I'm not one for over-regulation but, he's right. I find it amusing that a lot of the people who got into it for the very reason that it IS unregulated (ie little to no protection), are now a lot of the same people crying that somebody should do something, because they lost their money... or what they perceive to be money. Just a little hypocrisy going on there. The whole thing just seems like another one of those 'get rich quick' endeavors, that all the same suspects always get involved with. Whether it's the house flipping, or whatever... It's always the same kind of people that want to make tons of money for little to no effort, then everybody else has to clean up the mess when it falls appart.

The very anonymity of Bitcoin works against it. That, and the natural desire for Governments to Regulate and Control Wealth, exacerbate the problem. Me? never bought into the idea (pun intended) so no worries on my part.

Bitcoin, versus another fiat currency like the USD or the EUR, has its positives and its negatives. When comparing it to the USD and the federal reserve system, Bitcoin wins, hands down. Unfortunately, it is backed by nothing just as any currency created by all current central banks/reserves are worth nothing, except for what people perceive their worth. The outstanding issue with Bitcoin is that it is not easily manipulated by politicians and thus a threat to centralized power. Essentially, it interferes with the central banking system -- the people who dictate political both social and fiscal decisions.

Nevertheless, Bitcoin (IMO), has been nothing more than speculation until now because it has not gained the status of currency. Similar to NASDAQ in only one sense, it has been nothing more than a win and lose game.

“This virtual currency is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly unstable and disruptive to our economy,”

Illicit activity happens far more often in US dollars than it does in Bitcoin. The only difference is: oh wait, there is no difference. There is absolutely no validity in this argument. As for being "disruptive", the United States is a free market economy where each is free to conduct business as one wishes. Did the US become a planned economy since I last blinked? *sigh*

I'm not one for over-regulation but, he's right. I find it amusing that a lot of the people who got into it for the very reason that it IS unregulated (ie little to no protection), are now a lot of the same people crying that somebody should do something, because they lost their money.

You shouldn't make the assumption that they "got into it for the very reason that it IS unregulated"; A fairer assumption would be that "they" "got in to it" because of the crooks at the federal reserve bank and the gangsters supporting them in Washington. A completely unregulated, unelected and unaccountable central bank versus an unregulated form of free trade poses no question in my mind.

Incidentally, I highly doubt that very many of these people are begging Washington, D.C. to bail them out, though correct me if I'm wrong. CNN, Fox and MSNBC don't count in my books.

The very anonymity of Bitcoin works against it.

It actually isn't as anonymous as many believe it to be. All one has to do is look at the system and Bitcoin's own privacy statement to come to that conclusion. One may be more anonymous buying a package of cigarettes from 7-11 with a $10 bill than trading a one-hundredth of a Bitcoin with your spouse.

Did the US become a planned economy since I last blinked? *sigh*

Nope, pretty much the whole world, and its been drifting that way for a decades.

I do not think central banks are crooked, but politicians are!

The biggest potential advantage of Bitcoin is transaction costs. The people who stand to lose the most are Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, banks and everyone else in the business of charging commissions for transferring money or converting between currencies.

I see the biggest problem being that Bitcoin gives no financial security whatsoever. Your investment could be worthless in the click of a mouse. Being unregulated, dark forces could easily infiltrate the system and destroy the currency.

It has to have regulation if it is going to have legitimacy, imho.

You shouldn't make the assumption that they "got into it for the very reason that it IS unregulated"; A fairer assumption would be that "they" "got in to it" because of the crooks at the federal reserve bank and the gangsters supporting them in Washington. A completely unregulated, unelected and unaccountable central bank versus an unregulated form of free trade poses no question in my mind.

Incidentally, I highly doubt that very many of these people are begging Washington, D.C. to bail them out, though correct me if I'm wrong. CNN, Fox and MSNBC don't count in my books

You're sort of proving the stereotype of who thinks this is great... The typical anarchist mentality, who basically believes that, anything that is sort of... 'sticking it to the man'... is something that is automatically good and should be welcomed... Whether it makes sense or not.

All the people I saw holding up signs about their money supposedly being gone... Who exactly are they holding those up for? I'm not going to help them. The rest of the public can't really do anything. That leaves the government. The same government that they thought they were cleverly 'sticking it to', by using a rogue form of currency.

You're sort of proving the stereotype of who thinks this is great... The typical anarchist mentality, who basically believes that, anything that is sort of... 'sticking it to the man'... is something that is automatically good and should be welcomed... Whether it makes sense or not.

