Quote from: DeathAndTaxes on June 25, 2013, 12:19:47 AM

My point it ultimately what matters is what the STATE (each state independently) defines Bitcoin as. You can call them anything you want but FinCEN (and other states) is regulated based on what Bitcoin DOES not what you NAME it.

TL/DR: If Bitcoin is used "as monetary value", FinCEN intends to regulate it, regardless of what you call it. Their authority (or lack thereof) comes from what Bitcoin DOES not what it is CALLED.

They don't have a prayer in Hell of making these bizarre legal theories you espouse stick, admitting it is in fact what they're contemplating (on an actual read of their guidelines, it is exactly NOT what they're contemplating, but Murck is incompetent and apparently you can't tell the difference between counsel and muck).

Now it's one thing to say "I can't afford to fight my government, right or wrong". That's fine, you're an American which makes you a slave. As long as you can live with that so can we. It's quite a different thing to say "I can't afford to fight my government thus the most awkward contortion of what some noob thinks it might have said is actually what it said".

So, let's have some of that b) there, with the clear understanding that any other choice makes you I. inferior and II. not really a part of Bitcoin. Stop trying to frame things otherwise, it's a waste of effort, as are all the red herrings about the does/is dispute.

I am getting sick of you people getting each other drunk on kool-aid on the grounds that like chickens you just believe whatever nonsense you hear most often. Let's get back to the basics: Bitcoin is a game currency, like any other game currency. The SEC does not have the authority to regulate whatever in-game auction house nor does it claim such authority. FinCEN does not have the authority to regulate WoW gold, nor does it claim such authority. You people ran amok with the entire SEC bullshit six months ago, much to my amusement, you're running amok with the FinCEN bullshit currently, in spite of it being based on an outrageous backwards read of the entire thing.

Just STAHP already, it's getting ridiculous.

(All this notwithstanding: if you trade dollars for anything in the US you're fucked. It has absolutely nothing to do with Bitcoin, it could be raw milk or guns or used Playboy mags or homemade lemonade at a stand or anything else whatsoever - the soviets are trying to move all trade towards state-approved corporations as part of their "silent revolution". Constantly mixing Bitcoin into the internal affairs of that failed state is getting about as old as thinking the US, generally, still matters. Can we move on already?).