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UK Setting Itself Up To Be More Friendly To Bitcoin Startups

Posted by samzenpus on from the anything-goes dept.

An anonymous reader writes While various states in the U.S. (most notably: New York) are trying to regulate every last aspect of Bitcoin, making it very difficult to innovate there, the UK appears to be going in the opposite direction. It's been setting up much more open regulations that would allow for greater freedom for Bitcoin startups to innovate without first having to ask for permission. In fact, the British government decided that what is most appropriate is to work with the digital currency community to develop a set of best practices for consumer protection and create a voluntary, opt-in regime. Hopefully other governments take note.

6 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. There is no way the UK is so... by EzInKy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...insecure as to back an unproven currency! OP most be a just another cad trying to suck real value into something of no value.

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    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
  2. GCHQ has realized they can track Bitcoin, I bet by gweihir · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And hence, Bitcoin actually makes it easier to monitor money-flows, as they already have all Internet traffic. Getting the data from Banks, especially foreign ones, may be a tad more effort and the Bank knows.

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    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:GCHQ has realized they can track Bitcoin, I bet by Zocalo · · Score: 2

      I suspect they, and similar agencies, realised this a long time ago; the kind of big data meta analysis of blockchains necessary to establish patterns in the flow of digital currency is what GCHQ, NSA and the like should excel at doing and the use of BitCoin etc. by groups they would be interested in is well documented. Once you start identifying which wallets are regularly transferring large amounts of funds to other known wallets, you can then start looking at who else they are dealing with and building a web of interactions. Combine that with any compromised PCs or other intel that lets them tie specific wallets to specific individuals / organisations and some really useful intelligence about who is dealing with who ought to start dropping out. I'd actually be very surprised if they hadn't been doing this for some time, really.

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      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    2. Re:GCHQ has realized they can track Bitcoin, I bet by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      How is it not anonymous? A wallet is just as anonymous as a numbered account, with the difference that no entity has a record of who owns which wallet (unlike bank accounts). Oh, I am sure clever law enforcement agencies are able to combine data and tie a wallet to a specific person, but for day to day cases, no one knows who owns wallet XYZ, and I do not need to present any proof of identity to get my own wallet. So: anonymous.

      The transactions are public. But that has nothing to do with anonymity of the accounts.

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      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  3. Bank Of England looking at this for a while by auric_dude · · Score: 2

    News Release - Quarterly Bulletin pre-release articles: âInnovations in payment technologies and the emergence of digital currenciesâ(TM) and âThe economics of digital currenciesâ(TM) http://www.bankofengland.co.uk... and The economics of digital currencies http://www.bankofengland.co.uk...

  4. Trust Us! by gsslay · · Score: 2

    In fact, the British government decided that what is most appropriate is to work with the digital currency community to develop a set of best practices for consumer protection and create a voluntary, opt-in regime.

    Because self-regulation has always worked so well in the banking sector.