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EU Proposes End of Anonymity For Bitcoin and Prepaid Card Users (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In June the European Commission will propose new legislation to effectively end the possibility of anonymous payment, by forcing users of virtual currencies like Bitcoin, and of prepaid credit cards, to provide identity details. Additionally the EC intends to propose monitoring inter-bank transfers within Europe, a measure which had not been implemented with the launch of the EU-US Terrorist Financing Tracking Programme (TFTP). Though the proposed measures are intended to heap new pressure on the financing of terrorism, a report from Interpol last week concluded that terrorist funding methods have not changed substantially in recent years, stating 'Despite third party reporting suggesting the use of anonymous currencies like Bitcoin by terrorists to finance their activities, this has not been confirmed by law enforcement.'
There was literally something on some TV news program yesterday about how easy it is to set up shell companies in the US for the purposes of money laundering. It was hilarious how many lawyers were busted telling the undercover reporter how to do it. Only one lawyer they interviewed said no.
How the hell do they think this can be deanonymize crypto currencies when they can't even keep people from setting up anonymous businesses?
Some people really want this, as bad as it sounds. With even the last anonymous payment method gone, the state is happy as it can tax precisely what its worth (of course only those people who can't afford to have all their companies owned by a holding in the crocodile islands), and the banks are happy as they can sell precise data about their customers to various people (perhaps even legally). They are even happier as now they can also introduce negative interests on the money you store at the bank. It can be used to "keep money in movement", to stifle the economy, and fill the purses of the banks: You now rather tend to take loans and pay those back with interest, because collecting the money in advance got more expensive.
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16-17
Things are getting Biblical round here.
That's crap. If it was about anonymous payments and "terrorism" then they'd be ending anonymity for cash transactions as well. Virtual currencies are being legislated so that they can tax them, nothing more.