[reDraft] Regulation of Cryptocurrencies

[Masurbia]

Category: Free Trade

Giviong a definition of Cryptocurrency: A digital token that can be used to make real world purchases.

Acknowledging that the rise of cryptocurrencies has happened within the last decade and is still growing.

Knowing that virtual money is extremely popular and has created numerous amounts of jobs.

Recognizing that the trading of cryptocurrencies is very lucrative but still risky.

Knowing that cryptocurrencies can grow a nation's economy.

The WA declares:

i. All member-nations recognize that cryptocurrencies are real assets that can be traded.

ii. Allow the trading of cryptocurrencies between member-nations.

iii. Allow the creation of different cryptocurrencies.

iiii. Allow member-nations to regulate any cryptocurrencies in their jurisdiction.

Category: Social Justice -- Strength: Mild

Defines blockchain, for the purposes of this resolution: A decentralized ledger that allows transactions across a peer to peer network without the need for a third party.

Defines cryptocurrency, for the purposes of this resolution: A digital token that can be bought, sold or traded on a blockchain using cryptography.

Acknowledging the increasing advancement of technology and the blockchain are leading to an increase of of different cryptocurrencies.

Recognizing that the expanding market of different cryptocurrencies can lead to scams and ponzi schemes.

Further recognizing that cryptocurrencies are very new and largely unregulated.

The World Assembly hereby declares...

1. The creation of the Intergalactic Cryptocurrency Committee (ICC) to regulate and act as a watchdog over rising cryptocurrencies.

a. Reserves a nations' right to ban cryptocurrencies within their borders.

b. All new cryptocurrencies must be approved by the ICC before released to the public.

c. A cryptocurrency shall live up to the standards of the defintion provided, as well as have an open source base, allowing transparency and the ability to improve
through eachother, and the founders of the cryptocurrency, in addition to their background, are required to be clearly known to the public.

2. Encourages member-nations to allow cryptocurrencies in their borders.

3. Clarifies that this proposal does not outlaw the creation of cryptocurrencies by individuals in any way.

Noting that forcing cryptocurrencies to be approved by the ICC will immensely slow down the cryptomarket but that it is necessary to ensure consumer protection.

[Masurbia]

I'm not looking at rushing this proposal so feel free to say anything

[Kenmoria]

"This is hardly a matter for the World Assembly to legislate on; it is much too small of a concern. It also tries to attempt to affect non-WA nations which is a violation of one of this august body's rules."

[Masurbia]

"This is hardly a matter for the World Assembly to legislate on; it is much too small of a concern. It also tries to attempt to affect non-WA nations which is a violation of one of this august body's rules."

Yeah I was thinking about that. I just think that since cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple, are so big now that we could apply it the NationStates.

[Frisbeeteria]

I just think that since cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple, are so big now that we could apply it the NationStates.

As far as I can tell, the only thing they are big on is hype. A quick search online shows almost no one exchanging CCs for actual goods and services. Virtually all the activity is trading the CCs themselves.

I like what the Israelis said earlier today:

“Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies are not a currency, and are not considered foreign currency. The Bank of Israel’s position is that they should be viewed as a financial asset, with all that entails. “[A currency] fulfills the functions ascribed to it in the economic literature—a unit of account, an mean of payment, and stability that enables it serve as a store of value. None of these exist with Bitcoin or similar currencies, which are characterized by higher volatility, difficulty in making transactions, and a lack of certainty regarding the parties that stand behind it.”

To bring this back to NationStates, I'm not seeing "job creation" or "contributing to a nation's economy" as valid. At this point, those aspects are more wishful thinking than actuality. If people want to invest in risky financial instruments, that's fine. Forcing entire nations to accept them as valid is not.

[Masurbia]

I like what the Israelis said earlier today:

“Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies are not a currency, and are not considered foreign currency. The Bank of Israel’s position is that they should be viewed as a financial asset, with all that entails. “[A currency] fulfills the functions ascribed to it in the economic literature—a unit of account, an mean of payment, and stability that enables it serve as a store of value. None of these exist with Bitcoin or similar currencies, which are characterized by higher volatility, difficulty in making transactions, and a lack of certainty regarding the parties that stand behind it.”

To bring this back to NationStates, I'm not seeing "job creation" or "contributing to a nation's economy" as valid. At this point, those aspects are more wishful thinking than actuality. If people want to invest in risky financial instruments, that's fine. Forcing entire nations to accept them as valid is not.[/quote]
Alright you make a good point. Maybe in the future

[Masurbia]

I just think that since cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple, are so big now that we could apply it the NationStates.

