That was a quote from Republican Dana Rohrabacher today while he had the floor in the House of Representatives.
He first started out by defending the Trump administration from all the charges of collusion and nefarious activities between Trump and Russia.
Then he quickly turned to Bitcoin, which was quite a surprise to many.
Specifically, Rohrabacher said that he fears terrorists will use the digital currency for nefarious purposes (they already are). However, given that context, he made it clear that he didn't think it was best to ban the currency either. Which is where the title quote comes in:
"Banning digital currencies will not prevent terrorists from using them any more than banning guns will prevent criminals from using them."
Instead he had this to say:
"Blockchain technology empowers the good people of the world, but it could be used by those who have goals that are evil."
Ok, so what do we do about it?
According to Rohrabacher, we need to implement full scale money laundering and know-your-customer standards on virtual currency transactions and exchanges.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made similar comments about Bitcoin and the virtual currency space in the past.
When Japan decided to legalize Bitcoin as a form of money a few months back they also adopted and enforced similar standards on all of their exchanges.
Some thoughts...
For those of you that do not like hearing even the hint of regulation, this isn't probably something you want to hear.
However, I thought his counter argument about banning Bitcoin not being the answer either very refreshing to hear. If Bitcoin were to be banned by some of the largest governments in the world it would likely be game over for Bitcoin.
So, it sounds like many of the higher ups are leaning more towards figuring out how to integrate Bitcoin into society as opposed to outlawing it... which is great news in my opinion.
What do you all think, is this the best way to go about it?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Stay informed my friends!
Sources:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/senior-republican-says-bitcoin-world-needs-to-adopt-know-your-customer-procedures-2017-07-14
Image Sources:
https://www.poputees.com/products/guns-dont-kill-people-i-kill-people
https://news.bitcoin.com/government-will-fail-regulating-bitcoin/
https://themerkle.com/this-solar-mill-powers-a-small-bitcoin-mining-operation/
