Bitcoin Forum

I think we can all agree that cryptos are here to stay and only the form and applications are yet to be determined.

Has any one considered the threat to independent cryptos that a gov't or central bank issued crypto represents?
A crypto tethered to the US dollar could gain rapid widespread acceptance by banks and business entities making it possible to buy anything from a soda to a car in crypto. Debit card readers could quickly be converted. bank account balances could be held in dollars or cryptos etc.

While we might get the benefits of electronic payments that come with a digital currency, we would completely lose the protection from the manipulated value (or devaluation) of the dollar. That won't stop the banks from doing it. In fact it's an incentive for the banks to do it. Their tethered crypto could get widespread usage in a couple of years and make it very difficult for non tethered cryptos to gain acceptance.  Widespread business acceptance of a crypto will lead to widespread acceptance by the non technical general public that don't understand the difference.   

They are already doing it. Some governments have announced that they will issue their own cryptocurrency and many banks are behind some crypto. In that way, many alts can be threatened but Bitcoin is different because it has a limit of 21 million coins to be issued and because it is decentralized, so it has something to offer that the other cryptos can’t.

For me, governments and banks issuing cryptos is not as dangerous as most of the G20 group countries passing a hard ban on bitcoin.

At the moment, I don't think a ban on crypts or bitcoin is going to be total (if at all it will come ) , this is because bitcoin is decentralized and distinct countries have started looking for accepting it because it would assist there economy when they invest on it.

We know that is a possibility governments are going to create their own crypto, but that crypto will not be like bitcoin it will be even worst than fiat, since at least with cash you get anonymity, not with their coin, this will cause many people to adopt that coin without thinking but at the end bitcoin is going to win as the economic system begins to crash down.

The Google, Facebook, and Amazon are more dangerous than the government if they decided to implement their own cryptocurrencies. These big companies are trusted by consumers all around world, they have the money and power to make a coin of their own and dominate the market. These companies are influential enough to turn the tides, I just don't know when, or rather it already started like what tether is about now.

Threat to cyrpto currency is the Greed of people and the hackers which undermine the security of the investments.

Yes there are many countries planning for blockchain technology and their own crypto currency and the first one to officially announce that is Venezuela as their government is planning for crypto named "Petro" and once this will be successfully implemented i believe other countries who are looking to recover heir economy and get rid of debt will adopt same. All they need is more awareness and showcasing the benefit of crypto coin for both the normal civilians and the government as well.

I agree that many countries are trying to experiment to bring their fiat into crypto and run with that. I also agree that it would get a lukewarm reception from the community at large and only newbies and uninformed would buy into it. Though I was unaware that Venezuela was planning on putting theirs out so soon. I don't see that taking off as quickly as they think, if not fall flat on their face since the Bolivar is worth less than WoW gold. I know Canada tried to get their currency on crypto a while back and it failed miserably. Something that I've been keeping my eye on and something that governments would want to keep their eye on would be cities putting out their own crypto. That could be a long way off, or not. But if that happened cities would/could gain considerable power over the state since some major cities of the world have an economy rivaling some countries.

there is really no threat to crypto other than the internet being switched off,

and that is not going to happen!

if governments or facebook or whoever create a crypto currency there will always be those who choose decentralized and unregulated options just like we are doing now.

I'm not sure there is much point in a crypto-currency directly linked to USD and how would the technology work to factor in scenarios that governments take, like quantitative easing? What you are suggesting is what we've already got, physical currency. Bitcoin was built to be decentralized and prevented from being controlled by any group of people.

Yes even i feel the biggest threat to crypto is the greed of people i mean bankers and other government regulatory who can strike crypto currency anytime by trying to ban bitcoin (for them bitcoin is the main contender as altcoins are yet to reach that level) as i have read the government of Bangladesh has banned bitcoin as they cannot trace the transaction or identity of the person doing transaction and i think government to can ban crypto anytime they want and before they do that we need to form a strong crypto community and showcase the benefits and merits of crypto to the government.

No it's not, there's only a few countries (Venezuela, and maybe Saudia Arabia) announcing that they're going to be issuing their own digital currencies, but this doesn't mean at all that it's going to be used by the people at all. As we can't be FORCED to use it (unless they change their official currency to the crypto one, which they wont)

The biggest threat is government regulation, they can screw us all over with some taxes and regulation which is HORRIBLE. They can make all of our lives a living hell in the snap of a finger by a government bureaucrat.

State issued crypto may not be a legitimate threat.

