Interesting legal defense for Charlie Shrem…..
If baseball card dealers don’t need to be licensed (and tasked with money laundering laws) then why do BitCoin dealers?
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/27/feds-charge-bitcoin-start-up-founder-with-money-laundering/
EG. If I give someone a BitCoin in return for USA dollars….am I giving them currency or am I giving them a thing? If I’m giving them a currency then wouldn’t the USA government first need to classify bitcoins as legal tender and if bitcoins ARE classified as currency then shouldn’t I be able to transact any transaction with the federal government in said currency eg I look forward to going to the post office and insisting that they take my bitcoins in order to mail a letter.
And If BitCoins are NOT legal tender/currency and just a commodity then why do we need to report all our customers transactions to the USA federal government?
If baseball card dealers don’t need to be licensed (and tasked with money laundering laws) then why do BitCoin dealers?
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/27/feds-charge-bitcoin-start-up-founder-with-money-laundering/
EG. If I give someone a BitCoin in return for USA dollars….am I giving them currency or am I giving them a thing? If I’m giving them a currency then wouldn’t the USA government first need to classify bitcoins as legal tender and if bitcoins ARE classified as currency then shouldn’t I be able to transact any transaction with the federal government in said currency eg I look forward to going to the post office and insisting that they take my bitcoins in order to mail a letter.
And If BitCoins are NOT legal tender/currency and just a commodity then why do we need to report all our customers transactions to the USA federal government?
Do art dealers have to report all transactions?
How about wheat/commodities traders? If I buy a puppy President Obama do I need
to send a letter to you with the details? Was Bo’s dealer registered with the
NSA?
You have to laugh though at the references to “Underground
bitcoin exchanger” I call for the immediate arrest of Meg Whitman….underground
“auction” trader…..must be arrested today.
Either that....or someone at the Brooklyn post office better be accepting BitCoins next time I try to mail a stamp.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/federal-judge-bitcoin-a-currency-can-be-regulated-under-american-law/
ReplyDeleteFincen rules BitCoin currency.
Yeh maybe.....but I can also trade baseball cards for money.....does that mean they are currency?
DeleteI wonder if any "anti money laundering" rules were valid BEFORE the FinCen decision in 2013
FYI not all currencies are "legal tender", just the ones specified by the authorities, so no, you cannot force a third-party to accept your %CURRENCY% as final settlement for debt. OTOH, legal tender laws compel creditors to accept a specified currency, or specified currencies to extinguish that debt.
ReplyDeleteLegal tender laws also do not compel any party to begin a transaction in exchange for your currency of choice, legal tender or not. So no, you can't force the post office to accept your baseball cards, even if FinCEN rules that baseball cards are to be considered currency. (While legal tender laws do not require the USPS to consummate a transaction for USD, they may be otherwise required under other laws to provide you with services.)
BTW, IANAL, so all my legal opinions are just that-- my opinion.