Government intervention in Bitcoin inevitable?

[Hazir]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

[1714042975]

1714042975

[Troonetpt]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

I don't think the government can change the core protocol of bitcoin, they just can't success. Yes, Governments are greedy, but not every Government have infinite power to to do anything, that means not  every Government will against bitcoin. That's enough.

[Miracal]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

I don't think the government can change the core protocol of bitcoin, they just can't success. Yes, Governments are greedy, but not every Government have infinite power to to do anything, that means not  every Government will against bitcoin. That's enough.

The protocol and blochchain is decentralized. Not any ppl can change it even the govs. Yes, govs can change the protocol and make a hard fork for it. The new fork chain becomes altcoins, worhthless because no miners would accept the chain. 

[Kprawn]

When things are over regulated or banned, it goes underground... people would use it on the black markets OR they will find ways to move over to the next big thing. {Technology evolves..... take music piracy as a example.... when they saw they could not win the battle, they started to use the technology to their benefit...iTunes etc. etc.}

There is no central organization to shut down....

When the majority of the people pick up on why Bitcoin is being banned, they will start asking questions about the REAL reason, and they will force regulators with their votes to change their minds. 

[hua_hui]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

I think as bitcoin adoption rate grows, governemnt will consider to regulate the bitcoin world for their own benefit or their ppl. It is not a bad thing. Due to a lot of scams and hacks in crypto world, they need to be punished for their bad behaviours. 

[Hazir]

When things are over regulated or banned, it goes underground... people would use it on the black markets OR they will find ways to move over to the next big thing. {Technology evolves..... take music piracy as a example.... when they saw they could not win the battle, they started to use the technology to their benefit...iTunes etc. etc.}

There is no central organization to shut down....

When the majority of the people pick up on why Bitcoin is being banned, they will start asking questions about the REAL reason, and they will force regulators with their votes to change their minds.  

And what will you do when there won't be any exchange market to sell your coins in the future or any services or shops won't be accepting bitcoin  because of the regulations government regulations?
If you can't spend it then your coins are useless.

[Lauda]

Well it is safe to say that it is inevitable, but that is okay. There has to be a meeting point if you want Bitcoin to be legal. The main part is that they can't influence the blockchain or core software no matter what they do. Even if they forced the developers to release something bad, almost everyone would just reject it. That's the wonder of open source software.
I don't think that we're going to see anti-Bitcoin action in the future. Since quite a few countries already 'endorse' Bitcoin, they won't just randomly change their mind.
Even if they do it might be too late and they might fall behind in comparison to others.

[ianferns]

Yes its inevitable, but if they go about making it illegal, then that would obviously pose a big threat to bitcoin. But I doubt it will happen.

[Q7]

Unless this is agreed upon by the community, not a single entity can decide to simply change the core protocol as and when they want to. Having said that governments can just make things difficult for you like for instance, closing down bank accounts related to bitcoin businesses but that's just how far they can go to impose the limits.

[Hazir]

Unless this is agreed upon by the community, not a single entity can decide to simply change the core protocol as and when they want to. Having said that governments can just make things difficult for you like for instance, closing down bank accounts related to bitcoin businesses but that's just how far they can go to impose the limits.

I am not so sure, a majority of miners is not important here. If miners will try to change something (the protocol in this case) on their own, they will simply be ignored by the rest of the network, and their "mining rewards" will be worthless. A change requires an economic majority - adoption by the users and businesses who give the currency value.  In short if government impose on bitcoin business restrictions, bitcoin will be changed to match that.

[LiteCoinGuy]

good luck with a worldwide government intervention in Bitcoin.

[Hazir]

good luck with a worldwide government intervention in Bitcoin.

I doesn't have to be worldwide. In fact it most certainly won't be. I am worried about US almost exclusively here since they have the power to exert pressure on every other nation. And if only US and China agreed upon some bitcoin changes it would be it - and these two nations will find common ground if money is at stake.

