Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
DESPITE THE AMOUNT of traction it’s received in recent months, the legal status of Bitcoin has been murky at best.
Most governments are unsure how to approach the digital currency, and most have ruled out using it in the near future.
Wanting to see how different countries approached Bitcoin from a legal standpoint, the US Law Library of Congress put together a report looking at 40 countries (and the EU) where Bitcoin has been used and their stance towards it. The countries include:
Alderney, Argentina, Australia Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
The main finding was Bitcoin has a long way to go before it’s recognised legally by most countries. Only a few countries such as China and Brazil have specific regulations that can be applied to it – the Chinese government declared it illegal while Brazil passed a law which paves the way for its future use.
The rest of the countries listed are choosing to monitor the currency for now since it’s still unregulated.
The report noted that the biggest concern among governments is the kind of impact Bitcoin will have on national currencies, the implications of its use for taxation, and its potential for criminal use.
With regards to Ireland, it noted the government saying the threat to the Exchequer was “likely to be small.” It also said the Revenue Commissioners are monitoring Bitcoin’s development and considering its implications for possible taxation.
The report concluded that its findings “reveal that the debate over how to deal with this new virtual currency is still in its infancy.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
So thousands of people were able to gather in close proximity for a protest but a lot of people missed out on saying goodbye to their relatives/friends at funerals?
@Marie McG: if the Gardai had intervened, they would have been called racists, preventing free speech, etc., etc.
Damned if they do….,,,,,,
@Marie McG: Racism or no racism people especially in the community for which they were protesting could die as a result of their actions
@Chin Feeyin:
Let’s put that on headstones.
@Chin Feeyin: If the Gardai would have intervened it would have escalated given the reason for the demonstration.
If Social Distancing is only a guideline and demonstrations are not in need of approval what were they meant to do? (Still confused if social distancing is a guideline or law and refer thetefore to the article)
@8-Bit-Relic: it was a mass gathering
End of discussion
@Marie McG: absolutely i don’t know what was worse. The people although with good intentions who turned up putting countless lives at risk or the gardai who didn’t enforce social distancing. I guess you can’t legislate for stupidity
@Luke Redmond: It was an accidental mass gathering, organisers expected a small number, not thousands of people to attend.
@Luke Redmond: It was and and it was mentioned in the article that protests don’t need permissions.
I’m curious what kind of case they have.
@Rochelle: Any more than 4 people was too many according to the government’s regulations
Gardai failed to even attempt to disband it
It’s an insult to the hundreds who have lost their lives to this illness those who couldn’t attend their loved ones funerals and the thousands of elderly people who want nothing more than a hug off their grand children
@8-Bit-Relic: It’s more the moral failure than the legal one here
@Rochelle:
Well hopefully the organisers feel proud of what they have done !!!.
If there is another outbreak it sits firmly on their shoulders (where a head with a brain should be).
Irresponsible shower of idiotic fools.
@Luke Redmond: The guards don’t monitor moral but laws. If there isn’t one they can’t react. If there is a gap in the law it’s up to the parliament/government to fill it.
@Rochelle: did they only expect the permitted 4 to turn up?
@gordon o loughlin: social distancing can’t be enforced. You can’t legislate for poor legislation.
@Chin Feeyin: They had no power to intervene.
@Chin Feeyin: spot on
@Tony Lyons: Gotta do it for the gram!
@Chin Feeyin: There was rapid intervention for the Debenhams protest.
@Barry Lynch: another protest organised for this Saturday. Could be interesting.
@8-Bit-Relic: They have powers to ensure the covid 19 guidelines are adhered to
Apparently
Didn’t do much to try enforce that yesterday
Lockdown has lost the last shred of integrity it had
@Luke Redmond: I can only refer to the article.
However, the protest has seen itself as support against police violence and the protests in the US. If the guards were allowed to intervene, they could risk that the protest in Ireland could turn violent. That’s for sure in noones interest
@Chin Feeyin: exactly couldn’t put it better
@filthypete: You shouldn’t have to legislate ! Common sense obviously isn’t that common within some groups.