But I'm not a believer in Bitcoin and I haven't been since I informed myself of the 'currency', so the stereotype doesn't apply to me. Notice my play on the word bitcoin, bitcon.

I don't watch television news, nor do I generally read newspapers or magazines and thus my daily dose of information is from a wide range of sources, studies and papers. Thus I don't view myself as blinded by what the mass media would like us all to believe.

It has to have regulation if it is going to have legitimacy, imho.

A mere glace at historical data shows that regulation of free trade (vs crony capitalism) does more bad than good and that fiat currencies will always lose their value continuously until a crash. A world of Keynesian economic policies, my friend.

“take appropriate action to limit the abilities of this highly unstable currency.”

I'm confused, are they talking about Bitcoin or the US dollar and the volatile stock market?

Govts will have to find a way to kill any digital currencies, it threatens their ability to print money ad infinitum.

If people switched to a currency that govts couldn't print, well... they're just not going to let that happen.

Betting on bitcoin, is betting against govts desiring to retain their fiscal and monetary policy power, and is therefore foolish. I hope BC makes it, would neuter the Fed, but me betting on it, not a chance. :-)

Don't forget we have precedence of funny money making it's way off the Monopoly board into real life thanks to Second Life and the Linden Dollar (L$)

Bitcoin and all the alt coins are very unpredictable. It can be a dangerous place to invest, and even then there is a high degree of risk. Put simply though, the US can't really do to much about it because of its world wide and de centralized nature.

In my opinion Bitcoin is to difficult to understand to become mainstream.

Mack.

Yet another Bitcoin institution has had its coffers drained by hackers and will be forced to shut down as a result.

Self-termed "Bitcoin bank" Flexcoin has told its customers that the theft of its Bitcoins, valued at $610,000 (£366,000), has driven the company over a cliff. Effective immediately, the site said it will be shutting down and suspending its service.

[theregister.co.uk...]
The bad news continues...

>>these calls indicate that there might be tougher regulation on the offing, at the very least.

not everywhere ... the UK govt has announced there will be no VAT charged on bitcoin transactions

[hmrc.gov.uk...]

Bitcoin is tempting, but one major factor that is driving prices up is interest in the currency. There are loads of entities mining Bitcoin from hobbyists through to corporations, and nearly all are running at huge losses, hoping that if and when the currency rockets again they can cash in and make a profit. It's a dangerous business model. Especially with governments trying to shut it down.

Mack.

Your investment could be worthless in the click of a mouse. Being unregulated, dark forces could easily infiltrate the system and destroy the currency.

How? You cannot break strong encryption that easily.

Self-termed "Bitcoin bank"

Anyone using a Bitcoin bank is rather missing the point. Banks need regulation, but bitcoin does not require banks. The Bitcoin website says:

As of today, no web wallet services provide enough insurance to be used to store value like a bank.

[bitcoin.org ]

So why are people ignoring this clear warning?

To say nothing of being stupid enough to agree to these terms of service:

We have taken every precaution to defend your bitcoins from hackers and/or intruders. However, Flexcoin Inc is not responsible for insuring any bitcoins stored in the Flexcoin system. You are entering into this agreement with Flexcoin Inc. You agree to not hold Flexcoin Inc, or Flexcoin Inc's stakeholders, or Flexcoin Inc's shareholders liable for any lost bitcoins.

in my opinion Bitcoin is to difficult to understand to become mainstream.

That may be the biggest problem. A lot of people seem to be doing remarkably stupid things with bitcoins. On the other hand, the same is true of anything new.

[edited by: graeme_p at 10:38 am (utc) on Mar 6, 2014]

I'm confused, are they talking about Bitcoin or the US dollar and the volatile stock market?

LMAO

It's the pot calling the kettle black.

More news:

A cryptocurrency exchange called Poloniex has lost more than ten per cent of its entire stash of Bitcoin after allegedly being hacked.

Tristan D'Agosta, who runs Poloniex under the pseudonym Busoni, admitted to the loss and issued a comprehensive rundown of what went wrong.

This approach contrasts starkly with the wall of silence put up by Mt. Gox after last week's mysterious collapse.

[theregister.co.uk...]

If people are going to keep their coinage online, people are going to steal it. If you have any form of crypto currency have them on a system with no net connection or on a removable wallet.

Mack.

No matter what laws are passed, two things are certain:

You can't protect stupid people from themselves, and

Until criminals are actually turned into productive citizens, they'll continue to commit crime.