Bitcoin Forum

Most countries are giving excuses and  reason for banning Bitcoin is because it can easily be used to fund crimes.
But I think they are afraid of losing control of their citizens' financial activities because they believe being the ones regulating financial activities makes them powerful.
What are your thoughts

It's been discussed 100s of times here. But for the most part it seems to come down to taxes. If you can move large amounts of money in whatever form without the government knowing then they don't get their tax revenue. So they try to regulate & control ways of moving money so they do get their cut of it.

Anything else is all smoke an mirrors and excuses.

-Dave

We all know that bitcoin/crypto being used for criminal activities is only minuscule. Countries just ban Bitcoin because they know they can't control it; simple as that.

As far as criminal activities are concerned countries percieve the impact of crypto to be rather significant. So even if 1% of crypto transactions are related to criminal activities, but 40% of all relevant criminal activities are handled in crypto, it is still a problem. I will not take a stand on wether banning crypto is effective in alleviating that or not, but it can certanly score some political points to be tough on crime and therefore be tough on crypto as well. So yeah, some calculations in banning crypto are related to criminal activities. Though it is certanly not the sole or even the most important consideration

Did you think there's no criminal or money laundering using fiat money? lol, Bitcoin exist since 2008, while criminal or money laundering already exist so long time ago, of course they're using fiat money to do that. You should look at this article [1] where the money laundering using Bitcoin is completely far than using fiat money. Criminal can use Bitcoin as an option, but you need to spesk with the data and fact about how much the Bitcoin usage by criminal rather than talking like you're know everything.

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[1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/comparing-money-laundering-cryptocurrencies-fiat-aly-madhavji-%E7%A9%86%E4%BA%9A%E9%9C%96

Haha, thats all crazy alibis, IMO, the truth is, some governments are afraid to deal with Bitcoin, especially in those countries that look suspicious and non-democratic, and the real reason is simple and too obvious. because they can't control Bitcoin thats why they ban it. and I don't believe that it's because it was used in criminal activities thats too shallow reason and far from reality because fiat is commonly used in criminal activities anywhere else in the world.    

It's more likely about decentralization of crypto and bitcoin as to why various government are banning bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Even if we know that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are being used for criminal activities but still even in fiat, criminal and illegal activities can be easily done if given enough knowledge and time.  

It's more about decentralization and control why countries would ban crypto.

It's not an excuse, that's what really thinks of bitcoin after that it's been widely adopted and the growth rate is increasing. We can't change their minds but they should look to cash, it's more used in those illegal activities.

Regulation will always be their priority. That's why as much as they can, they are trying to do things according to what's on their law. And most countries don't have the law yet about bitcoin and taxation.

You can check the legal status of Bitcoin by country on Wikipedia or on other maps elsewhere, and if you do, you'll see that most countries aren't actually banning Bitcoin and thus aren't giving excuses for doing that. Also, I feel like the crime argument was more popular earlier as an anti-crypto argument, and now it's more of a pro-KYC argument. As for a banning reason, environmental impact is mentioned more often, IMO, but it's a reason for restricting mining, not storing or trading Bitcoin.

Even then — even if bitcoin and cryptocurrencies didn't exist then they'd continue on conducting crime schemes but in fiat instead. If anything, they should actually prefer the tracable nature of most cryptocurrencies, because a lot of ignorant crime-doers ignorantly send funds to their KYC accounts.

Your point were right and these are part of the reasons the government take in hands against bitcoin, another reason is the fact that bitcoin is decentralized, this gives them a no right and authority over the financial situation of the people, another reason is the anonymity in bitcoin, they prefer having your private lives at their disposal for easy comprehension of you whenever they needed to, another reason is their transaction charges on users account and the cross boarder fee incentives they benefited as well which are all things that affected me and you but we lack the right to stop or querry them about it, bitcoin offers a solution to them all, if you were the government wouldn't you do worst than that.

Everything on Earth can be used for criminal activities. There is black and white story and there are people who stay in different sides.

Do the world ban Internet because bad people use to to sell addictive drugs, terrorist and other bad things? They can not ban Internet because it is a necessary part of human civilization. They can try to censor contents on Internet, stricter regulations etc but no completely ban.

They want to protect their centralized and inflationary finance systems. They will try to make more regulations to control and reduce the power of Bitcoin and decentralized finance but they can not ban such hazard things entirely. By hazard I meant, in view of governments, not citizens.

Of course, these are just lies they use to justify their ban on Bitcoin, it is true that some criminals use Bitcoin as well as terrorist organizations to fund their crimes and hide their true identity, but at the same time these terrorists use dollars, euros and yuan as well, why not ban fiat so that terrorists do not use it?
It can be said that everything has two sides, one good and the other bad, and you cannot force all people to use only the good side. For example, the Internet has a very good side that contains millions of useful things, and the other side is bad and contains terrible things. Should we ban the use of the Internet because some criminals do terrible activities through Internet?

Cryptocurrencies are not the root of evil when it comes to criminal activities, since they've only been around for less than two decades. Certainly, all darknet markets use cryptocurrencies for their anonymity and effectiveness, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

In my opinion, governments are against cryptocurrencies for tax evasion purposes, especially now with decentralised exchanges and DeFi.

Read my comment again. I´m not making most of the claims you are saying. I´m not claiming that criminal activities with fiat money are not happening. My 1% and 40% are not meant to be taken as a fact but as illustration. To give another example. Most of the guns owned by people are used for totally legal purposes. Yet depending on the country there can be a lot of crimes related to gun violence. This means that for politicains it can be useful to consider restrictions on guns. Of course even with gun ban crime can and will continue with other deadly weapons. Just so you would not misunderstand me again. I am not saying that guns and bitcoins are the same. Example of guns is just a useful example in this case. Even if 1% of gun purchases lead to gun violence of some sort, it can still be enough for countries to consider bans or restrictions. Likewise I am not saying that ban on crypto is a good idea. I am merely stating that it is obviously an argument in the discourse.

I think money laundering is obviously a big problem, tax evasion and black money. All these problems are actually crimes only if you see from a nation's perspective. So this is the reason why countries have banned bitcoin to safeguard the income being generated from taxes. But yes there is a lot of tax evasion even if people don't use bitcoin. People always know how to find a way to evade taxes. Cryptocurrencies just form a very small percentage out of all the tax evasion that happens all around the world. So it's more or less just a Myth.

NO, most countries are NOT giving excuses and reasons for banning crypto coins. Only a very very few have banned them with China being the largest one.
BTW, "Btcoin" is not a generic term that covers all crypto coins. It is one specific coin out of hundreds of different ones just the same as a Dollar is not a Peso or a Ruble or Yuan.

How many drug lords or dons use crypto? How many corrupt officials take crypto bribes. How any warlords by weapons through crypto... I havent read about any in newspaper. But yes governments are  launching their own digital currencies, to compete with bitcoin. To me it seems more like a case of insecurities by government, rather than crime preventive measures.

most countries cannot regulate or licence it (permit it) unless they have first banned it.
then they can allow certain businesses/entities permission to use it under their guidance or rules

Well I feel it this way, government can come up with the excuses of terrorist, money laundry what have you etc but as we all know there is always a cockroach hidden in the cupboard and an ulterior motive by the government and power that be.  The powers that be are just too afraid of wealth distribution within the masses and they are happy seeing the people in abject penury and this I believe is one of the major reasons why Satoshi can to settle and now the government are afraid of loosing grip of the masses they want to sing their praises. Another I believe is tax evasion for which you would not hear them talk. Blockchain has cut government assess to people's wealth no more monitoring hence the tax evasion reasons for condemning Crypto currency. I laugh loud because I know power and wealth is shifting and gradually the elites would have no say again.

No, it is not banned because of criminal activities; this is just a convenient excuse with traction because it sounds good.  Truth is, most criminal, illicit activities are carried out in fiat, but do you see this rush to ban fiat?  This ban is all about power and control over people.

Well, that have been the popular excuse by the government to have embarked on banning bitcoin but we know it goes beyond that. Bitcoin is decentralized and that's a direct enemy to centralization for which is what the government really stands for. Government is all about control and when they get to realise that this is a system that have elude them and in many ways shares most of the governmental power with the people, they develop a phobia and looks for reasons to hang on to ban bitcoin.

Unfortunately, it's never going to happen as bitcoin is a system that works with the people's freewill. Humans are nature are like water, they are always in constant search for a way out and that's always going to be the reaction towards every attempt to restrict bitcoins use by individuals.

Mostly likely they outright banned Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because they don't have control and custody of our transaction as it has the capability of sending big amounts without borders or middlemen to approve or reject it. Even if these countries have banned Bitcoin and criminalize those who owned it, there are still some who are finding ways to trade it anonymously and just converting it via P2P process.

Governments can only regulate these cryptos, but they cannot control how much we send or receive.

