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Bitcoin Privacy Your Rights Online

Singapore To Regulate Virtual Currency Exchanges 51

SpankiMonki writes "Following on the heels of the Mt Gox bankruptcy, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) plans to impose new regulations on currency exchanges dealing in bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Virtual currency exchanges would need to verify their customers' identities and report any suspicious transactions under the new rules.

The MAS said its regulation of virtual currency intermediaries — which include virtual currency exchanges and vending machines — was tailored specifically to the money-laundering and terrorism financing risks they posed. However, the new regulations would do nothing to ensure the solvency of virtual currency intermediaries or the safety of their client's funds."
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Singapore To Regulate Virtual Currency Exchanges

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    It's the death of the free market, and the government will ruin everything we built!

    • Re:Oh noes! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bobbied ( 2522392 ) on Thursday March 13, 2014 @12:33PM (#46474865)

      It's the death of the free market, and the government will ruin everything we built!

      I think the BitCoin community is doing a pretty good job of ruining the currency on their own without government help.

      • by jythie ( 914043 )
        Well, it can not be their doing, it must be governments or corrupt bankers or regulation. The free market can adjust around everything! Well, except people.
      • I think the BitCoin community is doing a pretty good job of ruining the currency on their own without government help

        Of course it is. You just keep right on thinking that. It's doing such a good job that you don't have scams like Mt Gox or other exchanges just vanishing in the night. Naw, nobody is out almost a half a billion dollars because of a poorly run exchange or just outright theft. Damn, skippy its doing a fine job.

        Hey, how would you like to buy a bridge? It's in New York state right outside of Brooklyn. Only 400,000 bitcoins.

        • I think the BitCoin community is doing a pretty good job of ruining the currency on their own without government help

          Of course it is. You just keep right on thinking that. It's doing such a good job that you don't have scams like Mt Gox or other exchanges just vanishing in the night. Naw, nobody is out almost a half a billion dollars because of a poorly run exchange or just outright theft. Damn, skippy its doing a fine job.

          Lord Apathy, I don't think you read very carefully. Bobbied said that it was doing a pretty good job of ruining the currency [on its own without government help], not that it was doing a pretty good job.

          • Yes he did. I really should have taken that remedial reading class in kindergartner.

            • Not to worry, even though I had written the work "ruining" and knew what it was supposed to say, I had to re-read it a few times to make sure it didn't say "running" which is really similar looking. It's an interesting insight into how our minds actually do this reading task. Many times we see what our minds are expecting to see even though something else is really there.

              You should see the moderation history of my post. I expected some disagreement but general agreement, but nothing like what happened. It

    • The currency was ruined in design and philosophy. Don't blame the gov't
      • What's needed is ,
        1 Truly anonymous
        2 Eco friendly ( at least relatively )
        3 Sensible and sustainable ( agnostic of governments )
        4 scam proof ( at least to a large extent )

        You did a good job Satoshi (whoever you are ) but not good enough.
        • What's needed is , 1 Truly anonymous 2 Eco friendly ( at least relatively ) 3 Sensible and sustainable ( agnostic of governments ) 4 scam proof ( at least to a large extent ) You did a good job Satoshi (whoever you are ) but not good enough.

          5. Fixed value - something as constant as a meter, a gram or a second

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The real problem here is the knee-jerk reaction the government always has when it's unleashed upon a new frontier. TFA mentions regulations that require exchanges to properly identify themselves, and other good bureaucratic record keeping nonsense. However, TFA does not mention ONE WORD about security audits on the source code, proper firewall configuration, and other technical assurances that would solve the actual problems and prevent thieves (CEOs and otherwise) from causing a repeat of Mt. Gox.

      So no,

  • Remember (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ADRA ( 37398 ) on Thursday March 13, 2014 @12:20PM (#46474733)

    This is Singapore, the country continually rated as one of the world's greatest countries for economic freedoms... soo

    • It seems like they've brought it full circle too.

      Virtual currency exchanges would need to verify their customers' identities and report any suspicious transactions under the new rules. ... tailored specifically to the money-laundering and terrorism financing risks they posed

      Step 1: create an anonymous currency to allay the paranoid fears that governments are tracking everything you do with your own money.
      Step 2: create rules that anyone using the currency has to be identified to the government to allay the paranoid fears that anyone could send money to anyone else anonymously.

      Well done, Singapore.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Virtual currency includes that stuff they use in video games... so watch out.

  • by korbulon ( 2792438 ) on Thursday March 13, 2014 @12:59PM (#46475175)

    I made a similar currency: I call it '$hitcoin'. It's not the first one I made, but version number two.

    It's a craptocurrency, but one based on alimentary, time-tested economic principles, real old-stool. IANAL, but it rests on a strong fecal foundation, with minimal risk of law sewage.

  • See my comments a couple months back: https://news.ycombinator.com/i... [ycombinator.com]

    You bitcoin guys think you can push buttons on your computer and code around the system. So naive.
    Sorry to be a pessimist, but they can just say anyone transferring bitcoin to another party without going through a KYC compliant intermediary is money laundering and then send the swat team out to whatever ip they can track down via NSA whatever. Game. Set. Match. Banks win as usual, all done. They'll take it down just like Pirate Bay, et

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      *yawn* Pirate Bay is still up. And thanks to namecoin, it always will be.

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