UIGEA Fallout! Don't Worry about the eWallets: Worry about the Network

[vinyard]

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Well, I have no doubt billman will jump in here, but assuming PokerStars would accept wire transfers, exactly how difficult would it be for the DOJ to aquire their SWIFT number or bank routing number?

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Nearly impossible presuming that their bank is a member of SWIFT and the US Government cannot make a compelling case to SWIFT that Pokerstars is engaged in funding terrorism. Again, please read the link and the excerpted package - only criminal activity relating to terrorism and not to any other crime with explicit exceptions mentioned for crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering. And they are figting scope creep on that as we speak.

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Put it on a list, and there you have it. I guess I'm not understanding your point. (Not that I really want to believe billman either, btw)

[/ QUOTE ] Actually, I am pretty sure that its that you don't understand how SWIFT works as you are thnking its entirely analogous to EFTs etc and well, its really not. SWIFT is successful precisely because it depends on miniscule regulation, data privacy and mutual trust amongst banks. And, oh yeah, the world economy would be hurt pretty substantially if it were run any other way.

A telling statement from the same link as earlier:
Unlike its member banks, SWIFT has no relationship with the bank’s clients. The financial institutions, who know their clients, collect their private data and act on their instructions.

Also from the above link and the highlighted passages it should be pretty clear how an e-wallet could successfully exist outside without use of conventional EFTs.