@Marie McG: my mam was cremeted in dardistown cemetery a few weeks back, with only 10 people inside the crematorium, a place that could easily hold about 150 people. My kids and siblings kids stood outside looking in tru the glass front. I am angry now.
@Paul Gorry: You have every right to be. Sorry for the loss of your mam.
@Luke Redmond: they have powers to enforce regulations not guidelines. If they were to falsely enforce 2m distancing they’d be right accused of abusing powers. Note that the article mentions they took some people’s details and will seek advice from the DPP, that is the way the Act is written.
I think most reasonable people support the broad objectives behind the protest. But it is not right in the middle of a pandemic just to give up on the adherence of the lockdown because the protest du jour suits your political beliefs. People rightly lampooned “she who must not be named” outside the High Court – but that shouldn’t end just because you support the latest protest. People all around the country who have not seen family or friends for many months, been unable to attend funerals of loved ones, are rightly shocked at the scenes yesterday.
@LangerDan: Well said.
@LangerDan: Em, who did the Gardai kill?
@LangerDan: where do Debenhams staff fit into this?
@Sylvia O’Regan: What are you on about, Sylvia?
@LangerDan: I agree, but I suppose you could argue that Gardai inaction when “she who must not be named” holds a protest, has partly lead to what happened yesterday.
@LangerDan: Acoording to friends, Ireland is one of the more tolerant places in the world for people of all colours. Ireland has no history of slavery based on colour or police brutality. This protest was not necessary, esp during the CV19 pandemic.
@JackSimpson: You think there’s no racism in Ireland? Wow.
@JackSimpson: Read my comment again. I think you’ll find we agree.
@JackSimpson: probably why they were at the US embassy
@JackSimpson: “according to friends” the stuff you come out with I swear
@Dave O’Keeffe: but in all fairness. Whether it was 5, 50, 500, 5000, you think the US ambassador to Ireland really worries about what we think??? It was irresponsible in the extreme to hold this protest given the actual effect of it on racism anywhere in the world will be zero. It might well have not have happened for all the good it did…but for all the harm it could potentially do, I trust all 5000 are staying locked down and self isolating for the next 2 weeks so as not to transmit anything to anyone. That is the only responsible thing to do now in the aftermath of this. Yes Black Lives Matter…but so should Irish ones, especially the older and vulnerable people. I trust you would agree?
@Jon Wallis: where did he say there was no racism in Ireland
@Jon Wallis: show me one instance where a member of the Gardaí knelt on the neck of anyone of whatever colour or creed.the police force in this country are probably among the most tolerant in the world. Let the Americans handle their own problems.
#virtuesignallingmatters
@SkepticalHippoEyes: yawn
I Like Wok,.More of a hipster vibe.
@Dave Nomates: woke FFS.
@Johnny 5: the truth can be exhausting, I know.
ALL LIVES MATTER
@goaskmehoop: yes. A point lost on the protestors yesterday. Weeks of good work potentially down the drain. All it needed was one person. And a camera.
@goaskmehoop: saying all lives matter is like telling the fire brigade to spray down all houses in a neighbourhood even though only one house is on fire. Yes, your house matters too, but your house isn’t on poxy fire.
@Jen: Fire brigade will douse houses left and right of burning house. Houses with black doors matter.
@Jen: if it was lashing rain hardly anybody would of been protesting so many bandwagon jumpers there
@Jen: hahaha what a stupid comment
@goaskmehoop: says you.
@goaskmehoop: that’s not the point. back lives matter doesn’t mean that all lives don’t matter… it means that black lives matter too.
@Dylan Ryan: Sad that there is so many that don’t (want to) understand this.
About time. The silence throughout the media, politicians etc on the protest as a large gathering in view of the virus is frightening in itself let alone the implications for public health. Especially when Dublin has the highest infection rate.
The government and Garda have both abdicated their responsibilities on this demonstration in a huge way in regard to Covid-19. The government briefing this afternoon was farcical. This is the biggest breach of the guidelines since the introduction of the “lockdown”. Social distancing in an outdoor environment is now effectively dead. In addition, the media has gone AWOL.
