Don’t Lose Sight Of The Bitcoin Mission

Now that Trump has been elected, Bitcoin enthusiasts and companies alike are more optimistic about the future of Bitcoin in the United States. We can clearly see this reflected in the price of bitcoin, which continues to reach new all-time highs in the wake of the election.

While it’s exciting for to watch US Bitcoiners breathe something of a collective sigh of relief as bitcoin’s price pumps (which is important), it’s also essential to recognize that we that if we don’t stay vigilant and lose our ability to transact privately and as anonymously as possible with bitcoin, as some are rightfully suggesting could easily happen, then we will have failed in our mission.

Former presidential advisor Pippa Malmgren on the legalization of Bitcoin:

"If you make crypto and Bitcoin legal [...] you can't hold them anonymously, you have to declare them."

"You're not going to be able to escape the reach of the US Government. [...] And because we're in… pic.twitter.com/aVeZBKodQ4

While it seems that the Trump administration will be kinder to the Bitcoin and broader crypto industry than the Biden administration was, we still have little idea of what the regulatory details will look like under the incoming administration. Plus, the judge in the Tornado Cash case recently posited that the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) doesn’t require control of funds (private keys) for money transmission, which means that we may soon see legal precedent that sets the stage for much greater AML/KYC requirements for Bitcoin users.

Main points of the @TornadoCash ruling (so far):

(1) BSA doesn't require control for money transmission
(2) 2019 guidance doesn't have broad control requirement for money transmission, and "total independent control" is merely one part of a four-factor test specific to the… https://t.co/1rnB2SCVpA

If we don’t support efforts to legally defend our right to transact peer-to-peer without having to provide identifying information, then we’ll have lost one of Bitcoin’s core value propositions.

So, by all means, celebrate the fact that the incoming administration supports things like Bitcoin mining in the US and the right to hold your private keys, but stay vigilant in regards to what both the administration and the courts say about the need to provide identifying information to use bitcoin — and get ready to push back.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.