Update: Today is an important day for the Bitcoin industry in America. There is talk in the Senate about the Infrastructure Bill. A great proposal to improve the country’s infrastructure.
Oddly enough, this mood also affects the bitcoin world. In America it is customary to cycle through all kinds of extras with major bills. It’s referred to as the “Infrastructure Bill,” but it also contains all sorts of other proposals.
Bitcoin now appears to be a stumbling block. In particular, the proposed approach to companies, contract holders, programmers, and other bitcoiners is an important topic in this regard.
For example, there are two competing modifications on the agenda. Both proposals attempt to regulate (part of) the industry surrounding Bitcoin into rules. The consequences can be significant for miners, programmers, and companies, but the average bitcoin can get in trouble, too.
The real conversation, as usual, takes place in the back rooms. Sometimes it’s interesting to follow the general discussion, too.
Original article: Bitcoiners in America are anxiously awaiting a big bill in America. The definition of “broker” expands a lot as the original plan comes through the American political machine. Parties such as miners will also fall under this. This has implications for the industry.
This could mean that node owners, miners, software developers, and other parties should be able to account for all of their finances. As if they were financial institutions. This means that almost everyone who participates in the network (such as financial services companies) should be able to account for all the transactions they make.
This is simply not possible within Bitcoin for many network participants. A miner does not know exactly who is processing the transactions, for example.
invoice
Senator Rob Portman wants to take a closer look at the current proposal to clamp down on the entire cryptocurrency industry in America. He said the bill should be voted on by Senators Tommy, Loomis and Weyden.
Earlier, Portman presented with another senator law Project Which would put many workers in the industry in trouble. So, this is a great step.
= https://twitter.com/senrobportman/status/1423309129981042696 “data-service=”twitter”>
continent
With the addition of Portman and Waren, it practically means that (proof of work) Miners are protected. And maybe a few parties that build programs like Conservatives. Portman now agrees to the proposal of his three colleagues.
Wyden, Lummis and Toomey’s proposal will protect more industry participants. For example, also consider the participants in Bitcoin Lightning Network. With a bit of bad luck, they also have to report (formally) every party they process transactions from, for example, to the tax authorities.
However, this is not possible at all with this software. You don’t have insight into what transactions you’re processing and from whom, at least not by definition.
In short: panic in America. And whatever you think of the US, there is no doubt that their policies around Bitcoin can have implications for how people interact with it around the world.
= https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1423653965196111872 “data-service=”twitter”>
comments
This new development naturally causes a lot of controversy. Some reactions from the angle of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency:
Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong expressed his support for the First Amendment, which would only include brokers and exchanges (such as Coinbase). He indicates that his organization is willing to cooperate. He also sees the collapse of other parts of the industry in America hurting his business house.
= https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1423043554201440257 “data-service=”twitter”>
Elon Musk is also responding to current developments. He believes that the government should not choose the winners. He also says there is no reason to take hasty action.
= https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1423780661639344131 “data-service=”twitter”>
Nick Carter has become a well-known figure in Bitcoin and is closely following the situation. According to him, the description used by Senator Warner and Portman is correct. Proof of Work (miners) do not approve of transactions. Miners just choose the transactions they want to process, and then it’s up to the nodes to verify it.
Carter uses an example from the world of gold to illustrate his point: This is like confusing gold analysis with gold mining. They are two completely different things put together. It is simply not true.
= https://twitter.com/nic__carter/status/1423446887089283077 “data-service=”twitter”>
Adam Buck is an old school cypherpunk and was mentioned by Satoshi in the original Bitcoin working paper. Uses a nice example to show how poorly the current infrastructure bill is.
The contract owners and other network participants are treated like a broker or an exchange. According to Back, this is like dealing with a home modem with an author for all the data it transmits. It seems infeasible and impractical.
= https://twitter.com/adam3us/status/1423719656293076992 “data-service=”twitter”>
Balaji Srinivasan is someone who also delves into the world of “blockchain and token” as well as bitcoin. This also affects other networks and initiatives. In fact. The abstract version of the previous order makes the life of every holder of an alternative coin in America more difficult.
However, he also predicts a doomsday scenario for bitcoin. It’s nearly impossible to meet these guidelines, even if you wanted to.
The last step (just like in China) is to ban Proof of Work, if people really want to get rid of it.
= https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1423471937318129668 “data-service=”twitter”>
Neeraj Agrawal is involved in the currency center. They have a clear goal: to “protect open blockchain networks and the rights to use them for innovators.” Together with many other senators and stakeholders, they hope to make a difference and amend the guidelines.
It appears that the US Treasury Secretary is interfering with the current state of affairs. She was pushing to get the original proposal from Wyden, Lummis, and Toomey off the table.
= https://twitter.com/NeerajKA/status/1423616220348223490 “data-service=”twitter”>
outcome
The result is not yet clear. Obviously, this has only just begun. The attack was launched. Various pressure groups and other people from the industry are doing everything they can to make a difference in the rules.
On the other side, with the ‘counter party’, there are many organizations and influencers that would like to kill, or at least seriously harm the industry around bitcoin.
Bitcoin was launched as an idea/protocol to attack the status quo and make it less relevant. This battle is elusive and won’t be won easily.
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