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Re: 2013-06-23 Forbes - Bitcoin Foundation Receives Cease And Desist Order From Ca
by
burnside
on 25/06/2013, 02:35:43 UTC
I disagree with how much it matters what it is called.  In the legal landscape what you call it is everything and in terms of regulatory requirements, the difference between a "commodity" and a "currency" can be a pretty large stack of paperwork and a pretty big list of "can's and cannot's".

Your missing the point.  Regulators don't ask YOU what your product is.  They will TELL YOU and then those list of choices above apply.  So if the Bitcoin Foundation called Bitcoins commodities, or virtual property, or holy carrots it would have absolutely no value under the law.  Regulators would say "Bitcoin is monetary value and subject to xzy".  They don't take what you chose to name it into consideration.

I mean do you also think that if you sold gambling products under a different name, say "true random number commodity contracts" it would magically be exempt from regulations/prohibitions on gambling.

Start calling Bitcoins "magical carrots" it won't exempt Bitcoin from anything the state says it is regulated by.  The state is the one with the guns and monopoly on violence.  They TELL (not ASK) you what laws apply.  If you are lucky they don't do it in a carpicious or retroactive fashion.   Once they TELL you then you can decide if you want to play or work around that.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.

How you market your "product" can have a HUGE impact on how it gets regulated.  (*cough*  *cough*  syrup.)  Go ahead slap a label on it "meth4U" and tell those guys to market it to the meth addicts and see how far they get.  And what do you think is going to happen when Ruger starts a new ad campaign "A kill a day keeps the good guys at bay"?  Seriously.  How you pitch your product says everything about how you intend for it to be used, and when it has unintended uses, how you pitched it is going to make a huge difference in how you're dealt with.

Cheers.