[2017-09-21] World Governments Have Declared War on Bitcoin: John McAfee

[aysha9872]

The battle lines have been drawn between sovereign governments and the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies, warned anti virus software pioneer John McAfee during the first global blockchain technology event in Hong Kong since China imposed a ban on cryptocurrency sales and trading on exchanges earlier this month.

Among core issues in the US$150 billion industry are how nations can apply taxation to cryptocurrency transactions and whether there should be curbs on the ability for bitcoin and other virtual currencies to facilitate global fund flows.

"Today will go down in history as the beginning of the war between the proponents of cryptocurrency and the world governments," McAfee told the South China Morning Post of the growing conflict between governments and the "fugitives" subculture who back the development of virtual currencies.

What's more, bitcoin's status varies in different jurisdictions. Australia said it would remove the double taxation on transactions involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, while China has yet to define the legal status of virtual currencies.

"If governments aren't able to know what the movement is they will be unable to collect revenues. That's going to cause panic in some countries. China sees it already," McAfee said....

read more: https://www.thestreet.com/story/14315079/1/bitcoin.html

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[Kprawn]

This is bullshit and he knows this. Governments like China and the other governments where Bitcoin is banned are control

freaks. They want to control every aspect of their citizens lives and they know if they control the people's wealth, they

can restrict their movement. Rich people cannot leave those countries with their wealth and Bitcoin gives them the tool to

move between countries without any limitations. People moving wealth out of a country has always been frowned on. It

depreciates their local currency and they want to stop that to protect their local fiat currency.  

[richardsNY]

This article is just meant to draw attention. Instead of focusing on the few countries that don't look to benefit from the technological advancements that crypto currencies offer, people should focus on the countries having legalized Bitcoin. If we look at how much positivity we went through in the last years, and the progression that we went through, it makes no sense to point your focus at a few delusional and paranoid governments, but still people do so.... The sooner these idiotic governments exit the crypto world, the less obstacles there will be to overcome.

[btc_angela]

But if you look at it, they are really waging a war, China that is. We already see what they have done already, but still it may have brought significant damage during the battle, but it's just temporary. Bitcoin is not tied to any country and can't be stop. Its already and irresistible force, the more they put pressure around it, the more it responded with power. So I don't think that it can be outlawed globally. China is really moving backwards in the crypto sphere, but others are stepping up and take bitcoin to the next level like Japan, Australia and South Korea.

[serjent05]

This article is just meant to draw attention. Instead of focusing on the few countries that don't look to benefit from the technological advancements that crypto currencies offer, people should focus on the countries having legalized Bitcoin. If we look at how much positivity we went through in the last years, and the progression that we went through, it makes no sense to point your focus at a few delusional and paranoid governments, but still people do so.... The sooner these idiotic governments exit the crypto world, the less obstacles there will be to overcome.

True, it is the arts of getting audience, and attrack readers to read the article.  But we can't blame them since it is their job and they earn from it, same way we wanted Bitcoin to be accepted by different countries even though China had been hostile to Bitcoin we still try  to show them that their decision is wrong.  Though I do not believe that world governments declared war on Bitcoin, some maybe but lots are still on a neutral stance about it.  Besides there are already government that are supportive of Bitcoin and this made the title flawed 

[Argoo]

I do not believe that international governments have declared war on bitcoin. Individual countries may limit the circulation of crypto currency in their country or even prohibit it. They see the threat of a crypto currency for their economy in the sense that they can not control it and profits from its activities are poorly taxable. This, in principle, is not a war, but the protection of the interests of the state. It is impossible to fight with the crypto currency, the virtual world is everywhere and at the same time, it is nowhere to be seen.

[Carlton Banks]

I think it's more accurate to say: world governments feel highly ambivalent about blockchain tech & cryptocurrencies.


On the one hand, it adds to the mix of currency instruments and payment networks that reduces dependence and upsets monopolies. This makes it easier to handle businesses like Mastercard or Paypal, or political organisations whose currencies play the biggest role in world commerce (US, EU, China etc), as these organisations' hand has been weakened by Bitcoin, and so they are not in such a strong position to behave in a demanding way with respect to getting favourable conditions in the countries that do not directly represent the dominant currencies and payment networks.

On the other hand, it also strengthens the citizens of their country against the laws and/or abuses of the law by those same governments (and the US, EU and Chinese government are not spared this problem either). In addition, cryptocurrencies also have the potentianl to strengthen large international governmental organisations against the weaker governments too, depending on the aggregation of reactions from world governments, and on how financial markets behave too.


This could ultimately be a good thing, though. Governments cannot misbehave on the same scale as in the past, as they threaten a tax revolt if they are too shameless. And so the price of being too cynical or reckless is too high, politicians do need some kind of territory to live in, despite how poor their moral standards usually are, allowing the state to break down altogether will not be a viable option for the majority of politicians. Is it possible that blockchain tech could usher in an era of such incredible accountability that the governments finally fear the people?

I predict the public finances incentive will act particularly effectively for those governments with the worst public finances, and so it's no surprise that Japan has been quite accommodating to Bitcoin, for instance. For Japanese politicians, having an exit-strategy to their fiscal issues (the worst in the stable/developed world) that they don't need to take responsibility for (either to their subjects or their powerbroker state the US) should be quite attractive as an option.

China is an interesting case also, and I expect alot of this "crackdown" posturing will be no more than the hot air that it is right now. China have different problems to Japan, but the ultimate source is the same; an over-managed reserve currency backed by an increasingly belligerent USA. If the USA government continues to behave as it has, the Chinese government will need different options available to prevent the dollar and the SWIFT network being used against them, as crazy as that sounds. The Chinese government has financial counter-attacks to anything the US government could do, but it doesn't hurt to have a great-leveller style option (i.e. blockchain tech) in the arsenal, ultimately, the US has no counter to it (and it hurts the US more than any other government, the dollar is essentially treated increasingly like a credit card by each successive US administration).

[Falgorn]

International government organizations did not declare war on bitcoin and other decentralized Crypto-currency. Yes, they are powerless to take anything significant for its spread to the world. Of course, the crypto currency is uncomfortable for them through uncontrolled financial flows that are carried out using crypto currency and they will seek to limit or even prohibit the crypto currency. So far, as practice shows, such prohibitions are ineffective.