But fiat is traceable and can be tracked.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QodGxD19_as)

Whereas cryptos are very anonymous to an extent. And if someone uses privacy coins like Monero, then it's almost impossible. IRS is paying like a million to blockchain analyst firms to help them crack monero but they will fail  :)
https://modernconsensus.com/regulation/irs-bets-1m-monero-transactions-are-traceable/

This is why governments want to ban crypto.(and also all the ICO scams)

The only thing they are doing is cutting Bitcoin off from their own fiat. What does this do, really? People can still use Bitcoin. They can buy and sell things with it or keep it in their wallets. They can do anything they want and the governments are 100% powerless against it.

So what is happening? The governments are panicking. They are trying to do something which has been tried by the most restrictive countries (like China) and it will fail and continue to fail. They absolutely cannot stop the people from owning and transacting with Bitcoin.

The more they try, the more obvious this fact becomes. And the faster it will drive the adoption of Bitcoin.

Let the bankers sweat and the regulators cry. Bitcoin won't die.

I do not really believe that they have banned it because of criminals. People have started paying a lot of attention to Bitcoin but because of our financial system, some countries are afraid that if they do not stop that trend, it would affect their economy. They think that their banks will go bankrupt, so, they have banned Bitcoin. It is a very sensitive issue because they say that they are doing that for the sake of their people. They say that they are trying to protect their people from the frauds and the evils in the cryptocurrency world. But the way I look at it, there is more to it than meets the eye.

There are many reason why countries considering or starting to ban bitcoin. It's a common and easy reason to tell that bitcoin can be use for criminal activities due to it's nature like decentralized and anonymity. But one reason I think that is not being mention by governments is they can't milk and collect taxes on bitcoin that much since they don't have control in it. Most of the reasons of government is valid but it's just being the front on the real reason why they are banning bitcoin.

Countries banned bitcoin because they don't want to tackle something that they don't fully grasp, either the understanding or the control.  The government always wanted to exercise their authority and if they see that they can't have authority over things then they tend to ban it.  It is not because of criminal activities that they banned Bitcoin, if it is, they should have banned fiat currencies since there is more criminal activities in it.  It is because they are having a hard time controlling or regulating cryptocurrencies.

Agree fiat is trackable and traceable but that's what money laundering is for, hence why it is illegal.  Yeah, the ICO scams don't help either but just another convenient excuse for the powers that be.  The reason why I say this is because these didn't seem matter until it seemed bitcoin could legitimately upset power structures, then there became a renewed interest (propaganda) about criminal activities, scams, etc.  Not to say these don't need to be addressed but no need for the powers that be to try and insult our intelligence.

No country who is given the good evidence what makes them to ban cryptocurrency  in their country. Most countries who is buying cryptocurrency they have no good reasons why they have banned cryptocurrency in the country so the problem is that government is after cryptocurrency because I don't like the development of cryptocurrency since it is started they feel that cryptocurrency will eliminate the life of Fiat currency in their country and cryptocurrency will be another way we are by some of them will stolen the money of the country

If this is the reason, the countries also should ban fiat because fiat is also used for criminal activities. So, this reason is nonsense.
I am sure that this is because of several things such as:
- governments of the countries cannot regulate and control Bitcoin
- This may relate to the Taxes, many people are being rich because of Bitcoin, but in fact, the government may feel difficult to get taxes from them
- Bitcoin may be considered as the harmful competitor of fiat
- They may be influenced by FUDs

There is no opinion, because this has become the most common topic and you will definitely find it if you try to search using the same keywords in the search section. As DaveF says, taxes are the key to getting the government to do their part and limiting your wealth from flowing too freely without passing through their homes.

Criminal activity or the root of evil can arise from anywhere, not because of bitcoin. This is simply because bitcoin cannot be fully regulated by the government, so some countries strictly prohibit the use or adoption of bitcoin and some other countries provide basic regulations on bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.
In addition, taxes are one of the things that the government is targeting for cryptocurrency users, because every user or large exchange is required to pay taxes, otherwise they will be blocked

Does every act of funding crime arise because of Bitcoin?
I don't know where to start with you, because everything has been explained and I think you have found the answer. Because any action can be criminal in the eyes of the government, as long as it does not benefit the state, as long as it is not under state control, threatens state finances, and has a major impact that does not benefit state finances. Can be categorized into criminal types, not only Bitcoin. Do you now understand how this kind of flow works? As long as you live in a country with certain rules and your wealth does not provide benefits to the state treasury, you will be penalized.

before bitcoin existed people already used fiat to commit crimes, and today there is bitcoin and people did not stop using fiat to commit crimes, why? because someone would create a bank account, to buy bitcoin and then go commit crimes knowing that bitcoin is not 100% anonymous, knowing that there are many exchanges with KYC and worse for scammers to spend their bitcoins in the real world they will again have to sell their bitcoins for fiat and withdraw to the bank. even if that person did this whole process of buying bitcoin in the hands of a person in the same person that person later commits a crime he would need to use some bank if he wants to spend it in the real world

Quite simple, when you make a transaction of $1 million to make an investment what you pay to the government as tax is $180k as tax. This is the taxation in my country. We work hard and make this and pay it to the government. This can avoided when you make the transaction in the form of bitcoin. For this purpose governments always want to ban bitcoin. Another thing if cryptocurrency transaction is identified we're supposed to pay 30% as tax. This is how government is functioning.

I think countries banned Bitcoin, not because of criminal activities but because they are hateful that they can't tax any P2P transaction of bitcoin.  It is a huge loss for them and thinks that the BTC network is making a fool out of them so they decided to ban it to show their authority.  It is more like power tripping disguised as public concerns, IMHO.

For the benefit of the people, bitcoin is banned in many countries, as announced by the government :). To me, this sounds very foolish. If bitcoin attracts people with its freedom from banks, then it is banks that supposedly protect inexperienced people from unforeseen losses.

However, any sane person understands that regulators are afraid of losing their power.

In my country, tax payment projects have been discussed several times, but there is still no clear, logical solution. Thus, the future of bitcoin remains unresolved, since it seems that somewhere its use is considered very profitable, but at the same time, the loss of control over people is a terrible disaster for the government.

Government = control. They want control of their country and that includes the currency that they are using.
Obviously, governments can't control Bitcoin thus, they are banning it because they don't have any choice. Governments can't regulate it as well for some reasons.

Criminal activities? Maybe but even Fiat currency is being used in criminal activities as well so what's the difference. Another reason is they can't get some tax from it and it will give the country a lesser revenue.

But OP is talking about bans.

States do not ban bitcoin to collect taxes. That's like saying the US has banned heroin to tax for it.

You can move large undeclared amounts whether it is legal or not. The point is that by regulating it, without banning it, you are going to collect a lot of taxes that by banning it you would not collect.

I think it has to do with a bad reaction to an innovation that threatens their centralized power, but those who have regulated it and implemented regulations with taxes and KYC have been smarter.

There are a lot of different reasons that politicians and law makers give for banning cryptocurrencies, but you'll almost always find it happening within authoritarian style systems of government. That is because, as you described, it is outside their area of control and they aim to have complete visibility of their citizens. If your people have an ability to use a parallel financial system then the government in those countries lose the ability to apply pressure in the form of monetary penalties and even freezing the finances of their opponents. That is why countries like Russia and China are relatively against the adoption of crypto, because is stops them from being able to bully people to conform to what they want.

This is an old discussion about bitcoin and other cryptocurencies especially here in this forum. Whenever the governments try to take advantage of people and track their activities or collect their information to get taxes from them they won't say that directly, they will say we do that for your own good to protect to from the criminal activities and that's the same in most of the countries. even bore bitcoin and cryptocurrencies there were many criminals out there and they were using other payment methods, so bitcoin is just a tool and can be used for anything, while the governments mostly try to show the dark side of it.

News of the ban that is planned and carried out by certain countries, I do not bother about it, as long as they do not block and prohibit exchanges in each country, I'm even more sure of the ban announcement, more convinced that Bitcoin will be better in the future.

I just take it positive, what is the purpose of the state banning Bitcoin, if they have no purpose, forbid there is a purpose to buy by them, so that Bitcoin goes down even more.

This is kind of my stance too.
But now we start seeing other arguments such as the mining operations consuming too much energy. This is another crappy argument as we see from several studies and statistics that the financial system uses way much more energy than Bitcoin. And as the time goes on, renewable energies will be cheaper, so eventually they will become profitable to mine bitcoin.

The argument that Bitcoin is used for illegal/criminal activities is just a joke. Tell me which currency is not used for criminal activities?? Or tell me the volume of fiat money involved in criminal activities and the volume of Bitcoin involved in criminal activities. This must be a joke! lol

The answer is none. Drug lords make use of Fiat currency, they don't even accept transfers because of the risk involved in transferring huge amounts of money from one account to another, it has never been mentioned anywhere in the world that bribery and corruption that is at the highest level today Is carried out with bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. The main reason why the governments are setting up other digital currencies is that they will have control over everyone that is a user of their digital currency and they will also have the access to monitor and regulate whatever thing they plan to do via their digital currency while in bitcoin they have no access to regulate or control the transaction of bitcoiners.

