Major Ruling By Federal Judge Bitcoin is Real Money
Bitcoin is a form of currency with intrinsic value pegged to traditional currency. Governmental and legal entities globally have not come to a consensus how to categorize Bitcoin.
In a landmark decision U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan ruled Bitcoin was to be treated as money. This was for on the hacking attack against J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. among other financial institutions.
Coin.mx Illicit Exchange
Anthony Murgio a business person in Florida is accused of having used his now-defunct Coin.mx bitcoin exchange to allow customers to launder funds. authorities say Coin.mx was owned by Gery Shalon and two others.
Prosecutors declared Coin.mx to be an illegal money transferring exchange. Murgio’s defense claimed that he was not guilty of illegally transmitting funds, by claiming Bitcoin did not qualify as “funds.” The Judge in the case dismissed this claim.
Reuters quoted the Judge stating:
“Bitcoins are funds within the plain meaning of that term,” Nathan wrote. “Bitcoins can be accepted as a payment for goods and services or bought directly from an exchange with a bank account. They therefore function as pecuniary resources and are used as a medium of exchange and a means of payment.”
This ruling contradicts another recent ruling of a case in which a Florida judge made precisely the opposite ruling in a laundering case – that laundering bitcoin was not actually money laundering because Bitcoin was not money.
US Treasury Treat’s Bitcoin As Property
The US Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service, for instance, treats bitcoins as property, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network treats them as currency There seems to be a consensus growing among federal judges viewing Bitcoin and similar networks as currencies in their own right. However differing rulings are developing at the state level.
Bitcoin as a Financial Asset
We believe that Bitcoin is a new form of a financial asset. Crypto coins value can be linked against the dollar. They are traded on exchanges just like traditional assets. While the courts continue to debate and interpret the state of cryptocurrencies we continue to firmly believe that Bitcoin is without a doubt a new form of financial instrument.
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