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73 La. L. Rev. 1119 (2012-2013)
The Nature of the Form: Legal ad Regulatory Issues Surrounding the Bitcoin Digital Currency System

handle is hein.journals/louilr73 and id is 1139 raw text is: The Nature of the Form: Legal and Regulatory Issues Surrounding the Bitcoin Digital Currency System We are at the beginning of a mighty struggle for control of the Internet-the web links everything and very soon it will mediate most human activity--because the Internet has fashioned a new and complicated environment for an age-old dilemma that pits the demands of security with the desire forfreedom.' INTRODUCTION Technology experts have described Bitcoin as a masterpiece of technology--a work of genius on par with the Mona Lisa.2 Its beauty, though, is not outwardly apparent but instead lies at the heart of its design. Bitcoin is a digital currency system created to facilitate Internet commerce. It does this by using digital signatures and peer- to-peer technology to curtail the system's need for trusted third parties, such as financial intermediaries and central banks.3 Bitcoin's architecture gives it several advantages over alternative payment systems: transaction costs are lower, privacy is enhanced, and inflationary pressures within the system should be reduced.4 Currency . . . is exactly like religion. It's based entirely on faith.5 This is especially the case with Bitcoin; no government corporation, or commodity (like gold) backs the digital currency. Practically, however, it is not very different from established fiat Copyright 2013, by JOSHUA J. DOGUET. 1. Presentation, Misha Glenny, Hire the Hackers!, TED (Sept. 2011), available at http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/ted-global-misha-glenny-says-hire- hackers-091511. 2. Ari Altstedter, Bitcoins Create Truly Democratic Policy, Followers Say, CANADA.COM (Jul. 22, 2011) (on file with author) (quoting IT consultant, Bruce Wagner) (internal quotation marks omitted). 3. Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, BITCOIN.ORG, 1-2, 4 (2008), http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf See discussion infra Part I.B.1-2. 4. Id. at 1, 6; Andy Greenberg, Crypto Currency, FORBES (May 9, 2011), http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0509/technology-psilocybin-bitcoins-gavin- andresen-crypto-currency.html. See discussion infra Part I.B.2. 5. Matthew Yeomans, The Quest for a Global E-Currency, CNN (Sept. 28, 1999), http://articles.cnn.com/1999-09-28/tech/9909 28_global.e.currency.idg_l credit-card-debit-global-internet-project/3 (quoting Jack Weatherford, author of THE HISTORY OF MONEY). 6. Video, Bitcoin & the End of State-Controlled Money: Q&A with Jerry Brito, REASON.COM, http://reason.tv/video/show/jerry-brito-on-bitcoin (last visited Oct. 5, 2011).

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