In February of this season, the U.S. Section of Justice (DOJ) imprisoned Larry Dean Harmon, the founder from the Bitcoin mixing service Helix. Last night (24), the District Courtroom in Washington, D.C., america ruled that Helix didn't provide illegal currency remittance services. The judge remarked that "Bitcoin is cash, and Helix will provide remittance solutions without a license."
(Previous overview: major controversy! The US Section of Justice sued the "developer who supplied currency mixing technologies" being an accomplice in money laundering, and the Bitcoin community had been uproar
According to the judgment of the other day (24), the prosecutor in Dec 2019 accused the accused (Harmon) of working "illegal currency" remittance business without a permit; from then on, Harmon tried to use "Bitcoin is not ��Currency�� described that his Helix platform is not a remittance business platform described by regulations.
Since Washington's Area of Columbia didn't have a crystal clear definition of foreign currency, the chief determine of the court, Beryl A. Howell, dismissed Harmon's states after verification.
The judge had written within the verdict: "After critiquing the definition from the Transfer of Money Behave (MTA), Bitcoin can be money, so just as the indictment stated, the defendant managed a remittance business platform without a license."
Judge Bailey mentioned:
"This is of money is the medium of exchange, the shop of value, and Bitcoin fulfills this is of (MTA) foreign currency."
Peter Vehicle Valkenburgh, head of research on the Washington blockchain non-profit organization (NGO) Coin Center, said that decision means that Washington state law identifies Bitcoin as foreign currency.
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currency? commodity? Actually, the dispute over whether Bitcoin is really a currency or a commodity includes a long history. At present, countries such as for example Europe and the United States, except Japan, usually do not recognize Bitcoin as a "payment tool". Most countries still respect Bitcoin being a "commodity" and will be traded, but it isn't a payment device and doesn't have a "lawful impact."
http://teidlagzongmont.jigsy.com/ of Taiwan and the Financial Regulatory Commission jointly stated in 2013 that Bitcoin does not have any real currency characteristics and therefore can not be regarded as a currency.
The central financial institution defines Bitcoin as a highly-invested "virtual commodity", and due to various risks such as information safety and cost fluctuations, it is strongly recommended that people pay attention to their risks when trading.
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Interestingly, even though United States does not consider Bitcoin as foreign currency, some state governments need exchanges, OTC, and other entities that deal with Bitcoin transactions to apply for any "money transfer license." Falkenbau stated that over time, such cases will keep popping up.
He states:
"Because each continent offers its own foreign currency transfer regulations, such cases (unlicensed remittances) will emerge in endlessly since they violate the neighborhood laws of specific state governments."
In addition to dismissing Harmon's declaration, the judge also refused to return the seized assets of Harmon and Helix, which includes 160 bitcoins. The determine believed these funds involved with Helix's mixed foreign currency service might be involved in drug trafficking and money laundering, and therefore refused to come back it. .
So really does the coin mixing machine service represent money laundering? As we all know, Bitcoin transaction records are transparent, however, not everyone is ready to discuss their Bitcoin transactions or username and passwords.
Check Their Website can lock the addresses of some wealthy Bitcoiners by cross-checking dealings. If the hacker obtains the user's real identity within the exchange, this will have an effect on the user's individual safety.
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In fact, many people need this kind of privacy service, particularly when buying some products and services that are a lot more "difficult to inform". Therefore, the initial intention of the coin mixer service isn't to launder cash, but simply to supply services for personal transactions.
For this reason the community is usually dissatisfied with the US Division of Justice. Just because the assailant is certainly guilty of stealing with a knife, but it does not mean that the blacksmith who forges a sharpened knife is usually guilty. If Harmon is available guilty in the long run, he may face up to 30 years in prison.
And what affects the community deeper is that in the future, the currency mixer service will be prohibited, and any service that provides personal privacy may have illegal doubts, and the privacy on Bitcoin won't exist.
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