[Amph]

only if bitcoin gets big enough for becoming a threat for the usd or others fiat(if we are talking about not only usa gov, because not any gov is interested in crypto, we should remember that), right now bitcoin market cap is still a joke, they won't bother with

[Hazir]

only if bitcoin gets big enough for becoming a threat for the usd or others fiat(if we are talking about not only usa gov, because not any gov is interested in crypto, we should remember that), right now bitcoin market cap is still a joke, they won't bother with

I am not so sure about that because it is not about threat level imo. But about control of power and money, Bitcoin won't overtake USD any time soon. You said that governments are not interested - not true, they are interested but they are watching it for now what major players (USA, China) would do and how bitcoin will scale. Governments would like to share the cake bitcoin will bring the the table and when bitcoin would become too big it will be harder to cut and control it...

[Amph]

only if bitcoin gets big enough for becoming a threat for the usd or others fiat(if we are talking about not only usa gov, because not any gov is interested in crypto, we should remember that), right now bitcoin market cap is still a joke, they won't bother with

I am not so sure about that because it is not about threat level imo. But about control of power and money, Bitcoin won't overtake USD any time soon. You said that governments are not interested - not true, they are interested but they are watching it for now what major players (USA, China) would do and how bitcoin will scale. Governments would like to share the cake bitcoin will bring the the table and when bitcoin would become too big it will be harder to cut and control it...

not all of them i said, some governments are not looking into bitcoin right now, for many reasons (internal economic problem due to recession, war ecc...), bitcoin does seems a very niche market right now, and they are ignoring it for this matter

at this stage bitcoin can be only seen as buying a lottery, that's why there is no real interest for the governments

[avatar_kiyoshi]

Its possible happens if gov feels bitcoin is threat for them, they will blacklist bitcoin. But the gov have a time for glancing to bitcoin? I think not

[Netnox]

When things are over regulated or banned, it goes underground... people would use it on the black markets OR they will find ways to move over to the next big thing. {Technology evolves..... take music piracy as a example.... when they saw they could not win the battle, they started to use the technology to their benefit...iTunes etc. etc.}

There is no central organization to shut down....

When the majority of the people pick up on why Bitcoin is being banned, they will start asking questions about the REAL reason, and they will force regulators with their votes to change their minds.  

And what will you do when there won't be any exchange market to sell your coins in the future or any services or shops won't be accepting bitcoin  because of the regulations government regulations?
If you can't spend it then your coins are useless.

Dude there are more and more merchants joining, western governments are pretty pro bitcoin. The big cities are starting to battle to become a bitcoin hub, bitcoin is joining the big trading markets. I don't know in which year you are but bitcoin is lightyears away from being banned, even if it would be illegal it would actually attract more skeptics.

[tatu]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

Regulation is inevitable and governments are going to want their cut. It's not like they're just going to take a backseat and let people use it tax free and money launder via it. Regulation is not necessarily a bad thing either (as long as regulations aren't too restrictive). Think of it as bitcoin succeeding and making its first steps into wider mainstream acceptance.

[redsn0w]

only if bitcoin gets big enough for becoming a threat for the usd or others fiat(if we are talking about not only usa gov, because not any gov is interested in crypto, we should remember that)...

If I can say my personal opinion, I do not think the various government will intervene or maybe better 'attack' bitcoin (or at least not now).

right now bitcoin market cap is still a joke, they won't bother with

You (and we) should remember that bitcoin is only 5/6 'years old' and it is still alive, so I bitcoin will bother it but them cannot do anything to the code itself. The unique way for them to intervene, it is to buy a lot of bitcoin to cause an huge dump (with the sale of all the purchased bitcoin).

[bornil267645]

Government are already having their influence as much as possible. They know how much potential the bitcoin economy holds and they will do everything to keep bitcoin under their control.

[TheGame]

Government are already having their influence as much as possible. They know how much potential the bitcoin economy holds and they will do everything to keep bitcoin under their control.

Well it's going to be futile because they can't 'control' it and I'm sure they already know that. The best they can do is tax it with regulations and take their cut but that's about it.

