As announced last week, the French Senate met today in Paris to hold a hearing on bitcoin, it’s benefits, and it’s downsides.
Reddit.com user ‘mmitech’ took the opportunity to post notes about what took place at the meeting the meeting here.
According to the user’s bullet points, it would appear as if the French government is keen to “catch up” with bitcoin. They don’t clearly understand it yet, nor do they know how they’ll regulate it, but they’ve recognized at this juncture that banning the digital currency is not an option.
Overall, the French Senate’s outlook on bitcoin seemed positive. The user’s notes show that some Senate members clearly have no idea how bitcoin works, and are confused on some of its major elements, but that this technology does seem to hold promise and benefit.
As expected, the hearing also discussed matters such as the use of bitcoin for illegal purposes, and the user reports that he ” didn’t have the feeling that they focused negatively on this”.
Senate members discussed the volatility of bitcoin as well, but pointed out that is due to speculation — which may even be good for bitcoin to a certain extent.
Finally, the user’s last bullet point indicates that a European bitcoin foundation is to be formed, but details on this are scarce. We’re looking into the matter at newsBTC.
More information to follow.