The real problem is that the government and the world can't control, so they are frightened by the flow of crypto funds. The crypto decentralization system cannot be controlled by anyone and it is against the government. The problem of misappropriation of crypto funds, I think it is only a small part of the problem. The government is trying to raise as a tool opponents of digital money policy. Although I believe that currently there are still some peculiarities such as transaction fees, dense networks, scalability. In addition, instability may make people disadvantaged or benefited. But that's not a good reason in my opinion.

I've followed the train of thought in this thread. If Bitcoin reaches national reserve status in more open-minded countries the polarization with the ones who have banned it will be massive. I'd say that Bitcoin is certainly not an asset that you want your country to miss out on. Not with the macro implications that come with its development as a store of value.

It is about control..... they can easily control the supply and value of Fiat currencies and they do not want any competition to that monopoly. Governments are using the value of Fiat currencies to control people... (Inflation is used to determine salary increases)

So, why would countries bother about criminal activities, if most of those activities are done through Fiat institutions ..like Banks and also cash transactions? They are just looking for an excuse to ban their competition.  ::)

It's all very simple, because they can't tax and they're jealous that people are breaking free from the shackles of financial institutions, and becoming their own bank.
in fact many reasons for banning it including concerns about their national currency being corrupted and countries using their currency as a tool of economic power that allows them to control their people.
with cryptocurrency or bitcoin, governments lose that ability because they no longer have that control and people can now send and receive money globally without the control of governments or third party financial institutions like banks.

Conservative sentiment is the point here. It has be cleared that fiat has been used for the same too. What I feel is that governments know that tax evasion is a problem that they cannot control if money is sent via bitcoin more than fiat pathways. For them being not able to tax a person is a loss and therefore they discourage people from using crypto or put in problematic clauses to stop them or like some countries, banned their use altogether.

But bitcoin cannot be stopped by these methods - for that you would need a stop on internet and electricity. Therefore these bans and all should not be the point of discussion, rather how to make people aware and spreading the word about bitcoin and its uses should be focused on.

I believe they don't really have anything to say against it that's why they are giving that reason, they can't regulate bitcoin and that's just why they keep on banning bitcoin, if we want to talk about the crime aspect, I believe most of the crimes people do use bitcoin to commit are also committed by fiat currency, even before bitcoin was created all of those crimes where created so why don't they ban fiat currency. They complained that bitcoin is used for illegal possession of weapons, money laundering and many more illegal activities, but I can tell you that most of those activities are also done using fiat currency, so they just want to ban bitcoin because they don't have control over it that's why they are giving all those excuses. Most countries don't just have choice than to leave bitcoin because even if the continue to ban it their citizens will still look for ways to buy and trade bitcoin.

There was a time before bitcoin was created when criminals used fiat for nefarious purposes, so why didn't the government ban fiat back then? When you look at this, it can be seen how badly the government is trying to deceive you. They do not accept bitcoin simply because of its decentralization and government power will be weakened if bitcoin is widely used.

Fiat is the pet of the government, all their power is concentrated in fiat so if anything threatens fiat, they will see it as their enemy.

Let them do whatever they can. It is not the first time countries tried to restrict the use of BTC among their people by discouraging them with various actions. This is the beauty of decentralization. You can see it, you can feel it, you can use it but you can not control it. It's like the wave of the river. If you try to stop it in one way it will find another way because its only destination is to move forward.

We are in a fast-evolving world and crypto is evolving into something totally different than the world has ever seen. I am not afraid of new innovations. I like it and I want to explore it.

The government will always look for loopholes in Bitcoin simply because they can't regulate it. Criminal activities will always exist in all types of currencies. Even fiat or other forms of transactions so it's too unfair if they will only ban Bitcoin. They hate anything that they can't control and they can't tax so they will definitely ban it instead of ruling over fiat which they can always regulate.

Countries that are banning crypto all because it is used to fund crimes are all hypocrites. If they are thoroughly investigated, you would find out one way or the other, that they are silently converting their assets into bitcoin, gold and diamonds. So that their assets can not be traced. 

It's very skeptical for any country to ban bitcoin because of the reason you mentioned. To me, it's just a big fallacy just to paint crypto bad. Whereby fiat has been used to run or fund crime for ages without no one projecting for the ban of fiat.

The government we have these days doesn't want its citizens to be financially independent, they prefer us to be middle-class citizens that can be easily controlled by the laws that will favour only them and their families

Law enforcement officers have to be paid & as state agents their wage comes out of the public pocket, so citizens are taxed to fund the state project or told to go into some mythical wilderness where no state operates. This is why the principle of democracy is so important, as it gives the citizens a chance to engage constructively with the processes whereby they are expected or coerced to fund the state project, involving laws & their enforcement.

Bitcoin challenges the status of the USD as default currency for the world. It also challenges the associated hackneyed notions of 'international rules based order' or 'international law' because being instant, online & decentralised it holds a mirror up to the imperfections of its functional fiat precursor.

Sure, but my point is that those scumbs talk about crypto (and they include Bitcoin here, I do not) as if criminal aactivities were only performed with crypto. This is sand thrown into the eyes of the less aware people. People that knows very little about crypto (and Bitcoin mostly). And they take it as true without even thinking of what is actually going on with all fiat currencies which moves billions in crime, mostly polititians (governments, states) and big enterprises financial crime. It's absurd the statement that crypto is used mostly for crime!

This is common with the cryptocurrency market. Some people can't be made to understand what is cryptocurrency or something else. When they themselves start knowing about it, they'll progress and some unwanted clash. Now things were different and people know the truth happening with bitcoin. So, for some people to have the real meaning is not easy and until then holding is the right choice.

actually, things like this have been discussed many times and the answer is still the same, the state prohibits bitcoin for fear of laundering money and funding crimes.
on the other hand, countries that prohibit bitcoin for fear that bitcoin is used for transactions and cause the country's original currency has no value anymore.
but there are some countries that legalize bitcoin as a transaction tool or as an investment tool. like in my country actually bitcoin is not legalized for transaction tools but is allowed for investment tools

Yes. They can't benefit bitcoin since its out of their control, so might as well ban it. Countries' government would not only consider their people's interest but also their own and personal desires. If they can't earn big from it, then its better for bitcoin not to exit anymore. But not all countries have tried to ban bitcoin, some are still left undecided whether to accept it or not.

The majority of nations prohibit Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies due to the prevalence of criminal activity. While some people find it much easier to cheat or scam someone using cryptocurrencies than through traditional criminal activity, others are concerned about losing their tax revenue from large investors who can simply convert all of their investments into Bitcoin in order to avoid paying taxes. However, many people continue to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in violation of national laws.

I believe it is one of the criteria of a nation/state/country to ban the adoption of bitcoin. That their point of view of saying that bitcoin will be used to fund crime is nonentity. It is a water loss statement. State or Country government always have something to say either for excuses or accusation. Mostly whenever they see or hear something that is for the interest of the working class or under-class. Yes, the fear of the upper class and the middle class is the poor man to be a rich man, so as that they do all possible ways to make sure that the poor man is perpetual in poor in the society, so as that they (the middle class uses by the upper) can control the financial aspect of the poor. They are happy when you are poor.

Therefor, for bitcoin coming to the world to liberate the poor from the slavery and oppression of the middle class and the upper class is a very big offence, so they are using all means to ban bitcoin in their countries but as for me, those countries are injuring themselves. There will be a time that bitcoin will take over the world and at that time will see whether they will not accept it or not. When that time comes they will use another eulogize words to accept bitcoin.

It's just a stupid excuse. Are Criminal activities stopped if they ban Bitcoin? Never. It's nothing to ban Bitcoin, they just don't want to lose control of your funds. The centralized government won't allow enjoying financial freedom. They won't allow two currencies use where they don't have control. Also, many governments from poor countries don't understand Bitcoin technology or they aren't interested.

This has been discussed a lot before but for the information of everyone, only fiat enthusiasts believe that bitcoin funds the crimes, most particularly the government itself. If they can’t control and stop the popularity of bitcoin and it’s healthy competition with fiat, banning would be the best resort. I think that’s how government moves, to regulate and control the activities of people including bitcoin. If they have seen it the government won’t be benefiting from bitcoin, then it’s better to ban bitcoin so that all their citizens will only focus on fiat and on central banks.

look at the countries that banned bitcoin, see that they are countries with a very hard religion and a form of politics that I would consider dictatorship, as a way for the party that governs the country to be able to control opposition parties and all people in the country, they limit the money that opposition political parties can have and create more poverty, for this strategy to work, the political parties that govern the country create many companies where they own and manage, in this way the entire private sector is partisan just like the government. now if you have such a high control system and then you see bitcoin as something decentralized then it is obvious that this type of government will never like bitcoin

No I’ve never believed the narrative by most people who speak it, in terms of bitcoin being used for illegal activities. Most people who push that narrative typically have alternative motive for doing so. Countries want control and bitcoin takes it away from them in a large way. That pisses them off.

I think the main reason is tax rather than being used for crime or other reasons. The government cannot control and manage bitcoin transactions so they will lose a large tax source and controlling citizens will become more difficult if everyone uses bitcoin as a medium of exchange.

