Bitcoin Foundation to Hire First Lobbyist

Regulators have come to call

Peter Vessenes, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation who's also enmeshed in a messy lawsuit against Mt. Gox, also stressed the need for governmental cooperation.

"We'll be hiring someone to work on [Capitol] Hill and interact with regulators," Vessenes said. "I'm someone who thinks we should have a civil conversation… It's time to engage with regulators and have a good, productive conversation."

Then again, that didn't stop the E-Gold online payment system from being shut down after a federal indictment on charges of money laundering. Not only did E-Gold chairman Douglas Jackson interact with regulators, he even testified before the U.S. Congress a year before the indictment took place.

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The big difference with E-Gold was it could be considered (if you're as daft or disingenuous as a government) as 'counterfeit' US dollars.

That's not a credible issue with bitcoin, which doesn't look like, smell like, sound like or feel like a dollar in any way shape or form.

[Underwun]

But then again E-Gold was a privately business, maybe a parallel would be like shutting down WhatsApp versus attempting to shut down SMS. Having said this I feel uneasy about using MtGox and I will be pleased when Coinbase or other possible reputable exchanges emerge.