Privacy coin demand/usability vs risk and governments

[r3s0nance]

I see a lot of bullish sentiment around anonymous/privacy coins. I totally understand from a technology and public demand perspective being bullish on the tech and use case. My question to those of you that are really bullish on the future of privacy coins is, what about the risk from government/law enforcement intervention or laws around the use of crypto assets as money laundering vehicles?

Yes, I know fiat is laundered and used for crime all the time and that whole argument. There is, however, a real concern with the ease, security, and speed around privacy coins from the perspective of the government. While I am not a fan of big government, the reality is they will most certainly take some sort of action against privacy coins. I suppose you could argue that, at this point, the tech exists and these large criminal enterprises could easily establish their own networks too. Complex issue...

So, do some people here think privacy coins are more of a speculative play for the next few years, but not something that will be here for 15 years?  I can imagine a world where there are always privacy coins operating even with laws in place to limit some of the ease with transferring that in to fiat, but I imagine that limits the ceiling for them. Truly, I would just like to see some discussion on the risk/reward of privacy coins and the usability and future for them alongside what I consider to be almost certain future government action.

[5ensei]

I guess the same can be said of guns. They themselves are not dangerous, it is the people that use them and how it is used. Privacy coins have legitimate purposes just like any other coin. They can be a store of value like dash, or it can have a purpose with privacy technology built in e.g. wagerr which allows anonymous betting. It could be that one doesn't want this wife to know about his betting habit so he uses privacy coins instead, this is not illegal.

[r3s0nance]

Good point, I totally agree. I just think realistically this is the exact type of thing the government targets. I'm not saying whatever they do would kill privacy coins, I just fear it severely limits the ceiling from an investing perspective. Still great technology and will be used, but I just fear the FUD that is going to come when governments start addressing it.