Crime and fraud existed hundreds of years before bitcoin didn't exist, without bitcoin these evils are still happening every day so don't blame bitcoin.

I think I should localize your questions to match up the current realities in my country. How many kidnappers accept Bitcoin as ransom payment? How many armed bandit or robber ask for your wallet keys each time they attack? The government of my country is suffering from Neo-colonialism. They just copy every financial policy of their colonial master. If the US or British government legalize Bitcoin, the government of my country would also make the same decision. Generally, every government want to control the financial transactions of its citizens and Bitcoin seems to be a threat to that goal. 

Criminal activities could be one of the reasons. But I think the main reason might be that they feel intimidated as cryptos have the potential to subjugate the fiat currency and sabotage the role of the government.

It should be incredibly clear that governments are not interested in banning or regulating bitcoin because some people can commit crimes with it, until recently governments had a complete monopoly over all currencies around the world and for the first time they have competition, and as you may guess this is not something that they like and they are going to do everything that they can in order to avoid bitcoin to become too popular, but at this point they are probably realizing that this is going to be incredibly difficult to do, especially since it is becoming clear that they are losing control of the economy and people are looking for alternatives.

I suggest reading this (Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System (https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf)) till the end and you will know the answer.
The prohibition of using Bitcoin because it is easy to fund crime in my opinion such reasons are too excessive, let alone considered a form of crime.

The history of credit bubbles and the collection of fees by banks at the time of the financial crisis hit around 1978 made many people's trust in the central bank diminished due to weak supervision. Bitcoin is here to provide advantages, one of which is that users can see or monitor transaction activity for themselves.

Bitcoin is now an alternative in investing and also as a currency between the world, although it has many benefits and also offers many conveniences compared to the use of fiat money but there are still many countries that prohibit the use of bitcoin, I agree with  you , if it seems the reason bitcoin is used for crime is not the real reason for the ban because in my opinion crime (money laundering) can also be carried out without having to use bitcoin, the banning of bitcoin by many countries may be due to their fear of the possibility that bitcoin will be able to replace the role of fiat currency and maybe the structure decentralized bitcoin, it is possible that bitcoin will be outside the control of governments and financial authorities unlike fiat currencies so far.

Being used by most criminals is a fact and that is because it is private so authorities will have a hard time tracking them. So many scams, hacks, and other cyber crimes happening with btc but other than those, btc is also highly volatile. Now that's a lot of risks if combined all, that is why it's normal for some countries to ban btc for the said reasons.

The other one that you said (about control) is also true and this was the other reason on why a country can ban btc but I think they don't directly say that it was the reason on why they ban btc because it will show how selfish they are but they will use other alibi's, mostly the first one or the reasons that we talk about earlier.

It has become noticeably observable that when the higher class citizens in the country sees am opportunity that will help the lower class citizens live a better life, they fight with all strength just to make sure such opportunity isn't achievable. Why? Because they enjoy using others as slaves and want to be the only master forever. And same reason with most of these countries why they are banning Bitcoin, they just want to be in control of finance forever (as Bitcoin give citizens total control over their finance) not minding if citizens suffering or not

Simply as that. Once they lose out of control of something, they will have to do everything to make it vanish or banned. Knowing bitcoin is decentralized in nature, that triggers them that whatever they do, bitcoin will never be totally eliminated. However, this excuse that bitcoin has been taken advantage by some criminals was already here when the people are not yet aware about bitcoin. But now that the people have started to be inclined with bitcoin, they can no longer manipulate them, even their financial transactions with bitcoin.

This reasoning doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it. Sure bitcoin can be used for criminal activity, but so can any other thing be. You can make moonshine at home and sell it - that's criminal activity. You can grow weed - criminal activity. Most people use cash and I don't see cash being banned. Bitcoin is used for just a few % of the crimes, the rest is fiat money.

Countries that ban bitcoin are usually afraid of people leaving the country and moving all their money abroad. That's why China did it and that's why Russia did it.

Just a bullshit alibi or childish by the government on why they do ban bitcoin but honestly they are just trying to get rid on things which they do saw to be a big threat when it comes to centralization.

Without even trying to look back or seeing on what fiat had been doing all over the years in related with criminal activities and money laundering.It is really just they are spreading and emphasizing its cons into the
public just to make it look bad which its not surprising for government for them to do so.

Banning is common for countries which does have government that doesnt welcome anonymity and decentralization but we know that there are corners of the world
who do make out some consideration which is good to look at.

Bitcoin is not use for crime it is your own understanding and findings concerning Bitcoin thay countries  ban it usage because it's use for crime. Why government is attacking Bitcoin is because bitcoin can use to compare fiat currency for exchange and worth of values. Government don't have the power of regulating Bitcoin that is why they are acting in a such way that they want to terminate the uses and mass adoption of bitcoin. And since they started it they have not gotten the privilege to destroy Bitcoin, the only way they have now is to ban Bitcoin for their country

If everything that is used in the activities will be attended, it is better that the money is also attended because it is also used in those activities. Even kitchen knives are also supposed to be turned off before someone uses them to kill another. Countries will continue to impose restrictions on Bitcoin and crypto in general, after realizing that it represents a threat to the system that, throughout a whole history, has enabled it to impose absolute control over its people.

so here we go again? for years now this has been asked and answered?  before Bitcoin who funded  the criminals? and without Bitcoin does crime totally stopped ?

is there something that stopping bitcoin do stop criminals from doing so?

if not then this post is nonsense and their reason are BS and not tend to bring good either both , their country or their people and also to bitcoin community .

The fact that crypto is used for severe crimes and illegal activities such as terrorism cannot be ignored. Not everyone can control it and also such illegal activities. can lead to serious circumstances. This is why most of the countries are actually afraid of crypto. They think adoption of bitcoins will lead to more crimes.

The volatility and decentralization of Bitcoin have made it popular in many countries, but this has also made certain countries afraid of it. Some see it as a danger to their current monetary systems, while others worry that it will be used to finance illegal activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and terrorism.

Its just an excuse to ban but I don't think we have complete ban on cryptocurrencies in this world because it doesn't even cross 10% if I am not wrong on the other side governments are trying to discourage the use of cryptocurrencies by imposing high tax rates so that people won't be using it and also they don't take the blame of controlling the new technology.

Think of all the economies thrown into turmoil overnight. Bitcoin gives them another option. It's volatile but the general trend has seen its price steadily increase since creation.

I believe it's because you are ignorant and you don't visit them they come up with such ideas.

You try buy a gram with BTC.

It's banned to protect idiots and to stop wasting electricity.

I fully agree that any government wants to receive taxes on every sale of goods and services. In fact, this information is not at all new to many. Trying to ban bitcoin is a way to stall until there are ways to get taxes from it. Once they figure out how to do that, all bitcoin bans will be lifted. Also, an element of control is still important for them: who, where, what money sends and the ability to block any transaction that is available in the traditional financial system. So money and control are the most important thing for them, and under what pretext they forbid it these are all trifles.

the classic alibi if bitcoin is used for criminal acts, as we know before there was bitcoin also criminal acts were high,
The main reason bitcoin is banned is because the government is difficult to control it, unlike fiat

This is deception in its highest order, Before Bitcoin came into existence, Crimes were being committed every day and those crimes were funded.
Now, my question is.. if it wasn't or not easy to fund crimes with fiat, how was the crimes committed before Bitcoin came into existence funded then?

You are absolutely right, they hate Bitcoin because of its decentralized and privacy oriented nature, they just can not understand how to still be in control if everyone switch to Bitcoin, so they look for all means to make sure Bitcoin does not succeed, but then, we aren't in the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s anymore, citizens of this 21st century know better.

Bitcoin is used much on criminal activities is just a reason. The reason according to me is the lack of infrastructure to tax the users of cryptocurrencies. For example the government can have control over the Exchanges and keep track of user data for taxation. Same as that when a transaction is done between two users through a custodian wallet, the government isn't able to make a taxation.

You can't expect for the government to say good about bitcoin, they will always create FUDs that will scare and threaten the people to avoid bitcoin at all cost. However, this excuse existed already before and maybe has worked before since the people are not yet familiar with bitcoin. But now that bitcoin has become a mainstream, and has proven its usefulness in more than a decade, only those who believe from this excuse are those left naive and fools. Those who are already aware on the facts about bitcoin will never be fooled anymore.

Countries are only banning Bitcoin because they're afraid it'll be used for money laundering and tax evasion. Some countries think people will stop using Fiat altogether in favor of something they cannot control. That's why China, and most recently Russia, are preventing people from using Bitcoin as a medium of exchange for good and/or services. Banning Bitcoin only prohibits businesses and individuals from using it. But that won't stop the network because of its decentralized and censorship-resistant design.