@Joe Nolan: how is it now dead? One incident, a very large one, but still one incident. How does that stop the entire country from social distancing? Are you thinking people are sitting at home going “well if they can protest police brutality and systemic racism in the US then I can sit wherever I want on the bus”
@Dave O’Keeffe: you said it your self one large incident..the results of this could kick off a second wave very easily.
@Dave O’Keeffe: It does actually. According to reports now social distancing is just a guide line now. I am going to meet up with friends now and visit my daughter in Kildare. Just say I am heading to a protest.
@Joe Nolan:
Spot on Joe….
Some people on here trying to defend to indefendable.
Its been widely reported that Cheltenham and allowing Italian rugby supporters to come over at the start of this pandemic cost many lives and led to a surge in covid cases .
Is the mass gathering yesterday any different??
Unbelievable stuff.
What part of “stay at home , save lifes ” did they not get???…
@Dave O’Keeffe: were you one of the people involved in organising the protest?
@Aine Healy: nope, I’m one of the people that risked my health 5 days a week through the pandemic
@Brendan Woods: it was always a guideline, what do you think guideline means???????? Your actions are your responsibility, go wherever you want, I hope you’re investigated just like I hope those in attendance at the protest are investigated.
@Dave O’Keeffe: I have been stopped from seeing my autistic daughter in Kildare because of the law not a guide line. Do you really think a single person will be investigated that was involved in the protest???
@Brendan Woods: I think I’ll go visit my parents tomorrow and f the lot of them
@Dave O’Keeffe: if it’s just a guideline, what business do the gardai have investigating breaches?
@Brendan Woods: The 5km distance is enforceable, the 2m is just a guideline.
@Jensen Bhroin: And what about large gatherings??? Is that a guideline or a enforceable law???
@Macca Attack: Fair play to you. I am heading out on the road tomorrow and F em too.
@Macca Attack: awkwardly stated comment
Brid Smith and her band of lefties, need to do as they say.
@DeWitt: bride Big mouth Smith knows it all
Potential….?
@Enuff Said: Nothing will come of this. They have to be seen to be ‘doing something’ following the justified outrage yesterday from everyone else who followed the lockdown rules
@Anna: Speak for yourself. Not everybody that followed the lockdown rules is as easily outraged as yourself. I recommend you have a word with yourself.
@mar: where in my comment did I say I was outraged personally? However I did say people’s outrage was justified. You only have to check the responses to Leo’s late night tweet yesterday to witness some of that outrage
@Anna: Mar doesn’t care much for the recommendations of the experts. He / She, with the anonymous profile, knows better than them.
@Cliff Burnby: Will you are the guy who knows better than all experts what the chance of dying from covid19 is if you get infected? 3% you claimed in another discussion didn’t you?
@mar: Yes, The WHO say its higher actually.
@mar: ….And I gave you a link to an Irish Times article quoting the same figures ! You responded with an article from someone nobody has heard of on a website nobody has heard of either. Lol…
@Cliff Burnby: No they don’t!
@Cliff Burnby: Except the figure in the article you linked was the case fatality rate which absolutely doesn’t tell you what to chances of doing from the virus are. How thick are you?
@mar: *dying even
@mar: Whatever… It’s all a conspiracy and the Irish Times are in on it, keep the Tin foil on Mar. Lol..
@Cliff Burnby: The discussion we had was about about ‘chances of dying from infection’ and not ‘death among confirmed cases’.
“The UK government’s scientific advisers believe that the chances of dying from a coronavirus infection are between 0.5% and 1%.
This is lower than the rate of death among confirmed cases – which is 4% globally in WHO figures and 5% in the UK as of March 23 – because not all infections are confirmed by testing.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-51674743
How hard can it be to understand this?
Covid saw a feast of new people to tuck into yesterday because it doesn’t care about righteous morals. Months of public effort and essential workers wasted by a reactionary (its a great cause, but this was DEFINITELY not the time) protest. This cannot happen again until the cases reach zero.
