Why are many institutions reluctant to partner with Bitcoin-related businesses?
Cryptocurrency
Asked by Question Bot12/Feb/20131 answer
1 Answer
F
Faisal Khan
Answered 12/Feb/2013
Many businesses honestly have no inkling of what Bitcoin is, let alone use it / accept it.
For those in the know there are issues with Bitcoin's legality that place it dead center on a wide swath of grey. Think 50 Shades of Grey.
Large publicly traded companies will wait before jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon. The legality of Bitcoin as an acceptable payment tender (as defined by Federal Reserve and various DFIs) leaves much to be said. Outside the US, in EU and UK, Bitcoin is seen promising, but then again, it is currently not regulated and Governments don't like unregulated payment instruments.
The FSA (for UK) has undertaken a study to better under stand Bitcoin and see how its issuance (read: mining) and trade (read: usage/exchange) can be regulated under the digital currencies framework.
It could very well be, that Bitcoin could simply be declared illegal by the US Government. Rest assured, there is a lobbyist working somewhere to pass legislation to kill Bitcoin before it seen mainstream usage and exponential growth.
In the absence of any legal cover (and to the best of my knowledge, there is no legal cover for Bitcoin), some businesses have taken upon themselves to dip their toes in the water when it comes to Bitcoin. The numbers are very low.
Bitcoin Exchanges are coming up and only to vanish a couple of weeks later, is not helping the cause.
Most financial institutions have literally never even heard of Bitcoins, which could possibly cause traction.
Competition is another reasons why digital payment companies might be reluctant to trade Bitcoins (as per your reference with PayPal).
It will be a while (if at all), before we see Bitcoins being used and traded as a mainstream payment method.
For those in the know there are issues with Bitcoin's legality that place it dead center on a wide swath of grey. Think 50 Shades of Grey.
Large publicly traded companies will wait before jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon. The legality of Bitcoin as an acceptable payment tender (as defined by Federal Reserve and various DFIs) leaves much to be said. Outside the US, in EU and UK, Bitcoin is seen promising, but then again, it is currently not regulated and Governments don't like unregulated payment instruments.
The FSA (for UK) has undertaken a study to better under stand Bitcoin and see how its issuance (read: mining) and trade (read: usage/exchange) can be regulated under the digital currencies framework.
It could very well be, that Bitcoin could simply be declared illegal by the US Government. Rest assured, there is a lobbyist working somewhere to pass legislation to kill Bitcoin before it seen mainstream usage and exponential growth.
In the absence of any legal cover (and to the best of my knowledge, there is no legal cover for Bitcoin), some businesses have taken upon themselves to dip their toes in the water when it comes to Bitcoin. The numbers are very low.
Bitcoin Exchanges are coming up and only to vanish a couple of weeks later, is not helping the cause.
Most financial institutions have literally never even heard of Bitcoins, which could possibly cause traction.
Competition is another reasons why digital payment companies might be reluctant to trade Bitcoins (as per your reference with PayPal).
It will be a while (if at all), before we see Bitcoins being used and traded as a mainstream payment method.