Cryptocurrency

A Bit of History
Bitcoin (BTC on NASDAQ) is the first cryptocurrency released by Natoshi Nakamato (an alias) in 2009. The application is open source code software. That is, code developed with decentralized and collaborative programming for public access. Another example of open source software is the Mozilla Foxfire Internet browser. The bitcoin app is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or other administrator. A strong blockchain encryption algorithm makes user accounts (called “wallets) impervious to decryption. The wallet is digital asset that excludes unauthorized access. Including the IRS, SEC and various federal and state governments that want to tax and regulate bitcoin transactions. Bitcoins can be exchanged on a person to person basis with other owners’ wallets for currencies, products and services. Bitcoin mining is a record keeping service powered by computer processing. Miner programmers are required to keep the blockchain consistent, complete and unalterable by repeatedly grouping newly transactions into a block. Those then are broadcast to the network and verified by recipient nodes. Each block contains an SHA cryptographic hash of the previous block, linking it to the previous block and giving blockchain its name. The app works on computers, smartphones, tablets and is traded on NASDAQ as BTC. Bitcoin is not protected by the FDIC, since it does not require a centralized administrator, such as the Federal Reserve Bank. Since 2011, many new cryptocurrencies have been released, such as Litecoin and Ethereum to name a few.

Beverly Hills Criminal Defense Attorney
Jeffery K. Rubenstein opines that case law on cryptocurrencies has yet to be developed. He has 25 years experience successfully defending people around Southern California from charges, such as EDD Fraud, Identity Theft, Money Laundering and other online financial cybercrimes.