Senator Manchin calls for Bitcoin Ban

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) today called for a ban on Bitcoin. In a letter sent to Federal Regulators including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen, Senator Manchin writes:

I write today to express my concerns about Bitcoin. This virtual currency is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly unstable and disruptive to our economy. For the reasons outlined below, I urge regulators to take appropriate action to limit the abilities of this highly unstable currency.

By way of background, Bitcoin is a crypto-currency that has gained notoriety in recent months due to its rising exchange value and relation to illegal transactions.  Each Bitcoin is defined by a public address and a private key, thus Bitcoin is not only a token of value but also a method for transferring that value.  It also means that Bitcoin provides a unique digital fingerprint, which allows for anonymous and irreversible transactions.

Of course he wants to ban Bitcoin. The government isn’t in control of it-yet.