Anyone can simply access the Bitcoin blockchain directly through the Core wallet using a VPN, for complete peace of mind. To stop Bitcoin, the Internet needs to be shut down for good. But we all know that's impossible to achieve. It doesn't matter what a few countries think about Bitcoin as long as the majority is supporting it. Who knows if opposing countries give up and join the revolution within the not-so-distant future? Just my opinion :)

Some governments are afraid of bitcoin, because their national fiat currencies are weak and valueless, what can encourage citizens to stop dealing with fiat and adopting bitcoin for every daily transactions. In case that happens, the local economies will collapse temporarily and that is the reason why I think some governments are so concerned about bitcoin adoption. In fact, they just need to learn more about bitcoin and open their minds to new ideas that could help them improving the life quality of their people and financial standards. They should follow the steps of innovative countries which are ahead in technological and social matters, also adopting a friendly stance towards bitcoin.

Of course a reason that was made intentionally and the reason made is very reasonable because Bitcoin transactions are quite easy, they only require an internet network to make transactions and in transaction activities each user can directly monitor who is the sender, who is the recipient and how many transactions.

"In every transaction, the user will get two keys, namely a private key and a public key. The purpose of the private key is to write a record of transactions carried out by a person or the first party in a personal block, while the purpose of the public key is used by the second party and all users to record the transaction and in every transaction, the second party will also get a private key which will write the transaction in the block, meaning that it does not involve a third party."

From these advantages, it is clear that the ban on the use of Bitcoin is an excuse made intentionally because the country's largest income is in taxes, natural products and others.

It is more like because they don't know how bitcoin works. So instead of learning what blockchains are and how it works, their only solution is to put a complete ban on them. Funny right? What is more funny is that the list of the countries that put a direct ban on usage of bitcoins are the once that are either under developed or highly corrupted.

The people of those country should come forward and preach what bitcoin is to others and force their government to legalize it!

I am in a developing country that prohibits bitcoin to be used as a legal tender in place of fiat, but the regulations provided for Bitcoin are in the form of commodity assets or assets that can be traded on the condition that no one bears the risks caused by crypto investments. In my country Bitcoin is well known as a valuable digital asset and many people are starting to invest in it. Even though it's only a commodity, bitcoin still has a lot of fans. some countries that carry out a complete ban on bitcoin not only because of criminal activities, it's because there is no complete control that can be applied to bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.

If that were the reason wouldn't it be easier for government then to find a way of deducting taxes than chasing shadows. That should be what they ought to work on instead of attempting to strangulate what they can't in the real sense control. If Bitcoin weren't decentralized, by now it won't be where it is today. Politicians would've made a mess of it. I think differently about the tax angle but tend to side with the OP, looking at the scenario based on my country's decision to go hard on cryptocurrency.

👇

It is banned in China. The criminal activities occur when Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies were used to fund crimes , fraud and do something totally out of law. It is a huge thing, and when you have no sufficient knowledge about it, you will easily lose control and motivated merely by your implusion. And it is not easy for govornments to take everthing under control neither. Chinese are more prone to invest in gold. https://xtrading.com/financial-questions/how-to-purchase-gold-as-an-investment-in-2022/

That is what they have failed to understand, banning Bitcoin in your country does not in any way stop criminal activities. So it only goes to show how obvious the hate and frustration is, which is why they came up with the idea and then blamed it on an irrelevant reason. Most of these countries that are banning Bitcoin, their government are even the real criminals using pen and papers to steal from their treasury, now they are hating on bitcoin for no good reason.

Rape & pillage used to be called conquest. Now conquest is called government. Bitcoin lets them know where we all stand, support the movement folks, be steadfast in these trying times ;)

If the government could regulate it properly, they would have allowed it long ago. Such negative reactions are expressed when they are struggling to control it. It can also be a cause for fear, especially in countries where corruption is high. Because the people of those countries will want to use Bitcoin as a means of transferring money from one country to another without paying any tax to the government.

It seems that countries that ban bitcoin are not out of fear that people in those countries will transfer their money to other countries without paying taxes to the government.
but rather because the country is concerned that the development of bitcoin could affect financial institutions and reduce the value of paper money in the country.
Direct holdings of bitcoin, as well as a large number of related derivative contracts, can expose financial institutions to credit, market and liquidity risks.

The risk can also be systemic if the institution is linked to other financial sector entities, or if ownership is widespread in the financial system.

In addition, a significant increase in bitcoin interest will cause disruption to the financial system and inflation in the country's economy in the event of a large bitcoin price decline.

Without economic control in any government, just the Political alone can't wield the will of the government on its citizens and this the government understand and would do or create every propaganda possible to mitigate against anything that will undermine them.

"For those who control the economic aspect of the economy controls the political".

It's a control thing for sure. Crimes are being done through FIAT as well and no one is worried. If you as a government can't control the currency your people use, then you don't control the people. I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it's not really, it's just one of the methods implemented by governments. I doubt BTC can solve the issue of criminal activities, it's just the nature of crypto.

dave said it right countries are afraid of losing taxes and losing financial control of there citizens.

can be easily used to fund crimes? Well, that doesn't make sense. Fiat has been used to fund criminal activities for a very long time already, did they ban it? Obviously no. Why? because they are the one who created it and of course they have full control over it.
Government banning Bitcoin and decentralized crypto basically because they have no control over it and they had a hard time regulating it, especially the taxation portion.
I can't find any legit reasons behind Bitcoin banning other than that.

I believe that governments are creating other digital currencies because they want to control everyone and because doing so will give them access to monitor and manage whatever it is that they want to do with that money, unlike with bitcoin, which gives them no such access. Since bitcoin is decentralized and its widespread usage will reduce government control, that's why they refuse to embrace it.

Banning bitcoin because it is being used for criminal activities is the most rubbish reason I have heard of all times.
It's like fiat isn't used for criminal activities at all. In fact the fiat cash used for criminal activities cannot be tracked at all.
So it's kind of obvious that the government is afraid of losing control which is the reason why many governments are restricting the usage of cryptocurrencies in their countries.

IMO there's more than one reason why they ban it. Usually it's because they're afraid of people hiding their wealth and being able to transfer money abroad without the government's knowledge.
The second popular reason is they're afraid of bribes. In India the government officials were taking crypto bribes and those who found out about it overreacted and banned crypto, instead of using severe punishments to make it not worth for public servants to take bribes. The third most popular reason for banning is CBDC. Countries who want to launch their own crypto treat bitcoin like competition.

If people will focus on fiat, the government will always take advantage of the people since fiat is always controlled by the government, and that they get to trace the people’s fiat activities. However, with bitcoin, it’s hard for them to control its people’s activities because bitcoin is decentralized. So aside from being suspected that it funds criminal activities, bitcoin is also treated as a bad influence to people since its taking them away from the government. Whatever the reason, I think it’s very clear that the government will use a lot of excuses just to stop people from trusting and using bitcoin in the future.

In fact, the government is not able to regulate or will be very difficult to regulate Bitcoin.
And I agree that such criminal reason is only a reason, but not the least and not the significant reason. I believe that regulation is the main reason. However, they cannot control it and will feel difficult to make it as taxes. But here, they are always trying to control by creating centralized exchanges and restricted exchanges in a country

What you mentioned may not be wrong, but without crypto it still happens. It is human nature, human greed, if they don't use cryptocurrency, they will also use fiat money or any other asset to do their nefarious acts. Criminals also used fiat for their evil purposes before bitcoin came along and this is not the reason, the real reason is the government is afraid of bitcoin affecting fiat power and dominance.

I'd like to point out the most explicit case of anti-Bitcoin policies by a sovereign country here in South America: Bolivia.
Since the beginning that country did not care to give Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a chance withtin their economies, giving a total ban to Bitcoin and other decentralized assets.

I am not sure why, but I'd dare to say it was because the fear and ignorance of politicians of that country about this subject, I would like to ask a bolivian about this if I had the chance.

If it truly were because of criminal activity, they might as well ban their own fiat currency and go back to the barter system, because most criminals use normal currency, not crypto.  Criminal activity is just the convenient excuse they'll use to justify a ban because they need a scapegoat to protect their financial institutions. I've seen other posters mention taxes - Tax evasion is easier with crypto, but most of the wealthy ship their funds overseas into tax havens, and the wealthy pay the bulk of taxes. If the tax collecting institutions wanted to prevent tax evasion and they're looking at crypto for amends, they're looking in the wrong place.

The countries that are prohibited is mainly because the governments do not find a way through laws on how they can extract money from those who have crypto, for that reason it is when they enter they do it through regulations, and also because they want to collect a lot of tax, They are aware that people who manage crypto can do so with very large amounts of money that is greater than what is handled in banks, and they want to take a slice of it.
Everything is interest suicide, and since most of the things that governments do is to benefit themselves and not their people, they cannot stop them from having their big profits.

Indeed. Governments are afraid of Bitcoin simply because it poses as a threat to the very existence of Fiat. They believe people will "ditch" national currencies in favor of sound money no one can control (Bitcoin). That's the reason you see most governments telling the public that Bitcoin is used by money launderers and tax evaders. But the truth is that Fiat is the one that's mostly used for criminal activities.