As far as I can tell, the only thing they are big on is hype. A quick search online shows almost no one exchanging CCs for actual goods and services. Virtually all the activity is trading the CCs themselves.

I like what the Israelis said earlier today:

“Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies are not a currency, and are not considered foreign currency. The Bank of Israel’s position is that they should be viewed as a financial asset, with all that entails. “[A currency] fulfills the functions ascribed to it in the economic literature—a unit of account, an mean of payment, and stability that enables it serve as a store of value. None of these exist with Bitcoin or similar currencies, which are characterized by higher volatility, difficulty in making transactions, and a lack of certainty regarding the parties that stand behind it.”

To bring this back to NationStates, I'm not seeing "job creation" or "contributing to a nation's economy" as valid. At this point, those aspects are more wishful thinking than actuality. If people want to invest in risky financial instruments, that's fine. Forcing entire nations to accept them as valid is not.

Alright you make a good point. Maybe in the future

[Masurbia]

As far as I can tell, the only thing they are big on is hype. A quick search online shows almost no one exchanging CCs for actual goods and services. Virtually all the activity is trading the CCs themselves.

But I never did mention the exchanging of CCs for actual goods and services.

[Separatist Peoples]

"We have no intention of recognizing hackable money as money. We will recognize the as investment futures, but sure as shit not actual currency."

[Attempted Socialism]

As far as I can tell, the only thing they are big on is hype. A quick search online shows almost no one exchanging CCs for actual goods and services. Virtually all the activity is trading the CCs themselves.

But I never did mention the exchanging of CCs for actual goods and services.

OOC: Then they are not currencies. As they aren't IRL either, so I guess that'll be the same.
Crypto"currencies" don't create jobs either.
And everything else in your draft is also terrible. Crypto"currencies" fail even as a futures market, so why should we recognise them as something they're even worse at being?

[Dirty Americans]

First of all, one needs to define the term Cryptocurrency in the proposed resolution.

Second, you need to have a good understanding of what currencies are from an international perspective. It's a lot more complex than you might think. Just because a nation recognizes another currency doesn't mean it becomes a "legal tender" in that nation. And frankly, unless a currency is a "legal tender" somewhere it's somewhat useless as a currency (unless it is strictly a traded commodity among the currency exchanges in which case it becomes a more or less useless middle man in currency exchange).

I don't think you can get a good discussion of all the problems and solutions here. Most major news organizations can't even cover it correctly.

[Kranostav]

OOC: While a laudable goal, enforcing legislation on currencies would be rather hard. Especially that of a currency so disconnected from regulation. I would assume that any attempt at passing legislation on this topic would meet a good amount of resistance and the attempt would have to be so vague to a point of not accomplishing the reasons for drafting in the first place.

"We have no intention of recognizing hackable money as money. We will recognize the as investment futures, but sure as shit not actual currency."

"I agree here. This currency has yet to show long term promise and I would not feel comfortable recognizing it as anything more than a working idea right now."

[Grays Harbor]

I see no reason whatsoever this should be WA law.

OOC: I wonder if I could print up a handful of GH currency (yes, I have designed some) and go to the local store with it? It was created digitally, so isn’t it a crypto currency?

and i’ve actually mailed letters with GH stamps. My wife made me stop doing that. Lol

[Masurbia]

But I never did mention the exchanging of CCs for actual goods and services.

OOC: Then they are not currencies. As they aren't IRL either, so I guess that'll be the same.
Crypto"currencies" don't create jobs either.
And everything else in your draft is also terrible. Crypto"currencies" fail even as a futures market, so why should we recognise them as something they're even worse at being?

If you look up "jobs in Cryptocurrency" a number of results will pop up.

[Tinfect]

If you look up "jobs in Cryptocurrency" a number of results will pop up.

OOC:
Doesn't mean it isn't a meaningless financial bubble. Cryptocurrencies are utterly useless as currency, not only in concept, but in practice. They are simply not viable as currency.

[Masurbia]

"We have no intention of recognizing hackable money as money. We will recognize the as investment futures, but sure as shit not actual currency."

Paper money is way easier to counterfeit than something like bitcoin. It would take a very powerful computer to even try to spend a bitcoin more than once. And I get that cryptocurrency is hackable, but it's a lot harder than just robbing someone on the street.

