Bitcoin Regulation in the UK
Eitan Jankelewitz is a technology lawyer at the law firm Sheridans. He provides commercial legal advice to all kinds of technology businesses, including some operating in the bitcoin economy. In this article, Jankelewitz explains how UK regulation applies to bitcoin and other digital currencies. He also describes the approach to compliance generally taken by UK businesses. The UK, especially London, is considered a global centre for financial services and new technologies. You might assume, therefore, that the UK would be a great adoptive home for bitcoin and other digital currencies.....
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Are you for it, or against it? It's no secret that the bitcoin community can be divided when it comes to the topic of regulation - some believe it's necessary to bring bitcoin to the mainstream and others believe that bitcoin was built specifically to circumvent regulation. To get a better idea of where the industry stands as a whole, CoinDesk wants to hear directly from our readers about how they view bitcoin regulation around the world.
The proposed regulation measures are considered to be positive in the UK. The topic of Bitcoin regulation is a cause for optimism and trepidation among digital currency enthusiasts. In the United States, the BitLicense currently being developed in New York has divided the industry. Unlike bitcoin users in the US, the majority of Bitcoin users in the UK are in favor of regulation. Miningpool.co.uk recently conducted a digital currency study revealing that amongst other results related to usage in the UK, only 13% of Bitcoin users disagree with the government's plans to regulate....
An increase in regulation has also been met with an adoption of Bitcoin on a wider scale, but what are the impacts of regulation on the industry?
Daniel Cawrey at CoinDesk broke down a few arguments for why government regulation on some level would be a benefit to Bitcoin. This has been a hot topic in the US since the November 18 Senate committee hearing on digital currencies. The basis for regulation, in his argument, comes from FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery’s quote about mitigate risk while minimizing the burder on the currency. Cawrey touches on three areas of concern: Crime, privacy and the banks. Here is how limited regulation could assuage those concerns.
Since the realm of virtual currencies is a decentralized industry, there is no single monetary authority or government agency implementing bitcoin regulation these days. In the United States, state governments are in charge of coming up with the necessary legislation to oversee the activity of bitcoin companies and enforcing the rules. For the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), there is a need for a unified bitcoin regulation law, as this could help strike the balance between consumer protection and encouraging innovation. The group recently released a discussion-only draft of their proposed....