With Bitcoin, such activities almost non-existent thanks to its transparent Blockchain ledger. It's so much easier to track and trace malicious actors on Bitcoin's blockchain than paper money (Fiat). Even though adoption for Bitcoin increased in some countries, Fiat is still "King". I'm fine with that as long as decentralization wins in the long run. Who knows if governments give up in trying to destroy Bitcoin completely? Just my thoughts ;D

You know when the government is against something they will look for a blame to put on it, ever since before cryptocurrency came out criminal activities have been going on for a very long time. Cryptocurrency came and they find it so difficult to control it, they had to look for what they will say bad about it just to tarnish the image of cryptocurrency,  even with all sort bad things government have said concerning cryptocurrency,  the cryptocurrency market is still growing very large.

Criminal conduct may be one of the reasons, but that is not the main justification for the ban. Even before the advent of cryptocurrencies, criminal conduct was rife. The primary factor should be the regulation of it, which they are powerless to manage. They receive no benefits and don't want it so. They want to make money from everything, thus everything should be under their control, but cryptocurrency is out of their hands.

The main reason why countries are against Bitcoin is because they can't control it. Even though they can enforce KYC across centralized exchanges, they still won't be able to identify people who use the blockchain directly for day-to-day payments. This makes it impossible for governments to track and trace every transaction performed by malicious actors on-chain. And with privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash, the situation is worse.

We should expect constant opposition to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies because of the way they were designed. This is normal and shouldn't be a reason to be alarmed. CBDCs will be launching soon, so it's likely the majority will go against crypto for their own interests. Just my thoughts ;D

There are some people who are always find to different ways to commit crimes. When they learn that there is no fear in financial transactions through Bitcoin, they choose it as their weapon. But there are many such events that happen by fiat money as well. So the government should realize its importance and allow it according to the positive effect.

Depending on crime rates, there's always a money involvement for the reason of the crime and we can't deny the fact that there are people who can't control their emotions. By fully controlled by their emotions and fear, they will be acting blind to commit unethical things. Bitcoin have dominate the digital currency of the whole world that's why people with bad intentions, will see bitcoin as a major subject or reason for influence.

Crime rates. Crime rate in most developing countries are high and a few other places where the economy isn't so good or have been depreciating, it drives humans to the brink of it and then you see people engaging in crimes as a means to survive (Am in no way trying to justify crime, its grossly bad). If government could ensure availability of jobs and a stable economy, people would rather seek out those jobs than look towards a life of crime.
I don't think crime is the major reason why most governments have resulted to banning bitcoin. Yeah, it is a parcel of it but, its chiefly the lack of control by the government. I mean, a functional system, used in a large scale that they can't explore to generate revenue from those that operates it, it's a NO for them.

I've often read things like this the last I read about the bitcoin ban is news from china the chinese government banned bitcoin miners in their country but even though now many countries are banning bitcoin but the price of bitcoin is still holding up until now bitcoin price is increasing for me personally even though the country forbids it bitcoin for their own reasons but it has no effect on the confidence of large investors in bitcoin and bitcoin is still around today even when bitcoin will not be affected by news like this again.

1. Money laundering
2. Increasing criminal acts
3. Volatile and risky
4. Attaching into crypto scams

This is where media do put focus on and that what makes bitcoin or crypto as a whole looks bad into the eyes of those citizens which does have zero knowledge
which would result into bad impressions instead but time will come that they would really do know the truth and would totally oppose
on what they have seen back in the past and going against it.

The average says bitcoin helps criminals, but in reality bitcoin is just the same instrument or tool as fiat in criminal matters. I do not believe that this opinion is justified, because frankly the government does not want its centralized financial system to remain undisturbed by the presence of bitcoin.

Legality and prohibition are their way of preventing use and circulation. But the point is the government is just afraid of the other potential that a lot of people can do with bitcoin, and I would probably say is an unfounded form of resistance.

The percentage of crypto used for illegal activities is not very big. I think it's because of taxes why countries are regulating crypto.

Taxes are one of them, but as a new currency, bitcoin can be subject to law under the jurisdiction of any country. You can legally use it as a means of payment if your state does not prohibit it, but you must comply if your state prohibits it as a means of payment but you can legally trade it.

Currently my country has taxed every trader who trades his assets on a registered centralized exchange. It's already into the second month for anyone trading there, so taxes are one of several reasons why the government regulates them. The rest, I think another reason that is often mentioned is the problem of possible illegal acts and disruption of the national economy.

Imo, criminal activities were there before bitcoin even came into existence. It is just an excuse. Cryptos being of decentralised nature are highly potential and governments are afraid as they have no control over cryptos.

I'd see they are right and it found reasonable for them. However, we can't just say that it is only negative things we may get from Bitcoin, there many benefits that we can get from the use of it,
 - profit - as an investment/trading
 - can be used as a bill payment
 
But I see there is another reason why they banned  Bitcoin and that was because they don't have control, not taxes, and we don't need banks which creates a huge decrease of their income.

I've been loosely following India's overhaul of crypto currency from high taxes to what will eventually be an outright banning. They'll be one of the largest countries in the world to have done it, which sparks my interest as I believe other countries will attempt to mimic their model.

I'm more convinced India was using bribery as a scapegoat so they could make a palatable excuse to the public as to why they want to ban crypto, not that they would need one, but it helps. Nirmala Sitharaman has said crypto goes against India's fiscal and monetary policy (I'm glad she admits it, unlike other governments). Their intention is fairly clear.

I understand India has more corruption problems than other nations, but I'm not inclined to believe this corruption would be solved by banning crypto.

No, not mainly since fiat is used in most criminal activities.  This is mostly about monetary control which in turn allows greater control over the people, all the while fiat continually gets devalued due to overprinting, making it even harder for folks to substantially get ahead, let alone build wealth.

Yes, corruption is also high in the Indian subcontinent. Which is very difficult to control by the government. If Indian government fully legalizes cryptocurrency, they won't find a edge of the economy. Since corruption is high, the possibility of money laundering is also high. But keeping in mind, crypto can never be suppressed or regulated. The current indian government realize this and approved only crypto trading business.

I've read this topic several times in this forum, it's just a little different, but the point and theme is the same. But I will still answer what you made the topic.

If there is a country that wants bitcoin differently or ban it, we can't do anything about it and whether we don't want it or not, the first to be affected by it are their citizens who are bitcoin and crypto enthusiasts. It may be true that they are worried because they will lose control if they legalize it. But why did other countries make it legal? that's the question? That means, they did it because they saw a good side of Bitcoin or cryptocurrency that other countries didn't see, am I right?

This is a matter of common sense only actually. And criminal activities always in the hand of the people's
choice. Its up to the person if they want to use bitcoin in good things or bad things. This is a matter of choice
dude.

No matter how countries ban bitcoin, it can't kill bitcoin it can only reduce bitcon price and with time the price will bounce back. If bitcoin is ban in a country, the citizens will still look for a way to trade bitcoin, so countries banning bitcoin they are just wasting their time because people will still look for way to access crypto exchange and they will buy bitcon. Most countries are banning bitcoin just because of their own selfish interest and all the reasons they are giving is not valid.

They all have many excuses and some personal beliefs about Bitcoin. Whether they are right or wrong (mostly), that was their decision and we don't need to argue until such time they will realize that they are wrong.
 * increase illegal activities
 * Fraud
 *scam

We mostly heard these things - but actually, all of them already exist before Bitcoin which is why their claims are wrong.

What you're saying makes a lot of sense, because it's not about criminals happening but about not being able to have control over crypto itself by the government because of the decentralized nature of crypto. So the reason for the occurrence of crime is a nonsensical reason because crime can happen to anything if someone wants to do it with very bad intentions.

Bitcoin is just a tool that can be used for anything. If it is used for crime, of course it is not bitcoin that is the center, but the user. It's the same as fiat money used to buy illegal weapons, of course fiat money can't be said to be a supporter of crime, but the perpetrators.
The government does not have full control, but every transaction in bitcoin can be tracked by anyone because transactions are recorded on the blockchain and are transparent, the FBI will easily find the source of funds and where the funds end up.
a country that tries to ban bitcoin for reasons of criminal activity, of course, is only an alibi not to use bitcoin because they can't control it.

As everybody with any experience of the matter knows, Bitcoin is more traceable than cash money. Criminal organizations, like central banks, are always to be found with large amounts of one printed national currency or other.

Legal jurisdiction is intra-national, not international, & in countries that call themselves democracies it is either based on ethical consent or subterfuge, slavery & serious fraud.

As more insightful contributors than myself have already said, as the currency of the internet Bitcoin doesn't come under any one national jurisdiction under any established legal framework that has anything to do with ethical consent/consensus or democracy, only brute force & coercive mass deception.

As long as Bitcoin is decentralized open-source currency that can be used by anyone anywhere without government oversight, which is the oversight of a bunch of people who openly think they are better than you, & are willing to back it up with violence of all kinds, then it will look like a threat to those people. I guess we have to get down to the nitty gritty of whether the law has to have anything to do with ethics, & therefore whether criminality has to have anything to do with genuine wrongdoing, exploitation & unfair play, instead of parroting media catchphrases to try & seem connected or influential.

