CoinMap is a great invention of the Bitcoin environment allowing determining merchants and vendors accepting the coin for any kind of goods and services. As different jurisdictions and countries were voicing their opinions and issuing warnings on the virtual currencies during the past several months, a young developer has decided to sum graphically up their words and provide startups and entrepreneurs with relevant information on the current weather on one or another market.
Zachary Taylor from Philadelphia was thinking about normalizing the existing official statements and positions of the governments to get an image on the present global situation. He has taken the political map of the world and colored countries in dependence of their mood in questions of Bitcoin and its application. The categories he received to group the countries are following – permissive (green), contentious (yellow), hostile (red), unknown (grey). The project is named BitLegal.net, which was firstly presented on Reddit to most advanced users and activists. The result and feedback got is very positive and encouraged the developer to make future contributions to the idea. Of course, the political environment might change, so the key feature of success will be its simultaneous updates of statuses and even provision of additional information. The statuses are awarded in accordance with comments received from authorities, financial institutions of all levels, separate experts, governments and official organizations.
At time of the launch of the service several countries have issued more statements on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Some of them can be considered as elaborations to pervious issues, but some are determining the situations on the highest level.
The most detailed information is received from Germany. The country was one of the first to study the matter and to accept the coin without any strong prohibitions. During the previous week Carl-Ludwig Thiele, the Bundesbank board member, allowed himself to publish a warning about the coin. Several sources are citing his statement as “Bitcoins remain highly speculative, as they are as volatile as ever”. He names volatility of the currency as the main reason for speculatively actions and other violations that might lead to losses of funds for both organizations and private users. Mr. Thiele also points out that there are no regulations or responsive institution that might protect the investors in case of problems and uncertainty.
Belgium has also decided to clarify its position. After some news on new services and collaboration with a Dutch exchanger, the society has been shaken with the National Bank’s comment. The institution is going to reject further attempts to regulate the Bitcoin network, but it does not mean that in the closest future this strategy might change and some regulations will be implemented.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Caejer Chan Ka-keung, has been one of the harshest authorities to speak on the virtual currency this week. He, as Mr. Thiele, describes the coin as a speculative matter and also sees many risks around it. He cannot understand the reasons of the high price, as no economic proven force is behind the formation of the value. He foresees possible fluctuations that might bring to losses for people investing, trading and using the digital currency.
The French Senate’s Finance Committee has gone even further, scheduling on the 15th January a session “on issues related to the development of virtual currencies like Bitcoin”. Some speakers to take part will be Delphine Amarzit, from the Treasury Department; Denis Beau, chief operating officer at the Bank of France; Jean-Baptiste Carpentier, TRACFIN’s director; Jean-Michel Cornu, scientific director of the Next Generation Internet Foundation; Jean-Paul Garcia, national director of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation entity (DNRED); and M. Grandval Gonzaga, president of PAYMIUM SAS and several other specialists of the branch.
However, the high value of Zachary Taylor’s invention is not decreasing from any kind of critics on the Bitcoin. The warnings might continue to pop up, but the technological process is unstoppable and undeniable. Please, follow Cointelegraph to receive the newest information on French Senate’s Finance Committee hearing and other updates of statuses on the BitLegal map.