Crypto issued by a government will likely implement unlimited supply. With many nations around the world dropping the dollar as a reserve currency in their oil based transactions to protect themselves in case the dollar's unlimited printing cycles and high deficit lead to hyperinflation and default, I can't see unlimited supply being a popular aspect of any currency over the next few decades. The euro too is not in great shape with its excessive printing/debt.

The most governments might hope for is to create a crypto currency which relies upon bitcoin's brand name recognition for reliability, honesty and longevity. State treasuries could tether their own crypto to bitcoin's name brand the way that forks and altcoins do.

With fiat currencies like the petro dollar being dropped & no longer supported around the world, it may be clear not many trust fiat these days.

The threat I see to crypto currencies is when the hoards that are now investing in Bitcoin realise that they now own electronic gold.
They didn't seem too bothered about holding physical gold, but now they are in on electronic gold. 

The average person on the street doesn't care about goverments controlling money supply, or inflation or liberty. They want to be able to pay for stuff easily. They want to make a profit too. They have been in the right place for profits recently, but the actual use of Bitcoin might be a bit more troublesome. I mean they will pay high fees, wait a long time for confirmations and realise that at the end of it all, they have paid for something they could have used Paypal for.

So the will hold. like digital gold. Except no one is interested in Gold..

You're right, a crypto backed by the govt and a central bank would definitely gain a major widespread adoption in the blink of an eye, especially if the big multinationals around the world start accepting this new cryptocurrency into their business. I think i've read somewhere that the big central banks in the world are already working on creating their own cryptocurrency, so it's a matter of time before we see them in the crypto market.

But what you're missing here is that people who use cryptocurrencies use it for several reasons: anonymity, privacy, security and most importantly, they use it because they are decentralized (at least most of them). A cryptocurrency with a central administrator will most definitely have a hard time getting an approval from the crypto community.
And think about it, once people figure out how cryptos work they'll start asking themselves: why should I use this crypto issued by the govt when there's many other cryptos out there that offer the same thing but without me having to pay taxes? (because you know that this new crypto will come with some sort of regulation/taxes).

So I wouldn't say independent cryptos would consider it a threat, there are other things that could represent a real threat to cryptocurrencies.

You are just putting in the shoes of every venezuelean, and that is not right, you are not even closer to the real concept of that Coin.

They do not have more money, Venezuela is dead right now, their bills are being sold because they are worth $0.00001 each one of them (i am talking about the paper) even less than a satoshi

They said that they were going to create a crypto based on their gold and oil, but they do not have anything, they are selling cheap oil to the united states because they do not have anything more.


And if they develop that coin, it is just going to be like any other scammy project, they are trying to recover their economy just based on that coin, and that is impossible.

Venezuela is a lost case, they can not do anything in order to bring back the wealthy to their country again.

That is not a threat to crypto, and I don't think it would change anything. A lot of countries are already doing it, and maybe they thought it would be a way to reduce the hype around crypto, and mitigate all the interest to their controlled currencies. The thing is, that a crypto coin issued by a bank would just be a way to make payments more easy, so it would be an evolution in the technology, and although that might be a good thing, it doesn't solve all the other issues fiat currently has.

The good thing about bitcoin is that it has the potencial to combine a method of payment even easier to use than fiat, with the value of gold (being scarce, and even more decentralized). This is something a crypto issued by a bank can't really do, so they are not competitors. If banks thought that, they were just wrong.

It wouldn't surprise me to see banks do this at some point but right now really what is the point for them? They are still making billions of dollars and in terms of micro payments can't be beat when it comes to debit/credit card transactions. In time once cryptos become more competition I'm sure a bank will make their own or adopt one and it will be seriously difficult then for others to compete

Existing crypto could do that, too. Well, maybe not the volatility part.

Thing is, virtually everyone perceives incomes in fiat, heck a huge number of people in developed nations work for the government, etc.; fiat has an established circulation, while crypto is attached to this existing system.

It is already happening.
Do you really think that they are not doing steps while seeing bitcoin rise at this much? Of course they will.

That is the government and every one of them dont want people to be using a free currency that cannot be seen through taxes.
They also dont want that their own officials are hiding money thru means of bitcoin. So they will create their own so they can see it.

Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and Indonesia banned Bitcoin. The economical and social situation of these countries is not good, but they have done a great damage to them by forbidding Bitcoin. It is not impossible for Bitcoin to be followed, but many companies and software have emerged, to pursue operations on these companies' intended blockchain.

Actually, is not the company itself is a treat to the cryptocurrency because it is only by people in-charge. The massive increase of cryptocurrency investors and greediness of individuals might bring crypto into troubled in the incoming days.Why? The reason is that, due to the intense development of crypto especially bitcoin it might lead to anyone from hacking and FUDs accusation. The more it become popular, the more it become vulnerable for black propaganda and unsubstantial FUD reports.

