Federal Officials Meet With Bitcoin Online Currency Advocates
A closed-door meeting between Bitcoin Foundation representatives and federal officials marks the U.S. government’s latest foray toward regulating digital currencies. Among the nearly 12 federal agencies represented at the meeting were the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service, and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes and Enforcement Division. Bitcoin proponents used the meeting to explain how the bitcoin system functions, with regulators’ skepticism about the payment method running high. “What the Bitcoin Foundation tried to stress is that bitcoin is less useful for [illicit] purposes than other centralized virtual currencies,” says George Mason University’s Jerry Brito. Members of the foundation panel discussed the potential global economic impact of bitcoin, with the foundation’s Marco Santori warning that heavy regulation could lead to a mass exodus of startups and small businesses hoping to use bitcoin to conduct transactions. The subsequent overseas migration would work to the advantage of other countries, he notes. Meanwhile, the Cato Institute’s Jim Harper says the free operation of bitcoin might ramp up competition in the payments sector. Bitcoin Foundation attorney Patrick Murck says “there is a spirit of public-private partnership and working to create a safe—and sane—regulatory environment.”
From “Inside the Bitcoin Advocates’ Closed-Door Meeting With Federal Regulators”
Washington Post (08/27/13) Fung, Brian