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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.
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.