Will The United States Let Bitcoin Slip Through Our Grasp

Can Regulating Bitcoin solve the issues with the new ditigal currency or will it just be flawed and not be taken serious. Time Will Tell The Story. The United States Has The opportunity to be in the forefront of a new technology that can change the monetary system as we know it. If the United States does not foster a reasonable regulatory environment for Bitcoin, the country might soon lose its head start in what could be the next great technological revolution. That's the message policymakers should be hearings on the virtual currency. Sources Say While Bitcoin is an international phenomenon, the United States has been central to its growth to date. Bitcoin's lead developer, Gavin Andresen, is an American based in the United States, as is the Bitcoin Foundation that employs him. The most innovative startups building out Bitcoin's infrastructure are also US-based. These include the merchant services provider Bitpay in Atlanta, backed by PayPal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, and the consumer-friendly wallet service Coinbase in Silicon Valley, backed by early Twitter funders Union Square Ventures. But Bitcoin's center of gravity is beginning to shift. Earlier this year, China became the first country to overtake the United States in downloads of the Bitcoin client software, and since China's dominant search engine, Baidu, began accepting Bitcoins for services, demand has skyrocketed. BTC China, the main exchange there, recently became the largest in the world, accounting for 35% of all Bitcoin trades.