If there will be a new electronic coin that the government will issue and implement, I think there will be a great threat in all cryptocurrencies. Government can manipulate people like having a centralized coin. It is upon the government who will implement the use of crypto coin. If they want to take advantage to their citizen or make that crypto coin to innovate, suppport and develop their economy.

That's true. There will be little reason for people to risk their money in Bitcoin and other cryptos if their own countries introduce their own. People would lean towards trusting their own government rather than Bitcoin, and so would businesses in response.

That's just one side to a story though. State backed crypto will be stable, and like fiat, inflationary. It's not going to be able to fill the need of people looking into storage of value, and it definitely can't be considered an investment. Majority of people use Bitcoin precisely for these purposes, so it's still going to gain adoption. They have different niches, though Bitcoin can fill both, in a way.

I think the best threat is the people who does not like the crypto currency and they are always against this currency the image of bitcoin is good in the market and sometimes th investors want to show the wrong image to the people then they spread wrong information because of this the users feel fear and they sell their coins so the investors buy them at low price.

There will always be people who opposes something that wont benefit them, you are correct that the biggest threat is the people who are against crypto currency, but i think that as the days passed by new people are being encourage to use crypto for their own purposes.

Threat in what ways ? I am guessing that the only concern here is the manipulation by government banks and other third parties that bitcoin concept avoids.
There is nothing we can do about it. If we are expecting for a worldwide use of bitcoin we might as well as agree to their terms. We are already in the process and we should be ready for taxes and higher fees though not felt but I am sure it will be in the system.
Or if we would be against it, it may be banned everywhere.

In our country, it is already having high fees, there is nothing much we can do but convert it to fiat. No stores accepting bitcoin here.

Even Venezuela, which is in deep crisis, introduced its coin for stabilization. But while none of the countries is in a hurry to legalize it, understanding all the risks and losses. Therefore, the only threat is that it will all remain a crypto currency and not an ordinary currency.

to address several points made ...
1. Yes, Bitcoin is probably here to stay regardless of any Fiat cryptos that appear, but I think BTC is going to move into a role similar to gold. It's become a contrarian investment. It's price and volatility inhibit it's use as a general currency and one of the most important aspects to becoming a general currency - widespread acceptance- it has not made enough progress, so I think it is becoming an investment coin, not a currency coin.

@BartS: You mention bitcoin will win in the end. I suspect that when the fiat system collapses bitcoin will skyrocket, but only a handful of people have any significant amount (I saw a post that 98% of all BTC is held by a few hundred people), so while they will get rich, it won't change anything for the rest of us. Not sure if this constitutes a "win" for Bitcoin, but I'm pretty sure it's not a win for 99.9% of people


I agree with this, but it's also exactly what I was pointing out. How large is the crypto community? it's still a small percentage of the general population. newbies and the uninformed represent 99%. And considering the average 6 pack joe can barely balance his checkbook, I expect it to be that way for a long time, which mean what ever crypto the banks and gov't "Officially" endorse (and is easy for them to adopt) is the one they will use. That is the threat I was discussing. If that happens and a tethered fiat becomes accepted at every retail outlet and every six pzk joe uses it to buy his six pack, what does that do for the chances of an independent crypto to get established?

When the banks accept a fiat tethered crypto and give every retailer a way to accept those payments through their existing terminals, POS etc., they'll make sure those terminals do not take a competing crypto. This is how the banks usurp the threat of cryptos.  It's simply a "beat them to the punch" approach. 

I agree with the concepts that and independent crypto "Could" replace fiat and remove currency manipulation from the banks, but do you really think the banks are going to sit by and let that happen without a fight?  Banning cryptos, as some have mentioned, is always a possiblity, but i think they are smart enough to know that would fail, this cat is already out of the box, a ban would probably just create a black market or some other contrary response.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. The smart move - for them - is to beat every one else to the punch and get their own crypto into widespread acceptance. And they are in a position to do it. Every retail stores has to have a merchant account to take credit and debit cards, so they are already customers directly or indirectly of the big banks.

I point this out in the hope that the crypto community will see the possible outcomes here and possibly craft a better alternative, but the clock is ticking. The banks are in catch up mode at the moment, but it won't take them long.

I don't think the threat is really there as much as you put it. Those regulated currencies have some benefits and are likely to become used a lot. But what does it have to do with other currencies? They will still remain independent, as I see it. Maybe they won't become means of payment for goods in everyday life, but surely they can be used for trading, gambling, as means of payment for someone's work and in online shopping where the prices can be adjusted fast enough.
I guess the real threat to cryptocurrencies is possessed by us, users, who are willing to pay a lot for something we can't even touch. Maybe some day the price will be too much and so they'll crush, because the demand was not as strong as it seemed to be.

