Is it possible for a country to block bitcoins (or even the whole cryptos)

[stompix]

Any country that attempts to do that has to be kidding. Bitcoin is anonymous for christ’s sake so how would you plan on blocking it when you don’t even know who is carrying out the transactions.

It's actually not that hard.The chinese firewall for example might do the trick with some tricks added.
Right now bitcoin uses for default port 8333 and the number of users actually capable of forwarding a port might be less than 0.1 % of this board.

But if they were totally against bitcoin and try to make an example of it they could do it far easier.
Declare it illegal and then have 50 or 100 people executed in a stadium like they did a month ago with 13 drug dealers.
Are you going to risk your life for bitcoins? Doubt it.

[Niya]

It's possible. For example, if there are no exchanges that would accept your btc and convert it to cash then it's useless having bitcoins in that country. All of the sites that are connected to btc are banned is also the worst case scenario if your government is really serious to prevent them from the market. You might need to go to other country so you can use them.

Why Bitcoin would be useless if you could not convert it to cash. You can use Bitcoin, it's enough. You don't need to convert to fiat money. Just use Bitcoin.
If websites connected to Bitcoin are banned by the governement, you can always use a VPN to bypass their censorship. Really nothing to worry about...

[Stingray1970]

It's possible. For example, if there are no exchanges that would accept your btc and convert it to cash then it's useless having bitcoins in that country. All of the sites that are connected to btc are banned is also the worst case scenario if your government is really serious to prevent them from the market. You might need to go to other country so you can use them.

The EU for one is thinking hard about blocking it.

[kevpantof]

Yes it is, but its going to be very hard to be fully enforced. Since bitcoin guarantees you anonymity then you can be sure that even if the country puts down twenty laws against that nothing is going to happen.

[Barcode_]

No, it is not possible for the government to fully block crypto-currency usage in the country, because the citizen could always use a vpn service and access crypto-currency related site, the only thing the government could do is to regulate the exchanges that deal with crypto-currency, by enforcing rules and regulations on users to submit proof of identification for using the exchanges services.

[Stingray1970]

No, it is not possible for the government to fully block crypto-currency usage in the country, because the citizen could always use a vpn service and access crypto-currency related site, the only thing the government could do is to regulate the exchanges that deal with crypto-currency, by enforcing rules and regulations on users to submit proof of identification for using the exchanges services.

That would in effect seriously hamper if not inhibit using bitcoin. My .02$

[yishak]

Well, I don't think any government can block bitcoin completely since they would have to shutdown the internet to block bitcoins cause like what @Barcode_ said if they shut down crypto exchange sites, you can still access them by using Proxy/VPN or VPS. Governments can only make it illegal but they can't ban it completely.

[Barbarian]

It's possible. For example, if there are no exchanges that would accept your btc and convert it to cash then it's useless having bitcoins in that country. All of the sites that are connected to btc are banned is also the worst case scenario if your government is really serious to prevent them from the market. You might need to go to other country so you can use them.

You would only need to do that if you plan to buy something physical with it, but if you want to buy digital products then the only thing you need to have is the website that accepts your bitcoin and if a government went as far as blocking those websites then you will probably need to use the option that you recommend, move to another country to use your bitcoin.

[0t3p0t]

Just like the title says, is it possible to block crypto currencies if the government decides to?

They could enforce the ISP to block online payments made or something like that, is it possible?

Yes it is possible to block online payments such as exchanges and banks but what if people are using vpn's, proxies or any other tunneling connection to bypass any government restrictions. The only way they can do that is to prohibit the use of internet connection just like in north korea but that could cause a country to be like drop it's economy in terms of business as people nowadays uses internet as gateway or communications to any investments all over the world just like Bitcoin.

[TheKeyLongThumbI]

Yes. The situation could be where a country is banning every local crypto exchanges and will not accept btc and altcoin as payments. So even you have btc, it has no  use because no one will accept it on your place or even convert it to fiat.

[gesdan]

no think country in terms is government cant block bitcoin or cryptos, because i think every time we surf in this world we can see there are many new site  about bitcoin, like wallets, or like exchanger, i think government can block with ban the site of bitcoin and some people can access it because of VPN or proxies, so i think its hard for government to block bitcoin and anything else

[Rinaze]

Why not? If they could block gambling websites and more, then blocking the crypto industry entirely is not really out of the question but is that for the good of the country is another story. Didn't certain countries think to ban crypto sales to the normal average people in hope they reduce the amount of losses? Some were thinking to ban crypto until the government can understand well enough to regulate the industry? Then again, I would say take the numerous articles with a pinch of salt.

