Does bitcoin idea has a future, or will it get smothered by governments?

[aarreeaa]

As I understand it, bitcoin is decentralized, thus cant be directly closed down by any government.

In the past government of free country such as US brought up charges about money laundering (or something like that) and closed down E-Gold (e-currency that was backed up by actual gold bars and successfully operated for ~decade) while "temporally" freezing accounts of all customers during investigation (~5 years now without any option to cash out, so actually stealing/confiscating gold).

Bitcoin's anonymity makes it perfect victim to be accused of permitting everything illegal from fraud to terrorism.
History clearly shows that governments are keen to implement restrictive measures in the name of preventing theoretically possible problems.

I would like to know educated predictions about:
What will happen to "bitcoin <-> bank/debit card" exchange service providers when (if) Bitcoin becomes globally recognized and relatively popular payment method?

[RodeoX]

History also shows that people do whatever they want, no matter what the government says. 

[Ivica]

Hmmm. Sell.

[ndr]

US government? that is not the World you know, I live in Europe.
Much love to the US, but if the government bans bitcoin, it's not a problem.
It will make it more precious and draw more people's attention

Software doesn't listen to laws or restriction, people do if they choose to

Nice Cubix GIF BTW

[aarreeaa]

US government? that is not the World you know, I live in Europe.

So do I, but US has far reaching influence.
It affected me when I kept virtual gold in supposedly trustworthy e-gold account on correct assumption that gold's value will rise.
But eventually I got stuck with ~$4500 in e-gold that i couldnt out exchange...

[Gator-hex]

PayPal, Zynga are also alternative currencies.

The only problem with using your own currency is that it's not backed by the law so you may have problems getting contract disputes recognized by a court.

[Phil.Collins]

I think that most governments are keeping a close eye on the whole concept of Bitcoin. They would like to merge into one global currency, similar to how the EU merged most of Europe with the use of the Euro. I know some of the political figures have had some negative words for Bitcoin, but the past three months have given the community an overall positive image to the public. If we are to combine the use of Bitcoin and a mainstream payment system, I would think that it would ease the adoption for most consumers that may not be extremely knowledgeable of the basics of Bitcoin. I give seven years for a proper integration or Bitcoin fails. If we as a community can not have things properly streamlined by the year 2020, I will withdraw all support for Bitcoin.

[Mike Christ]

It doesn't really matter what the gov does.  The gov banned kiddie porn and that's still around.  Piracy is illegal but very much a part of our culture (nobody with 4k songs on their MP3 player actually spent over $4k getting there.)  Murder has been illegal since forever, and people get murdered all the time.

So what will a government ban on Bitcoin do?  Further prove it's a force to be reckoned with.  Ban or no ban, Bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

[Raoul Duke]

It doesn't really matter what the gov does.  The gov banned kiddie porn and that's still around.  Piracy is illegal but very much a part of our culture (nobody with 4k songs on their MP3 player actually spent over $4k getting there.)  Murder has been illegal since forever, and people get murdered all the time.

So what will a government ban on Bitcoin do?  Further prove it's a force to be reckoned with.  Ban or no ban, Bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

You forgot about drugs

[nwbitcoin]

In the real world, governments rarely ban things, but they do make life very difficult unless you change your behaviour. Its when you don't change your behaviour that they start banning things, but generally only in a way to help you change your behaviour!

For instance, if they banned Bitcoin, it would cause an outcry.  However, if you increased the regulation demands on banks who convert Currency to Bitcoin, they would make using bitcoins more hassle and expensive. That would be enough to ensure it wasn't a popular choice for the mainstream - and that would be enough for the government.

Giving a bunch of anti government types hope is a far easier way to keep people under control than to close the door on them and not knowing what they are doing otherwise!

Which is why bitcoin wont get banned - at least in Europe - I don't know if the US government is as subtle!

[aarreeaa]

...So what will a government ban on Bitcoin do?

Do we need alternative virtual currency?
If converting Bitcoin into real product (such as groceries) become very difficult, that would make Bitcoin quite useless.

[davincisolari]

In freer countries bitcoin will be allowed to exist as long as it stays fairly small.  In more totalitarian countries I see bitcoin getting banned very quickly.  I think China already banned a different digital currency.  The ability of a country to print its own money is very powerful.  This allows a government to run an account deficit for quite a while.  This only works as long as the citizen keep their wealth in that currency.  

[gradient vector]

Bitcoin isn't going anywhere. They really haven't been successful at stopping bittorrents. Competing currencies are popping up all over the globe. Bitcoin is just one of many.

[aarreeaa]

...They really haven't been successful at stopping bittorrents...

Stopping no, but limiting YES.
Consider usually normal idea: you buy domain on your name, set up site on server located near you, and publish useful content. You could possibly get some cash from ads to cover expenses and make a little extra. Now imagine how comfortable you would feel managing torrents site that way.

[AgeraS]

My friend from China told me in his opinion the government of China would crush Bitcoin and its users..
However, I fail to see how any government could completely stop the flow of Bitcoin. As others above me have said, the government could make it difficult but not eliminate it completely.