We have to get serious about understanding things like law, democracy, the right to property, life & liberty. We have to assess what things like sovereignty & suffrage & representation actually mean, what they should mean & what they are commonly presented to mean. This is all actually quite serious & sober Satoshi stuff. All the 'crypto bro' bullshit is to be deleted outright.

Bitcoin is making us do that.

I don't believe yet with countries have banned bitcoin with criminal activities reason, I think many countries have banned with bitcoin as legal currency transaction or investment assets because care and worry when their people moving cash money as saving assets become bitcoin or other altcoin. Almost all people know with how potential with bitcoin as investment assets for the future than keep hold and save money on the bank without any increasing. I think if keep make bitcoin can legal on many countries will difficult to find people prefer save money on the bank than saving money with bitcoin assets as their investment on the future. Will have moving assets from money to be bitcoin as saving fund if really make it legal currency transaction.

My thoughts on this using my country as a case study
1) We have people in government who lack for sight because they are old and just as the saying goes, you can teach an old dog new tricks so it is with these folks. They are opposed to anything innovative. For them if it is not broken don't fix it. Rather keep reinventing the wheel than accept to try or even test something new.

2) Banning bitcoin because of criminal activities is the most ridiculous reason. I mean, the fellows who are terrorizing my country are against western education and who do not even for a moment have the slightest knowledge of bitcoin. They prefer to do their illegal transactions using our local fiat. So it makes no sense to me. The criminals are in the government.

3) Little wonder why despite rushing to create its own digital currency, the volume of transactions remain stagnant month on month because the citizenry don't trust the government.

The embedding of the "criminal" name behind some countries' bans on Bitcoin is too negative. If the reason for the prohibition of countries against Bitcoin is criminal, then the percentage of truth is very small.
It's been 8 pages of this thread since you created it and various opinions and explanations have been submitted regarding this. I think it is quite clear that the main conclusion is that the Government cannot control it.

For criminal purposes, it is easier to use ordinary money, cash, which, in principle, is used in all countries of the world. The share of bitcoin in criminal money is exaggerated by the media thanks to government tips to scare ordinary citizens away. Otherwise, God forbid, they will start using bitcoin en masse, and then there will be no one to control, holding their wallet in his hands. Governments only come up with strange excuses that no one in their right mind would believe. To fight crime, they are not trying to ban traditional money instead of bitcoin. As you said, bitcoin is just a tool that can be used for both good and evil. This is the same as if you ban the use of a kitchen knife: after all, they can't only cut vegetables.

I think the major reason why some countries are banning cryptocurrencies is because they can't regulate it and so they believe they have no control over it, hence, the ban.

As per using it funding crime, that's not completely true. Crimes are also been funded with Fiat, even before the Advent of cryptocurrency

Actually it's both a yes or a no, criminal activities all on all is a big reason why governments are against bitcoin because it's untraceable so any such activity will go anonymously. Moreover tax evasion is also a big concern for the governments obviously as it is their share of money which doesn't comes to them whenever people use bitcoins for their earnings. So all on all I won't say that governments are wrong in being selfish and banning Bitcoins for making their work easy but the thing is when a new technology comes in it brings it's challenges as well so governments should try to solve the challenges rather than behaving in such a manner.

Yes, that is the captoin that they gave it not taking into account that the fiat currency has equally contributed so much in money laundering and criminal activities more than cryptos in general , but I do think that this is  because of their lack of understanding about Bitcoin that lead them to banning Bitcoin even in my country there was rumoured gathered that ones of the reasons why the federal government through CNB in my banned cryptocurrency transaction was base on the fact that Bitcoin played a major role in the END SARS  protest ,in that they used Bitcoin as a means of donation in sponsoring the end SARS protest that happened in my country around November 2020, though the government did not officially announced it.

That is the most valid reason why they keep on banning bitcoin, because bitcoin is decentralized and that there is no way for them to trace all its citizens transactions. But if they start regulating it, they can control it little by little, but unlike fiat where they can take its full control. However, I don’t see banning of bitcoin will be lifted in the future, as long it remains to be not centralized. The government is only concern of their citizens fiat activities, something that they can’t completely do it if there is bitcoin that is blocking their own interest to control the fiat activities of all people.

LOL, no, of course, the strange ones who block bitcoin do it most likely because of the impossibility of imposing taxes on it, because in other cases, all compromising evidence that is beneficial to the authorities of one country or another is bought on the darknet for bitcoins))

Most countries,even Russia one time tried to ban it,also my country has come up a lot of times with different laws to stop it because the main reason was that they want a share.My country now is going starting from 2024 to regulate it and want a tax from every sale that you make from your Bitcoin,even if you have mined it and paid the electricity cost for it when you sell it to some exchange they want 15% of the amount as tax,of course smart people will exchange P2P as paying 15% tax is outrageous.

That is the reason,and not because of criminal activities because only 0.04 % of criminal activity is run with Bitcoin,the rest is run with FIAT as we all know.

That's certainly true, mate. Just like the Internet, Bitcoin is a double-edged sword. It all depends on how you use it. Some people use it for bad things, while others use it for good things. We cannot control what people can or cannot do on the Bitcoin blockchain because of its decentralized and censorship-resistant nature. I guess that's why most governments are against Bitcoin, putting every obstacle in order to prevent as much people as possible from getting access to it.

Oppressive countries like Russia and China have "banned" Bitcoin, but that doesn't mean anyone can't interact with the Blockchain directly. I think countries will eventually give up on their task to "destroy" Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency becomes too big to fail. As it's said in the real world, "if you can't beat them, join them". Who knows if countries who "banned" Bitcoin will change their mind sometime in the future? Just my thoughts ;D

Lol it has been answered long time ago for thousand if not million times , if the criminal has no chance in using Bitcoin to use for their activities then why there are still crimes happening worldwide?
even before bitcoin there are already crimes that in situation , those government are only looking for defenses but the truth is? their banks are being triggered  by the presence of Bitcoin and crypto so they are trying to fool people by reasoning differently .

It's literally never that reason. It's always about control and money. I'd respect these governments if they were at least honest about the reason. "Hey, we just dont want the common man becoming financially independent because we have less control over them that way and it upsets the ruling class. Nothing personal"

Instead of this bullshit about OUR safety...

They know Bitcoin is only an investment method to earn in fiat, they know that and they know Bitcoin can't be spent like fiat in general, the reason for that crime is just a brand for what is signaled to the public.

What you need to know, countries that prohibit Bitcoin are not because of crime, but they don't want rich people, their will, the people must always submit to the state in any form, if a lot of people invest and make a lot of money, government banks die / lose, no one wants to apply for loans, that's what the government is afraid of.

This issue goes beyond simple regulation or the classic issue of taxes, it is what is always said, but there are already countries that have legislation/control and others even collect taxes.

Any control that is presented will always be to individuals, you are the one who reports and they monitor your transactions but that does not mean control over bitcoin, which is in a way the heart of the matter, because bitcoin technology will always be available to be a pressure way.

Now, that, like the Fiat currency, if we act as individuals and not as a group of users, will serve so that they have dominion over each one of us.

With bitcoin it is the empowerment of the citizen, improved in the technology that bitcoin represents.

Then it is ironic to say that perhaps the main promoter of these prohibitions are the users themselves, who do not demand or worse still do not know or do not want to use bitcoin.

Yes. You are very right on this, because despite the fact that Bitcoin fluotuate, it is still the best long term investment for the future, and unfortunately the government and banks knows this and that's why they keep fighting to restrict citizens of it's used, so they could compel citizens of the use of fiat where they have total control over the funds of the masses. But with the little knowledge I have got from Bitcoin, I can never advise any individual to invest a long capital with the duration of 5 to 10yrs in bank anymore, or either centralized exchanges, because that's the mistake most people make trusting such long term fund to a centralized exchange, that could run away after been hit by a deep bear market

Governments don't want to reveal their true intentions, in order to give people the perception of safety/security. If they did tell the truth, then people would've been panicking all of the time. We all know the main reason why countries ban Bitcoin. And that's because they don't want to lose control over people's lives. Something that's decentralized and censorship-resistant, could threaten the very existence of traditional Fiat currencies. While Bitcoin's been extremely popular, it hasn't replaced Fiat yet because governments have been trying to keep it afloat. They try to undermine Bitcoin in order to drive away as much people as possible from Bitcoin.

At least, we can be confident Bitcoin won't be going anywhere thanks to the way it was designed. Decentralization is still winning, despite failed attempts to centralize everything. 99.99% of "shitcoins" will disappear, while Bitcoin will grow bigger and stronger than ever. As long as the majority stands with Bitcoin, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts ;D

It has not been proven that the use of bitcoin is committed for crime, from the cases that have ever existed, it shows that it is not in large numbers, in fact fiat currency also dominates crime when compared to bitcoin, this does not make sense to outsmart the reasons for crime.

But the fear of losing control of financial activities, this is a little more reasonable, but in my opinion it is not the finances of the citizens, but rather the local government, because if the reason is citizens, at this time we have adopted bitcoin in the application of investment or financing of certain goods and services.

