Bitcoin's status as a form of unregulated virtual money doesn't mean it's not subject to US currency laws, a federal district court has found. In a published decision from August 6th, Judge Amos Mazzant ruled that the SEC's case against an alleged Bitcoin Ponzi scheme master could go forward. Trendon Shavers, the accused, had argued that the court didn't have jurisdiction to prosecute Bitcoin-related crimes under existing securities law. According to him, "no money ever changed hands" — just Bitcoin, which he asserted was not actually a currency.
Mazzant, however, disagreed. "It is clear that Bitcoin can be used as money," he wrote (PDF). "It can be used to purchase goods or services, and as Shavers stated, used to pay for individual...
via The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/7/4598644/bitcoin-is-real-money-rules-us-texas-district-court
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