Bitcoin’s not money, judge rules as she tosses money-laundering charge
The judge seems to have used a very narrow view of money.  They argued that money must be universally accepted and have a steady value.<p>I don&#x27;t know the law in this case, but does this mean that money laundering is ok as long as it&#x27;s done through something that isn&#x27;t cash?  For example, bearer bonds aren&#x27;t universally accepted so I could launder my money using them?  Gold certainly isn&#x27;t universally accepted and its value fluctuates compared to the US Dollar so laundering with gold wouldn&#x27;t be illegal?  If there&#x27;s a currency from a foreign country that&#x27;s less accepted than Bitcoin, can I wash my money though that legally?  The ruling in the case just doesn&#x27;t pass a logic test.  If something has to pass a two-pronged test of near-universal acceptance and stable value compared to the USD, then it&#x27;s going to make money laundering trivially legal.<p>Now, this case seems kinda bad from the gov&#x27;t side.  I mean, imagine someone wants to buy some bitcoin from you and then casually drops, &quot;yea, I&#x27;m gonna do somethin&#x27; illegal with it&quot; at the last minute.  What are you supposed to do in that situation?  I wouldn&#x27;t say no simply because, well, do these people have a gun and are going to get shooty if I don&#x27;t go through with it?<p>In fact, the judge said, &quot;This court is unwilling to punish a man for selling his property to another, when his actions fall under a statute that is so vaguely written that even legal professionals have difficulty finding a singular meaning.&quot;  Which really says that the judge was struggling to find a way to let someone off that was captured by a law written so vague as to capture everyone.  I mean, if the law criminalizes all financial transactions that might promote some illegal activity, that&#x27;s a crappy law.<p>I can see not wanting to punish some random person that got caught in this police action.  That still doesn&#x27;t (shouldn&#x27;t) mean that Bitcoin can&#x27;t be considered money laundering.