Why should governments hate Bitcoin?

[Welsh]

First of all 99% of people who is going to answer here is wrong and the last 1% will have a message 99% wrong as well. Mostly because they got too big of an opinion regarding themselves and bitcoin as well as a gripe against the government.

Ill try give you a few actual reasons but remember that a currency is very complicated and there are allot of pros and cons however you manage it.
In no particular order:
They can not print more money. Most countries use their power to print money to balance the economy. Countries that have adopted the Euro also suffers from these problems but its not an absolute bad thing. Just a different way things are handled that requires a country to find new methods.

Its not bound to an Identity so the government can't keep track of your money and hence can't tax you on it. Especially dangerous in combination with criminal groups or terrorists like Al Qaida.

Its an experiment and not designed to be sustainable in the future or distant future.

99% right? Well you posted a few incorrect statements in your post, first of all Countries don't just "print more money" actually printing money is down to IMF, what are the IMF?

"The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty"


Infact, countries are in debt because of this very reason, so I don't know what you mean about countries printing more money off to stabilise the economy.
Every time a country prints more money off, the more the value of that certain currency goes down, why do you think people are sticking with Bitcoin, because there's a limit to how much there will EVER be, meaning it should get extremely value at some point. (Although this may never happen)


Now, what you said is that countries use their 'power' in order to "print money off to balance the economy", no not really, like I said earlier in this post, the countries are not the ones who actually are in 'control' therefore can't just use their 'power'.

But, back to the post.
In my personal opinion, I think they don't like it because they can't track you down, think of it.
Most ways to pay online require a bank account, a bank account needs you to provide identity.
However, with Bitcoin you don't need any of this, Bitcoin can be generated in a few seconds and sent anonymous across the web for ANY service/product.

This causes a lot of problems, for instance many Bitcoin users are branded for purchasing illegal drugs online and can't be traced afterwards.
Now, for this very reason Bitcoin as hit the news many times, it's a scare tactic more than anything.

[scab]

Bitcoin will end governments!

[Dasneko]

First of all 99% of people who is going to answer here is wrong and the last 1% will have a message 99% wrong as well. Mostly because they got too big of an opinion regarding themselves and bitcoin as well as a gripe against the government.

Ill try give you a few actual reasons but remember that a currency is very complicated and there are allot of pros and cons however you manage it.
In no particular order:
They can not print more money. Most countries use their power to print money to balance the economy. Countries that have adopted the Euro also suffers from these problems but its not an absolute bad thing. Just a different way things are handled that requires a country to find new methods.

Its not bound to an Identity so the government can't keep track of your money and hence can't tax you on it. Especially dangerous in combination with criminal groups or terrorists like Al Qaida.

Its an experiment and not designed to be sustainable in the future or distant future.

99% right? Well you posted a few incorrect statements in your post, first of all Countries don't just "print more money" actually printing money is down to IMF, what are the IMF?

"The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty"


Infact, countries are in debt because of this very reason, so I don't know what you mean about countries printing more money off to stabilise the economy.
Every time a country prints more money off, the more the value of that certain currency goes down, why do you think people are sticking with Bitcoin, because there's a limit to how much there will EVER be, meaning it should get extremely value at some point. (Although this may never happen)


Now, what you said is that countries use their 'power' in order to "print money off to balance the economy", no not really, like I said earlier in this post, the countries are not the ones who actually are in 'control' therefore can't just use their 'power'.

But, back to the post.
In my personal opinion, I think they don't like it because they can't track you down, think of it.
Most ways to pay online require a bank account, a bank account needs you to provide identity.
However, with Bitcoin you don't need any of this, Bitcoin can be generated in a few seconds and sent anonymous across the web for ANY service/product.

This causes a lot of problems, for instance many Bitcoin users are branded for purchasing illegal drugs online and can't be traced afterwards.
Now, for this very reason Bitcoin as hit the news many times, it's a scare tactic more than anything.

No IMF does not in fact "control" anything. They just monitor and provide advice. The trust put into them gives them a certain power since the market will listen to their speculations that is it. In countries that have retained the right to print money they can and will print if they get too far into debt because they can trade it BEFORE the printing is reflected in the markets and start inflation.

[Welsh]

First of all 99% of people who is going to answer here is wrong and the last 1% will have a message 99% wrong as well. Mostly because they got too big of an opinion regarding themselves and bitcoin as well as a gripe against the government.

Ill try give you a few actual reasons but remember that a currency is very complicated and there are allot of pros and cons however you manage it.
In no particular order:
They can not print more money. Most countries use their power to print money to balance the economy. Countries that have adopted the Euro also suffers from these problems but its not an absolute bad thing. Just a different way things are handled that requires a country to find new methods.

Its not bound to an Identity so the government can't keep track of your money and hence can't tax you on it. Especially dangerous in combination with criminal groups or terrorists like Al Qaida.

Its an experiment and not designed to be sustainable in the future or distant future.

