Congress trying to pass Anti-Crypto bill which will allow Civil Asset Forfeiture

in #crypto-news8 years ago

What is Civil Asset Forfeiture?

Civil forfeiture in the United States, also called civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture[1] or occasionally civil seizure, is a controversial legal process in which law enforcement officers take assets from persons suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing.

Yes you read that right, they can take your assets on suspicion even if you haven't been convicted or charged with anything. This puts your cryptocurrency stash at risk of being seized because a cop thinks you look suspicious. This could empower the sort of cops that got in trouble stealing coins from exchanges, the bad cops. This bill is extremely flawed and the cryptocommunity should make noise about this before it's implemented. Specifically the Civil Asset Forfeiture portion is the most concerning.

Other points in the bill:

  • Travelers must declare cryptocurrency at the border.
  • Any currency in an amount greater than $10,000 must be declared.
  • Increased penalties for bulk cash smuggling.

Maybe the intention of this bill is good but the practical aspects need work. Also Civil Asset Forfeiture introduces some extreme risks based on previous history of it's abuse.

References


  1. https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/6hbhnp/americans_heads_up_congress_is_trying_to_pass_a/
  2. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1241/text#toc-idea0e9489fc8f46379f95bb56c8bbbda5
  3. http://www.bitcoininsider.org/article/1842/prepare-sb1241s-pit-bull-assault-bitcoin-freedom
  4. http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.8079
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The government are all a pack of thieves, robbers, and murderers.

Yes, this means that government can take your money for no other reason than​ you hawing more than 10$k with you when you travel, even​ if that money is in the form of any cryptocurrency,​ on any of your devices, what a great​ time to be alive and be"free."​

You called that upon yourself by voting them in.

Or simply by even voting.

Thanks for sharing. I made a (lesser quality) post about the exact same thing, but it's important for people to be aware of this. They can only pass this if we don't speak out.

This whole thing sounds insane.

Would simply having $10,000+ on an exchange or online vault would require a declaration (and possible confiscation)? I mean even if you don't access your accounts overseas, you COULD access your accounts overseas.

I would even be okay with declaring all my accounts if they didn't have Civil Asset Forfeiture mixed into it. That one law allows police to take your money for unknown suspicions. Knowing how this can play out, it's extremely bad.

I would even be okay with declaring all my accounts

This is the exact reason that power creep is possible. People are too easy going about government invading their privacy. I didn't get the impression, reading your posts, that you'd give in so easily to such abuse of authority.

I hope this bill never gets passed...crypto supporters should unite and sign a petition to oppose this bill.

honestly? there is no democracy! this is NWO end game moves here. They don't care if you protest.

Protesting is giving them legitimacy. Just ignore them, keep your accounts secret, and for god's sake stop giving them your vote. They have no way to know what crypto you own if you take the right precautions to blur your trail.

Civil Asset Forfeiture is clearly theft pure and simple.

Taxation is extortion.

"Travelers must declare cryptocurrency at the border."

That is one of the stupidest things I've heard this week.

You can always say ...Yes i have concurrency but I did not brought it with me to the US - Iv'e left my bitcoins back in Amsterdam together with my marijuana ..where all this is legal
lol

Yes, all governments and also the US EU Venezuela Etc,. would love to band all cryptocurrencies and to continue stilling and robbing the people using their fiat currency.
BUT

  1. TIMES HAS CHANGED
    I bet you, in the 90's the post offices would love to band the E-mails and say/decide that they are illegal - because they were losing a lot of business

  2. THE BITCOIN IS UNSTOPPABLE!!!!
    In order to stop the bitcoin - governments would have to or switch off the electricity or turn off the Internet.
    => as long as there is Internet - there will be bitcoins and people trading bitcoins - legal or not legal it does not mater

Even the Chinese Government wanted to stop it but the people would still buy crypto currencies and they came to a conclusion that instead of fighting a war that you cannot win -they better regulate the cryptocurrencies - and they did / do.

Seems like a mild attempt at scaring less knowledgeable folks away from the crypto market as far as the civil asset forfeiture is concerned. A federal agency would have to assert some sort of connection between your assets and a criminal enterprise. Still, not the direction our national policy needs to go in. Thanks for your post!

It's trivial to connect almost anyone to almost any crime.

you never actually hold cryptocurrency. It is retained on the blockchain so there is nothing to declare.