Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: Jack N Hoff on April 26, 2013, 03:48 pm
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Two Canadian businessmen recently got some bad news from their banks.
James Grant, owner of Canadian Bitcoins, got a letter.
Melvin Ng, proprietor of CADBitcoin, got a phone call.
Both men run online exchanges where you can purchase Bitcoins for Canadian dollars.
And both were informed their businesses' accounts frozen by Canada's largest banks.
"It's a weird situation," Ng told us by phone recently. "We're a normal Canadian business, we're registered with the government, and a Canadian bank can just block it off."
Grant was more blunt: "They just don't like Bitcoins."
As the price of Bitcoin has steadily increased and purchases with the digital currency become more commonplace, large institutions were bound to begin paying more attention to — and cracking down on — places who traffic in the currency.
Royal Bank of Canada, which shut down the accounts, sent us a statement saying they do not comment on client matters. As of this writing we had not heard back from TD Bank, the other bank that shut down or turned away the Bitcoiners.
We've already discussed why Bitcoin is such an extreme gray area for regulators — it's not quite a currency, not quite a commodity, and there's lots of interstate and international commerce involved, both of which in theory must be regulated by federal governments.
But they've only just begun to catch up with its explosion — Bitcoin merchants must now report all large and/or unusual transactions.
Joseph David appears to have successfully navigated the legal minefield of Bitcoin business.
The co-founder of CAVirtex, Canada's largest real-time Bitcoin exchange (like NYSE, or more precisely, Japan's Mt. Gox), David says he too had his company's account shut down in its early days. But by the beginning of 2012, they were back up and running. The site now sees $15 million a day in transactions.
David believes Ng or Grant may not have obtained the proper money service licensing.
But Ng says he did just that.
Even so, he's already moved on. He says the company plans to open what he believes will be the first ever brick-and-mortar Bitcoin stores in Canada. There will be one in Vancouver and one in downtown Toronto, he said.
That seems to be the mindset among Bitcoin professionals — press on at all costs, because Bitcoin is only going to get bigger.
"You have have $150 million worth of Bitcoins being transacted every 24 hours," David said. "It's not a fad."
http://www.businessinsider.com/canadian-banks-closing-bitcoin-businesses-2013-4
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Damn, Bitcopia had their Wells Fargo account frozen as well......
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The rich people running the banks [world] aren't going to take a grassroots revolution like BTC lying down...
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I personally know an elf who uses these exchanges. They are the only exchanges in Canada who offer total anonymous bit coin purchase. In person, or even cash in the mail. Which is probably what got them in shit.
They advertised cash in the mail service on their site. Buy or sell. So telling Canadians its ok to send cash in the mail to them is wrong. It could put mailmen and others suddenly at risk.
But Cavirtex is he one hey didn't mention. They play by the book.
So, the only places vendors could cash out with cash in the mail and in person is washed up. The retail store idea is awesome. Like the ATM idea.
They mostly want everyone to report the income. Pay the high Canadian taxes and everyone will leave you alone and not ask many questions. It's when you evade them, then they get nasty.
Y Elf friend says there is only one major bank willing to work with coin business. TD won't anymore. Boycott them. Royal bank too. They try to be so prestigious, and investors don't want to be associated with it.
TD BANK staff complained that by accepting deposits to these bitcoin exchanges, they saw more druggies and dangerous people coming in to deposit for coins. They wanted security guards at each branch just in case a drug war breaks out in the bank or something. As if. This is the employee union at work. Unions in Canada can do crazy shit.
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I might not like this but people have rights, banks are people, and I'm not turning on freedom of association which funnily enough could be what the banks want you to do. If there is one thing socialists can do, it's run a dodgy bank.
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Is Bank of America the last remaining bank willing to offer business accounts to BTC traders?
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Thanks for the inspiration.
A bitcoin bank could be possible. They would play by the book and sell investment products and insurance and shit,, but turn a blind eye to anyone who wants to buy and sell coins at their branches and ATMs.
A legit bit coin investment bank that is friendly to buying and selling coins. The fucking government here really over regulates everything. It's why taxes are so high. We create jobs by creating red tape to slow progress down and protect their interests.
When will we finally see a change in government ? Fuck this conservative crap is getting like a military zone. We need the liberals and Justine Trudaeu to lead the way. He's young, understands pot and bitcoins.
He's what this country needs right now. The time is right.
Lets put the baby boomer generation where they belong; in an old age home , far away from our government. Their old ideas are still lingering around and hurting this generation It's stifling progress as a society.
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The liberals would have stopped this shit.
They would have supported bitcoins
The conservative government changed all the drug laws when hey came into power. Now, it's serious jail time for anything related to drugs especially selling.
The liberals relaxed the drug laws and considered legalization. Conservatives reversed it all to make the baby boomers happy. Now our generation is suffering. Like sitting through a dreaded evening of watching family videos. Times have changed.
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The rich people running the banks [world] aren't going to take a grassroots revolution like BTC lying down...
This bank doesn't feel threatened at all and thinks that bitcoin is a good idea...
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=151824.0