To make matters worse, while Shrem was CEO he was simultaneously BitInstant’s compliance officer, responsible for ensuring that his company followed the law.
Impressive amount of hubris there.
When will the law stop violating the rights of free men?
It's interesting that Bitcoin is not classified as a currency by some parts of the government but it was considered a money-transmitting business.
I'd argue that Bitcoin owns it's meteoric rise to SilkRoad and drugs in general. Many people 'got into' bitcoin in order to be able to purchase stuff on SilkRoad or similar. I know I'm one of them and I'm really thankful for those 3 hits of acid which cost me 3.3 BTC at the time. The transaction worked so I've decided to invest a lot more in Bitcoin. Up to this day I'm living off that investment and able to work on my dream projects. And the acid was very good as well ;).