@Paul Cunningham: oh God. We were told at first the lockdown was just until we flattened the curve. Now we have to wait until the cases reach zero? Are you ever going to come out of your house?
@Squarepeg01: I have flown from the other side of the world to support my parents at this time, and from a country that had (and still has) no deaths, so I have seen the benefits of people staying in and a population not being dumb enough to gather during a pandemic. Ireland does need to lower cases if mass gatherings are going to be a thing.
Are they going to ‘track and trace’ everybody and hand out charges
@LFCMAD_94: They should!! They won’t.
@LFCMAD_94: Should get the GESTAPO involved!
@John Jones: get a life really soon
@mar: wrong country wrong century
Listening to 2fm today in work and they had the cheek to bring on the idiot that organised this march..not once did they question him on the potential deaths that could be a result of this..instead feeding him with easy simp questions and praising him..and the ironory of it all the actually played a covid ad right after the interview.
@Craig Clancy: was it Spindle legs Tubridy?
@Paul Brierley: nope..would not be surprised with him…but it was Jennifer z.
@Craig Clancy: even worse!
@Paul Brierley: he’s not on 2fm actually
@Margaret Mcgarry: still rte
@Craig Clancy: the same lot that were chastising John Waters and O Doherty only a few weeks ago for the irresponsible and moronic protest outside the 4 courts…but surprise surprise the same lot cant muster their ire and indignation to chastise an event they would support. The blatant Double standards of the identity politics brigade and RTE laid bare
no respect for the rest of us trying to stay safe.Lost a good friend recently to this virus.
If the actions of these people contribute to one death due to covid, they are as culpible as those they protest against in my opinion.
No investigation into Gemtrails and her merry band of Covidiots, no?
@The Risen: remember when you were passionately promoting her for the presidency? Ah good times, what a truly astute political observer you are.
@The Risen: That’s president Gemtrails to you.
@The Risen: That was scandalous but there’s no comparison in terms of numbers. This march was reckless.
@Peter Denham: Not saying that it wasn’t but I don’t think that someone would have noticed the march if it would have been outside the lockdown.
I’m just disappointed that it’s only against racism in the US and no focus on Ireland. That makes a little more odd during a lockdown in this country
@The Risen:
Between Gemma for President and your support for PBP/Bríd …You sure know how to pick them…… Not!
Health Care Workers’ Lives Matter also.
@The Risen: how’s the PBP canvassing going. Demo at the beginning of the crisis and another now. When’s the next one planned for them to jump on a bandwagon.
Lock them Up
@John Gorman: Move to North Korea
@mar: You might think differently if someone vulnerable and close to you got ill because of this. This isn’t about you !
@Cliff Burnby: Yet another childish comment.
@mar: Why is it childish ? You wouldn’t spout any of your nonsense in front of a berieved family. You haven’t even got the guts to show your identity on here ! Just another sad, anonymous troll.
More like a bunch of loud mouthed children of supposed refugees that came here 20 years ago seeking asylum. It’s has nothing to do with Ireland, why don’t protest against the evil regimes of their mother countries they came from, were thousands are killed every year. Seems ignorant of them to be protesting about events that happened in America which they have never visited. Just as well covid 19 took a day off.
People who participate in protests with mass gatherings are responsible for the future suffering of people and quite possible further death and help the spread of the virus.
Isn’t that the argument that was used when a couple of people demonstrate in the US again at lockdowns and did not adhere to social distance or wear masks than?
So where are those critics now?
Hiding most possible because it’s hard to critize something on a matter of principle when it’s done by their polical side.
If its okay for these people to gather with travel outside the approved range than why do we have these rules?
These demonstrators (independent of a valid cause) are endangering other people they might come in contact with.
@Yggr of Asgard: THATS WHAT THEY NEED YOU TO THINK
@Vladimir Macro: Comrade I know life in the Siberia Gulag is not easy but there is no reason to shout.
