Our Congressional testimony on the blockchain’s disruptive potential
Digital currency and blockchain technology returned to Capitol Hill last week during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce committee’s subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.
Digital currency and blockchain technology returned to Capitol Hill last week during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce committee’s subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. The high-level hearing...
Why Bitcoin is not the root cause of ransomware
Ransomware has been around for a while—turns out it’s about twenty years older than Bitcoin—but it’s been in the news again recently.
Ransomware has been around for a while—turns out it’s about twenty years older than Bitcoin—but it’s been in the news again recently because of a particularly upsetting case involving a Los Angeles Hospital. Most...
No, FinCEN Policy is not Relevant to the Bitcoin Forking Debate
Are the developers of software that leads to a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain (like Bitcoin Classic) subject to regulation under the Bank Secrecy Act?
Some recent blogs posts have raised an interesting question: are the developers of software that leads to a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain (like Bitcoin Classic) subject to regulation under the...
Coin Center raises $1 million for 2016 operations, announces new supporters
We are pleased to announce that over the past month Coin Center has raised over $1 million to fund its 2016 operations.
At Coin Center, our mission is to make sure that policymakers understand the workings and implications of cryptocurrency, and to ensure that the technology remains as free of unnecessary regulation...
Today we are releasing our Framework for Securities Regulation of Cryptocurrencies. In it we lay out the case for treating some cryptocurrencies as securities—and some not.
Strange bunch of things right? Mink, bullion, golf course, diamond, worm farm, chinchilla, orange grove, beaver? Aside from the anomalous prevalence of furry mammals, what can we say about this...
What are Forks, Alt-coins, Meta-coins, and Sidechains?
Peter Van Valkenburgh, Coin Center’s Director of Research, clarifies some terminology and explains some technical concepts from the ever-changing universe of Bitcoin-derived innovations.
This post has been updated. Read the new version here. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of cryptocurrency technology is that it is entirely open for experimentation—there’s no patent or copyright...
Some facts about digital currency and terrorist financing
After the recent attacks in Paris, governments are redoubling their efforts to combat terrorist financing, and we’ve been asked how digital currencies might be affected by these efforts.
After the recent attacks in Paris, governments are redoubling their efforts to combat terrorist financing, and we’ve been asked how digital currencies might be affected by these efforts. The answer...
What last week’s European VAT ruling means for bitcoin fungibility
The European Court of Justice held that bitcoin is a currency for the purposes of VAT taxation. The decision will make it easier to exchange euros for bitcoin and could have implications for bitcoin fungibility down the line.
One of the more persnickety legal issues in the bitcoin space stems from whether liens attach to the bitcoins of a borrower, and whether they’d attach even if that borrower...
Announcing the Blockchain Alliance
Today we announced the formation of the Blockchain Alliance, a forum for law enforcement and regulators to ask questions of each other and to share information.
Like email or the web, Bitcoin is an open Internet protocol. This means that anyone can plug into the network and easily transact with anyone else in the world. This...
Released Today: Updated State Digital Currency Principles and Framework
Our guidelines for digital currency policy now include provisions for micropayment channels and new exemptions for merchant processors.
Coin Center’s State Digital Currency Principles and Framework is our model for digital-currency-specific state-licensing regulation. It is a template with structure, definitions and language for the essential components of any digital currency...