The Government Continues Attempts To Take Down Bitcoin Through Nefarious Means

The government really dislikes it when people make a living by conducting moral business practices without paying for their permission to do so.  This is all too evident when examining the most recent arrest of a man for selling Bitcoin.

According to local news media reports, a Michigan man named Bradley Anthony Stetkiw has been charged by local authorities for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The charges have been filed in US District Court. According to an indictment released by Detroit TV news services WD-IV Friday, the 52-year-old ran an exchange through the LocalBitcoins website, conducting transactions at restaurants in the Bloomfield area. Stetkiw is alleged to have sold bitcoin without a license (paying for permission from the government) as part of a business venture for approximately two years.

After selling about $150,000 in bitcoin, the feds set up a sting operation to catch Stetkiw. He sold more than $56,000 worth of bitcoin to federal agents through six meetings. Authorities say that that volume of transactions makes him subject to federal anti-money laundering regulations.

The government is not alleging that Stetkiw harmed anyone or took any property.  He’s in trouble for not paying to register himself as a business. According to the indictment:

Operating under the user name ‘SaltandPepper,’ Stetkiw bought, sold and brokered deals for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bitcoins while failing to comply with the money transmitting business registration requirements set fort in Title 31, United States Code, Section 5330.

Earlier this year, Detroit resident Sal Mansy plead guilty to the charge of operating an unlicensed money services business. He allegedly conducted $2.4 million-worth of transactions over a two-year period ending in July 2015. Other arrests in Missouri and New York suggest actions against independent U.S. bitcoin sellers are becoming more commonplace.

These arrests also suggest what many have feared for years: the government is attempting to take down bitcoin using nefarious means since they cannot figure out how to regulate the cryptocurrency.

Japanese Banks Plan To Launch A Digital Currency Meant To Kill Off Cash

Japan’s central bank is currently planning to back a scheme that would permanently kill off cash. Using blockchain technology, the J-Coin is now under development by Japanese bankers.

The J Coin has the blessing of financial regulators as this will literally end Japan’s cash dependency. According to the Financial Times, the currency is meant to launch in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a way to streamline the country’s financial system. The idea for J-Coin is that it would sit alongside the Japanese yen, exchanged at a one-to-one rate, and be offered as a free service. In return, the banks that operate it would get detailed data on how people use it making people easier to track.

Currently, about 70 percent of all transactions in Japan are done with cash. That is a higher than average amount for developed countries where cash has been on the decline for some time now, according to Technology Review. But governments don’t like cash transactions because they are much easier to hide. India, for example, cited shutting down the black market as one reason it decided to push aggressively towards a solely digital money.

Whether or not the consortium adopts a blockchain-based currency, though, remains to be seen. At the moment one of the country’s big financial institutions, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, is testing MUFG coin, which is based on blockchain. The FT reports that some 1,600 of the company’s employees already use it as a way to pay for business expenses, for example. There have been talks about whether MUFG coin might join the J-Coin initiative, but nothing has been decided yet. -Technology Review

The bid to wean the Japanese off cash is on the fast track. Leading banks including HSBC, Barclays, UBS, and Santander are developing a “Universal Settlement Coin” to make trade amongst themselves easier. All of these movements have been inspired by the success of digital currencies like bitcoin.

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Author: Mac Slavo
Views: Read by 7 people
Date: September 27th, 2017
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

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