Edmund Moy, the former director of the United States Mint under the Bush administration, first learned about bitcoin in the form of a footnote embedded in a coin demand forecast report.

When he became director of the Mint in 2006, Moy commissioned annual reports that detailed the various market forces and characteristics that have an impact on coinage needs in the United States. These includes the role of digital payment systems such as credit cards and emerging means of moving money around the internet.

In 2009, the report included a footnote briefly describing Satoshi Nakamoto's original white paper on bitcoin. At the time, bitcoin and the concept of digital currencies were seen from a curious but hands-off perspective.

During the last two years Moy received the report, the footnote grew slightly in size as the first bitcoins were mined and sold and the price of the digital currency rose. But the Mint - and the rest of the US government - stayed on the lookout for future developments but continued to pursue a largely ambivalent approach.

As Moy told CoinDesk in a new wide-ranging interview, the emergence of new regulations that establish boundaries for how bitcoin will operate within the broader global financial system is one of the key developments shaping digital currencies today.

Despite the promise of bitcoin technology, an unclear regulatory landscape makes it difficult for businesses in the US market to develop. At the heart of the problem, says Moy, is a lack of cohesive regulatory language that defines digital currency.

He said:

Moy described the array of federal and state-level agencies as a broad cluster of interconnected agencies, all of whom must act within the framework established by law. Given the novelty of bitcoin and, in some cases, the archaic nature of regulatory language established in past acts of Congress, regulators are left to define digital currency as best they can.

Moy said that each agency can "only look at bitcoin through the prism of what they understand". Consequently, businesses in the bitcoin space find themselves stuck within the complex legal obstacles that arise from this fragmented regulatory environment and risk failing as a result.

Moy explained that ultimately, bitcoin represents a possible step forward in the debate surrounding the exact definition of money itself. What we're seeing now, he said, is a broad decentralization of money that the technology underpinning bitcoin has made possible.

Moy said that it's unlikely bitcoin will replace the US dollar or other fiat currencies directly in the near-term. He argued that digital currencies will co-exist with other currency systems, adding that history demonstrates how diverse mediums of exchange can and often do develop a purpose over time.

To read the complete article, see:Former US Mint Director: How to Save Bitcoin From the Regulators(www.coindesk.com/former-us-mint-director-save-bitcoin-regulators/)