NEWSLETTER
A few weeks ago, we briefly touched how the confiscation of civil assets to bitcoin can be applied, a process in which the government can take advantage of citizens' assets without accusing a person of a crime. With the United States government stating that the confiscation of civil assets will form a key pillar in the construction of its Bitcoins strategic reserve, the Law on Integrity Restoration of the Fifth Amendment of 2023, also known as the Fair actIt could be said that it is the most important bill introduced in Congress today to protect bitcoin holders from extensive government overreach. Without it, many can see their bitcoin seized and lost in the name of the reserve with little or no resource.
For a long time, it has been argued that the loss of civil assets needs drastic reform. Throughout the country, states have become known Abuse the process to enrich your own law enforcement agencies, which can appropriate the funds collected. From the police seizing the truck of a veteran of Vietnam for serving as a “container” for marijuana, or trying to appropriate the savings of a man's life for a rape of the safety belt, the loss of civil assets is “one of the most serious abuse of power in the country today.” according The Institute of Justice.
The confiscation of civil assets is particularly problematic since the process creates a financial incentive for the police to lose the property of citizens to the government without due process, such as fixed For the aclu. Especially in the light of bitcoin's scarcity and its consequent appreciation of value over time, this financial incentive is only exacerbated when the loss of civil assets is applied to build the strategic bitcoins reserve.
To protect citizens from the abuse of confiscation of civil assets, the fair law of 2023, which was reintroduced in 2024 Copatrocinated by Senator Lummis, among others, aims to review federal laws that govern the process to ensure that the procedures for the confiscation of civil assets follow the due process as governed by the fifth amendment.
First, it does so by raising the evidence of the “preponderance” of the evidence, which means that the statement of a party is quite true that does not, to clear and convincing evidence, increasing the burden of the evidence that the government must provide to enforce a loss.
With the right law, the execution agencies must establish that there was a substantial connection between the property and the crime, as well as that the owner of any interest in the seized property used the property with the intention of facilitating the crime, or consented to know or was deliberately blind to the use of the property by the other in relation to the crime. This forms the most important aspect of the act that applies to bitcoin.
At the moment, the government could take the legally acquired bitcoin from a person if the UTXO himself would have previously used in the evasion of sanctions or play a Darknet market; Regardless of whether its owner was aware of the history of the currency when obtaining it. By introducing active consent and intentional blindness, the act just prior requirements that the owner of bitcoin was lost was aware of the btc's acquired origins so that confiscation is applied.
The fair law also requires that the Government designate a lawyer to property owners who cannot obtain a financial representation, or if the cost of obtaining representation would exceed the value of the seized property, a problem that could prevent many to challenge the loss of assets in the first place, since the loss of civil asset effectively reverges the burden of the evidence. At this time to recover its property, it must demonstrate that the government is wrong instead of the government having to present a case against it.
“The confiscation of civil assets allows the Federal Police to confiscate the property of Americans who have not even been accused or convicted of a crime.” saying Senator Booker, who presented the bill together with Senator Rand Paul. “According to this system, the police can keep effective, cars and even households based on the mere suspicion of a crime. These losses often become police profits because the burden is in the owner of the property to demonstrate that they should recover their property.”
“The Government should never have the power to confiscate the property of a person without due process. However, according to the current laws of the confiscation of civil assets, Americans are being stripped of their property without being accused or condemned by a crime. The fair law directly addresses these injustices and is a critical step towards justice and responsibility, protecting the rights of the owners and stops the right of civil weapons critic to restore the account of property owners and stop the declaration of the weapon of civil works.
If you are supporting the bitcoin strategic reserve, the approval of the fair law must be a prerequisite for your establishment to ensure that the government's bitcoin battery is not based on the abuse of its powers.
This is an guest publication of L0la L33tz. The opinions expressed are completely yours and do not necessarily reflect those of btc INC or bitcoin magazine.
