Its price has gone gangbusters over the past year, but anyone caught dealing Bitcoin in breach of proposed new laws could face doing jail time themselves.
According to today's Australian Financial Review legislators are in the process of finalising a bill to amend the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorism Act 2006 to introduce huge fines and up to 7 years' jail for anyone operating a "virtual currency exchange" without being registered with AUSTRAC as the AML regulator.
Today Bitcoin sells for US$3,725 a coin and some claim that it's on an inevitable rise to US$100,000 a coin over the years ahead, as it represents a store of value that cannot be eroded by the inflationary effects of fiscal easing or money printing beloved of every politician in the world with a significant national debt problem and job to keep.
Now many businesses even accept it as a method of exchange, especially given its recent propensity to keep rising in value.
However, some think the digital currency is just a giant bubble poised to pop at any time.
The last historic bubble based on wild speculation, hype, greed, and stupidity was the dot-com bubble of 2001, where hundreds of "internet-related" companies were bid up by retail punters globally only to come crashing down with lightening speed.
As with Bitcoin the speculative buying was based on hogwash in the media and the fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) trade driving asset prices higher, despite the assets having zero potential to deliver future cash flows to owners.
Bitcoin and its rivals like Ethereum could be poised to bite the dust then, especially given the toughening regulatory environment as governments wake up to the crypto-currencies' potential to launder money and threaten the rule of law.
Whether Bitcoin proves to be the new gold, or next dot-com bust is impossible to know, but given its shadowy status and lack of cash–generating potential I'm giving it a miss.
