RT reports that a federal judge in the USA has declared Bitcoin a legitimate currency. This opens up the way for the digital crypto-cash to be regulated by government overseers, at least in the USA.
“The case is notable in several aspects. First, it is the first known enforcement action predicated on a Bitcoin-based investment scheme, and comes at a time when US and foreign governments are devoting increasing scrutiny to the unregulated nature of the Bitcoin currency structure. In addition to these issues, the case may also have deeper ramifications going forward. Indeed, the case comes as federal regulators are increasingly tasked with policing non-traditional investments that share few characteristics with traditional investment vehicles such as stocks and notes”, wrote law attorney Jordan Maglich in a Forbes op-ed this week.
While the ruling is being used to prosecute a company who scammed users out of 700,000 Bitcoins, the same judgement could be applied to serve as a justification for U.S government regulation of the Bitcoin currency. Furthermore, if the U.S government chooses to regulate Bitcoin there would no doubt be moves by other western governments to do the same. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time the U.S government intervened as back in May they seized the payment account of Mt. Gox claiming the monetary exchange serviced falsified financial documents.
Image courtesy of Ibtimes.co.uk
