Speaking of bitcoin, as I did yesterday, there’s a bill before the New Hampshire legislature which would remove a designation put in place last year that classified selling bitcoin as a “money transfer,” a designation that carries requirements for bonding and licensing. Here’s the bill (HB 436) which is being pondered by a committee.
Bitcoin fans say the requirement is a heavy-hand-of-government move (arguments tend to cite the state motto, as so many arguments in the State House do*) that squelches the alternative currency, while fans of the system say it actually protects users from certain aspects of fraud and mismanagement. Here’s a pretty balanced discussion from last year on Coindesk, a bitcoin platform.
* If you’re a reporter is New Hampshire, you get really tired of hearing people intone “As it says on the license plate, Live Free or Die!” to support any point of view about anything.
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