In the wake of regulatory action in the United States and China that have made it difficult for the bitcoin industry to operate, a Washington-based advocacy group has begun developing guidance aimed at outlining the regulatory risk associated with various jurisdictions so that entrepreneurs have a better idea where to set up shop, a spokesman for the group told Compliance Complete. Both the U.S. Treasury Department, and more recently the Chinese central bank, have taken significant steps to regulate bitcoin, a peer-to-peer currency with no central authority. The anonymous nature of bitcoin transactions, and their potential value to money launderers or other criminals, has been the primary impetus behind these regulatory moves. Patrick Murck, the general counsel of the Bitcoin Foundation, the Washington advocacy group, told Compliance Complete that guidance is in the works that would rate various countries as potential hosts for bitcoin businesses based on yet-to-be decided regulatory
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