It's an absolutely ridiculous piece of potential legislation, I compare it to having to announce your stock and asset holdings at the border. I understand that its different because cryptocurrencies have the potential to be more liquid, but I believe this type of regulation will only incentive legitimate holders to taking extra precautions storing their coins. Most are more than willing to follow fair regulation, but this is simply ridiculous. I have no desire to be scrutinized simply because of my legitimate investments that they simply don't understand. Great post!
Well-stated. Hopefully such rational views will get integrated into the decision-making process as this all evolves - of course, it's early on and new territory, so may take some time for wisdom to appear in the process...
It is actually quite understandable that this happens. The view of legislators is stuck on the idea that anything beyond $10,000 that is carried should be declared (and, unfortunately, can be seized). Stuck in this view, they also target cryptocurrencies.
But you are not carrying something physical over the border. It is just information (a private key). The key basically means access to something, not carrying the physical thing with you like cash. If access is the defining feature, bank cards and credit cards should be seized as well. Actually, whole humans should be seized, valuable as they are in generating and accessing wealth. Beware, bright programmers 😄
Perhaps legislators need a crash course in cryptocurrency to avoid these embarrasing headlines.