Bitcoin is NOT under attack from the government, at least not yet

[bittheodds]

In the last 24h I read a lot of posts here and elsewhere about how the DHS actions were tantamount to an attack on bitcoin, that the government wanted bitcoin dead, etc.

Well, the government might want to see bitcoin dead, I don't debate that, but I really don't think the DHS actions were an 'attack on bitcoin' either.
 
First, the account 'seized' by the DHS were only the Dwolla ones, specifically the ones used to transfer back and forth MtGox. If the DHS wanted to take down bitcoin, they'd take out Gox, and would have not limited their operations to 'just Dwolla'. They would have seized all the Mutum Sigillum LLC assets instead, or at least canned the Coinbase accounts, too. They did not.

Second, if you observe how the DHS work, you'll notice they regularly announce their ops to the media. They love nothing more than waving their dicks around, justifying their large budgets and salaries. If this had been a concerted effort to 'take down bitcoin', you'd have read several press releases already about how Homeland Security protected the US citizens from the evil of the islamo-fascist currency 'bitcoin'. They'd be a story or two about SR, about a guy buying a gun and shooting his child in the head, or about terrorists buying ricin. Something. There was nothing.

So what happened? Well, no one really knows but I suspect some criminal was laundering money through dwolla into bitcoins, then back from gox. As part of their routine operations DHS seized the accounts to make sure no more money could be 'lost' in the laundering process. And if you're wondering what this has to do about Homeland Security, well, DHS deals with all sorts of things - yesterday top story from their infrastructure report was a sewage plant spill for example: http://www.dhs.gov/dhs-daily-open-source-infrastructure-report

[greyhawk]

No, the dick waving begins AFTER they've thrown Voorhees behind bars not before. You're only seeing the first little twitches.

[FallingKnife]

You're right. This is just a shot across the bow the industry, a warning that if you're going to play in Bitcoin you have to do EVERYTHING right.  Any T left uncrossed or any i undotted, and you'll be hauled into a US courtroom.

Dwolla and banks are easy choke points to send that message.

[reich]

In the last 24h I read a lot of posts here and elsewhere about how the DHS actions were tantamount to an attack on bitcoin, that the government wanted bitcoin dead, etc.

Well, the government might want to see bitcoin dead, I don't debate that, but I really don't think the DHS actions were an 'attack on bitcoin' either.
 
First, the account 'seized' by the DHS were only the Dwolla ones, specifically the ones used to transfer back and forth MtGox. If the DHS wanted to take down bitcoin, they'd take out Gox, and would have not limited their operations to 'just Dwolla'. They would have seized all the Mutum Sigillum LLC assets instead, or at least canned the Coinbase accounts, too. They did not.

Second, if you observe how the DHS work, you'll notice they regularly announce their ops to the media. They love nothing more than waving their dicks around, justifying their large budgets and salaries. If this had been a concerted effort to 'take down bitcoin', you'd have read several press releases already about how Homeland Security protected the US citizens from the evil of the islamo-fascist currency 'bitcoin'. They'd be a story or two about SR, about a guy buying a gun and shooting his child in the head, or about terrorists buying ricin. Something. There was nothing.

So what happened? Well, no one really knows but I suspect some criminal was laundering money through dwolla into bitcoins, then back from gox. As part of their routine operations DHS seized the accounts to make sure no more money could be 'lost' in the laundering process. And if you're wondering what this has to do about Homeland Security, well, DHS deals with all sorts of things - yesterday top story from their infrastructure report was a sewage plant spill for example: http://www.dhs.gov/dhs-daily-open-source-infrastructure-report

Agreed, government got to much things to worry about then sabotaging Bitcoin.

[sa_94]

I would think that if the government want to stop bitcoin something will be done soon, if not it'll get to bigh to stop.

[manstab]

It's a good time for the US to try to shut down BTC, especially after China has now shown interest in Bitcoin (with the possibility of using it for a Currency War http://www.thegenesisblock.com/bitcoin-the-newest-tool-in-chinas-currency-war-chest ).  I think the US may try to legislate against all online currency to maintain the dominance of the USD standard.  If they simply bought out Bitcoin, then Bitcoin 2.0 would spring up, and they would just be stuck in a cycle of buying up all online currencies that reach a certain popularity.

[MoonShadow]

I would think that if the government want to stop bitcoin something will be done soon, if not it'll get to bigh to stop.

It's already too late.

[blueblade123]

The problem is the US government can't track, or make money off of Bitcoin. Therefore, it doesn't need to exist. It COULD be used by drug dealers and terrorists. They can't stop Bitcoin itself, so they are going to go after the payment processors. You stop the payment processors from trading bitcoins for currency, you stop the problem. You don't have to kill Bitcoin, just make it so people can't trade it in for real currency.

Yep. Writing is on the wall. This is the same thing that happened with online poker. First you go after the middle man, then you force the banks to stop accepting deposits from known exchanges.

[MoonShadow]

The problem is the US government can't track, or make money off of Bitcoin. Therefore, it doesn't need to exist. It COULD be used by drug dealers and terrorists. They can't stop Bitcoin itself, so they are going to go after the payment processors. You stop the payment processors from trading bitcoins for currency, you stop the problem. You don't have to kill Bitcoin, just make it so people can't trade it in for real currency.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Yep. Writing is on the wall. This is the same thing that happened with online poker. First you go after the middle man, then you force the banks to stop accepting deposits from known exchanges.

The poker players just changed to bitcoin.