Post
Topic
Board Beginners & Help
Re: Is bitcoin legal? Not according to U.S. government
by
freeto
on 17/06/2011, 02:04:48 UTC
Fine fine, I'll be more friendly.

OP, see references to any one of many "substitutes of money/value/transactions", like

Disney Dollars
Gift Cards
Fun Money
Fiat Currency
Monopoly Money
Poker Chips
Casino Credits
XBox Live Points
Ithica Hours
BerkShares
T-Bills
WoW Gold
Debit Cards

And ask yourself, "how many of these have been ruled illegal, and their creators cast into mythical dungeons," and "how does bitcoin differ from these," and "do I Wikipedia objectively?"

Well, Walt Disney maybe in some kinky dungeon, but it was his choice.

There are major differences between all these things and bitcoin.  Even if there wasn't, it wouldn't matter.  If the Feds perceive bitcoin as a threat they will come after it.  All they need is the facade of legality and the Federal courts will back them up.  You can make arguments until you howl at the moon, and they might be good ones too, but it won't matter.  Unless you have a really good lawyer, political connections and a sizable amount of public opinion on your side forget it.  Maybe you could get a really, really good lawyer like Tom Cryer but that's about it.  You would need a jury trial though because they would put the screws on the Federal judge that would hear the case and he would not be impartial to say the least.