Polish Law Firm Flags Lack of Safeguards for Bitcoin Consumers
A recent report by Polish law firm Wardyński & Partners calls for new regulation to protect users of digital currency in the country. Under current Polish law, the report states, the legal protection of digital currency users is minimal and relies predominantly on the application of general regulations in civil law. Consequently, these users cannot benefit from the legal acts that defend the rights of those using traditional payment methods, such as Poland's Payment Services bill or the Act on Financial Instruments in Trading. The report adds: "For us, new technologies are all about new....
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Storing personal wealth in bitcoin, or any other cryptocurrency, is clearly revolutionary. So much so, it's going to take a long time for mainstream consumers to actually understand the concepts and potential behind these currencies. One of the areas people should rightly be concerned with is the safeguards that are in place when making purchases with digital currency. The UK's established financial institutions already provide certain guarantees and safeguards against fraud and retail disputes. None of these are currently offered by bitcoin services. Here are some of the services that....
While its government has yet to issue a firm ruling on Bitcoin, Poland’s Ministry of Finance is on record saying Bitcoin is at least not illegal. Speaking at a seminar on Bitcoin legality last week in Warsaw, Szymon Wozniak, an official representative of the finance ministry, said: “What is not forbidden is permitted. However, we certainly cannot consider Bitcoin to be a legal currency.” Instead, the Polish government intends to keep an eye on Bitcoin’s development, he said. “We expect [Bitcoin] users to declare whether they want the state to protect and regulate, or to remain uninvolved.”....
David Gilson over at CoinDesk tries to offer a balanced perspective on traditional banking and the safeguards they implement for security. These he contrasts with the safeguards Bitcoin lacks and suggests that some improvements could be made to the digital currency. First, he suggests that the UK’s financial institutions’ safeguards against fraud and retail disputes offer a level of security that Bitcoin does not. Next, he discusses savings accounts and how government guarantees protect against losses of up to 85,000 GBP per customer, per institution. So, if a bank goes bankrupt, the....
California state officials are considering the creation of a set of regulations that would seek to inform consumers of the risks associated with using virtual currencies while simultaneously creating safeguards against said risks. The Department of Business Oversight claims that the state's money transmitter laws, which are currently used to regulate business such as Western Union, are applicable to Bitcoin. Speaking with Bloomberg, California Department of Business Oversight spokesperson Tom Dresslar said: The consensus among staff is that the department and commissioner could regulate....
The recent bitcoin exchange hack underscores the vulnerability of bitcoin exchanges, an issue that needs to be addressed if bitcoin is to gain a larger following, according to Megan McArdle, a Bloomberg columnist. (McArdle most likely referred to Bitfinex.) Safeguards have been considered, such as a virtual “exploding dye pack”, but it remains to be seen if such safeguards will be accepted. It took banks many years to develop safeguards that ultimately made bank robbery undesirable to criminals. Bitcoin Theft Is Profitable. McArdle noted that bitcoins are comparatively profitable for....