[Barbarian]

Any country that attempts to do that has to be kidding. Bitcoin is anonymous for christ’s sake so how would you plan on blocking it when you don’t even know who is carrying out the transactions.

It's actually not that hard.The chinese firewall for example might do the trick with some tricks added.
Right now bitcoin uses for default port 8333 and the number of users actually capable of forwarding a port might be less than 0.1 % of this board.

But if they were totally against bitcoin and try to make an example of it they could do it far easier.
Declare it illegal and then have 50 or 100 people executed in a stadium like they did a month ago with 13 drug dealers.
Are you going to risk your life for bitcoins? Doubt it.

If repression reaches that point then you have greater problem than not been able to use bitcoin, at that point something like that happened in my country I will probably move out and never come back, it will be hard but I think I will be able to pull it off.

[DAVETUN]

Just like the title says, is it possible to block crypto currencies if the government decides to?

They could enforce the ISP to block online payments made or something like that, is it possible?

No Bitcoin cannot be block, the  internet is a  chain that connect country to countries,except a major global decision,taking  a  stand  against  cryptocurrency,Government does not have access to  block Bitcoin, except they come up with a law against all forms of trade against BTC.
Bitcoin and other  Altcoin will bring to reality the  cashless policy enacted by government in the global market

[Barbarian]

Just like the title says, is it possible to block crypto currencies if the government decides to?

They could enforce the ISP to block online payments made or something like that, is it possible?

Yes it is possible to block online payments such as exchanges and banks but what if people are using vpn's, proxies or any other tunneling connection to bypass any government restrictions. The only way they can do that is to prohibit the use of internet connection just like in north korea but that could cause a country to be like drop it's economy in terms of business as people nowadays uses internet as gateway or communications to any investments all over the world just like Bitcoin.

Correct, governments may try to block certain types of communications but there are always going to be a way to bypass them If you know how the only thing that will work is to block all communications but by that time our greatest issue will not be bitcoin but our freedom.

[Cindy1983]

I think it's possible. As you can see, the main color of the coin market at this time is red, that is the result of China government will ban cryptocurrency in their country. You should believe that it's possible. Do you know North Korea or maybe Democratic People's Republic of Korea In this country, people do not allowed to watch even a movie from other countries, if they founded, they will be killed and of course nobody in this country know and earn Bitcoin.

[djselery]

It is not possible for governments to block bitcoins or the other cryptos, because simply its decentralized currencies, and even if the government ban the sites or marketplaces selling or trading bitcoin, people always still able to use Vpn and proxies to access this sites easily.
But governments can making the deals with Bitcoin harder by illegalizing this currency.

[Naster]

I think it's possible. As you can see, the main color of the coin market at this time is red, that is the result of China government will ban cryptocurrency in their country. You should believe that it's possible. Do you know North Korea or maybe Democratic People's Republic of Korea In this country, people do not allowed to watch even a movie from other countries, if they founded, they will be killed and of course nobody in this country know and earn Bitcoin.

well China is not blocking bitcoin, but they are trying to ban it from their system, making the currency very weak....
People will still use in China but the acceptance will go down... and The value could drop so that this currency has no value anymore...
May be it's really time to sell all owned BTC

[davinchi]

I think it's possible. As you can see, the main color of the coin market at this time is red, that is the result of China government will ban cryptocurrency in their country. You should believe that it's possible. Do you know North Korea or maybe Democratic People's Republic of Korea In this country, people do not allowed to watch even a movie from other countries, if they founded, they will be killed and of course nobody in this country know and earn Bitcoin.

well China is not blocking bitcoin, but they are trying to ban it from their system, making the currency very weak....
People will still use in China but the acceptance will go down... and The value could drop so that this currency has no value anymore...
May be it's really time to sell all owned BTC

Yes the government can block it in their country, but people who are the hardcore fans of Bitcoin will actually start making use of VPN services that let’s them their VPN to a different and be able to access the blockchain. So whatever happens, there’s always a way out.

[nesty]

Just like the title says, is it possible to block crypto currencies if the government decides to?

They could enforce the ISP to block online payments made or something like that, is it possible?

It depends on the country If a country is under a communist type of government like China they can definitely block the cryptos because they dictates their people what to do and they can control their community specially in their financials their government is the one handling the income of the people living in China as well in other countries with the same government type.