US judge rules bitcoin 'is a currency or form of money'
A judge in Texas has ruled that bitcoin is a currency or form of money, which gives the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the go-ahead to sue Ponzi scheme operator Trendon Shavers. A document signed by US magistrate judge Amos L. Mazzant details the SEC's case against Shavers, founder and operator of Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BTCST), formerly known as First Pirate Savings & Trust. Shavers enticed people to invest in BTCST with the promise of 1% interest per day. Some investors suffered losses, totalling 263,104 BTC, which equates to around $25 million, based on current exchange....
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Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Pooler has dismissed a money-laundering case involving an alleged “illegal sale” of bitcoins, after declaring that under the laws of the state, the digital currency is not considered to be a form of money. Defendant Michell Espinoza was arrested after being accused of selling bitcoins to undercover detectives who told him that they were interested in purchasing $1,500 worth of bitcoins in order to obtain robbed credit card numbers. Florida law enforcement charged Espinoza with one count of operating as an unauthorized money transmitter and one count of money....
Judge Pooler's recent decision to not consider bitcoin as a currency has sparked a debate among the digital currency community about the digital currency's status. What is Bitcoin? If you ask a Bitcoin user, he will call it a form of currency similar to the US dollar or the British Pound Sterling. However, when it comes to the government bureaucracy and the judiciary the answer isn’t that simple. The debate about whether Bitcoin is a currency or a commodity is reignited following the recent judgement in a lawsuit against Michell Espinoza. Michell Espinoza, who was charged with money....
On September 19 U.S. Federal Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan declared Bitcoin is money. The judgment follows the recent Florida ruling in which the Judge decided the opposite — that Bitcoin is not money. The decisions in both states show U.S. officials don’t see eye to eye on classifiying cryptocurrency. New York Federal Judge Deems Bitcoin as Money.....
A federal judge in New York has ruled that bitcoin constitutes a form of money. The ruling comes from the ongoing case involving the now-defunct Florida bitcoin exchange Coin.mx and one of its former operators, Anthony Murgio. Murgio, who was indicted on alleged money laundering charges in July of last year, had sought to dismiss two of the charges against him in part by arguing that bitcoins don't count as "funds" in the context of US law. According to Reuters, Judge Alison Nathan of the Southern District Court of New York rejected that bid, writing that bitcoin is money by....
To be money, or not to be money? That is the question when it comes to Bitcoin. Many people around the world have a very vague understanding of what money actually is, and this can certainly extend to the judges at federal levels, who are now having to wrestle with this definition. In a new case dealing with a recently hacking of J.P. Morgan Chase, and other financial companies, a New York Federal District Judge has ruled that Bitcoin does indeed qualify as money. According to Reuters, Anthony Murgio is seeking to dismiss charges against him related to his alleged operation of the Bitcoin....