Bitcoin exchanges are illegal in the whole of EU? When they did they pass such a law?

Sounds like more of a 'currency exchange' blanket law that was probably on the books, but applies to Bit Coin.

How do you define "currency"? Really anything could be a currency. If my friends (who are they? :) and I wanted to trade with cocoa beans today we could. Would it then be a crime for us to buy cocoa beans from each other using our country's fiat money? One possible way of defining "currency" would involve fiatness, but Bitcoin doesn't have fiatness. It would at least be debatable if such a law would apply to trading back and forth between bitcoins and local fiat money if "currency" isn't nailed down well for the purposes of that law.

You're looking for an debate in the wrong place. I'm just speculating that the parent was referring to some law that pertains to something generic like 'currency exchanges.' I don't think that anyone has been to court over such a thing (yet) so it could mean that the parent doesn't know what they are talking about too (e.g. said law doesn't apply to bitcoin).

I assume parent is referring to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Services_Directive. Not a Bitcoin specific law.

Thanks for clarifying