Maybe governments can stop bitcoin after all

[OmegaStarScream]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

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[joromz1226]

No, that's not gonna be happen. We all know that government was categorize in centralization system while Bitcoin was categorize in decentralization were obviously the government can't able to control bitcoin because of this wonderful and great features of bitcoin.

[sabbathhawk]

For now the easiest way to control bitcoin is through exchanges. They totally deanonymizes users. So, for now it is the weakest point of bitcoin.
As soon we will pass scaling problems anonymizing solutions will be implemented.
In Japan and Korea bitcoin is officially recognized, other countries planning to do their own cryptocurrencies. So, even some countries will ban bitcoin it will not have huge influence. Price does not matter at all, bitcoin became bitcoin only because of it unique properties. If you are considering bitcoins success through it price you are wrong. Market is very thin and it is relatively easy to dump or pump. What matters - decentralized properties, independence, security, immutability.
Forget about price, about governments and other bullshit, follow it development and properties that is what tell you what to do with it.

[eternalgloom]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

But the longer they wait, the harder it will be for governments to make Bitcoin illegal. More and more companies are now getting involved in Bitcoin mining, trading & other aspects, they also pay taxes.
I really can't imagine Bitcoin being made illegal in Europe, the US or Australia for example, there is too much support from within the governments in those countries.

I know it's just a hypothetical question, but I could never see this happening in real life.  

[Hydrogen]

The price of stocks (and bitcoin) always decreases on bad news. Even if the bad news is something irrelevent like china illegalizing ICO's or the SEC disapproving a btc etf proposal, traders will always sell. When predicting market behavior, traders always follow the lowest common denominator in determining what will happen. The worst trader in the world will always sell after bad news & that's the worst case scenario precedent everyone follows.

The price decline isn't necessarily a bad thing. For those who were looking for an opportunity to buy btc they might pick it up at 20% discount from where it was a few days ago. Bitcoin price movements have had their ups and downs like this over the last 6 years. There have been much bigger price drops that were much worse.

[thoham]

Yeah this is the true thing. No goverment can control or manage Bitcoin. Europeans used to try but it didn't work.

[markj113]

They dont have to completely stop bitcoin to kill it.

Introduce a new law where anyone caught using bitcoin gets 20 years in jail and watch the userbase shrink overnight and the price plumet as the majority dump.

You would always get the few that continue to use but but not enough people to maintain current price point.

[NY-city]

The government wants to control bitcoin and soon if several more countries ban it, the price may drop significantly. Bitcoin has grown very well and is a huge competition for the banking system.

[talkbitcoin]

no they can NOT stop bitcoin.

first of all the government has never had anything against bitcoin. they have always have been against illegal things that is done with it. with bitcoin and any other cryptocurrency. this China ICO drama is the perfect example of what i just said.

secondly nobody can stop bitcoin. things like what happened can temporarily damage the price. and even if all countries announce bitcoin as illegal the price drops and that will be the worst part of it. but it won't kill bitcoin!

[audaciousbeing]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

I felt the same way too and this has equally given an opportunity for them to expolit because the moment China makes this law and the crypto world felt the maximum impact, it shows they have the control of crypto and I am sure we are to see more of it in the coming days whether from China or another of their kind. I am still optimistic that maybe this is the correction we are all waiting for, for everybody to go back to the drawing board and understand what this is really all about and we can move forward from there.

[coin_1122]

The government wants to control bitcoin and soon if several more countries ban it, the price may drop significantly. Bitcoin has grown very well and is a huge competition for the banking system.

They are not banning the Bitcoin just they banned only ICO's because it may create lot of panics in the governments already there is big rumors about China. China is holding more Bitcoin in the market when compared to other countries so it may damage their countries by conducting the ICO's.

[hatshepsut93]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

They will never be able to stop it completely, because that was the design of cryptocurrencies, but governments can easily prevent mass adoption and just push crypto into black markets. This was always the risk for investors and users. But Bitcoin didn't get crippled by recent news from China - it was already correcting after reaching $5,000 ATH, the FUD caused a big dip, but now it's back on track - $4,350 is probably only a 3-5% lower from where we would have been without FUD. It's a short term damage, nothing special.

[xSkylarx]

Governments can definitely stop bitcoin because they have the power to command all its citizen and there is nothing can prevent that and the only choose of the citizens in their country is to obey on what the government says so it is really possible for the government to stop and eliminate bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.

[joseafonso123az]

The truth is some ICO's really end up being scams or not worth the investment made leaving people with a loss. I think the banning is a good thing, might have decreased a  bit of bitcoin's price, but I believe it was something that he cryptoworld needs to sit and see, and provide better ICO's in the countries that it isn't banned. The bitcoin continues decentralized so the governments can't control them, and I don't believe they will stop bitcoin, because they might win something with them.

[Zadicar]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

Im have the same thoughts too.For those people who do said that it wont happen then i would say that nothing on this world would really remain forever and there would really be a time on which government would really make some actions into cryptoworld.After the News in China it did really made an impact to the coins and if that kind of banning implementation would happen on other countries then dips will really be seen and might possible to see a real panic selling of their stashes.

[hase0278]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

I agree with you somehow OP that this is not a laughing matter and not that far from reality. It is very possible for governments to stop bitcoin but most probably governments will not do this in the near future. Even if everyone says that government could not stop bitcoin completely, that remnant of bitcoin would be only like a shitcoin or a coin with a very low value. Even if that is the case, I think this is not the time to think about it because it is not our concern for now.

[Dontme]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

I think that will never be happen. Bitcoin are much convenient to use that other remittances. I think they are going to implement when the government already know how to transact bitcoin and how to deal with it. They will never implement it until the government not learn it. Maybe, you are right too because there is possibilities that government will not accept bitcoin. If that so, those holders will going to sell their bitcoin. Because government has the right to do that if they are not going to accept and embrace bitcoin.

[grermezter]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

This is just a minor setback and mind you that it's only the ICO's that were deemed illegal by the Chinese government and not Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies themselves, I really believe that these ICO's should be regulated like other securities just like the SEC said the last time because most people can raise money for GOD knows what with all these ICO's.

[ikilledcobain]

I think that the governments can put pressure on bitcoin and other crypto's, but it's too late to stuff the genie back in the bottle.

People are losing faith in their governments, and thus fiat, and need something to put their money in to try and preserve wealth. Precious metals are an age old safe haven, but they're not nearly as practical as crypto when it comes to trade.

The crackdowns may slow bitcoin down, but people will just find other, more secure/anonymous coins to preserve their privacy. See my signature for one upcoming example - Deep Onion.

[goldade]

This is a serious discussion. I mean, after I've seen how bitcoin (and other cryptos as well) got dumped badly after an irrelevant law that makes ICOs illegal. I can only imagine now what would happen If more countries do the same thing and It could get worst by make itself bitcoin illegal. Whether we like to admit it or not, most of people would sell everything they have once its made illegal, some may continue to fight the central banking but the sad reality is that as soon as people start making profits, they will dump it and move on.

What is really happening is a form of set back and short lived victory for government because deep down within, they will start rejoicing that a policy like this a go a long way in crashing the price but little did they know that this is another one of their arsenal let out of the bag and the fall in price is a form of retreat in other to come back stronger against gimmicks like this.