quote:
I would be interested in seeing someone tell a Court that. If I get a judgment against John Smith for $10k, and he has $5k worth of bit coins I am going to seize it. Since it is a form of currency, I would imagine the Court would order the debtor to transfer it to me or hold him in contempt.

The issue is proving the assets are "controlled" by the person in question.

Unless the person freely admits the control of $5k of bitcoins, how will the government know? Can they prove that person A has control of $5k in bitcoins? It would be an extremely difficult task to do so.

And as I stated earlier, anonymity is possible if a person chooses to take the steps required.

Remember, there are no "bitcoin accounts." There is no need for personal information to be used when controlling bitcoins. Even if you can be identified at the point of exchange, there is nothing to prevent a person from sending those bitcoins to other addresses they control. That can make financial forensics very difficult.

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Posted by rmc

Truth or Consequences

Member since Sep 2004

26557 posts

Posted on 1/22/13 at 3:26 pm to WikiTiger

quote:
The issue is proving the assets are "controlled" by the person in question.

Unless the person freely admits the control of $5k of bitcoins, how will the government know? Can they prove that person A has control of $5k in bitcoins? It would be an extremely difficult task to do so.

And as I stated earlier, anonymity is possible if a person chooses to take the steps required.

Remember, there are no "bitcoin accounts." There is no need for personal information to be used when controlling bitcoins. Even if you can be identified at the point of exchange, there is nothing to prevent a person from sending those bitcoins to other addresses they control. That can make financial forensics very difficult.

Very interesting set of issues bitcoins present from a legal standpoint. I don't know that I'd want to base any contracts off of bitcoin payment.

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Posted by MStant1

Houston, TX

Member since Sep 2010

4529 posts

Posted on 1/22/13 at 10:06 pm to WikiTiger

quote:
Remember, there are no "bitcoin accounts." There is no need for personal information to be used when controlling bitcoins. Even if you can be identified at the point of exchange, there is nothing to prevent a person from sending those bitcoins to other addresses they control. That can make financial forensics very difficult.

I'm curious if anyone in the online community has any concerns about Bitcoins potential to be forced into meeting anti-money laundering regs? Right now given that it isn't mainstream protects them, but if Bitcoins were to grow in perceived legitimacy it could grab unwanted attention from Uncle Sam.

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Posted by SlowFlowPro