[Masurbia]

If you look up "jobs in Cryptocurrency" a number of results will pop up.

OOC:
Doesn't mean it isn't a meaningless financial bubble. Cryptocurrencies are utterly useless as currency, not only in concept, but in practice. They are simply not viable as currency.

I agree and I will change this

[Tinfect]

Paper money is way easier to counterfeit than something like bitcoin. It would take a very powerful computer to even try to spend a bitcoin more than once.

OOC:
Specialized equipment is necessary to counterfeit well-designed paper currencies, and metal currencies are rarely worth counterfeiting in the first place, and may themselves also include security features. The introduction of polymer currencies in many countries, often with their own security features, has been massively successful in reducing counterfeiting, often more cheaply than the continued use of paper currency due to the increased longevity and durability of the material.

It is theoretically quite easy to achieve the necessary computing power to duplicate cryptocurrency transactions, as there are very few restrictions on computer components, and the documented vast amounts of computing power being used almost exclusively for cryptocurrency scams and transactions. Assuming this bubble lasts much longer, I highly doubt that we won't be seeing multi-transactions of cryptocurrencies in the next few years.

Cryptocurrencies are not viable as currency, not viable as assets, not as secure as physical currencies, more expensive than physical currencies, and easily used for scamming people. Mandating that Member-States recognize them as currencies alongside their National currencies would be disastrous not only for the nature of the thing, but for the variety of issues that maintaining a multi-currency system in the first place entails. And this is all ignoring the serious privacy concerns and massive criminal element already involved in the cryptocurrency nonsense in real life. Please do some basic research.

[Separatist Peoples]

"We have no intention of recognizing hackable money as money. We will recognize the as investment futures, but sure as shit not actual currency."

Paper money is way easier to counterfeit than something like bitcoin.

"Yes, but unlike with paper money, which requires what is essentially a small warehouse to properly counterfeit, cryptocurrency can be counterfeited with something that fits on an office desk and can be hooked up to the world wide web. It is logistically simpler to counterfeit your cryptocurrency."

It would take a very powerful computer to even try to spend a bitcoin more than once.

"Right. Because its entirely unreasonable to expect it to be more difficult for counterfeiters to acquire a 'very powerful computer' than it is for them to acquire a custom-built, classified minting machine which is routinely under extremely careful protection. Nobody has ever been able to manufacture a 'very powerful computer' from commercial parts, but we hear so often the stories of people constructing their very own custom-built, classified minting machine."

And I get that cryptocurrency is hackable, but it's a lot harder than just robbing someone on the street.

"You are quite right, and if it was petty crime that I was worried about, I would probably have said, 'You know what, its much harder to hack Bitcoin than it is to mug somebody, so this must be a good idea.' Unfortunately, what I am worried about is a concerted effort on behalf of a well-organized and experienced group of individuals to hack into a system that, by it's very nature, exists on a platform which anybody with a landline and a computer can access. No matter how many times I try it, I cannot seem to plug in a five greenback note into my smartphone, and my laptop ignores all the Yeldan dimes I've been sliding into the CD slot, so I think that the C.D.S.P. will stick to hard currency."

[Masurbia]

Paper money is way easier to counterfeit than something like bitcoin.

"Yes, but unlike with paper money, which requires what is essentially a small warehouse to properly counterfeit, cryptocurrency can be counterfeited with something that fits on an office desk and can be hooked up to the world wide web. It is logistically simpler to counterfeit your cryptocurrency."

It would take a very powerful computer to even try to spend a bitcoin more than once.

"Right. Because its entirely unreasonable to expect it to be more difficult for counterfeiters to acquire a 'very powerful computer' than it is for them to acquire a custom-built, classified minting machine which is routinely under extremely careful protection. Nobody has ever been able to manufacture a 'very powerful computer' from commercial parts, but we hear so often the stories of people constructing their very own custom-built, classified minting machine."

And I get that cryptocurrency is hackable, but it's a lot harder than just robbing someone on the street.

"You are quite right, and if it was petty crime that I was worried about, I would probably have said, 'You know what, its much harder to hack Bitcoin than it is to mug somebody, so this must be a good idea.' Unfortunately, what I am worried about is a concerted effort on behalf of a well-organized and experienced group of individuals to hack into a system that, by it's very nature, exists on a platform which anybody with a landline and a computer can access. No matter how many times I try it, I cannot seem to plug in a five greenback note into my smartphone, and my laptop ignores all the Yeldan dimes I've been sliding into the CD slot, so I think that the C.D.S.P. will stick to hard currency."

