Staff at California's Department of Business Oversight have concluded that the department has the authority to regulate Bitcoin but are yet to elaborate on just how they intend to do so. The perceived authority to regulate Bitcoin came about after staff at the DBO came to a consensus that the state's laws which govern money transmitters such as Western Union also applies to Bitcoin. Continue reading
Category Archives: North America
Von NotHaus Gets House Arrest
Reports are coming out that Bernard Von NotHaus has been sentenced to six months of house arrest. He was convicted in 2011 for minting a precious metal backed private currency called the Liberty Dollar which he intended to have rival the Federal Reserve note. Von NotHaus had been described by prosecutors and law enforcement officials as a terrorist for encouraging private persons to barter with silver and gold coins as an alternative to using United States Dollars. The Liberty Dollar was introduced in 1998. Von Nothaus was warned in 2006, raided in 2007, indicted in 2009, convicted in 2011, and finally sentenced December 3rd 2014. Von Nothaus had faced potentially 40 years in prison and a loss of millions of dollars, but the United States Attorney only managed again, a sentence of six months of house arrest.
11 Bidders 27 Bids in Latest USMS Bitcoin Auction
Reuters reports that 11 parties have entered 27 bids for Bitcoins in the latest Auction by the United States Marshals Service. Reuters notes in their write up that Steve Englander of Citi anticipated most bids being entered below market price.
Congress Man Proposes Bill (H.R. 5777 Full Text Attached)
Outgoing United States Representative Steve Stockman of Texas has proposed a bill, H.R. 5777 that if it became law would impose a moratorium of five years on regulatory and statutory constraints upon cryptocurrency, as well as changing the treatment of cryptocurrencies under United States tax law to that enjoyed by traditional currencies. The moratorium proposed would apply to regulations and statutes at both the state and federal level. The chance this bill passes either house of the legislature is remote given a lack of support and Stockman's limited remaining time in Congress. If it makes it out of Congress its chance of becoming law would still be rather remote, because it would arrive on Obama's desk and require his signature. At present the bill has been introduced to the floor of the House and referred to both the House Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Continue reading
Justice Department's Subpoena to Theymos of Bitcointalk
In a continuation of the saga of the subpoena sent to Theymos of Bitcointalk, the subpoena has now been released. Full plain text below: Continue reading
Bitcoin History: Heroin Store Joe Job and the Bitcointalk Subpoena
Earlier today Theymos of Bitcointalk revealed that he satisfied a subpoena by prosecutors in the United States related to the yet to be tried Ross Ulbricht case. He offered that he turned over posts related to the account "altoid" alleged to be connected to Ross Ulbricht. He also admitted turning a number of posts, including posts deleted by users from a thread titled "A Heroin Store" which posed and interesting thought experiment: Continue reading
Coinbase Allows USD Balance for a Few US Customers
Coinbase took a step yesterday towards lowering the friction of buying and selling bitcoin in the US. Customers that live in a small number of states can now hold a USD balance in their Coinbase account. This allows instant buying and selling of bitcoin instead of Coinbase's current week-long process. Continue reading
UN Report Criticizes United States on Human Rights
A recent report by the United Nations High Commision for Human Rights Committee on Torture excoriated the United States for its human rights record at home and abroad in it first review of the United States since 2006. The United States record was reviewed along with those of several other parties to the 1987 U.N Convention Against Torture which was ratified by the United States in 1994. A number of issues raised in the committee's conclusions include: Continue reading
US Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Speech Case
The supreme court tomorrow will hear oral arguments in the case of Elonis v. United States. The legal question to be argued is:
(1) Whether, consistent with the First Amendment and Virginia v. Black, conviction of threatening another person under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) requires proof of the defendant's subjective intent to threaten, as required by the Ninth Circuit and the supreme courts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont; or whether it is enough to show that a “reasonable person” would regard the statement as threatening, as held by other federal courts of appeals and state courts of last resort; and (2) whether, as a matter of statutory interpretation, conviction of threatening another person under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) requires proof of the defendant's subjective intent to threaten.
Elonis was convicted for the high crime of posting rap lyrics he had authored to his Facebook page and as a result was sentenced to 44 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Ken Hess: Bitcoin Illegal, Tom Coburn: Maybe for Congress?
In a piece appearing on ZDnet today Ken Hess wrote a about his letter campaign to inform United States Senators of "Bitcoin's illegality" and of how Tom Coburn's office responded. Mr. Hess's case for Bitcoin illegality consist of his reading of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5 of the United States constitution which enumerates as a power of Congress: Continue reading