Congressman Trolls Senator Who Wants To Ban BitCoin

A senator from West Virginia spoke out last month when he called upon American financial regulators in a bid to ban the digital currency known as Bitcoin. His argument focused on the unregulated nature of the digital currency and how it can be used to make anonymous purchases, making it a popular choice for some criminals. Unfortunate for him then that you can’t really shut down a unregulated currency.

Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado decided to play his hand in this debate with a fantastic mockery of the current US financial system, turning all the “issues” many regulators have with Bitcoin around and showing that its really no different from the Dollar. Check out the letter he send to the same authorities as the Senator below.

The exchange of dollar bills, including high denomination bills, is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly subject to forgery, theft, and loss. For the reasons outlined below, I urge regulators to take immediate and appropriate action to limit the use of dollar bills.

By way of background, a physical dollar bill is a printed version of a dollar note issued by the Federal Reserve and backed by the ephemeral “full faith and credit” of the United States. Dollar bills have gained notoriety in relation to illegal transactions; suitcases full of dollars used for illegal transactions were recently featured in popular movies such as American Hustle andDallas Buyers Club, as well as the gangster classic, Scarface, among others. Dollar bills are present in nearly all major drug busts in the United States and many abroad. According to the US Department of Justice study, “Crime in the United States,” more than $1 billion in cash was stolen in 2012, of which less than 3% was recovered. The United States’ Dollar was present by the truck load in Saddam Hussein’s compound, by the carload when Noriega was arrested for drug trafficking, and by the suitcase full in the Watergate case.

Unlike digital currencies, which are carbon neutral allowing us to breathe cleaner air, each dollar bill is manufactured from virgin materials like cotton and linen, which go through extensive treatment and processing. Last year, the Federal Reserve had to destroy $3 billion worth of $100 bills after a “printing error.” Certainly this cannot be the greenest currency.

The clear use of dollar bills for transacting in illegal goods, anonymous transactions, tax fraud, and services or speculative gambling make me wary of their use. Before the United States gets too far behind the curve on this important topic, I urge the regulators to work together, act quickly, and prohibit this dangerous currency from harming hard-working Americans.

Obviously they’re not about to ban the Dollar, but Congressman Polis does raise some interesting points in how people should be looking at Bitcoin, as for all its criminal sidelines, it’s used every day by a lot of people as a legitimate form of currency. What are your thoughts on this one? Obviously Bitcoin a very controversial subject and have been for some time, but we would still like to know what the eTeknix community think about them.

Thank you Arstechnica for providing us with this information.