New York's Financial Regulator Subpoenas Bitcoin Companies 259
dreamstateseven writes "Things are getting serious for Bitcoin this month: a federal judge declared it real money, Bloomberg gave it an experimental ticker, Thailand declared it illegal, and now New York's financial regulator announced an interest in regulating it. The department is starting out by subpoenaing 22 digital-currency companies and investors to get a lay of the Bitcoin land. They sent letters to the major Bitcoin players asking them to hand over information regarding their money laundering controls, consumer protection practices, source of funding, pitch books (for Bitcoin start-ups) and investment strategies (for Bitcoin investors). Keep in mind, a subpoena doesn't mean criminal activity has taken place."
Re:nowadays (Score:2, Interesting)
Currencies don't enable scams. People enable and perpetrate scams. By your definition, the United States dollar has an incredibly long history of being the currency of choice for massively greater widespread scams and atrocities. What we're seeing here is nothing more than the preparatory work required to execute a good old fashioned regulation, taxation, restriction, and asphyxiation power grab. Governments get pretty pissed off when private entities engage in commerce of any kind outside of government control.
Have you ever held a garage sale? Did you make sure to report every penny of your earnings to the IRS?
Re:nowadays (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't buy that...
What this causes in inflated costs for exchanges and there will probably be no real additional security of your coin should you keep it there. What we will see is a monopoly form similar to paypal today for internet transactions or the handful of credit processing companies (visa/master card/american express/and discover). While the currency will be traded like cash in the offline world the second you want to convert that money into USD for offline transactions you'll be heavily penalized. The reason companies can charge such a low rate right now is because there is no burdensome regulations. The regulations will cause so much burden the competition will be non-existent. There is already very little competition. Mtgox is proof of that.
Re:So were you also one who bitched about Wall Str (Score:3, Interesting)
Just wait 'till they get a load of other virtual currencies, like the Lindon Dollar, the WoW Gold, or Plex...
You can exchange USD between online game currency. Bitcoin is just WoW without the "wow". Regulate that. I fucking dare them. Some hornets nests are better left alone. So, If I make a Tetromino dropping game wrapper around it, then it's a different story that if I don't.... Right, because wasting time and resources to generate loot is so different than mining bitcoin.
Protip: We didn't used to have a country wide currency run by the Fed. The thing is, if one entity controls the currency then they basically own your sole, it's corrupt. That's why getting payed in credits for the company store is so damn heinous. Same goes for USD. Here's something interesting: I don't need to transfer BTC into any other currency to use it in trade for goods and services. Think about that in relation to other virtual currencies: "Hey, I'll give you this sick gear in-game if you paint my house." What's the difference between that and, "Hey, I'll wash your car for a year if you paint my house." Just because someone claims authority to something, doesn't mean they actually have it.
Regulators? We regulate any stealing of virtual property. We're damn good too. But you be any geek off wallstreet; Gotta be handy with the terminal if you know what I mean -- Earn your keep.
Regulators! Mount Up. [youtube.com]