03 July 2014 / Beta News – The US Marshals Service doesn’t normally make economic policy but this week they apparently did so by auctioning 30,000 Bitcoins, a crypto currency I have written about before. This auction effectively legitimizes Bitcoins as part of the world economy. Am I the only one to notice this?
My first column on this subject was a cautionary tale pointing out the two great areas of vulnerability for Bitcoin: 1) the US Government might declare Bitcoins illegal, and; 2) someone might gain control of a majority of Bitcoins in which case their value could be manipulated. While number two is still theoretically possible it becomes less likely every day. And number one seems to have been put to rest by the U.S. Marshals.
The Marshals dispose of property confiscated by federal authorities, giving the proceeds to the Treasury Department and back to the Department of Justice. This auction — worth about $11 million — could not have happened without the permission of both agencies (Treasury and Justice). This is why I can claim that economic policy has been made, because it was authorized by the very agencies normally responsible for such policies.
