Arizona passes gold and silver legal tender bill

Julia Dixon on April 14, 2013

But you can’t buy your groceries with silver coins just yet, the bill, SB 1439, still requires the governor’s signature.

The legislation was inspired by Utah’s legal tender law passed in 2011. Arizona’s version would allow Arizona residents to use gold and silver with the same recognition as Federal Reserve notes starting in 2014… assuming of course that your local grocery store is willing to accept your silver coins; the bill does not require anyone to accept gold or silver in payment.

FinCEN Issues “Guidance on Virtual Currencies”

Julia Dixon on March 19, 2013

fincen.header-editThis guidance was issued to “provide clarity and regulatory certainty for businesses and individuals engaged in an expanding field of financial activity.” Or put another way, FinCEN explains who exactly they intend to regulate.

FinCEN covers their bases here discussing “users, administrators, and exchangers… persons creating, obtaining, distributing, exchanging, accepting or transmitting” virtual currencies, both centralized and de-centralized, e-currencies and e-precious metals.

  • FinCEN sees those dealing in virtual currencies as their regulatory responsibility
  • Users, and Bitcoin miners seem to be exempt from regulation for the moment
  • Buying or selling virtual currencies for “any reason” can make you a money transmitter and subject to FinCEN regulation
  • Virtual currency dealers are NOT necessarily foreign exchange dealers
  • FinCEN rules can also apply to those dealing in e-precious metals
  • However, Prepaid Access rules do NOT apply to virtual currencies

Summary below.

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“Powered by Monetas”

Julia Dixon on December 10, 2012

Monetas is building software for a decentralized financial and legal system that is less dependent on traditional bankers and lawyers.

The business’ founders, Chris Odom (Fellow Traveler) and Johann Gevers aim to make this ‘financial system 2.0’ possible by developing commercial versions of the Open Transactions digital finance library. This software will allow digital finance entrepreneurs to startup micropayment services, financial markets, community currencies, escrow services, and many others all without depending on the traditional banking or legal system.

Johann, Monetas’ CEO, recently shared with me his thoughts on finance, his belief in decentralized systems and his plans for Monetas.

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Capital Controls: IEEPA, Gold and Argentina

Julia Dixon on September 28, 2012

 


Video Link

Bad economic times and capital controls go hand in hand. In 1933 FDR used Executive Order 6102 to confiscate US citizen’s gold as mentioned in the above video. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), means the same thing could happen again today.

Extreme capital controls aren’t just a possibility, they are a reality in a many parts of the world, particularly Argentina.

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