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Australia Joins China and Japan in Trying To Regulate Digital Currency Exchanges (cnbc.com)
Following moves by China and Japan to regulate digital currencies, Australia is attempting to crackdown on money laundering and terrorism financing with plans to regulate bitcoin exchanges. From a report: "The threat of serious financial crime is constantly evolving, as new technologies emerge and criminals seek to nefariously exploit them. These measures ensure there is nowhere for criminals to hide," said Australia's Minister for Justice Michael Keenan in a press release. The Australian government proposed a set of reforms on Thursday which will close a gap in regulation and bring digital currency exchange providers under the remit of the Australian Transactions and Reporting Analysis Centre. These exchanges serve as marketplaces where traders can buy and sell digital currencies, such as bitcoin, using fiat currencies, such as the dollar. The reform bill is intended to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act and increase the powers of AUSTRAC.
I mean sure crime and money laundering bad, absolutely, but people can simply bargain goods for a lot of that too, so there is a work around. The real issue is pure fear that they lose control of money, which they waste so much of. It's a hard stance for me personally since regulation to prevent money laundering is important (We need our paved roads, taxes pay for them, people need to be paying their taxes) but it takes the ability to manipulate money and hose everyone as easily like certain countries whose dollar dropped to near nothing.
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The first time I ever heard of 'Bitcoin', the first thing I thought was "this will be used for money laundering, hiding assets, and trafficking in contraband and for other illegal activities, guaranteed" and steered entirely clear of it. I knew that at some point governments would, one way or another, take control of it, for good or for ill.
Don't even pretend you're surprised this is happening, and don't even bother to act all righteously indignated over it, either, you're just being over-the-top disingenuous if you do.
"... but can anything be sacred anymore?"
Now that's funny. Libertarian Crackpots have been pushing Cryptocurrencies almost with a religious fervor... but I had no idea that they actually took it this seriously. "Our Father, who art in Mammon..."
"What about the mining aspect? Is big brother going to monitor GPU usage too?"
As in other recent Get Rich Quick Schemes, those who made the real money sold Shovels and Beans. In this case pretty much worthless yet extremely expensive GPUs, and Kilowatt-hours.
Big Brother is quite pleased at those hefty Electrical Bills, which they keep meticulous records of.
Big Brother is not whom you think.
Japan recognizes Bitcoin as a legal form of payment. This helps, not hurt, Bitcoin. If they considered Bitcoin harmful they would not have done that. One of the factors pushing Bitcoin up to such high levels is the Japanese consumer who is now empowered by the Japanese government legalizing Bitcoin.
https://www.coindesk.com/japan...
Bitcoin Surpasses $4,000 Due to Strong Japanese Demand: CNBC
https://cointelegraph.com/news......
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
I know exactly who big brother is. His name is Mark and he's got tattoos on both arms. Don't mess with big brother.
p.s.: Hey Mark, I'm just kidding! You know that, right?
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