Quote from: ZeroSum on August 20, 2014, 07:10:40 AM

Quote from: polynesia on August 20, 2014, 12:11:39 AM

Quote from: ZeroSum on August 19, 2014, 12:25:11 PM

Quote from: polynesia on July 25, 2014, 03:40:33 PM

How would capital controls work in the bitcoin era?

Right now, we have restrictions on how much FX an individual can transfer out of India. Since banks and authorized forex dealers are about the only way a person can procure FX, the government is able to monitor this.

Once bitcoins are easily available, what prevents a person from buying BTC and sending them across to another person outside India. Would you need an established and trusted 'hawala' operator to transfer funds outside India?

Here I'm assuming your 'capital control' in negative connotation. Okay?
'Black Money' makes approximately 51% of our GDP which makes mandatory for government to control capital flight. Usually, capital control is done by controlling transfer of money and monitoring it to find illegal activity. Accessing 'black money' is simple in India, but clearing them internationally is almost impossible. Our government executes controls capital by controlling transfer. When it comes to Bitcoin, 'black bitcoin' is inaccessible to most of people which is needed for capital flight. I believe, government cannot control transfer for Bitcoins but then can control out access to it. Therefore, in future, they'll limit access/monitor for capital control which will be done by regulating Buysellbitco.in, Unocoin.com, Igot.com etc. Simple to execute then said!

In a long run, miners will help do it.

Cheers,
ZeroSum Believer

I believe it would be difficult to segregate bitcoins into 'black' and 'white'. There effectively would be a premium for bitcoins bought in exchanges and sold for 'cash'. It would be very difficult for the government to track the flow of bitcoins from exchanges.

Edan Yago at work! It is very very very easy for government to track flow of Bitcoin from exchange(s). Among all, you must have known my friend.

I doubt it is going to be easy once people stop hoarding coins and actually start using them. Plus there are always mixing services.