Security for wallets are always improving. Like the dollar, it's also updating to keep up with the latest counterfeiting technology.

[Imperium Anglorum]

I’m on my phone, so I can’t be very in-depth. But crypto currency, à la Bitcoin, is pretty much impossible to counterfeit. It has to do with the nature of the transaction itself and the blockchain (or publicly distributed ledger, which is a unwieldy but more explanatory term).

However, that does not change the fact that crypto currencies are bad as currency. Namely, they do not fulfil the criteria of money, as Fris notes above. This is the ‘good’ opp, not the counterfeiting one.

[Kenmoria]

"You are missing finishing punctuation on every clause."

[Separatist Peoples]

"Yes, but unlike with paper money, which requires what is essentially a small warehouse to properly counterfeit, cryptocurrency can be counterfeited with something that fits on an office desk and can be hooked up to the world wide web. It is logistically simpler to counterfeit your cryptocurrency."


"Right. Because its entirely unreasonable to expect it to be more difficult for counterfeiters to acquire a 'very powerful computer' than it is for them to acquire a custom-built, classified minting machine which is routinely under extremely careful protection. Nobody has ever been able to manufacture a 'very powerful computer' from commercial parts, but we hear so often the stories of people constructing their very own custom-built, classified minting machine."


"You are quite right, and if it was petty crime that I was worried about, I would probably have said, 'You know what, its much harder to hack Bitcoin than it is to mug somebody, so this must be a good idea.' Unfortunately, what I am worried about is a concerted effort on behalf of a well-organized and experienced group of individuals to hack into a system that, by it's very nature, exists on a platform which anybody with a landline and a computer can access. No matter how many times I try it, I cannot seem to plug in a five greenback note into my smartphone, and my laptop ignores all the Yeldan dimes I've been sliding into the CD slot, so I think that the C.D.S.P. will stick to hard currency."

Security for wallets are always improving. Like the dollar, it's also updating to keep up with the latest counterfeiting technology.

"Which does not address any of my points ambassador. We will not recognize theoretical money as currency.. Please stop wasting our time."

[Masurbia]

Paper money is way easier to counterfeit than something like bitcoin. It would take a very powerful computer to even try to spend a bitcoin more than once.

OOC:
Specialized equipment is necessary to counterfeit well-designed paper currencies, and metal currencies are rarely worth counterfeiting in the first place, and may themselves also include security features. The introduction of polymer currencies in many countries, often with their own security features, has been massively successful in reducing counterfeiting, often more cheaply than the continued use of paper currency due to the increased longevity and durability of the material.

It is theoretically quite easy to achieve the necessary computing power to duplicate cryptocurrency transactions, as there are very few restrictions on computer components, and the documented vast amounts of computing power being used almost exclusively for cryptocurrency scams and transactions. Assuming this bubble lasts much longer, I highly doubt that we won't be seeing multi-transactions of cryptocurrencies in the next few years.

Cryptocurrencies are not viable as currency, not viable as assets, not as secure as physical currencies, more expensive than physical currencies, and easily used for scamming people. Mandating that Member-States recognize them as currencies alongside their National currencies would be disastrous not only for the nature of the thing, but for the variety of issues that maintaining a multi-currency system in the first place entails. And this is all ignoring the serious privacy concerns and massive criminal element already involved in the cryptocurrency nonsense in real life. Please do some basic research.

When you buy and trade bitcoin, you don't really have any bitcoin. What you do have is addresses that combine to equal the amount of bitcoin you have. When you go to trade bitcoin you don't "sell" a bitcoin, you submit a transaction to the network and they verify your address. Bitcoin isn't a file or object just an address on the blockchain and each bitcoin is only allowed once on the blockchain. If there is more than one it wouldn't be valid so it wouldn't even work.

And when you say privacy concerns, cryptocurrencies are a breakthrough for privacy. According to Forbes, Privacy coins like Monero and ZCash make so your transactions are untraceable.

[Separatist Peoples]

And when you say privacy concerns, cryptocurrencies are a breakthrough for privacy. According to Forbes, Privacy coins like Monero and ZCash make so your transactions are untraceable.

"Why would any government want transactions to be untraceable? That makes it impossible to regulate."