BY LANCE DIXON / ldixon@miamiherald.com
The North American Bitcoin Conference brought an international crowd of thousands to Miami Beach. The two-day gathering, on Jan. 25 and 26 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, featured discussions on regulating the digital currency, advice for startups and continuing to educate potential users on what Bitcoin is.
Lawyers and business experts in suits mixed with entrepreneurs and tech-savvy developers in graphic T-shirts tees and sneakers to debate the future validity of Bitcoin and to discuss whether it should be regulated by the federal government. While many supporters of the currency back it because it’s decentralized and not tied to financial entities, many on the business side recognize the inevitability of further intervention.
“Regulation and tax laws are not going to go away; they are an unavoidable part of the world in which we want to bring Bitcoin,” said Moe Levin, organizer of the conference. “We need to work with regulators and respect tax law for the currency to be trusted by governments and in turn to be accepted by the public.”
Bitcoin’s perception as being used mainly for illegal activity was discussed at length. Carol Van Cleef, a partner with WashingtonD.C. law firm Patton Boggs, said that despite the attention the currency’s received most people in the financial world only have a cursory understanding of Bitcoin.
“What the banks and the bank regulators know after two years of intense publicity is that Bitcoin is used by criminals,” said Van Cleef in a panel discussion.
Van Cleef will be among a group of witnesses and panelists at public hearings hosted this week by the New York Department of Financial Services, that will discuss regulation of digital currencies.