Members of the US Congress Plan to Create a Compliant Version of Bitcoin | Hacker News Reader

Members of the US Congress Plan to Create a Compliant Version of Bitcoin

newsbtc.com

21 pointselmar19 comments

> This would be a new digital currency, by the look of things, and not Bitcoin itself. Moreover Bitcoin itself is not of interest to Washington right now.

Well, the good thing is that Bitcoin doesn't need their permission. Indeed, that is quite the point.

It does to convert from Bitcoin to Fiat currency.

That conversion gets blocked in an entire country/currency and its effectively useless unless you travel.

That seems to imply that there are no grey or black markets for currencies. This is contrary to what has been observed in history and in some countries today.

localbitcoins was a thing long before you could use exchanges in lots of countries.

That doesn't negate the damage though. Requiring a grey or black market to use the currency in a nation of economic significance restricts bitcoin's utility. This will be a value hit when competing against any potential currency that can overcome those hurdles.

> That seems to imply that there are no grey or black markets for currencies. This is contrary to what has been observed in history and in some countries today.

Grey and black market currencies exist but the exchange rate is very painful. Its mostly only viable when the fiat currency is unstable (or in the black market) for that reason.

Either way, its largely useless in the country it has been grey/black market'd and they are relying on their ability to convert it elsewhere.

> It does to convert from Bitcoin to Fiat currency.

Why do that if everyone accepts bitcoin?

And in any case, no you don't. Not as long as cash exists.

Its not technically possible at this time for this to be true.

It is not technically possible to trade physical cash bills for bitcoin? I do it all the time...

You are claiming a situation where 100% of merchants take bitcoin (i.e. everyone) and the scale required is beyond bitcoin by several orders of magnitude.

Also see: http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/19/congress-considering-valid...

I've been expecting digital currencies to be co-opted (or at least, try to be co-opted) by centralized authorities for a while now. Looks like we're seeing the first genuine attempt.

Sounds like they might be trying to push a special interest bill. Wonder what company has a "compliant" crypto currency waiting in the wings while they try to get this law passed to give it an advantage in the marketplace.

let's see:

- Blockstream pushing AML complaint payment channels over the Lightning Network (bitcoin, any bitcoin fork)

- Goldman Sachs who has a filed a patent on basically a bitcoin-clone

- Ripple

- maybe Waves

> - Blockstream pushing AML complaint payment channels over the Lightning Network (bitcoin, any bitcoin fork)

Whaaaaat? What are you talking about here? I've done a bunch of google searches and I can't find any information about what you're talking about.

The idea that Blockstream, who does more work on improving frangibility than anyone else in this space, would be involved in an AML/KYC compliant overlay network is crazy.

fungibility is not the same thing as KYC / AML.

Yes, it is the opposite.. which is my point.

Members of the US Congress can't even make a healthcare plan what makes you think this will go anywhere?