BitInstant CEO Says World Operates "On an Inferior Monetary System" 185
hypnosec writes "BitInstant's CEO Charlie Shrem and Erik Voorhees were invited to speak about virtual currency at the NACHA (the North American Payments Association) Annual Global Payments Forum held in Rio de Janeiro. At the conference the duo stated that the world operates 'on an inferior monetary system'. One of the more interesting parts of the whole forum was how Bitcoin as a currency and transaction system "works within current legal frameworks." A presentation by Senior Legal Counsel to the Federal Reserve titled: 'The Implications of Dodd-Frank Section 1073' sheds light on requirements that need to be fulfilled by "Remittance Payment Company" (RPC) guidelines. This law requires such companies to disclose a lot of information about money transactions. This is where Bitcoin as a currency and system collide head-on with the law."
Tracking money (Score:4, Interesting)
Bitcoin requires computer tracking of every single transaction, and requires distributing the information on each transaction to the public.
At the risk of getting flamed, I don't see how "Bitcoin as a currency and system collide head-on with the law" [requiring tracking of currency transactions]; the bitcoin system would require only trivial mods to do remove the privacy and track the "who" as well as the "what".
Re:Tracking money (Score:2, Interesting)
As various areas set up their own wans, bitcoin would continue to operate but in an entirely fragmented way..
It is possible, during this time, for people to trade the same coins multiple times by trading them in the different fragments..
When the civil war is over and the global connectivity is re-established, that global bitcoin swarm now receives conflicting information.. after all, how could John, who only had 7 coins to his name, have made 5 different 7 coin purchases?
Someone is going to get fucked.. and who that is going to be is determined by a kind of a popularity race.
Now, whats going to really ruin your belief in bitcoin is the fact that a civil war isnt required.. only a cleverly choreographed sequence of backbone and/or router outages.