Digital currencies have been on the rise in the last couple of years but the last couple of months have been the best period for cryptocurrencies in a long while. Bitcoin has hit the highest value ever while other digital currencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin cash are also recording high levels of value in the financial market. Because of that, many countries around the world have opted to introduce legislations that would regulate the market of digital currencies.
So far, the United States of America have not been regulating this market in a significant amount and those regulations mostly were related to preventing criminals from using digital currencies to make illegal transactions or any other illegal activity. However, according to the sources from the U.S. Congress, that will be changing very soon.
According to those sources, at least three Congress members are preparing a bill that would protect Bitcoin and other digital currencies from government influence. According to the same sources, this bill would make Bitcoin an alternative to official currency of the United States. Even though it is expected that this bill will probably get a bipartisan support in the Congress, it is still expected that at least one side will be opposing this bill. That side is the United States Treasury Department who are keen on maintaining an immense protection of the U.S. dollar and they do not want any other currency digital or not to become a competition for their official currency.
Some are saying that this bill is getting a support from both the Senate and the House of Representatives which indicates that this issue is important to the both houses of the U.S. Congress. When asked about the possible deadline when this bill might come to the floor in the Congress, the sources have indicated that might be happening in early days of September.
It seems that the main goal of this bill is to actually make Bitcoin a mainstream digital currency that would get similar if not the same treatment as the official currency. Besides that, the goal of this bill is also to create a platform for this cryptocurrency to become the entity in the fight against money-laundering activities in the United States but also in the rest of the world as well.
This bill will prevent the U.S. government from using digital currencies for their purpose and to mistreat them as well as to make sure that people do not consider these digital currencies, Bitcoin in the first place, as a type of investment or a security. Besides that, the sources are also saying that this bill will protect transactions conducted by digital currency from taxation which was not the case before this bill became mainstream.
This is not the first time that the U.S. Congress is calling for legislation about digital currencies because not that long ago, a Congressman from Texas called for regulations of AML/KYC and that was in order to fight terrorism and other organized crime. With the U.S. potentially passing this bill and Estonia possibly creating their own digital currency, these cryptocurrencies are becoming more mainstream with each day passing.
Written by Vedran Ostojic
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