In July, lawyers for Ulbricht moved to dismiss the government's indictment against the Silk Road creator. The prosecutor and defense lawyer made some characterizations about bitcoin that, while helpful to their cases, did not seem accurate:
-To emphasize the anonymity of Silk Road, the government alleged (according to the judge) that Bitcoin was an "an anonymous and untraceable form of payment" and "an anonymous online currency." Interesting to learn from the prosecutor that bitcoin is untraceable.
-In order to try to get rid of the money-laundering charge, Ulbricht's lawyer argued that there was a flaw with the charge: there was no financial transaction because Silk Road transacted in bitcoins. The court rightly brushed aside that argument: "Bitcoins carry value—that is their purpose and function—and act as a medium of exchange. Bitcoins may be exchanged for legal tender, be it U.S. dollars, Euros, or some other currency. Accordingly, this argument fails."
This is a lower-court opinion on a preliminary motion; so I'm not reading much into it. But it will be interesting to watch how advocates portray bitcoin in the courts.
