Quote from: LorenzoMoney on May 15, 2013, 05:22:04 PM

Here is a link to the warrant that the Department of Homeland Security filed against Dwolla:

http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mt-Gox-Dwolla-Warrant-5-14-13.pdf

The warrant refers to laws which can be found at: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/981 and
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1960

I am not a lawyer. But, in my limited understanding of what I read, to transmit money in the USA, your company must be licensed in the state in which you conducting business. From the warrant, it was not the assets of MtGox that were taken, but Mutum Sigillum, the intermediary company between Dwolla and Mtgox. It was the Mutum Sigillum account that was confiscated.

From my limited understanding of the law, and I am NOT a lawyer, it would seem that had Mutum Sigillum been registered or licensed to transmit money, then this would not have happened.

I do believe that the US Government, in particular, the Department of Homeland Security, is frightened of bitcoin and has been looking for anyway possible to destroy it.

Since, bitcoin itself cannot be stopped, since it is not localized, and since its status as a currency is vague, since it is only data, transaction records on a blockchain, to stop it, DHS has taken the strategy to attack the exchanges. Had the MtGox people not lied on the forms to open their Veridian account, this might not have happened.

Why is DHS frightened of Bitcoin? Because they, rightfully so, want to protect the American people from terrorist attacks. One of the ways that various (both politically and radical, fundamental religious based) terrorist groups sustain their efforts is by getting donations from supports in one country and sending those funds to another country. I can imagine the meeting in some office in Washington, D.C. or Langley, where some men in suits come up with a hypothetical scenario where someone buys bitcoin in Europe or Africa, or the Middle East, sends it to someone in Russia or Asia to buy arms, and sends some of it to the US, where it is converted to USD in order to fund some terrorist activity. Whether or not that scenario could ever really happen, the fact that it could be hypothetically imagined, and that these bitcoin transactions could occur independent of the conventional banking system, which at present is highly scrutinized by US and EU law enforcement agencies, caused these men in D.C. and Langley to become very fearful.

I personally, do not condone or support the engagement of any illegal activity with bitcoin. I have visited SR (Silk Road) three or four times and frankly, after the initial novel amusement that that stuff was being sold, I found SR to be boring. I would prefer to promote cooperation and communication between people who are enemies by using Bitcoin to fund and finance true charities that help people constructively. Bitcoins could be used to pay a Saudi software engineer to write code for an Israeli agricultural company. Or, to for a jewelry artist in New Zealand to sell his artwork to a woman in Canada without worrying about the rip off that is credit card merchant processing.

Despite all the good things that could be accomplished with bitcoin, I can imagine the fear of certain people about how bitcoin could be used for funding evil people's actions.

But, I am not sure whether to be angry with MtGox for not making sure their operation was completely legal and could withstand legal attacks, or with the DHS for being overzealous in protecting Americans from imagined menaces.

Not having an easy way to fund your account on the world's largest bitcoin exchange does stifle trading and I think damages the future of Bitcoin.

Lorenzo Money

Sigh...bitcoin wasn't even mentioned, MTGOX was breaking the law...move on already, this has nothing to do with bitcoin and everything to do with ONE company breaking the law. Notice how no other U.S. based bitcoin company was affected..yeah, they weren't breaking the law.