New law will require travelers entering the US to reveal digital currency holdings
So they have the time and motivation to create laws like these but they won't create a law for a tax moratorium? There may be terrorists who use cryptocurrency but the majority of users will not be terrorists. What about the majority of users who want to use cryptocurrency for legitimate purposes?
Even if people believe these laws are a good idea as a means of combating terrorist finance it does not reveal how a practical implementation of this idea will work. How exactly can it be determined how much or how little or if anyone has digital currency? This would be as difficult as scrutinizing gamers who travel with their laptop to determine if their WoW items or Second Life characters tradeable for monetary value. In a sense, digital currency is just a tool of barter and barter has existed all along in various forms, whether it be MP3s, or URLs, or JPGs, or AVI, or cryptocurrency.
What this law will do is have an effect on individuals entering the US and it isn't clear if this applies to US citizens as well. Anyone entering the US who happens to hold a lot of cryptocurrency will be required to make it known, but what happens to the known crypto-rich who enter the US? How is this information intended to be used? Maybe we still have a long way to go before cryptocurrency is formally accepted by governments because right now the policies indicate the opposite.
Isis has been financing their war with oil. Uncle Sam better confiscate your gas-guzzlers for acts of terror.
It's only law makers that can come up with such bullcrap.
And some more less relevant ones
Haha! It's Monopoly money. Sure weapons of mass destruction.
If two people can form a contract by word of mouth then that alone can facilitate value transfer. This is not easy to stop and even if they did inspections it is doubtful in my uninformed opinion that terrorists wise enough to use cryptocurrency would just leave it all on their laptop for border control to inspect. I mean maybe some teenager hackactivists would do something like that but is there any evidence that terrorists have been caught at the border with cryptocurrency? I suppose if someone can find an incident like that then my opinion on this matter can change.
Read George Orwell and you will find the blueprint for where we'll end. It's scary stuff.
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.
More like a blueprint of where we already are...
The USA gets so much more invasive with each passing day.
What would stop someone from "giving," their entire stake away to someone prior to arriving, and once home, that person decides to give it back? Just an example.
These kinds of laws are not only stupid, they're disgusting and disheartening.
This. I used to love travelling to the US. Now, with the full body scanners (which I make a point of opting out from every single time) and the police state ambiance at the airport, it really feels like I arrived in Gattaca. Pretty chilling.
Very true. I've traveled to many countries and I can honestly say that my home country, the USA, is the LEAST free feeling country I've ever been to. I do not feel more "ruled over," anywhere else in the world . . . It's a hard/sad thing to say, but it's true.
It's even more complicated with smart contracts, deadman switches, and other stuff. It's not really possible to determine how much anyone will have in the future and there is a technique called time lock encryption where a person can send their stash to themselves in the future and the transaction can occur in such a way that they can be inspected.
The problem with these sorts of laws is they just seem to want to throw digital currency in with a bunch of other stuff as if it's the same or similar. It's programmable, it's not similar to anything else, and in my opinion if it's going to be regulated then they have to do it in it's own lane. Honestly I don't see this particular regulation doing anything except cause the actual terrorists to use smart contracts with their digital currency and cover up their tracks.
People who truly aren't terrorists will follow the law and be inconvenienced.
Yep. So many loopholes are out there. Nothing pisses me off more than government trying to get bigger and more controlling. GTFO of people's lives for god's sake.
Nothing says "freedom" quite like government regulations.
I do not see how this could ever be enforced. What would they do confiscate your devices and thumb drives and search for crypto. Seems like a stretch.
Wouldn't be realistic if they did that to everybody. The point is that it gives them one more tool to create pressure and legal trouble for anyone whom they may decide is a trouble maker of sorts.
They'd do exactly that. There's already cases of them doing that without the electronic devices being related to cryptocurrency: https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/12/14583124/nasa-sidd-bikkannavar-detained-cbp-phone-search-trump-travel-ban
Governments hate the idea of the general public making anything more than 1 percent on their capital. Seeing many of these crypto currency are so fruitful, this may signal the end of coventional financial institutions and governments hate that.
What would happen if 20 million Americans decided not to comply?? Or 35 million?? Last I checked these people are supposed to work for us..
Remember the hall monitor in school? Or, that kid that always reminded the teacher that homework hadn't been collected? 20-35 million Americans would ratted out to the authorities, increasing the number of Americans in jail, and continuing to feed the prison-industrial complex that only exists to maintain slavery in America.
Good luck enforcing it.
Exactly!
And that is my point. If it cannot be realistically enforced then it's just a massive inconvenience. They should show a measurable benefit statistically. Are terrorists routinely caught at the borders with digital currencies on mechanical devices? I'm not exactly sure what statistics or data is used to inform the creation of this policy but even if terrorists are crossing the border with Trezors, well if you inspect them wouldn't they simply use brain wallets?
I cannot figure out how they'll inspect someone's brain and at what point does the cost of attempting to do so outweigh the benefit? In the case of a known terrorist crossing the border I can see the point but those cases shouldn't be every single person crossing the border otherwise it becomes a hassle if cryptocurrency ever becomes massively adopted.
Really it's just another chance for them to spend someone else's money.
One more route for the government to suck away tax payer money.
People use US dollars for terrorism, but just because they do, doesn't mean the dollar is bad.
Like I said, anything can be used for barter. There is nothing particularly special about cryptocurrency except that it's easier to do accounting and hard to counterfeit, but the same could happen and has happened without cryptocurrency. The point here is there may be legit concerns about terrorist finance but the vast majority of cryptocurrency users aren't interested in terrorism and have nothing to do with that.
So these "tough" laws don't seem like they'll be any more effective for deterring terrorism than the situation at airports. The vast majority of innocent people get inconvenienced yet there hasn't been any statistics released to indicate a measurable effect on public safety. If we are going to be inconvenienced then they owe it to us to make sure it's an effective policy and I'm not sure how they intend to measure the effectiveness of this policy.
Also the physical border being an inspection point doesn't make a lot of sense when digital currency isn't physically detectable. I mean how exactly is it supposed to work? What if the terrorists are using brain wallets and ordinary users are carrying Nano or Trezors?
Reference
This would be a way for them to target people, confiscate devices, and increase spending. This is the kind of law making that makes me glad to be a libertarian. This isn't designed to stop criminals, who could always leave their devices outside the country. This is designed to stop the Average Joe from exercising the right to free movement.
Wow. What an absolute scam. Typical of government though.
Control control control....someday we will all be so sick of their control and will figure out how to put an end to their devious ways. Someday....
Stop voting them in. Stop using their Federal Reserve notes. Create your own currency. Print your own products...etc..
That sounds amazing, but how can that even be done? For example the creator of ArtMoney almost went to jail for creating art that is supposed to be used as currency.... http://artmoney.org/
What do you mean by print your own products? currency? I love this idea :)
3d print houses, cars, toys, food; the basics. There are many platforms that allow individuals to create their own currency. The only power these people have is the power you give them. Non- participation by the masses will lead to their demise...
Stop voting is easy. It's actually much easier than voting. Once you have skipped voting, decide that government bureaucrats are not legimate, and stop thinking about them entirely. Ignore their gesticulations. Refuse to get angry at their nonsense. Stop watching TV and reading news papers. Act bored to death when anyone around you speaks about anything related ot the government. If we all do that, their power will be entirely gone. Power only exists because we care. It only exists because we believe it does, and that some people are its legitimate recipient. Once no one cares anymore about that bunch of old farts in Washington, they'll just get another job.
I am looking forward to that day.
WHATS A "CRYPTOCURRENCY" sir?