moved from due process in the courts to the regulator's arbitrary application of law.  We are now guilty until we prove our innocence.
 
A law, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) implemented this year requires that you report assets over $10,000 held outside the US.  Not just income mind you but ownership. Why does the government want to know what you own?

Yes Bitcoin needs all the legal support its supporters can muster, but not just for the sake of Bitcoin. 
Cryptocurrencies are one battleground in a larger war.

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[funtotry]

I think law enforcement seizing cash and money in bank accounts will likely eventually cause more people to store money in bitcoin (by owning bitcoin) as it is much more difficult for the government to seize then traditional assets.

I believe that the IRS has said that people do not need to report large bitcoin holdings to them, although there are other reporting requirements that are bitcoin related

[junglist.massive]

there should be completly new way of law based on blockchain technology

[panju1]

Banks are part of the Government's monitoring strategy. With FACTA, your bank is supposed to report your transactions to the US government, if you are a US citizen/resident. The Government has arm twisted banks into complying with this regulation, irrespective of the bank's location and its customer's location.

Bitcoin will break this nexus between the Government and banks. Wider adoption would be the key. If bitcoins circulate in the economy, I doubt if the Government will be able to do anything to monitor it. Their monitoring will start where there is conversion from bitcoin to fiat and vice versa, i.e. the exchanges.