@Yggr of Asgard: Ha. Sorry. didnt realise. If I could make the text smaller now I would. Soz
@Yggr of Asgard: the same lot that were chastising John Waters and O Doherty only a few weeks ago for the irresponsible and moronic protest outside the 4 courts…but surprise surprise the same lot cant muster their ire and indignation to chastise an event they would support. The blatant Double standards of the identity politics brigade laid bare.
A dozen Debenham workers tried to stage a protest outside their place of work, adhered to social distancing guidelines And were threatened with arrest by AnGarda, yet thousands gather with zero regard to social distancing and nothing from AnGarda.
What a joke
@A -AFC: Fine Gael & Leo will promote EU dogma to the end
The Debenhams workers are irrelevant to them
Their loyalty is rewarded with grants, subsidies , jobs eg McGuiness , Hogan,
Potential breach…
Is this a joke. It’s plane for all to see. Gardai backed away from this out of fear of bad press shutting it down. And now their investigating! Prevention is better than cure!
I for one am having my family over this weekend, I’m sick of these double standards, I miss them so much this is the last straw, just open the country and be done with it
@Nan: I get how you’re feeling and my reaction was similar. Other than my child, I haven’t seen another human being, face-to-face, since the 12th March. However, let’s keep our loved ones safe for now and continue to follow the experts’ guidelines. Just because a minority of selfish, immature individuals choose to behave in a certain way, doesn’t mean we should chuck our standards out the window and follow suit. We will see our families soon, with our conscience clear that we did everything we could to keep them safe and didn’t intentionally put them in harms way. Stay safe.
@FrustratedASDMum: a lot of us don’t have the same trust in these experts that you do.
So it seems that everyone on the march, by their actions, care more about the life of a man in the US whom they have never met, than the lives of their immediate families. That’s a great cause. Chanting “I can’t breathe ” may actually be ironic as that’s what patients in ICU would say. As others have said, a mass gathering at a funeral is not possible, so I hope this one was worth it.
It was billed as a peaceful protest, but if the close contacts that occurred spread contagion, then the result is unwelcome violence. Some sympathisers also said that the protests in Dublin were ‘spontaneous’. They overlook that hundreds came on to the streets egged on by networked social media. The spontaneity was organized.
I’d like to see every one of them charged with a crime but it won’t happen. And if you were at the march you’ve lost the right to ridicule Gemma O’Doherty ever again for suing the state over her rights being breached.
I would love to know, how many of this older group of people shown on tv , took to the streets when the same thing and a lot worse was happening 50 miles up the road in the 70’s 80s 90s in the north of Ireland, were I commend the younger generation, we did not see these masses when our own country men and woman needed them.
@Jimmy Mac: I did!
@Jimmy Mac: I don’t get the comment. Are you blaming them not be be born and old enough 50 years ago or that the then younger generation wasn’t there?
How old were you in the 70′s?
@Jimmy Mac: You must have been in a very different Ireland to the one I live in. I recall dozens of protest marches held in Dublin in 1981 at the time of the Hunger strikes in ’81. Protests not only in Dublin city centre, but in suburbs, towns and villages all around the country, North and South. On July 18th 1981 there was riot at the British embassy in Ballsbridge after 10,000 people marched on the embassy. I recall at the time that reporters were beaten by Gardaí? 200 people ended up in Hospital. Do you forget that in 1972 following Bloody Sunday that 25,000 protestors marched on the British Embassy, then in Merrion Square, and burnt it down. I remember also 10,000 people protesting in O’Connell street and praying for peace in March 1993 following the Warrington Bombing. If these are not masses of people what is?
A bit late I think
If only the Debenham workers had of marked an X on the pavement they’d have been grand.
I don’t know what pisses me off more .
These selfish moronic gobshits who were marching yesterday (who a few months ago were giving out about Cheltenham) or our Taoiseach not condemning but condoning it.
@tom forde: I agree with most of your post but Leo did not do a Bríd on it! He simply stated racism needs to be defeated.
Leos tweet was badly thought out
In other words. They’ll do fcuk all
What investigation will take place? , if there were , say, 1,000 people on that protest, are they going to identify and interview every one of them? , No they are not. Why didn’t the Gardai break up this March ? , they stopped a peaceful protests in Dulin against people loosing their jobs a few weeks ago , why let this happen now? ,why let people congregate ob beeches at the weekend ? Criminal Investigation my Ar…e . Pure BS talk.
