WV Senator Calls For Ban On All Unregulated Cryptocurrencies 240
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by
timothy
from the and-you-can't-trade-with-your-neighbors-either dept.
from the and-you-can't-trade-with-your-neighbors-either dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has called for for heavily regulation of Bitcoin. Reached for comment, his staff confirmed Manchin is seeking a 'ban' that would apply to any cryptocurrency that's both anonymous and unregulated."
Re:Phew! Thank goodness Bitcoin is not anonymous (Score:5, Informative)
Then using a credit card is anonymous too. Until someone decides to trace back the transaction, and subpoena VISA for evidence of a connection to a person. There is no real technical difference between a VISA card number, and a Bitcoin wallet id - just that generally, VISA requires you to tell them who you are when you create an account. But that's not a technical feature of the payment system, just of the rules VISA happens to place around it.
Bitcoin is pseudonymous - all transactions are tied to a publicly-visible unique identifier. If it was anonymous (like cash is) then transactions would be tied to nothing identifiable.
Re:Ban it as a first option.. (Score:3, Informative)
The authoritarian leadership style [wikipedia.org] demands control and compliance. Doesn't matter whether you have an (R) or a (D) behind their name, a badge and a gun, or just a fancy title and a nice office. If you see your job as controlling the unruly masses for their own good, then anything that is beyond your control must be a threat - not only to your own power but to the citizenry itself. Anything beyond your comprehension is, by definition, beyond your control, and by extension, also a threat.
Also, re: theoretical physics, stop giving them ideas.
Re:But ... FREEDOM! (Score:4, Informative)