99% right? Well you posted a few incorrect statements in your post, first of all Countries don't just "print more money" actually printing money is down to IMF, what are the IMF?

"The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty"


Infact, countries are in debt because of this very reason, so I don't know what you mean about countries printing more money off to stabilise the economy.
Every time a country prints more money off, the more the value of that certain currency goes down, why do you think people are sticking with Bitcoin, because there's a limit to how much there will EVER be, meaning it should get extremely value at some point. (Although this may never happen)


Now, what you said is that countries use their 'power' in order to "print money off to balance the economy", no not really, like I said earlier in this post, the countries are not the ones who actually are in 'control' therefore can't just use their 'power'.

But, back to the post.
In my personal opinion, I think they don't like it because they can't track you down, think of it.
Most ways to pay online require a bank account, a bank account needs you to provide identity.
However, with Bitcoin you don't need any of this, Bitcoin can be generated in a few seconds and sent anonymous across the web for ANY service/product.

This causes a lot of problems, for instance many Bitcoin users are branded for purchasing illegal drugs online and can't be traced afterwards.
Now, for this very reason Bitcoin as hit the news many times, it's a scare tactic more than anything.

No IMF does not in fact "control" anything. They just monitor and provide advice. The trust put into them gives them a certain power since the market will listen to their speculations that is it. In countries that have retained the right to print money they can and will print if they get too far into debt because they can trade it BEFORE the printing is reflected in the markets and start inflation.

Yes, I didn't mean to say control, however countries can't simply print off money whenever they like.
In fact, most countries owe IMF a lot of money, for example lets say IMF printed $5 off to america, then the interest on top of that would come to $10 next month, because america only has $5 to run their country they would of not been able to earn any more money (When the first money was printed there were no buying from other countries because countries couldn't afford it at that time). Therefore a lot of countries are still in debt.

However, I must apologise, because it your initial post I thought you said "counrties just print more money" which kind of got me going (I tend to read but not take in every word, lol).

[Birdy]

Bitcoin will end governments!

No, it will not.

[scab]

Anyone who says bitcoin is not a threat to the monetary system is lieing to themselves

[keelba]

Anyone who says bitcoin is not a threat to the monetary system is lieing to themselves

It is absolutely a threat the monetary system. But being a threat to a monetary system and being a threat to a government are two different things. The question is, what threat is there to a government (perhaps other than the US, which has its own unique monetary position in the world)?

[Dasneko]

Anyone who says bitcoin is not a threat to the monetary system is lieing to themselves

It is absolutely a threat the monetary system. But being a threat to a monetary system and being a threat to a government are two different things. The question is, what threat is there to a government (perhaps other than the US, which has its own unique monetary position in the world)?

... How can it be a threat to the monetary system while in itself be a monetary system?

The truth is however that for as long as for example taxes are paid using the local currency bitcoin will never be more then a sub currency that you can invest in. You cant replace something that the government is demanding of you after all.

[neoasd401]

Government controls currency by enacting different monetary policies. The point of these different monetary policy is to allow the Fed to control the economy, and in particular output and inflation, through the interest rate. With bitcoin the government  cannot touch the supply or even tax it. So they fear a whole economy could be created without them having a say or getting tax from it .

[BTCoder]

Let The Governments Fear Us! Muhahaha!

[scab]

They should hate us... Because we hate them

[RoyalSands]

But, but, my petrodollars are backed by the full faith of the US government.

That was hard to type with a straight face.

[Dasneko]

They should hate us... Because we hate them

What makes you think they even care about you?

[cal_guy]

There are plenty of ways for a government to tax without money; corvee labor, tariffs on goods.

[Build your body]

They will hate what they can't control but its anonymous now.  How can they tax you if they have no idea who you are?

[enderbender]

did you guys see? http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/155933-homeland-security-seizes-account-of-largest-bitcoin-exchange-mt-gox

the hate begins

[el_Tico]

About Homeland security going after Mg. Gox, I hope that Bitcoin thrives in the US. Bitcoin will show most of its growth in countries like China and other emerging economies. At this moment, China will do anything to undermine the dollar, including the support of Bitcoin.

[FlyLord]

Bitcoin has the problem of being unregulated which makes it more prone to market manipulation than regular currencies (not saying regular currencies are not manipulated, but it usually takes a nation to do so, like the japanese yen being balanced against the dollar). Also cryptocoins are the perfect mechanism for the entrepreneurial money launderer or to help fund nefarious endeavors. Fully anonymous it is not, but it would be considerably difficult to fully track a coin through its lifetime

[Dasneko]

About Homeland security going after Mg. Gox, I hope that Bitcoin thrives in the US. Bitcoin will show most of its growth in countries like China and other emerging economies. At this moment, China will do anything to undermine the dollar, including the support of Bitcoin.

Not true. There will most likely be no government that actively supports Bitcoin because they got nothing to gain from it. If anything its an annoyance as a loophole for taxes and illegal money transfer. The best we can hope for is them allowing Bitcoin to exist in peace.