EU Planning a Database That Will Link User IDs to Cryptocurrency Wallets

[1984hasarrived]

Not liking the idea of this at all - the whole point of BitCoin is that it is privacy based, imho.

The European Union is planning a database that will assign every cryptocurrency wallet to its holder’s identity. After recently being hit hard by Terrorist activities, the EU believes a lot of the funding for terrorism is done anonymously through bitcoin.



The current anonymity means you can send payments to a wallet without your identity being known. With the planned move of the EU, this won’t be the case. EU governments will be able to attach a user ID to every transaction done within the EU zone for incoming and outgoing transactions.

Will this move help reduce terrorism in European countries?

European governments look at bitcoin as at medium risk of terrorist use to transfer funds meant for wreaking havoc in Europe. Coindol.com spoke  to Richard Kohl, Board Member at Bitcoin Wednesday,  about his thoughts on this claim, he responded by saying:
“Probably not.  It looks like the politics of fear, terrorism invoked as an excuse for regulatory capture.  By now, we should have seen thorough research that shows more extensive use of the blockchain by terrorists than traditional financial systems.  Given this lack of evidence, it seems likely that traditional financial systems are strongly favored by criminals and terrorists.  It is arguably a better use of public funds to focus efforts on guarding against misuse of the traditional financial system.”

How will the people who use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies respond?
To assess the possible impacts this move would have on Bitcoin users, Coinidol.com spoke to the Founder of Cashaa (Auxesis Group), a peer-to-peer blockchain market,  Kumar Gaurav, who gave his views in a statement:

“Linking user ID with cryptocurrency address is a good move to monitor the movements of cryptocurrencies quickly.  This step apparently not good for people looking for privacy. But at the same time, it can help to prevent misuse of the cryptocurrencies.”

What are the disadvantages of this move?
Coinidol.com spoke to Peter Trček, CEO & co-founder at Bitnik, a Slovenian bitcoin company, about what he thinks are the most prominent disadvantages of linking users IDs to wallets. He said:

“Connecting regular user's identity to his wallets is impractical if not almost impossible. The a    verage user would own more than one cryptocurrency and would use multiple wallets.No disadvantage for businesses. It might even help. Maybe soon crypto wallet address would be listed next to bank account in business registry. Governments could force popular wallet apps/services to require KYC, sure. But they can't prevent users from creating wallets in numerous other ways.
Sooner or later, EU will have enough knowledge about cryptocurrencies to realise such requirement is unrealistic one.”

EU Planning a Database That Will Link User IDs to Cryptocurrency Wallets

[1984hasarrived]

Mmmm, BitCoin is getting some notice now that TPTB realise it is a valid currency and is now being adopted and used on a grander scale, so they are going to regulate/control it and make it theirs. Today China, tomorrow the US and EU, although as the previous article shows, EU is really starting to attempt to get BTC under its control, with 'terrorism' as the excuse, as always.

China has put an end to bitcoin's euphoric start to the year.
The digital currency soared to its highest level in more than three years last week, topping $1,100 and nearing an all-time record. But since then, its price has plunged more than 30% to around $760 after Chinese authorities stepped up scrutiny of bitcoin exchanges in the country, where the vast majority of bitcoin trading takes place.

"When China sneezes, bitcoin catches a cold," said Charles Hayter, CEO of digital currency comparison website CryptoCompare. The latest drop was set off by news of spot checks from Chinese regulators on local bitcoin exchanges.

"The market has gone from being led up by the Chinese to dragged down by panic," Hayter said.

Finance officials inspected exchanges in Shanghai and Beijing on Wednesday to check whether they were sticking to anti-money laundering rules and other regulations, according to statements from the Chinese central bank.

"The fear is that the [central bank] will impose strict or unreasonable regulatory demands on Chinese bitcoin exchanges," said Petar Zivkovski, COO of bitcoin trading platform Whaleclub.

One of the Chinese exchanges, BTCC, issued a statement seeking to reassure customers.

"All operations at BTCC are normal and we continue to actively work with regulators to ensure that we remain compliant," it said, adding that it expects additional meetings with officials later this week.

The visits followed a public warning from the Chinese central bank last week urging people to "invest rationally" when it comes to the digital currency.

China appears to be putting the bitcoin exchanges on notice, analysts say.

It's "clearly a segment of the market that regulators are getting increasingly concerned about and likely will regulate," said Zennon Kapron, the founder of financial market research firm Kapronasia in Shanghai.

For Chinese investors, bitcoin can be a way to bypass rules limiting how much foreign currency individuals can buy each year, as well as a hedge against the sinking yuan.

That's a worry for the Chinese government, which spent hundreds of billions of dollars last year trying to prop up its currency as huge sums of money poured out of the country.

Chinese regulators could clamp down on bitcoin by classifying it as a foreign currency, which would effectively limit individual bitcoin transactions to $50,000 per year, said Kapron, author of the book "Chomping at the Bitcoin".

China is freaking out bitcoin traders

[Daitengu]

Fuck em all .... will stick with good old-fashioned cash .....  have neither a need nor use for their electronic rubbish .....