I think that the threat to people in this case can only be their government...if they impose sanctions or prohibit the cryptocurrency

A hard ban on crypto would be the biggest issue imo. If they go through with a hard ban though it would be a complete abuse of power.

Any coin that represents the state can be a success in the country. If the government will not steal until the situation stabiliziruemost the Fiat or cryptocurrency will be successful. But this is only until the government again will not steal money from the budget. Therefore, in the country it may be a success but outside no one will accept the currency if the government kleptocracy.

Yeah but it's not everything . Those are the negative views of Bitcoin. It's really interesing and potiental if you're making a research on in.

Do you know why Bitcoin has demand? It isn't really about having an online medium for buying things. It isn't even about replacing fiat. It is more about saving your money from centralized institution. People are parking their dollars in  bitcoin to save it form fiat inflation. They don't care about its utility. It is more about having good ROI. So, even if government launches a centralized token as happening in many countries that isn't going to kill bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.

Some countries are already doing it. They will start to own their national e-currency. However, some countries are think to ban Bitcoin.

There are more than 1000 cryptocurrencies introduced after 2009. Among them only four to six are popular and working successfully. Cryptocurrencies share in the world economy is around 100billion USD. However it does not mean that all the currencies are safe and will remain safe forever. They are having competition among themselves. Cryptocurrencie`s image get disturbed, when ransomware attackers asked their ransom money in the bitcoin currency only. Many countries are banning cryptocurrencies due to security reasons as they are decentralised in nature. Many countries are planning to introduce their own cryptocurrencies.

We all know it is possible that the government plans to create its own crypto but the crypto is not as good as bitcoin even worst than fiat .before really my cash takes amonymity ,not just a coin but to many people who accepted coins that does  not think well and until the end is bitcoin but the win ever all .economic system is first to cash down and many large companies trust the workers in all country coin to own and dominite the market implied that it will be released in tides .I just know when or where the exact same thing is in front of everyone now crypto currencies is the greed for all people to undermine the security of investment program...

Some of the governments can also be considered as a threat to Bitcoin in their own countries, cause there are some governments that are not in support of Bitcoin and will do whatever it takes to kick this cryptocurrency out of their country.

Individuals with no reputation shouldn’t be considered as much threats to Bitcoin, because none of their words would be taken seriously. But there are some whose words packs a heavy blow and can affect Bitcoin in any way.

Banning bitcoin wont help them at all, there are still a lot of ways that a person can get its hands into bitcoin even by blocking certain sites.
Even if they start their own e-currency i think the equivalent of that coin wont be to far from what their money is worth in the current market.

Many counties banned bitcoin and many are thinking to do so but I think a time will come when they will regret and will remove the ban from bitcoin because slowly and gradually bitcoin is becoming a need of people and countries because now world can run properly without bitcoin because all the online investments are done due to it.

This will never happen. You can see how various governments are now accusing bitcoin of all the troubles. Governments are not interested in that bitcoin existed. They are not interested in the needs of the people. They have all is now well. They only care about the fact that bitcoin allows people to escape from under the control of the government. They are afraid as fire.

How can you say that the government itself will be a threat to their own? Is such country would exist? I mean Bitcoin can be an external and an internal issue for a country. So its up to them whether they wanted to adapt this currency or ban it.

So public status is a 'thing' now? Whoever speaks even if it is the president of some country, words alone can't make a heavy blow to the cryptocurrencies. Even if the media trash talks about Bitcoin they can't do anything. It may be just propaganda to make naive people to believe them, but then again people now are aware of that, they will do their own research just to clarify if the governments or some people that have names in the public are true.

If that happens all we can do is nothing cause we cant manipulate too the value of USD our only job is to wait until it is big enough or wait for bitcoin to pump so hard. It doesnt matter if USD will be devalued all we can hope is bitcoin's pump towards that problem.

We cannot deny the importance of crypto currency but still in many countries it is not legal and still its trading is not going on worldwide. Crypto currency is a totally different system that’s why many people are afraid of investing money in crypto currency.

Many countries do not like the system of crypto currency it is because the sender name and receiver name is in secret that’s why they are against crypto currency.

Yeah if the person really want to have bitcoin they can have it as long as they want, even if its ban in their county we will have a way to have it.

There will be regret for sure but that is going to be in the hands of the previous government who opposes bitcoin, actually its not a need of people, people want bitcoin because they can have easy access to their own money and do transaction or even trade at the expense of not going anywhere but only at home.

