{"id":326,"date":"2013-11-16T16:39:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T16:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.holytransaction.com\/what-exactly-does-us-government-really\/"},"modified":"2022-12-27T00:10:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T22:10:00","slug":"what-exactly-does-us-government-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/what-exactly-does-us-government-really.html","title":{"rendered":"What exactly does the US government really think of Bitcoin?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a>(CoinDesk<\/a>) With the US Senate setting 18th November<\/a> as the start date for its committee hearings into bitcoin, it\u2019s time to
\ntake a look at some of the more significant events in bitcoin\u2019s short but colorful legal history.
\nThe early Bitcoin timeline<\/a> featured hacks, heists, drugs, demands for refunds and the first appeals to law enforcement, but 2013 saw official scrutiny rise almost as quickly as bitcoin\u2019s value.<\/p>\n

Whether or not bitcoin requires, or should seek, regulatory approval is a major source of heated debate on bitcoin discussion forums, but the regulation issue will remain prominent as long as significant amounts of wealth are at stake.<\/p>\n

FinCEN issued guidelines<\/a> that bitcoin-related businesses counted as \u201cMoney Service Businesses\u201d (MSBs) under US law.
\nThis meant bitcoin businesses were now officially required to provide authorities with information about potentially suspicious transactions and introduce policies to prevent money laundering. These regulations also affect the more centralized virtual currencies and point systems used in social networks and online games, including Facebook and Second Life. Lack of a centralized authority meant bitcoin itself could not comply, but any business associated with its use would need to \u2014 including individual miners, if they converted their bitcoin to fiat currency.<\/p>\n

In something of a rare public compliment<\/a> for bitcoin from the world of traditional finance, Fran\u00e7ois R. Velde, senior economist of the Federal Reserve in Chicago wrote a glowing paper titled \u201cBitcoin: A Primer\u201d in which he wrote bitcoin was a \u201cremarkable conceptual and technical achievement, which may well be used by existing financial institutions.\u201d He further described bitcoin as an \u201celegant solution\u201d to the digital currency problem and claimed its value derived from certain beliefs about the nature and function of money, and the amounts of fiat currencies traded for it.<\/p>\n

Open your free digital wallet here<\/a> to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(CoinDesk) With the US Senate setting 18th November as the start date for its committee hearings into bitcoin, it\u2019s time to take a look at some of the more significant events in bitcoin\u2019s short but colorful legal history. The early Bitcoin timeline featured hacks, heists, drugs, demands for refunds and the first appeals to law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,468,542,656],"tags":[1126,1201,1307],"yoast_head":"\nWhat exactly does the US government really think of Bitcoin? -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the US government's views on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including regulatory efforts and tax policies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/what-exactly-does-us-government-really.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What exactly does the US government really think of Bitcoin?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore the US government's views on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including regulatory efforts and tax policies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/what-exactly-does-us-government-really.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-16T16:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-26T22:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Satoshi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Satoshi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/what-exactly-does-us-government-really.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/what-exactly-does-us-government-really.html\",\"name\":\"What exactly does the US government really think of Bitcoin? 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