Congratulations, Bitcoin, you've made the big time! How do we know? Easy, the Feds have you in their sights. I'm leaving today on a trip, but I'll have more on my analysis later. Keep in mind that it was the anti-money laundering laws that brought down e-gold…
I have lacked the energy to write a follow-up to my last post but will do so by the weekend. In the meantime, here are a couple of stories about a Bitcoin ATM.
Today the US Senate Judiciary Committee marked up the Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA) which included updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) passed in 1986 (before the proliferation of email and cloud computing, etc.). The ECPA language, if adopted into law, would require a warrant…
Lars Christensen observes that in Zimbabwe a company called EcoCash, which allows customers to bank through their cell phones, is helping to solve the country's shortage of coins. During Zimbabwe's hyperinflation of the previous decade, local-currency coins disappeared because they were worth more as metal than as…
The idea of purely electronic money, without notes and coins as hand-to-hand currency, has received attention not just for its potential convenience, but also for its potential to extend the range of central bank control in monetary policy, which some people consider a good idea. I see…