The Bitcoin community has reacted to the European Union's announcement that digital currency control will be on its list of priorities in 2017.
Matthias Klees, a founding member of LocalCrypto and the CEO of EuropeCoin, has called on the cryptocurrency community not to contribute to confusion caused by incorrect wording.
Impossible to regulate
Klees states:
"The barrier to understanding cryptocurrency, for an average person, is high enough. Wrong wordings are preventing the public from understanding what is going on. The European Union is trying to regulate cryptocurrency businesses, not the currencies. We should not contribute to this kind of confusion because by doing so, we are starting to play their game of misinformation."
In a chat with the Cointelegraph, Klees, who was an advisor to Brussels’ top institutions, believes that in the first place, the authorities cannot control cryptocurrencies and other decentralized forms of money or consensus-seeking.
He insists:
“The rule is, if you are holding customer funds in any form, you are subject to regulation. Sounds fair in the first place but keep in mind they are trying to impose banking rules on us, without granting banking rights. This is far from fair.”
Baseless accusations
The EU’s accusation that Bitcoin and other сryptocurrencies are channels for terrorism financing and money laundering is also unfounded and frivolous in the opinion of the crypto expert and investor.
"How much money is involved in terrorism financing and money laundering? Even the market cap of Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies combined renders that claim ridiculous. Currencies involved in these actions, for the most part, are the US dollar and euro," he added.
When it comes to financing and money laundering, Klees is of the view that the traditional banking cartels should not get away with it.
Controlling people exchange
The EU regulation attempt not only targets cryptocurrencies but also cash by lowering the maximum payment in cash to 7,500 euros. Now we can obtain an idea of what this regulation is about in the first place, he says, and adds:
"It's not about cryptocurrency. It's about limiting any form of free person to person exchange and consensus seeking."
However, the digital currency expert disagrees that the EU authorities are concerned that they cannot tax digital assets. The contention emanates from the fact that Blockchain preserves data forever.
Klees adds:
"Cryptocurrency will not end the EU. The EU will end the EU if no real reform happens."
What is EuropeCoin?
“EuropeCoin is run by a group of grassroots lobbyists, to promote decentralization of powers,” explains Klees. “We are actively getting in touch with merchants on the ground, like your next door grocery store. We are regionalists."