Making Bitcoin Legal

Abstract

What would happen if the existing laws were actually enforced on the rich and powerful? Social reformers often clamour for new rules but ignore the huge changes that might happen if our existing rules were applied equally to all. And in the brave new world of ICOs and thousand percent cryptocurrency inflation, the rich and powerful are the bitcoin exchanges. What would happen if FinCEN regulations and the laws against money laundering were applied to them, and extended by sensible case law? We argue that this could mitigate most of the worst excesses of cryptocurrency world, and turn a dangerous system into a much safer one. The curious thing about this change is that it would not involve changing the protocol. It would not even necessarily involve changing the law. It might be enough to take some information that’s already public, publishing it again in a more easily understood format.