Commonwealth Pushes Member States to Declare Bitcoin Legality

The Commonwealth has released a report calling on its 53 member states to publicly recognize the legality of Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

The report, published on February 3, is the culmination of nearly a year of research by the Commonwealth Working Group on the topic of virtual currencies. The task was assigned to the group by the Commonwealth Secretariat in February last year.

The report found that among its member countries, only Bangladesh has deemed Bitcoin and alternative digital currencies illegal, and even after this statement, local digital currency activities have continued unabated.

With this in mind, the report concludes that member states are positive about the legality of virtual currencies, given its conclusion that “a virtual currency ban is unlikely to be effective.”

The report states:

“Financial regulators and central banks should consider making a statement on the legality of virtual currencies and the applicability of any existing legislative framework.”

Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the Bitcoin and blockchain ecosystem, covering its positive applications in the payment and remittance sectors, as well as the use of these technologies in cybercrime.

The Commonwealth of Nations is an international organization consisting of 53 sovereign states (including territories), most of which are former British colonies or protectorates, including Australia, Canada, India and South Africa.

Regulatory recommendations

On the issue of criminal offences, the report recommends that member states take appropriate action to ensure that their laws apply to these technologies, while also engaging more broadly with other regulators around the world.

The report also said regulation was necessary to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, noting that to date this has meant oversight of ATM and exchange-related services.

However, the report also acknowledged that lawmakers would need to take an "innovative" approach to any rule-making.

In addition, the report also mentioned:

“Any regulatory and legislative framework should focus on the interaction between (digital currencies) and fiat currencies and should avoid regulating the underlying decentralized ledger technology.”

Use evidence

Surprisingly, the report also attempts to quantify how widespread the use of these technologies is in Commonwealth member states.

The researchers looked at downloads of the Bitcoin Core wallet in its 46 member countries, and while the report acknowledges the lack of available data, it does show that there is a correlation between Bitcoin usage and internet access, with “countries with the highest internet penetration having the most wallet downloads,” the report states.

The full original report can be found at Coin Library: http://8btc.com/doc-view-434.html

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/commonwealth-member-countries-bitcoin-legal/
By Pete Rizzo
Translator: Overnight porridge
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/commonwealth-bitcoin-legal)