Perianne Boring

Bitcore was introduced to give a trusted platform to spur further bitcoin innovation, allowing BitPay to focus on what they do best: acquire merchants.

BitPay is the leading payment processor for bitcoin. The company specialize in setting up merchant accounts to accept bitcoin payments.

Sometimes our greatest strengths are also our greatest weaknesses.

The majority of companies using BitPay to accept bitcoin are small businesses that are benefitting from lower transaction fees, faster service, and increased security for fraudulent transactions.

I hold no economic interest in any company in this industry; however, I do hold and use digital currency for my personal use. I strive to keep myself non-biased and work with the highest integrity.

Exchanging bitcoin on behalf of ransomware victims should not be construed as criminal activity by the exchanger, not as a matter of law nor as sound policy. Such an interpretation would set a precedent that would surely cause real harm to the public, to the blockchain ecosystem, and to the financial services industry as a whole.

FinCEN directs financial institutions to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) to inform law enforcement of certain types of cyber-enabled crime. As the agency charged with protecting the United States from financial crime, FinCEN's guidance does not deem financial institutions who process such transactions to be involved in a criminal activity.

The law provides a remedy, charging those who threaten a victim's data for the purpose of extortion. Extending criminal liability to innocent third-party digital currency exchangers, or any other third-party financial institution, would be an utterly unwarranted and unjust misinterpretation both of law and policy.

The Cyprus Financial Crisis was a devastating blow to Cypriots and halted their banking system. Banks closed for two weeks to prevent a banking panic. When they reopened, capital controls were placed on the people's money, and customers were met by armed guards at the branches.

When you take a look at how the IRS treats foreign currency, bitcoin doesn't have the same taxation regime. Foreign currency gains and losses generally are taxed as ordinary income.

Through decentralized cryptography, Bitcoin eliminates the need for banking intermediaries, significantly lowering transaction costs, and could liberate poverty-stricken economies around the globe by providing access to capital to the one-third of humanity that is excluded from the financial world.

Investors need to understand the risk of individual exchanges before trusting their funds with them.