[WhatTheGox]

Government are already having their influence as much as possible. They know how much potential the bitcoin economy holds and they will do everything to keep bitcoin under their control.

Well it's going to be futile because they can't 'control' it and I'm sure they already know that. The best they can do is tax it with regulations and take their cut but that's about it.

Wont stop them trying, there is no 1 person in charge at gov HQ its just an idea that control & force is good.  Expect measures to come from gov as regards bitcoin and the internet.

[Hydros]

Here's what I think is going on between Bitcoin and the US government. Mark Karpeles made a deal with the US Government because they saw Bitcoin as a threat(he hasn't seen any jail time), he gives them those 600k missing coins and he gets off unscathed. This way the government gets to make Bitcoin seem illegitimate and unsafe as it was a threat to the current financial system, and if their plan does not work they still have a large stake in the total amount of Bitcoin and can crash the markets.

[Slark]

Here's what I think is going on between Bitcoin and the US government. Mark Karpeles made a deal with the US Government because they saw Bitcoin as a threat(he hasn't seen any jail time), he gives them those 600k missing coins and he gets off unscathed. This way the government gets to make Bitcoin seem illegitimate and unsafe as it was a threat to the current financial system, and if their plan does not work they still have a large stake in the total amount of Bitcoin and can crash the markets.

It seems more like a conspiracy theory rather than serious accusations. If government really had these coins and they used it for crashing and speculate on markets wouldn't we be able to track such big amount being processed by them?

[Hydros]

Here's what I think is going on between Bitcoin and the US government. Mark Karpeles made a deal with the US Government because they saw Bitcoin as a threat(he hasn't seen any jail time), he gives them those 600k missing coins and he gets off unscathed. This way the government gets to make Bitcoin seem illegitimate and unsafe as it was a threat to the current financial system, and if their plan does not work they still have a large stake in the total amount of Bitcoin and can crash the markets.

It seems more like a conspiracy theory rather than serious accusations. If government really had these coins and they used it for crashing and speculate on markets wouldn't we be able to track such big amount being processed by them?

Hah I know its just a theory, but of course they could have just kept the coins in the same wallet and now they are patiently waiting .

[BillyBobZorton]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

I don't think the government can change the core protocol of bitcoin, they just can't success. Yes, Governments are greedy, but not every Government have infinite power to to do anything, that means not  every Government will against bitcoin. That's enough.

Government intervention is indeed unavoidable, but it's also true they can't change the decentralized, potentially fully anonymous nature of BTC.
There's no way they can determine how much BTC you own so trying to tax people holding BTC is an utopia.

[lucullus]

The Bitcoin Foundation is suppose to prevent this, right?

[Gyfts]

Completely agree. The IRS has been hopping on Bitcoin ever since it hit mainstream. It's been ridiculous how much they actually want to destroy the currency by putting regulations on something that is based on decentralization. But that's to be expected. It's competing against the banks. If inflation with the US dollar increases, they are worried more and more people will adopt Bitcoin and use it over fiat.

[crazyivan]

I know some people do not agree with me but I do feel some kind of regulatory framework s necessary.

It would limit the number of scammers and ponzi businesses we currently have inside BTC economy.
Having a limited consumer protecion legislation would definitely, at least partially, prevent this problem.

[lontivero]

Bitcoin is not so big right now to raise any serious warning so, govs will let it run for some extra time. Basically black money moves across banks and tax havens and bitcoin is not comparable with those traditional mechanisms.

US / Europe are not stupids, they know that law enforcement agencies can deal with illegal activities using bitcoin or any other currency. What they'll want is tax bitcoin and that is not a bad thing, in fact if govs tax bitcoins then they are saying they have a value, are legal and that would be the best for bitcoin.

[DooMAD]

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Open source software means anyone can make a change to the protocol, but anyone else can either undo that change or share a version without the change.  If presented with a choice of running a core client that has been modified by a government or one that had hadn't, which one would most people opt to run?  If the scenario you're envisioning were possible, a government would have already forced everyone into using torrenting clients that didn't allow people to share copyright material.  It's just not a likely or practical outcome.  And even if by some bizarre fluke they did manage to force a change on this protocol, there's a thousand or more alts people could switch to.  All they can do is regulate businesses.  We run whatever software and support whatever crypto network we want.

