http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/07/virtual-currency-bitcoin-registers
Virtual currency Bitcoin registers with European regulators
Site takes step towards legitimacy as euro accounts now subject to same protection as bank holdings
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A screenshot of a Bitcoin Wallet. The network can now send and receive bank transfers and issue debit cards to users.
The virtual currency Bitcoin took a step towards legitimacy today as its eurozone wing joined the ranks of PayPal and Worldpay by becoming a registered payment services provider (PSP) under European law.
Under a deal made in France with the investment firm Aqoba and the Crédit Mutuel bank, Bitcoin-Central now has an international bank ID number, meaning the network will be able to send and receive transfers to and from other banks and issue debit cards for users.
In a post on the Bitcoin forum, Bitcoin staffer davout announced: "At Paymium we spent lots of time and energy talking about Bitcoin to our regulating bodies, the Banque de France, the ACP (French equivalent of the American SEC), TRACFIN (AML French supervising body) etc. We engaged all these resources with one goal in mind: get these people to know Bitcoin, advocate our beloved crypto-currency and listen to them, help them think until they finally reach the same conclusion as we did: there's nothing wrong with people being free.
"There's nothing wrong with people freely exchanging value, we don't hurt anybody, we're not forcing anyone to use Bitcoin, we simply want to see our dream and the future of money become a reality."
The virtual currency has seen significant growth since it launched in 2009 with an estimated 10.5m bitcoins currently being traded. One bitcoin is currently worth £8.54, after peaking at nearly £18 in June 2011, meaning the Bitcoin empire represents £89.6m of trading value.
Bitcoin magazine's editor, Vitalik Buterin, told the BBC the deal would encourage more growth and make it more accessible to new users.
It will also mean balances held in euros by Bitcoin will be subject to the same protection and compensation laws as cash held in conventional banks.
"The more we see governments and banks being willing to deal with Bitcoin, the more comfortable a lot of organisations are going to be making the step forward themselves," he said.
Despite a fiercely dedicated userbase in the tech community, Bitcoin's ubiquity and the anonymity of its users have also made it an attractive exchange platform for criminals, leading to a call by the US Senate in 2011 to investigate the site for tax evasion and money laundering.
The chairman of the non-profit Bitcoin Foundation, Peter Vessenes, said in October that the site was battling against barriers to more widespread adoption.
"There's a lot to love [but] … there are botnet operators, hackers, and Ponzi-scheme runners floating around our space," he said.
"As the Bitcoin economy has evolved, we have all noticed barriers to its widespread adoption – [programs] that attempt to undermine the network, hackers that threaten wallets, and an undeserved reputation stirred by ignorance and inaccurate reporting."
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http://www.examiner.com/article/iranian-musician-mohammad-rafigh-helps-iranians-fight-sanctions-with-bitcoin
Iranian musician Mohammad Rafigh helps Iranians fight sanctions with Bitcoin
Mohammad Rafigh
Credits:
Silver Circle
Last week I reported that Turkey was circumventing sanctions by trading Iranian crude oil for Turkish gold instead of dollars. Good for them, I thought. It’s a powerful proof of concept for the efficacy of Islamic currency, which should be gold and silver.
Then I remembered another recent story. In October hundreds of currency protesters gathered in Tehran as riot police stormed the market arresting “illegal money changers.” The head of the national police said that people holding stashes of gold were, “perturbing the currency market.”
So, the State can use gold to protect itself from economic sanctions, but the lowly civilians can’t. What are the Iranian people to do? Mohammad Rafigh found the answer.
Mohammad Rafigh is a Musician, singer and music producer living in Tehran and also a computer engineering student. After discoveringBitcoin he became fascinated by it, and made his most recent album Beyond Matter available for purchase with the digital currency. The individual tracks are just .039BTC (about 50¢) and the entire album lets you pay what you want. Or course buying the songs could be construed as violating US sanctions.
The people who argue in favor of sanctions against Iran usually strike me as economic buffoons. The same person who tells me the US needs to prevent Iran from engaging in international trade to weaken their economy will usually also tell me the US needs to stop engaging in international trade to strengthen its own economy.
Rafigh wrote “Bitcoin is so interesting for me, I wish the culture of using digital money spreads all over the world, because it does not have any dependency on anything like politics.” Rafigh has begun translating Bitcoin software into Farsi saying, “If bitcoin is good for me, it can be good for more Iranians like me.”
Using Bitcoin Iranians living abroad can send money to their families, or exchange them for rials or dollars. It allows them to store their wealth digitally where the currency police can’t seize it, and most importantly it allows the people of Iran, at the individual level, to skirt US sanctions and maintain an economic connection to the outside world. When US sanction against Iraq killed an estimated 1 million innocent civilians in the 90s it’s easy to see how important that is.
Bitcoin offers what no other currency can. Access to everyone, everywhere. What this means is that right now it is possible for civilians living in Iran to donate to the anti-war movement in the US, and it is possible for civilians in the US to donate to the relief efforts in the countries the US harms. People can now cooperate across national boundaries, and there is virtually nothing that States can do to prevent it. Given that wars must be funded by taxes, national debt or currency debasement, all of which can be protected against with Bitcoin, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for imperial powers to fund their military budgets.
French economist Frederic Bastiat once said, “If goods don t cross borders, armies will.” I suggest that when States can no longer prevent goods from crossing borders, armies won’t.
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Iranians (and Americans) Use Bitcoin to Fight Government Control
Thanks to U.S. sanctions, dollars are scarce in Iran. Enter Bitcoin, the handy-dandy stateless peer-to-peer crypto currency! Iranians are using the hard-to-trace digital currency (which can be exchanged for dollars) to buy things they want or need abroad. And Americans are using bitcoins to evade sanctions:
At online store coinDL.com, shoppers can use bitcoins to buy Beyond Matter, the latest album from Iranian artist Mohammad Rafigh. Anyone in the U.S. downloading songs, which fetch .039 bitcoins or 45¢ each, risks violating U.S. sanctions. That doesn’t bother Rafigh, who’s studying computer engineering as well as playing music. “Bitcoin is so interesting for me,” Rafigh wrote in an e-mail. “I wish the culture of using digital money spreads all over the world, because it does not have any dependency on anything like politics.” Rafigh has translated some bitcoin software into Farsi for his friends. “I love Iran, and if bitcoin is good for me, it can be good for more Iranians like me.”
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