“BITDOLLAR”: THE UNITED STATES AND THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF MONEY

By  Evander Smart

Bitcoin is not going away, and if anything it is growing into the mainstream at a consistent pace. 

Many American corporations, some of the largest corporations in the world, have spent 2014 endorsing Bitcoin, in spite of the drop in value. 

2014 has seen nothing but price declines, but greater market acceptance in exchange. And it has even gotten the attention of the world’s largest and most influential government, the United States, to respond to it in earnest. Taxation,regulation, and condemnation have all had their moment in the sun from America’s governance. 

The U.S. seems both confused and intrigued by Bitcoin’s unique abilities. What is the right way forward when it comes to Bitcoin?

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Instead of Fighting Bitcoin, the US Could Make Its Own Digital Currency

By Robert McMillian

The US government has been seriously studying bitcoin for about two years now. The FBI knows how to seize the digital currency. The Marshal’s Service knows how to sell it. The IRS knows how to tax it. And now, the Federal Reserve should copy it.

So says James Angel, a professor of economics at Georgetown University. He thinks the government should create what he calls “bitdollar,” a bitcoin-like digital currency that’s backed by the US dollar.

Yes, many believe the whole point of bitcoin is to separate money from the governments of the world. But bitcoin also seeks to create an open payment network anyone can use without jumping through the hoops that encumber, say, credit card or international money transfer networks, and Angel thinks the government can help accomplish such a thing. 

He is among those who believe the really powerful idea is bitcoin as a payment system, rather than bitcoin as a currency.

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