[galbros]

The good news is that more government involvement may actually help bitcoin, as well as all crypto currencies, gain legitimacy.  While I've enjoyed the "wild wild anything goes" aspect of bitcoin, that is just not going to be attractive to mainstream non-technical users.

In short, crazyivan has a point.

[Jybrael]

If the governments think that Cryptocurrencies should be kept an eye on will show more people that cryptos are gaining a good foothold and eventually allow for more adoption rates. I don't think thats a bad thing. The only bad thing there could be the government trying to regulate it.

[QuestionAuthority]

U.S. GNP $17 trillion, China GNP $16 trillion, Bitcoin market cap $3 billion. I think we have a while to go before they worry about Bitcoin.

[johnyj]

Government never need to intervene gold, and less regulation of gold actually boost the economy due to more gold trading. Bitcoin can help them to boost society saving, improve each person's financial health and reduce the national debt

[Amph]

I know some people do not agree with me but I do feel some kind of regulatory framework s necessary.

It would limit the number of scammers and ponzi businesses we currently have inside BTC economy.
Having a limited consumer protecion legislation would definitely, at least partially, prevent this problem.

ponzi and scammers is people fault not bitcoin fault, the same for exchanges hacked,  is not bitcoin fault , but the security of the exchange that is flawed

[biggerbig]

We may get regulations sooner then we think. USA government is pushing to get their hands on bitcion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/15/the-coming-political-battle-over-bitcoin/

Russia is even considering banning btc

http://www.coinssource.com/russia-plans-total-bitcoin-ban-2015/

[zebedee]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

Well done, now you understand why Bitcoin was created.

[QuestionAuthority]

We may get regulations sooner then we think. USA government is pushing to get their hands on bitcion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/15/the-coming-political-battle-over-bitcoin/

Russia is even considering banning btc

http://www.coinssource.com/russia-plans-total-bitcoin-ban-2015/

You're quoting an article from 2013. We already know the outcome of that and it was meaningless.

I don't understand why anyone cares what Russia does. Russia is a little impoverished crime ridden country. Unless you're dying to buy some borscht with Bitcoin on your next vacation forget about Russia.

[micheline]

I don't understand why anyone cares what Russia does. Russia is a little impoverished crime ridden country. Unless you're dying to buy some borscht with Bitcoin on your next vacation forget about Russia.

Stereotypes anyone?

What's true is, that the ability to effectively enforce laws in Russia is lower than in the US.

[funkenstein]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

Just lol.  Guess again. 

There are no "governments" as you seem to envision them.  There are people that claim to have authority over you who claim to represent governments.  They will intervene in the affairs of other people, and kill us from time to time, but these people can't change the laws of nature or mathematics. 

BTW you can already build blacklists and identity lists if you like.  Nobody is stopping you. 

 

[BitMos]

no.

why? gov can't fight AI on their own turf (or anywhere for the matter).

[sana54210]

There are couple questions I keep asking myself about future of bitcoin. I thought about it and I am sure that government intervention in the bitcoin industry is simply inevitable.

And we can't do anything about it really. Governments are greedy, they want a share of everything and therefore thy will be trying to snatch some of it from us.

There is a really high chance that we see in the future a lot more government action against bitcoin, including some changes of the core protocol.

Another case is that I think bitcoin is "too good" now for people. So Bitcoin will be changed to bring it in line with other payment systems.

We probably will se some dreadful changes like adding possibility to blacklist funds and and change that will allow to store identity information of users with bitcoin transaction.

Your thoughts?

Yeah true, governments will certainly intervene and try to stop the growth of Bitcoins, they just don't see it has a big threat to go against it head on, though certain small maneuvers are done by them, nothing big has yet come, but when Bitcoin grows very big, they will surely come against it guns blazing, and for a fact they can't do anything about it