A US Federal Court said Friday that bitcoin is a form of money covered under the Washington D.C., Money Transmitters Act (MTA).
The court made this conclusion as it denied a motion to dismiss criminal charges against Larry Dean Harmon, the operator of an underground bitcoin trading platform.
Harmon’s service (Helix) is a mixer that launders money from the darknet (drugs, carding, hacking) in fact. Herman’s lawyers were able to challenge the court’s indictment half-year ago, the argument was that bitcoin is not a money so it is impossible to launder bitcoins. But the court of Washington state insisted and submitted to the US Federal court the petition about recognition bitcoin as money.
Another interesting news came from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) some days ago. OCC has opened the door for federal savings associations and national savings banks to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of their customers.
The banks will must put in place “policies, procedures, internal controls, and management information systems governing custody services. Effective internal controls include safeguarding assets under custody, producing reliable financial reports, and complying with laws and regulations”.
It is obvious that there will be cheers from all corners of the internet about the historical recognize bitcoin as money in the US soon. But Larry Harmon will not hear it, because he will serving in a prison. I’m not justifing him, a laundering drug dealers money is a crime.
The US judicial system based on case-law and so the precedent when bitcoin was recognized as money will have consequences. And the tightening of control over all cryptocurrencies will be the first.
If bitcoin is money so american people should expect changes to another laws. How it was happened in China for example. Let’s take the inheritance law. A cryptocurrency holder must give private keys to a lawyer because his heirs will not be able to use the right of inheritance if holder will die.
And the next will be total ban to keep private keys in secret that is the prohibition of anonymous free possession of a cryptocurrency in fact.
And the main, the calling of bitcoin is to be the alternative of the rotten global banking system, but not to be a part of it. Satoshi Nakamoto wanted give own personal bank to every. He wanted save people from the problem of trusting to a third party. And he certainly didn’t want your assets to be seized by government authorities and add you an extra tax burden.