UK Treasury Committee MP: Bitcoin Doesn’t Need New Laws

Last month, the United Kingdom parliament debated an arcane topic that hasn’t been raised in the legislative chamber in 170 years: money creation.
The last time the subject was discussed in the House of Commons was when the Bank Charter Act of 1844 was passed. That historic act put an end to British commercial banks’ ability to issue banknotes, transferring those powers exclusively to the Bank of England.
The member of parliament who revived the topic in the House was Steve Baker, who was recently elected to a seat on the Treasury Select Committee. The committee is responsible for scrutinising the Treasury, the Bank of England, the tax authority and the financial regulator.
Bitcoin believers who heard the debate would have been pleased to discover that Baker is also a bitcoin user. During the debate, the MP called on the government to move away from creating new regulations specifically for alternative currencies, including bitcoin. Instead, he said, the state should do everything possible to regulate bitcoin under ordinary commercial law.
Speaking to CoinDesk exclusively at the House of Commons, Baker explained his view, conceding that it was a strong position for a politician to adopt.
He said:

This post was published at Coin Desk on December 5, 2014.