Is it technically possible to ban Bitcoin in a particular country?

[nkmt]

Let's say the Chinese government decides to ban Bitcoin. Is it technically possible without shutting down their Internet?

[VitKoyn]

Yes this is possible, There are already some countries that banned bitcoin if I'm not mistaken those are Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador & Kyrgyzstan
But I think people in those countries still can use bitcoin but cannot transact it inside their country or convert it with local cash

[n4poleon]

No, shutting down the internet is not even enough anymore. We're able to stream blocks through/from satellites now. Chinese people always find ways. A lot of stuff are banned in China and people still able to find ways to do it, get it, access it.

[TheGodson]

It will be possible to do so for a majority of users. I'm sure there are some computer wiz people that will still be able to buy, sell, and move bitcoin around since they are very technologically savy. For everyone else it will be extremely difficult. Most people into bitcoin probably don't understand fully how bitcoin works. We have a general idea about the blockchain and yada yada, but there are definitely some holes that we wont completely understand. For these users they can consider their bitcoin pretty much inaccessible.

No doubt that this would certainly affect the price and not in a positive way.

[talkbitcoin]

when some country bans bitcoin, they ban usage of it. so it will be technically illegal to hold bitcoin, invest in it, trade it, or use it as a currency to buy stuff. they can not shut it down or prevent it, they can only prohibit it.

but don't worry, big countries won't do it. just a handful of under developed countries have only said bitcoin is illegal because they are illiterate enough not to understand it.

[aTriz]

Let's say the Chinese government decides to ban Bitcoin. Is it technically possible without shutting down their Internet?

Definitely. When someone tries to make a Bitcoin transaction internet must be used, even with those desktop wallets. All China has to do is ban all online wallets and just disable desktop wallets from being able to use wifi and work some magic with day roaming which would make it unable to access bitcoin wallets with.

Don't think this will ever happen though.

[Nawaytes]

It can not, you have to shut down the internet network in all areas of that country. Unless your government make a special request to "bitcoin parties" not appear in their country and bitcoins willing to do it - but how is that possible to do ?

[Bilbo Baggins]

Technically they can, but whether it can be enforced properly or not is another thing.

Since they can't shutdown the entire internet there will still be away to getting around it.

[DZU1410]

I think that without disconnecting the Internet it's impossible. People will use the detour to earn bitcoins and then exchange for the currency of their country.

[kafiddrhman]

I think that without disconnecting the Internet it's impossible. People will use the detour to earn bitcoins and then exchange for the currency of their country.

I agree with you as long as you can have internet connection bitcoin transactions would still be done well even in the country there is a ban on the use of bitcoin.

[BTCLovingDude]

banning bitcoin is easy, preventing people from using it is impossible to do. so technically it is possible to ban bitcoin. but also realistically speaking nobody is going to ban bitcoin, countries are currently competing with each other to adopt bitcoin or they will be left behind. and soon they will also be technologically behind too

[bitorama]

a country can only limit strictly the withdrawal system, that's enough to panic a lot of people

[Gaaara]

Let's say the Chinese government decides to ban Bitcoin. Is it technically possible without shutting down their Internet?

It is not possible, for a country as large as China maybe they have their ways to shut down bitcoin but for some reason Chinese people still able to use it, since there are lots of investors in China they might take actions but they'll do it secretly. Anyways while some adopts others are trying to create a barrier regarding bitcoin as you can see in this world governments only do things in their benefit.

[harmunian]

In my opinion, i think that a country have all the rights to ban bitcoin.But this can't be done so easily because bitcoin is digital money

[RayvenPierre]

Bitcoin can be easily banned by any country any time that they want to but it won't stop people from using it. Bitcoin transactions will be halted in a particular country if the government decided ti ban it but people will still be able to use their bitcoins. They will just not be able to do transactions or cash it out in the country.

[albert11]

They can ban them if they want to. But the sytem and the accesing here are not able to ban them. What happens is that people can not cashout at banks or third party companies that buy bitcoins and buy them money. so even if I ban it a country is not that because we can still sell our bitcoins but it's hard.So even if it is abolished and banned from using bitcoins we can still get it. do not just tell the authorities because we will detained

[Ucy]

It will be possibl to do so for a majority of users. I'm sure there are some computer wiz people that will still be able to buy, sell, and move bitcoin around since they are very technologically savy. For everyone else it will be extremely difficult. Most people into bitcoin probably don't understand fully how bitcoin works. We have a general idea about the blockchain and yada yada, but there are definitely some holes that we wont completely understand. For these users they can consider their bitcoin pretty much inaccessible.

No doubt that this would certainly affect the price and not in a positive way.

Could you please mention those "holes"

I doubt Bitcoin can be successful banned. Same amounts of users would still continue to use Bitcoin if they choose to, with only few obeying the abusive law.

[ranochigo]

Let's say the Chinese government decides to ban Bitcoin. Is it technically possible without shutting down their Internet?

No, not a chance. There is a reason why people are still able to use VPNs in their country. Their DPI won't work perfectly if the traffic is disguised as a SSL tunnel and it will mimic a connection to a website, eg. Cisco AnyConnect. These work extremely well, heck they can't even detect my proxy with AES-256-CFB encryption.

It is very easy to run a node through a VPN or proxy and they will have a very hard time detecting it.

[noormcs5]

It is not easy to ban the bitcoin for china, instead whenever china like to ban it, the valid reason bitcoin has gone too far. Now a huge people have invested their money on bitcoin. On the other hand, i don't think so china will decide to ban the bitcoin. May be china decide something different and good way for bitcoin and also for bitcoin's users.

[SiNeReiNZzz]

Yes it can be possible. The government has the rights to ban whatever they saw that is against in their own means, and sometimes they just don't want something that could threaten them or maybe something they saw that can compete in terms of power, also in order for them to remain in position that no one could oppose them or maybe it could lead that people using bitcoin are rebels as they can see it is illegal, that is only how I see if it would be banned.