With or without government intervention, cryptosystem will still go on. No one has the power to manipulate or have full control over its value. They might issue new crypto coins bur it will not affect the earlier established coins. The only way bitcoin will be put in danger once government convinced the majority to look at it with no worth. But that would be impossible at the moment, the other way arround is actually what happening, it still gain popularity and demand from the people.

If they could create their own currency why they have not done so? And the answer is very simple because if they did, their CEO will be prosecuted for minting currency, the reason bitcoin cannot be shut down is that is decentralized while the corporations you are talking are the living image of centralization and monopolies in our era, so corporations are not a real threat at all.

Same thoughts regarding on this matter but we wont know if they would decide to create on their own coin since we do know that cryptocurrency is just new being known to them and they might already get the idea and might decide up to create on their own. They do have the capability since they do have the money and reputation to be used on but i do strongly believe that they would rather accept on those coins who are already being used by many which its either on btc or eth.

I think some banks around the world are still trying to do this. The world is growing, technology is increasingly modern so cryptocurrency is something that will certainly appear in the future. Therefore, everyone is trying to pursue it, develop it and improve it. In the not so distant future when the central bank and the government released the cryptocurrency, at that time, I thought cryptocurrency would be legalized and used worldwide.

The only threat I see is from the government because that the key threat every other threats is linked to whether from banks or any other source the moment government takes decision in support of bitcoin, every thee organisations, individuals, conglomerates will have to fall in line because that is the law and not following the law, comes with its own consequces which I don't see people ready to face for any reason. The fear now is for government to come positive for bitcoin.

Whenever governments or banks come with their cryptocurrencies, that would not be a threat to bitcoin and other altcoins. Government and bank cryptocurrencies will be no more than fiat currency in a different form. All centralized and controlled, so still the opposite of what we know as cryptocurrency.

That is what Japan has done. They recognized bitcoin but they put some rules and regulations on it. They also are investing in it. Honestly, smart countries would do the same if you ask me. Why ban bitcoin if you can get benefits out of it since its use is large? I do not really agree with what China has done.

Plus, even if they ban bitcoin, they will continue to use it on the dark net and will also continue to do their illegal activities. On the other hand, if you do it in front of the government's eyes, it really will be okay! (I am not talking about the illegal activities).

I see some news in India where the taxation department taken action against the traders who is moving with the huge funds in the crypto exchanges like bitrex and the local exchanges in India. They have done the raid last week I guess. I do not know why government are interrupting us by using the bitcoin and altcoin without anyone's intervention. Other than this you will find the hackers who is looking in steel the fund most of the time by targeting on exchange wallet.

This is the reason why the governments have legalized bitcoin and cryptos because they have a better plan(after their failed attempt of cryptos ban) to introduce their own cryptos in the market and rule over them but in fact they are in credulity. Cryptocurrency users will never prefer a centralized crypto network over a decentralized network unless or until they are compel to use it. Centralized cryptos were never a threat to the pioneer of cryptos and will never be.

Seems like now days, as the bitcoin price is surging and it reaches new highs, seems like the new world recognizes it as a sort of a currency and not as an asset or as a speculation asset.

I would assume that it is going to be bigger as the community grows( price grows means community grows).
I think that soon enough some banks will start to realize that they can benefit from the system and may start to use it as a way to transfer money through their system, I know that bitcoin is a competitor but the tech can still be used.

Is Disney prosecuted for Disney Dollars?

As long as they keep the coins only for their services the government can't do a thing.
And nobody will be able to blame them if people instead of using the coins on FB and Amazon are going to hoard them and trade them , like what is happening with Disney $.

No, the actual legislation will not be able to prevent them from issuing their own crypto.

You know there is a whoppercoin? And is issued by Burger King not a fake altcoin.

New regulation is going to be created, this is what happened to casinos a long time ago, at first they used dollars but then the US government banned it them from using dollars, that is why you need to use chips in the casino, but laws regarding those chips were created as well, and if business begin to create their own tokens then it seems obvious we are going to see the 21 century version of what I described happened in the past.

The main threat to cryptos in my eyes is governments rising up to ban all sorts of mining and trading activity in their region and the major example here would be China. Of course there wasn't a long term influence on the price of cryptos by China's departure but if more countries are forced to follow suite, which is already happening, we could see the end of the cryptocurrency timeline soon enough.

Another smaller factor would be security, which has been on the loose end of things this year. Taking the parity bug as an example scenario, all projects should step up and implement their code without any flaws that and make sure that hackers can't get into the system by any means.

For me it is not a threat, the only threat is the scam ico that makes the potential investors stay away from cryptos.