Making Bitcoin Legal

Ross Anderson; Ilia Shumailov; Mansoor Ahmed

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03251-7_29

Making Bitcoin Legal

Ross Anderson, Ilia Shumailov, Mansoor Ahmed

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

What would happen if the existing laws were actually enforced on the rich and powerful? Social reformers often clamour for new rules but ignore the huge changes that might happen if our existing rules were applied equally to all. And in the brave new world of ICOs and thousand percent cryptocurrency inflation, the rich and powerful are the bitcoin exchanges. What would happen if FinCEN regulations and the laws against money laundering were applied to them, and extended by sensible case law? We argue that this could mitigate most of the worst excesses of cryptocurrency world, and turn a dangerous system into a much safer one. The curious thing about this change is that it would not involve changing the protocol. It would not even necessarily involve changing the law. It might be enough to take some information that's already public, publishing it again in a more easily understood format.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Security Protocols XXVI
Subtitle of host publication	26th International Workshop, Cambridge, UK, March 19–21, 2018, Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Vashek Matyáš, Petr Švenda, Frank Stajano, Bruce Christianson, Jonathan Anderson
Place of Publication	Cham
Publisher	Springer
Pages	243-253
Number of pages	11
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-030-03251-7
ISBN (Print)	978-3-030-03250-0
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03251-7_29
Publication status	Published - 24 Nov 2018
Event	Twenty-sixth International Workshop on Security Protocols - Cambridge, United Kingdom Duration: 19 Mar 2018 → 21 Mar 2018 Conference number: 26

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Publisher	Springer, Cham
Volume	11286
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Workshop

Workshop	Twenty-sixth International Workshop on Security Protocols
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Cambridge
Period	19/03/18 → 21/03/18

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10.1007/978-3-030-03251-7_29Licence: All Rights Reserved

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-03251-7_29Licence: All Rights Reserved

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Anderson, R., Shumailov, I., & Ahmed, M. (2018). Making Bitcoin Legal. In V. Matyáš, P. Švenda, F. Stajano, B. Christianson, & J. Anderson (Eds.), Security Protocols XXVI: 26th International Workshop, Cambridge, UK, March 19–21, 2018, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 243-253). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 11286). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03251-7_29

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title = "Making Bitcoin Legal",

abstract = "What would happen if the existing laws were actually enforced on the rich and powerful? Social reformers often clamour for new rules but ignore the huge changes that might happen if our existing rules were applied equally to all. And in the brave new world of ICOs and thousand percent cryptocurrency inflation, the rich and powerful are the bitcoin exchanges. What would happen if FinCEN regulations and the laws against money laundering were applied to them, and extended by sensible case law? We argue that this could mitigate most of the worst excesses of cryptocurrency world, and turn a dangerous system into a much safer one. The curious thing about this change is that it would not involve changing the protocol. It would not even necessarily involve changing the law. It might be enough to take some information that's already public, publishing it again in a more easily understood format.",

author = "Ross Anderson and Ilia Shumailov and Mansoor Ahmed",

year = "2018",

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day = "24",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-030-03251-7\_29",

language = "English",

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series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science",

publisher = "Springer",

pages = "243--253",

editor = "Vashek Maty{\'a}{\v s} and Petr {\v S}venda and Frank Stajano and Bruce Christianson and Jonathan Anderson",

booktitle = "Security Protocols XXVI",

address = "United Kingdom",

note = "Twenty-sixth International Workshop on Security Protocols ; Conference date: 19-03-2018 Through 21-03-2018",

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Anderson, R, Shumailov, I & Ahmed, M 2018, Making Bitcoin Legal. in V Matyáš, P Švenda, F Stajano, B Christianson & J Anderson (eds), Security Protocols XXVI: 26th International Workshop, Cambridge, UK, March 19–21, 2018, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 11286, Springer, Cham, pp. 243-253, Twenty-sixth International Workshop on Security Protocols, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 19/03/18. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03251-7_29

Making Bitcoin Legal. / Anderson, Ross; Shumailov, Ilia; Ahmed, Mansoor.
Security Protocols XXVI: 26th International Workshop, Cambridge, UK, March 19–21, 2018, Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Vashek Matyáš; Petr Švenda; Frank Stajano; Bruce Christianson; Jonathan Anderson. Cham: Springer, 2018. p. 243-253 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 11286).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Making Bitcoin Legal

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