Los Angeles Times' Andrew Tangel and Chris O'Brien highlighted on Tuesday that owning Bitcoin could become illegal. As the decentralized currency posed a potential to be used in illegal activities such as money laundering, Tangel and O'Brien said that governments might outlaw Bitcoin, thus making the digital currency illegal and subject to sanctions.
According to the filing where Tangel and O'Brien combed through, owning Bitcoins would open owners to unusual risk factors. The primary of which would be how Bitcoins were traded on largely unregulated exchanges and so could be more openly exposed to fraud and failure.
Also, as most Bitcoin users are mostly spectators rather than players in the retail/commercial marketplace, investors should be wary of the currency's price volatility and the adverse effects of this.
There was also an issue on security. "Hackers, malware and sabotage could threaten the Bitcoin trading network, endangering an investment," the filing said. Although safeguards would be in place, the security system was "not impenetrable and may not be free from defect."
In all, there were more chances of Marg Gongloff of Huffington Post being right when she said, the Winklevoss ETF idea would be "a great tool for separting fools, their money."
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