{"id":115357,"date":"2017-10-25T10:25:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/?p=115357"},"modified":"2018-06-01T15:55:26","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T15:55:26","slug":"crypto-showdown-bitcoin-vs-u-s-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2017\/10\/crypto-showdown-bitcoin-vs-u-s-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Showdown: Bitcoin vs. U.S. Government"},"content":{"rendered":"
October 25, 2017<\/div>
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By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a> \"Crypto<\/p>\n

\"LouisBitcoin is hyperbolic again.<\/p>\n

The premier cryptocurrency just cracked the $6,000 price level.<\/p>\n

As I shared yesterday, we shouldn\u2019t expect it to stop anytime soon, either.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m projecting that $6,000 is nothing more than a speed bump on the way to $10,000.<\/p>\n

I hope by now you realize that we\u2019re witnessing the biggest financial storyline of our lifetime.<\/p>

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The explosion of cryptocurrencies \u2014 led by Bitcoin \u2014 will be studied by scholars, economists, entrepreneurs and technologists for the next several hundred years. I know this, of course, because we still talk about Tulip Mania nearly 400 years later.<\/p>\n

The latest Bitcoin news helps to crystallize its charm\u2026<\/p>\n

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is purported to have made upward of 50,000% on Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

That is, because the United States siphoned off Assange\u2019s access to all traditional money channels. So Bitcoin was his only hope of staying solvent.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn a tweet over the weekend, Assange posted a screenshot of Bitcoin prices on July 18, 2010, and Oct. 14, 2017, on industry website CoinDesk. In this period, the price of Bitcoin went from 6 cents to around $5,814. This represents a 9,689,900% increase.\u201d <\/em>
\n\u2014 CNBC<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Assange\u2019s case, if true, proves that Bitcoin lies beyond the reach of policymakers.<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019m hearing chatter that U.S. regulators are ready to begin meddling with Bitcoin anyway.<\/p>\n

But what exactly can the feds do?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know now\u2026<\/p>\n

Assessing the Threat Level<\/h2>\n

\"MartinThe threat posed to global governments by cryptocurrencies is clear\u2026<\/p>\n

They allow people to store assets and undertake transactions entirely anonymously, without governments being able to trace them.<\/p>\n

This is also the principal advantage of cash and Swiss bank accounts.<\/p>\n

And the world\u2019s central banks are strongly tempted to abolish the former, while the latter were effectively made illegal by the 2010 FATCA legislation.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s very likely that the U.S. authorities will (at some stage) attempt to take on Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

Russia and China have already attempted to restrict cryptocurrencies. No doubt the U.S. will follow suit.<\/p>\n

But what can the government do?<\/p>\n

It certainly can\u2019t shut cryptos down. At least not without inflicting huge economic and political damage.<\/p>\n

Cryptocurrencies are too big of a market already. And they\u2019ve become too useful to the emerging 21st-century economy to be abolished entirely.<\/p>\n

With that said, however, nothing is 100% beyond the U.S. government\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

In this regard, Bitcoin is the most susceptible to interference. That is because Bitcoin is not perfectly anonymous. Its blockchain suffers from flaws, so its transactions can be traced.<\/p>\n

Other cryptocurrencies have developed advanced technologies that solve this problem. That makes them less vulnerable to government action. (Go here<\/strong><\/a> to see the best Bitcoin alternatives in the market today.)<\/p>\n

Testing Cryptos\u2019 Resilience<\/h2>\n

\"JonathanCryptos are a free-market proponent\u2019s best friend\u2026 and a government\u2019s worst enemy.<\/p>\n

As an American, the government can legally seize all of your fiat money if you are deemed a criminal.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re talking about physical cash or electronic holdings such as savings held in a bank or brokerage account.<\/p>\n

But in the eyes of the federal government \u2014 particularly the IRS \u2014 cryptos aren\u2019t considered \u201ccurrency.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are technically viewed as property.<\/p>\n

That makes cryptos subject to ordinary capital gains tax treatment, as well as regulations on seizure<\/p>\n

But if your holdings aren\u2019t \u201cstored\u201d in the States, the feds can\u2019t steal them.<\/p>\n

Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t try\u2026<\/p>\n

Former president Barack Obama signed an executive order in 2015 that gave authorities the ability to confiscate crypto holdings of anyone they suspected of criminal activity.<\/p>\n

The order was vague but carried enough weight to get the government in the crypto-seizure game.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s Congress\u2019 turn\u2026<\/p>\n

Senators introduced a whopper of a bill last month titled the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Counterfeiting Act of 2017.<\/p>\n

The legislation is specifically aimed at deterring criminal money transfers using Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

If passed, the law would allow the feds to seize anything you possess \u2014 without any kind of due process.<\/p>\n

But if Bitcoin isn\u2019t even recognized by most countries (including the U.S.) as \u201creal money,\u201d how could the feds possibly seize it?<\/p>\n

By forcing domestic crypto exchanges to comply with money laundering law. That means keeping personal information on digital currency traders.<\/p>\n

The bill is wide reaching \u2014 and questionably passable. But it represents a domestic Bitcoin law with teeth.<\/p>\n

The Feds Are Coming<\/h2>\n

\"LouisBottom line: For the most part, your crypto holdings are generally safe from the government. But the feds are on the hunt, so keep an eye out.<\/p>\n

Now, if you\u2019re interested in making money in the crypto markets, it can be confusing to get started.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019ve made it super simple to hit the ground running as a crypto investor in our flagship publication, True Alpha. <\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also identified a handful of cryptos that are rocketing higher (and faster) than Bitcoin ever did.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/strong> to learn more.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the tape,<\/p>\n

Louis Basenese
\nChief Investment Strategist, Wall Street Daily<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Crypto Showdown: Bitcoin vs. U.S. Government<\/a> appeared first on Wall Street Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com Bitcoin is hyperbolic again. The premier cryptocurrency just cracked the $6,000 price level. As I shared yesterday, we shouldn\u2019t expect it to stop anytime soon, either. I\u2019m projecting that $6,000 is nothing more than a speed bump on the way to $10,000. I hope by now you realize that we\u2019re witnessing the biggest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115381,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115357\/revisions\/115381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}