Criminal activity involving bitcoin is very small according to my knowledge?

Criminal activity on Bitcoin may be small, but governments don't care because all they want is to stay in control. Something that's decentralized and censorship-resistant takes the power away from the governments and central banks and gives it to the people. That's why we've seen constant opposition towards crypto/Blockchain tech these days. Even countries that are "friendly" towards Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have very strict rules (mainly the US). We will never replace the current financial system if governments are in the way.

Because Bitcoin has so many enemies, it will only remain as an alternative to Fiat for generations. We're going to have to see if people will still be allowed to use Bitcoin after CBDCs become a reality. China and Russia "banned" Bitcoin after launching their own CBDCs, so my guess is that other countries will do the same to stay in power no matter what. Let's hope Bitcoin stays decentralized so nothing could stand in its way. Just my opinion :)

I think this is exactly what governments fear to happen, and the more difficult it becomes to legalize bitcoin, the government will not be able to accept the loss of control to someone else. For us citizens, bitcoin is absolutely beneficial, but for the government bitcoin is the enemy, so it is not surprising that the government strives to stop bitcoin at all costs. It isn't easy to see bitcoin becoming a legal currency.

There are countries that are not really into bitcoin because their leaders are not fond of it, have the wrong impression and understanding of it, and are scared of it. I think the reason why there are still countries which are against in adopting bitcoin are the aforementioned individually, and perhaps mix of it.

Some people even the most educated ones are even unaware or only have a little knowledge about bitcoin. They lack understanding of it which makes bitcoin scary to their perspective. And some are just downright greedy or do not really want it because of the potential it holds. Since bitcoin is a decentralized asset, givernment have little to no control over it. In terms of taxation, they don't get to tax it directly, but only in exchanges transactions. Which is why they do not really agree with legalization of bitcoin. Money matters and perhaps security reasons as well. Because other crypto activities are already infiltrated of schemes and scammers which the government officials are wary about.

Yes, the government will lose control over its citizens financially. They did not underestimate in any way. But on the contrary they are not able to find any solution. As a result they are finding no other way but to restrict it. However, due to public enthusiasm and pressure from various sides, we have seen the government of India legalize crypto investment. I think it should be considered whether it can be allowed or not by discussing with the expert in the same way.

Your question has shown the right answer to your own question, which is certain that every country has rules for playing with finance.

The reason for the crime, which is often mentioned by the government against Bitcoin, it's just a mythical reason, the proof is that Bitcoin is still in use today, I don't see any crime there.

Look at the growth of Bitcoin from the day of inception, no significant assets that have managed to do that kind of growth linearly, the ones who grow like that collapsed and were tagged as a bubbled investment but bitcoin survive the names and more people are coming to the system. This is what the government fears, they don't want people to abandon their old system, they fear that people will prefer bitcoin and cryptos to all the bonds and securities they are all controlling.
If you look at the US and some other bitcoin friendly countries that allowed bitcoin in their state are working with exchanges to regulate it, that's why they are also benefiting from the taxes and revenue they generate from their people, they know it cannot be controlled not because some people used it for criminal activity but because that's what people want, something decentralized and not control by old men in political offices.

Indeed, there are some countries that prohibit the entry of Bitcoin but not all countries that prohibit the entry of Bitcoin, in countries that prohibit the entry of Bitcoin may have their own reasons.

In my opinion, by banning Bitcoin in a country, maybe they are afraid that their currency will be disrupted and will damage the currency they have used for a long time with the entry of Bitcoin, maybe they are afraid and suspicious, when Bitcoin enters a country they may think by entering Bitcoin will be used for evil things like terrorism, drugs and other things.

In a democratic context everybody has a say in what exactly constitutes criminality, not a cabal of old men in black cloaks & shiny shoes poncing it up. With this in mind, consider that the banning of BTC is wholly unethical, fascistic, & a criminal act in itself.

This is what wars are fought over.

One would say, Bitcoin is the best "asset" on Earth. It has outperformed Gold in every way. Governments are well-aware of this, so they've done everything possible to try to destroy it. After all, Fiat is what gives both the government and the central bank power/control over the people. If the majority begins using an alternative currency that's outside the control of the government, then the latter would lose all of its power. That's why we've seen strong regulatory measures towards Bitcoin, in order to limit its true potential. Some countries have outright "banned" Bitcoin, while others have embraced it in every way.

The main concern of mainstream governments is that Bitcoin can be used for criminal activities. But we all know Fiat is used more than Bitcoin for such purposes. It's all an excuse for governments to go along with their hidden agenda. There are powerful forces that don't want Bitcoin to exist, so it should be up to us to defend Bitcoin's decentralization for the good of financial freedom. Just my thoughts ;D

There are many reasons for countries banning Bitcoin.. Since there is no centralized regulator, many countries believe that any major scam can hit their economy badly, if they heavily invest in Bitcoin... Others want to keep control levers with central banks. Thus push Bitcoin to corner.. but we need to actually generate data on how much of Bitcoin is being used for illegal activities.

Yeah, that's the main reason for banning bitcoins by the government as they fear that if bitcoin is used widely, the government will lose control over the financial system of the country. Criminal activities were there even before bitcoin so it is just the excuse that the government uses to convince people why they are banning bitcoins.

Of the many criminal cases that have occurred, almost very few involve bitcoin. The state prohibits bitcoin not only because of a crime case, but as far as I know they are completely incapable of controlling it, that's the reason they put forward, even though the purpose of the ban is closer to taxation, no can be controlled and make the country not benefit from the benefits of bitcoin itself, even though the intended benefit is because there are no regulations governing bitcoin travel in that country.

Well I think their reason is for wealth regulation in other to reduce money laundering, because I believe most of the politicians uses Bitcoin as an opportunity to hide their money from the government considering the fact that there money can never be traced by the government.

So I think is because of criminal activities that made some countries to banned Bitcoin so as to monitor all money activities.

Countries are also banning Bitcoin because of "environmental concerns". With rising energy costs in the EU and some other countries around the world, governments are rushing to ban Bitcoin mining for good with the excuse that it "harms the environment". We all know that's not true, as banks usually consume more energy than Bitcoin itself. There's no need to worry about governments turning against Bitcoin, especially when it gives people true financial freedom.

I think this is only the beginning as things will only get worse in the long run. As long as Bitcoin remains true to its principles of decentralization and censorship-resistance, nothing will be able to stand in its way. Just my thoughts ;D

Many countries banned bitcoin and uptill now thy are giving some excuses which is not the real reason why they banned it. If they should say its because of criminal crises that means is not normal, because we can never be the same most of us using bitcoin we are not using it for anything bad rather to Change our life for better

every country does not give exact reasons why they ban bitcoin, if because of banning there will be a lot of crime it is very excessive because before there was  bitcoin , criminality was already high. but in my mind the government does not want the country to get out of control in managing the finances of its citizens

The people in control of the world today do so through a centrist monopoly of wealth distribution. This is why the deep state and the central banks and all these scandals are wriggling out of the woodwork in recent years. These dynasties and ruling families and networks of financiers keep control of the production and distribution of state capital behind a veneer of democracy, freedom and consent. They use this capital to raise armies and invade nations and take control of resources including the human resources of the conquered in the name of civilisation.

Now Bitcoin presents a much fairer and more transparent form of value exchange and wealth distribution and it threatens these people who speak their historically hijacked multimedia propaganda networks including and maybe especially the literary/academic and education systems.

They justify the reason for the ban that Bitcoin is a breeding land for crimes because it is decentralized and no government or any central bank can control or monitor it, but they want to enslave the people and do not want the financial transactions of individuals to get out of their control so that they are the only ones in control of it, and it is unfortunate that We find that there are many governments of many countries that have banned Bitcoin and declared war on it and against those who promote or deal with it, but why is Bitcoin not regulated and legalized without completely preventing and banning it? I see that Bitcoin is the future, and I look forward to seeing in the future many countries, such as El Salvador, approved Bitcoin and allowed consumers to use it in all their transactions alongside the US dollar.

Governments will always come up with an excuse to prevent as much people as possible from getting true financial freedom. After all, they don't want to lose control over people's lives. It'll be up to the individual himself to do his own research to determine if Bitcoin is really worth the time. I'm pretty sure most people will switch to Bitcoin when they discover its true benefits. The only problem is that Bitcoin's price is widely volatile, making it a terrible currency for day-to-day payments. But that shouldn't be an issue if you're one of those people who use Bitcoin regardless of its market price. 1 Bitcoin will always be equal to 1 Bitcoin, right?

At least, we're heading into the right direction as some countries are beginning to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. We now have El Salvador and the Central African Republic in the game, so it should only be a matter of time before other countries do the same. Of course, not every country in the world will adopt Bitcoin as their currency of choice. But many of them will accept it, leading us one step closer towards "hyperbitcoinization". Who knows if someday countries that banned Bitcoin (like China and Russia) will change their mind? If Bitcoin can be taxed, then I don't see why they shouldn't adopt it in the first place. No one knows the future, so we can only hope for the best. Just my thoughts ;D