Florida....Beach...Palm Trees, and Laws Against Bitcoin Criminals
There is nothing like the Florida sunshine to get your mornings full of energy, I should know this because I have been a Floridian all my life and there is nothing like a warm summer breeze in the morning, coffee in hand and birds singing away. When it comes to the Sunshine State, for the average tourist its a haven for relaxation to get away from the hustle and bustle of every day life, a paradise for many to explore. Sometimes though for the locals, we have to really pay attention to how our State legislature runs its law books and this week it appears as an avid crypto currency user myself, we Floridians handling Bitcoin may need to keep a steady watch on what laws may come at us in the future.
This week, House Bill 1379 passed in Florida, which defines virtual currency and prohibits its use in laundering criminal proceeds. The bill adds the term “virtual currency” to the definition of “monetary instruments” under Florida’s Money Laundering Act. The legislation is currently in the hands of the State’s Governor and is expected to be signed soon.
The Act defines digital currency as a “medium of exchange in electronic or digital format that is not a coin or currency of the United States or any other country.” Previously, the Act only applied money laundering to legacy financial transactions of various types, including bank deposits, investments, and wire transfers.
The resulting outcome is that criminals using cryptocurrencies will be charged with money laundering as well as the underlying crimimal activity. “Cyber criminals have taken advantage of our antiquated laws for too long,” claimed Democratic House Representative Jose Felix Diaz, a sponsor of the bill.
Florida Representative Jose Felix Diaz says this about Bitcoin “Bitcoin bypasses the traditional banking system, and our state’s laws simply had not caught up to the upsurge in criminality in the world of cybercurrency.”
Needless to say I get a personal sense that Florida Representative Jose Felix Diaz is not a huge fan of our endeavors here as law abiding crypto currency holders.
So what does all this mean for Floridians at this stage. Well to put it simply, don't sell drugs and be caught using Crypto as a payment system, lol. If you do, sadly then you get the old slammer with an extra charge for money laundering. Granted, crime is a bit of a struggle down here but I wonder myself why it is we are passing laws on Bitcoin for money laundering and not focusing on the users out there using this for good who want some kind of ruling if this is legal or not. Or why is it they want to attach a criminal outlook on Bitcoin head on with the public vs really getting the job done to let us figure out the legalities of how they plan to view this thing for decent common folk who love crypto currency.
Well my friends that is what has happened this week in my home state, hopefully this doesn't spawn more regulations on top of more regulations in my State and soon to travel to yours. I really would love to hear your views on this matter, any comments you leave I will definitely respond to.
IN CRYPTO WE TRUST,
~sflaherty
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Thanks for this news. I'm am FL resident, glad to see they are working to keep criminal activity at bay while not restricting crypto on a whole.
Always good to meet another Floridian, I am outside of Gainesville and always trying to keep up to date how Florida is dealing with our crypto laws. So far I agree this is a win or protecting citizens from the criminals, I believe that part is a huge win. The thing I am concerned with, the man who wrote this law is known to not be a fan of crypto currency and I plan to keep an eye on bills to come, I just hope this isn't a trigger for strict regulations on Bitcoin holders down the line but I am hopeful that a very open discussion due to this gets into the public realm due to this bill passing. Always though glad to see them making sure wrong doers are dealt with, no need in that to make crypto a positive usage for everyone. Glad to meet you, FOLLOWED you...hope to hear more from you in the future. Anything new comes out I will post for sure
They do tend to pick on Bitcoin more than others. Florida though is grouping all of crypto currency together, so basically under this law if you even us Steem for illegal activities your gonna get the extra money laundering charges. Bitcoin I tend to see as our standard like Gold is to fiat, the original so they will always tend to pick on it first I believe. Great comment, something many aren't asking
Awesome. I'm down in Palm Beach County. Know plenty of UF alum roaming around my parts though..lol. Yeah, I will follow you as well so I don't miss any news. The bill does indeed bring more attention to crypto which also means more people becoming aware and creating additional demand :-)
I always say any news is great news for crypto....really hope this drives more floridians to crypto. Good old Palm Beach County, I have a cousin down there living it up....great area. I have a feeling we are on a mainstream cusp for Bitcoin and Altcoins, not a mass adoption but a more open time to really get some straight forward legal matters out of the way so we can progress this towards more mainstream adoption. Great time to be in crypto...I work within the PIVX coin actually and we are so excited about this moment like everyone out there is.
So many coins out there I can't even keep up lol. I have steem and a little Bitcoin. Just stumbled on all this last summer. Having some PIVX as recent as 2 months ago is looking like quite the return already, wow!
I know, it seems every day we have a new coin pop up lol....its really hard to keep up with. Personally I hold PIVX due to the tech and being involved and use Steemit as my backup savings, I check a few coins out now and then but I suspect POS coins like PIVX will be running up eventually due to the speed and low fees of transactions, something that should remain static unlike BTC with its rise in fees constantly happening.
This will have a huge inpact on dark net markets and florida buyers.
I agree, man this doesn't worry me for the crackdown...its the lack of them first creating laws to define Bitcoin better. I am involved actually with PIVX myself....work with them so I best keep an eye on the laws spewing out of my state or relocate lol. I do see that though, they been hard on the Dark Net here bad....probably going to crack down on sites like localbitcoin and God only knows how far. I will keep people posted as things unfold..plan to watch a lot of what these idiots start doing lol
I'm actually interested how they will have prove you did criminal activity with cryptocurrrency because it is anonymous, or will you have to declare your offline and online wallets and tie it with your identity.
That I see they didn't go too deep in, so whats this mean we gotta open our activities via our personal finances if caught up with something or is there plans to engage Floridians and tax crypto to be able to track our activities? I just don't get how they feel this is going to make any dent in crime anyways....unless this is a setup to future laws coming down the line
sucks I cant use exchanges since last month in Washington state.
That does suck, I heard about that one. Really seems we are slowly going either underground to fight the system or there is going to be a one day coming clash. I have a feeling with Florida this is going to be considered gambling lol...they always end up slapping that label on anything they can't figure out how to tax, amazed we still even have a lottery here. You can't use all exchanges? Not one is unregulated? I know New York has done that but only on key exchanges, not all of them
blocktrade.us is the only one that allows me to trade. I can use coinbase as a wallet and to buy but no longer poloniex which I liked. I have btc on paper wallets but I'm wondering is the us government going to make that illegal? I'm not trying to go to prison.
I know, no one needs or deserves prison time for simply trading a good they feel value for and likewise if they trade it to someone and both parties agree. This stuff is seriously getting out of line, especially with how they have you virtually blocked from usage with your finances in your own state. I say it like this, in simple terms...when kids used to trade baseball cards did the Government ever come down on them, no as kids we traded, even sometimes sold these things and if you held them all these years and have a really rare one you might be selling that bad boy for some serious cash, same with comic books, same with anything collectible. I view crypto on those lines and usually someone that sells a collectible rarely pays a tax but may to keep everything on the up and up but in the end criminalizing crypto is to me no different than criminalizing fair trade and barter goods average citizens do daily. Hopefully we can put a stop to this madness before it gets out of hand and prison time gets put on innocent users who do abide by the law