Monday, July 25, 2016

Robert Hackett — Bitcoin Is Not Money, Miami Judge Rules


Money is what the law says it is. This judge ruled that Bitcoin is property.
Michell Esponiza, the defendant, had sold $1,500 worth of the virtual currency to undercover police officers who said they intended to buy stolen credit card numbers with it, as the Miami Herald reports. The cops then brought a case against him, alleging that Espinoza had illegally engaged in money laundering.
The court’s decision? Where there’s no money, there’s no money laundering.

“This Court is not an expert in economics, however, it is very clear, even to someone with limited knowledge in the area, that Bitcoin has a long way to go before it is the equivalent of money,” the Miami-Dade Circuit judge Teresa Mary Pooler said in her ruling, which the Miami Herald published.

“This court is unwilling to punish a man for selling his property to another, when his actions fall under a statute that is so vaguely written that even legal professionals have difficulty finding a singular meaning,” she added.…
Fortune
Bitcoin Is Not Money, Miami Judge Rules
Robert Hackett

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