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Digital currency enthusiasts have been openly voicing out their concerns regarding the bitcoin regulation bill in the state of California. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the bill is premature and technically inaccurate.
“Virtual currencies are still developing, and this bill threatens to both stunt the growth of this innovative industry and hamper the enthusiasm driving consumer interest. Also, privacy and free speech are central issues in the virtual currency space, which the bill fails to adequately consider,” the EFF’s filing indicated.
California Bitcoin Regulation
In addition, digital think tank Copia Institute mentioned that the bill made little sense given the innovators’ need to create without boundaries. “We should be exceptionally careful when implementing rules that have the potential to shape – or strangle – the very roots of innovation,” the Copia Institute wrote.
It gave the BitLicense framework in New York as an example of how bitcoin regulation could be harmful for development. This framework would require digital currency companies to secure licenses for their products and services, which might prove too costly for startups.
On a more positive note, other members of the bitcoin community still expressed support for the pending bitcoin regulation in California, which is not as strict as the rules proposed in other states. Coin Center’s Neeraj Agrawal and Peter Van Valkenburgh remarked that the bill remains improved in its current form when compared to New York’s BitLicense, and does well to exclude blockchain technology firms from regulation.
Coin Center also praised the bill for being clear on multisig technology, citing that the California bitcoin regulation bill has done a better job with its definitions and outlining the scope of the state rather than federal regulators. Nonetheless, many are hopeful that further revisions would end up favoring the fledgling digital currency industry as it passes the Senate.