Good luck with that
self righteous ***holes to hold something like this – could they not do something else more apt as a protest in the current climate
White lives matter too!!
Hitler state
@Christopher Millar: Where’s the Hitler state?
The virus is no longer in Cork. Testing stopped weeks ago. The Covid wards have all closed. This is not about the virus anymore but population control and how far the Leo, Simon and Tony who continue to earn a fortune while Irelands SMEs crumble permanently. It is imperative that the incoming government rescind the so called 2020 emergency legislation and get Ireland working again. These draconian laws restricting movement are a violation of our constitutional right to freedom of movement. The gardaí do not obey the distancing rules. Freedom of choice to kill babies extends to freedom to exercise civil disobedience. My freedom, my choice.
Protect the elderly and the vulnerable but open up the economy
I trust all 5000 will be self quarantining themselves for the next 2 weeks. It is the only responsible thing to do now. If Black Lives Matter…which they do…then the lives of their fellow citizens should too. Especially the old and vulnerable ones. They should recognize they did sonething very blatantly stupid and unwise…and stay locked down to make sure the rest of us can safely go about our business.
Angry and bored D4 snowflake kids jumping on a political bandwagon that has zero to do with Ireland. Gathering like this in the middle of a pandemic is really smart. Just sign a solidarity petition on Facebook and Foxrock off.
No doubt the same people where lighting candles and outside clapping for our frontline workers. Sure you’ll get to meet them In the near future to thank them directly
Anyone at that parade who can be traced to passing on the illness or worse …causing a death.. should be hauled up on manslaughter charges
Dumb, very Dumb Bunch, same Lefties would not be out for Travellers or the Homeless
Yes, White Lives Matter Too. But it didn’t matter to me and my family because we were so badly treated by the Gardai and the authorities for more than 30 years and we lost our dream shop as a result. Are there anyone out there in position to try and fix my problem. I have been to people who I had taught might help but they were thrown off course when they realized what my query was all about. The problem was with the young tugs in the area of the proposed store who caused so much damage to the store that it was impossible to run Things were not good in the area I lived and there was no decent work to be found. My dream was about to own my own Store and so I went to England in the 1960′s to find work and earn some money so as I could return in a position to set up the store. I did this with a prayer in head that someday I would return to set up my dream store. I returned some years later and set about fulfilling the dream. But what happened later was too much to comprehend. I have written a book and I can supply a copy of the book to the interested persons. Thank you so much for your help.
Potential breaches? Ffs give me strenght!
Do you know we haven’t had a tribunal in ages what about one of them
Morons, self righteous morons!!!!
Are they going to investigate Leo and his friends as well? Lets face it, once Leo was all over the news in a rented weekend party cottage with his mates without a mask not following social distancing guidelines everyone followed his lead.
You’re not understanding that people went out to protest for the FUTURE .. they didn’t just come out for the sake of it…
BLACK PEOPLE ARE BEING KILLED FOR THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN.
There are BLACK PEOPLE that were born in Ireland and may travel to AMERICA , it’s self explanatory
You’re not understanding that people went out to protest for the FUTURE .. they didn’t just come out for the sake of it…
BLACK PEOPLE ARE BEING KILLED FOR THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN.
There are BLACK PEOPLE that were born in Ireland and may travel to AMERICA , it’s self explanatory
The youth of Ireland have shown themselves to be utterly aware of how their actions are putting the vulnerable at risk. The knock on affects for them is a wiping out of casual work and high unemployment of the under 25s. They will be on the dole for years. Hope all the socialising was worth it. The tragedy in the states and black lives matter cause is just, but it’s the wrong time. Nurses and front line workers must vomit when they see this as well as all the groups of teenagers hanging around.
Investigate Potential breaches of covid regs ????
Aaam … no investigation required… they all breached the the regs !! Simple as .. Stv
have your say