United States Congress Is Attacking Cryptocurrencies

Author's note: I believe the content of this article is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, and should be read by anyone who trades cryptocurrencies since it can vastly impact the future of digital currencies.

Around a month ago, a bill was introduced in the United States Senate that could end up affecting people and entities, both "issuing" and trading cryptocurrencies, very negatively. Titled "Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act of 2017," the bill is basically a poor attempt at stopping money laundering and financial crimes.

One of the many issues here is that the bill expands the government's power vastly when it comes to civil &/or criminal asset forfeiture. This means the government can more or less take what they want from you with very limited or, even worse, without any due process or court hearings. This in itself highlights the importance of using decentralized cryptocurrencies to us once again.

“How does it affect me and crypto trading?”, you may ask; according to section 13 of this bill the effect is twofold. On one hand, the bill targets cryptocurrency institutions, and, on the other, people who own/trade coins.

Not only they are trying to add exchanges and “tumblers” of digital currencies to the definition of financial intuitions and regulating them as such, these senators are pushing for doing the same to the “issuers” of cryptocurrencies. Here is where things get a little crazy, as one can clearly see people behind the bill do not have the slightest clue about crypto and its mechanisms. The main idea behind crypto is that it’s decentralized, thus leaving it without a physical issuer. In essence they are suggesting regulating the software/code behind these coins, which is impossible in most cases.

Furthermore, this bill is adding digital currency to the list of monetary instruments, thereby applying the same guidelines to it. For instance, you have to declare if you are carrying more than $10,000 worth of monetary instruments when crossing the US border into the country. Would the passing of this bill mean you’d have to declare any cryptocurrency you happen to be “carrying” on you? It sure seems so.

Then again, what does “carrying” really mean? According to the bill, it can include:

Any electronic device or vehicle, such as a card, plate, code, number, electronic serial number, mobile identification number, personal identification number, or other instrument, that provides a portal to funds or the value of funds that have been paid in advance and can be retrievable and transferable at some point in the future.

Once more you can see these senators have no idea what they are talking about. Crypto is borderless; one does not bring his or her coins from one country to the other. What you carry are most likely a key and a wallet that are far from tangible.

As you can tell by now, this is VERY SERIOUS indeed. Due to the ambiguous nature of cryptocurrency, the government, using this bill, can use the vague application of civil/criminal asset forfeiture, and take everything a crypto trader owns (assets not limited to your crypto holdings, aka they can literally take everything you own).

I highly encourage you to CONTACT YOUR SENATORS if you happen to live in the United Sates, and voice your disapproval regarding this matter. This is a matter of principle, and how we react to it can set the tone for the future of crypto and regulations surrounding it. Oh and just for your information, the senators behind this bill are Mr. Grassley , Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. Whitehouse.

Best,
@Cryptowhiz

P.S. Although a long-time crypto aficionado, I am new to steemit. You are more than welcome to follow me here for future news & updates regarding cryptocurrency regulations and tax matters, as I am an accountant. I promise I'll try to write happier, or at least less dim, articles in the future. :)