Bitcoin uk legislation healthcare
How are fraudulent transactions to be invalidated when every transaction is irreversible? There are various sources of government power under which Bitcoin might be regulated in Australia. As all financial transactions in Australia must be made in Australian currency or the currency of another country, it is unlikely that Bitcoin or any other virtual currency would be considered valid currency or legal tender.
It may be possible to impose regulation on banks that hold accounts belonging to the exchanges or to users. If considered to be a payment system, Bitcoin may fall under the jurisdiction of the Reserve Bank, but without the co-operation of the Bitcoin community, any controls would be difficult — if not impossible — to enforce. Regulating through tax laws has been a common starting point for those countries addressing Bitcoin regulation, capturing businesses trading in Bitcoin rather than anonymous users or offshore exchanges.
In December , JPMorgan Chase applied for a patent for a new online payment scheme that would allow users to make payments anonymously with currency stored on their computer memories and with a common log to be used for verifying transactions, as is currently used by Bitcoin. However, the key libertarian element of Bitcoin — a lack of fee or charge for its use or exchange - is unlikely to be present in bank-run cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have the potential to affect all kinds of businesses. Perhaps your overseas suppliers are asking to be paid in Bitcoin to reduce fees associated with paying in foreign currency, or with transacting through a bank, or to reduce their tax liabilities. You may be a business that needs to be seen to be at the cutting edge of payment technology, or perhaps your customers have asked for it. If you are a credit card provider, perhaps customers are bypassing your services entirely and choosing instead to transact online in virtual currency.
Choosing to engage with Bitcoin may give rise to significant concerns for businesses in terms of compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism legislation, and of the potential reputational risk in being associated with a form of payment that is unregulated and non-transparent. Businesses may wish to monitor the use and discussion of Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies to assess whether they are likely to impact their operations and the risks and benefits of becoming involved.
The Bitcoin Wiki page provides useful security information for traders and may be a source of information for interested businesses.
A Bitcoin storage service covered by insurance is also now available through Elliptic Vault. Such services may provide greater security and confidence for businesses considering trading with Bitcoin. For businesses that are in regulated industries such as banking, financial services, telecommunications and life sciences, there may be future limits on how they could use Bitcoin, so risks could be regulated through those limits.
For less regulated industries, due diligence on Bitcoin participants, pre-payment or reservation of title provisions in contractual arrangements could minimise some of these risks. At this stage, much of the discussion is conjecture but there remains a wide range of stakeholders who are very interested in the development of this rather unique payment device. Use of cookies by Norton Rose Fulbright. We use cookies to deliver our online services.
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Background As the leading form of cryptographic currency currently available, Bitcoin is making headlines for various reasons, not all of them positive. Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest legal news, information and events Newsletters Sign up for our Morning Rounds newsletter.
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