Bitcoin Revolution ~ U.S. Moving to Make Electronic Currencies Illegal ?

January 10, 2014 : http://americanfreepress.net

Bitcoin

• Alternative currency makers defend motives at hearing

By Mark Anderson

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) recently held a first-ever congressional hearing on virtual currencies. The mid-November hearing, “Beyond Silk Road—Potential Threats, Risks and Promises of Virtual Currency,” explored the positives and negatives for the federal government and society related to currencies that have been created in electronic format on the Internet.

Carper, who described virtual currencies as “digital cash that can be used and transferred nearly anonymously,” added in a press release that this monetary technology “presents some new and unique risks, but with it . . . great potential. The federal government and society as a whole need to come together to figure out how to effectively deal with it.”

Witnesses at the November hearing included representatives of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and private industry representatives including the Bitcoin Foundation and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.

Bitcoin has become increasingly popular on the Internet. It is electronic currency that has been created using complicated computer programs and cannot be forged or counterfeited.

Patrick Murck, Bitcoin Foundation’s general counsel, described Bitcoin as “a decentralized store of value and open-ledger payment network that operates securely, efficiently and at low cost without the need for any third-party intermediaries.”

Murck added: “Bitcoin and digital currency alone will not alleviate issues of poverty and financial exclusion that effect vulnerable populations around the world. However, Bitcoin can provide a safe store of wealth and a global transaction network that cannot be corrupted or abused by those who would seek to exploit or harm vulnerable populations. It can help advance liberty and dignity for people worldwide, restore financial privacy for law-abiding people, and provide a stable money supply in countries where the currency may be mismanaged.
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