Closed petition Light regulation of virtual private currencies (bitcoin etc)

Closed on 3 March 2015

There are now many virtual private currencies, such as bitcoin, operating in a distributed manner whereby transfers are made person to person without government oversight or regulation.

Payments in such currencies can be unlimited in value / volume and often avoiding KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti Money Laundering) checks. Such currencies are open to abuse and can readily facilitate large scale tax evasion and money laundering. Increasingly, they are used by gangs and organised crime syndicates.

These currencies usually have two keys; a public key where payments arrive and a private key that authenticates spending. The keys do not identify people, they just enable transaction to take place.

I propose all public keys (the part that receives payments) are registered with HMRC, thus allowing HMRC to identify and assist users with their tax. It also means, people using unregistered public keys may face investigation and possible criminal charges (undeclared earnings).