Years ago, I had occasion to visit the offices of FinCEN with an official from China as part of a people-to-people exchange between China and the United States. (I was there as the Chinese official's interpreter.) This was well before 9/11, but already back in those days, the various governments of civilized countries were coming to understand that international money transfers can not only facilitate good things like licit international trade, but also international crime and even terrorist networks.
Then and now, the issue is how to strike a correct balance in regulation. No country wants to be part of international agreements that regulate it more than some competing country is being regulated, but every national government sees some benefit in being part of the community of civilized nations. (Even North Korea doesn't violate ALL norms of international conduct.) Facilitating international transactions is beneficial to everyone in general. Keeping track of the activities of criminals is also of general benefit to everyone. The financial regulations, which are quite detailed, are based on international agreements and are influenced by quite a lot of push-back from various national governments.
A while ago here on HN I wrote that perhaps the greatest contribution the Bitcoin experiment will make to humankind is to teach you and me and our neighbors more about the realities of economics. Particularly, the Bitcoin experiment will contribute to greater understanding of international financial regulation and the mutual tracking of transactions engaged in by all countries all around the world. Many of the ideas about Bitcoins as a medium of exchange different from national currencies illustrate both the strengths and weaknesses of any other medium of exchange in a world full of human beings. Some transactions will be of interest to national goverments around the world, whatever the medium of exchange, and those governments will decide, based on joint national interest, which sorts of international transactions will be permissible. I venture no guess, until a regulation is published for public notice and comment, what the regulations will be about Bitcoin transactions going forward, but you can be sure that governments are following the Bitcoin phenomenon closely and weighing the pros and cons of different regulatory trade-offs.
